Can we get proper Age verification please?

[Ishan451]

So Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 was just added and its unavailable in my Region because Valve chooses not to let me do an age verification for my country so i can buy games i would otherwise legally allowed to purchase

Valve can you finally let me do something like PostIdent in germany so i can buy Adult games that you sell to everyone else?.

[Ishan451]

HikariLight eredeti hozzászólása:

As Valve is not a German company

Not how that works.

HikariLight eredeti hozzászólása:

Valve would have to PAY money for the use of the ID check service a even then

No, they would not. The money would be paid by us, in most cases. Please, just educate yourself before you try to have a conversation about something you don't know about.

HikariLight eredeti hozzászólása:

they can only save that info for a few DAYS at max, that means every few days users would have to go back to the confirmation center.

So what? Better than not even getting to look at the store page.

HikariLight eredeti hozzászólása:

Valve is not required to use any sort of ID check service.

So, you are a german lawyer then? Doesn't sound like it. There are laws in Europe that prevent companies from treating european customers differently. Meaning a person in Austria needs to be able to purchase stuff in France, if they so desire.

The problem is that so far it's been mostly just porn games that were an issue and nobody is going to run to a lawyer to get to buy a porn game.

But now we are starting to see other games like Kindom Come Deliverance being denied by virtue of the place we life in. Pretty sure that goes against the law around here, but i am also not a lawyer, so i can't say for certain.

Regardless, there are enough other "american" companies that do business in germany that have no issue using identification services to determine if someone in an Adult.

[Ishan451]

Start_Running eredeti hozzászólása:

Ishan451 eredeti hozzászólása:

There is no need for law makers being involved. I am absolutely in favor of the law in my country, what i am not in favor of is Valve refusing to do what every other business here does and the monopoly they abuse in this market space.

This got nothing to do with anyone but Valve.

Well then you or any company is free to fill the niche Valve is neglecting yes?

Since not even Epic and GoG with all their money is able to compete with Valve and make PC games available on other platforms that ain't steam, what hope would I stand to have, without all the money and expertise those big companies have?

That is utter nonsense what you are spouting there.

[zirkustier]

btw.

How do you know that Kindgom Come Deliverance 2 will not be available in your area? It hasn't even been released yet, and I don't think it's a porn game.

[Ishan451]

zirkustier eredeti hozzászólása:

btw.

How do you know that Kindgom Come Deliverance 2 will not be available in your area? It hasn't even been released yet, and I don't think it's a porn game.

Because when i go to the page, right now, it tells me its not available in my region, as its an Adult Only game.

[zirkustier]

What country are you actually from, your profile is private and you always write "my region" or "my country" without saying which one it is.

[Start_Running]

Ishan451 eredeti hozzászólása:

Start_Running eredeti hozzászólása:

Well then you or any company is free to fill the niche Valve is neglecting yes?

Since not even Epic and GoG with all their money is able to compete with Valve and make PC games available on other platforms that ain't steam, what hope would I stand to have, without all the money and expertise those big companies have?

That is utter nonsense what you are spouting there.

Uhm What are you talking about. Epic Exists. GoG exists, Battle,.net exists. Amazon Exists.
Anyone can create such a service. But to be successful you have to be AS GOOD if not BETTER than the competition. Or in this case satisfy a niche in the market place that the others aren't.

You can set up a platform that has the age verification whatever that allows adult games to be sold in your country and then market yourself to dev/pubs of sucgh games to get the game on your service and then to consumers of such to buy the games from your service.

Now whether you can do that and maintain a syustainable, worthwhile return on your investment. That's a problem for you as the owner to sort out.

[HikariLight]

The German government is the issue, not Valve.
The German government says that Adult only games are not allowed, so Valve must follow that.
And no, it would not be paid for by the German users, Valve would need to pay the verification centers for the right to use their space and any payments the German users make to use the center none of those would go to Valve.
Valve is a PRIVATELY owned business, not a publicly traded one.
Privacy laws prevent them from being able to keep personal info, such as ID cards, hell Steam isn't even allowed to remember your birth date for longer that a day.
And you never answered the question of: How can you prove with your ID that you are the account owner?
As Valve does not ask for that info (as again, private info they are not allowed to keep), how do you plan on proving that your the same person that made the account with your ID?
That means EVERYDAY, you would have to go to the verification center to simply login to Steam.
You are asking for Steam to do something they are not allowed to do, the laws of multiple countries make what you want illegal.

[HikariLight]

https://epic.org/the-privacy-act-of-1974/
The privacy act of 1974 is what prevents Valve from being able to keep private info such as IDs or even our birthday.
Many countries also have their own version of this law.
With how many users get their accounts highjacked on a regular basis, Steam cannot save any private info.

[zirkustier]

If the author of the thread is really from Germany, I don't understand why he can't see the Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 store page. It is displayed to me, and I come from there. He probably has stricter filters than I do.

btw.

I support his request. Somehow it has to be possible. I mean, a 10 year old can play GTA 5 here if he wants to, but an adult can't play adult games that don't involve shooting or slaughtering people. It's a topsy-turvy world.

[TBS AlexDK]

Ishan451 eredeti hozzászólása:

Fenris eredeti hozzászólása:

i realy support your case and wish you more luck then me on my suggestion

I suggest you also contact your local "Verbraucherschutzzentrale" and issue a complaint. Pretty sure there are EU laws about the availability of products and considering Valve is a monopoly for many of these products there could very well be a case for them.

Valve / Steam is not a monopoly for any products, and you cannot force a company to sell a product in your country.

[Fenris]

HikariLight eredeti hozzászólása:

The German government is the issue, not Valve.
The German government says that Adult only games are not allowed, so Valve must follow that.
And no, it would not be paid for by the German users, Valve would need to pay the verification centers for the right to use their space and any payments the German users make to use the center none of those would go to Valve.
Valve is a PRIVATELY owned business, not a publicly traded one.
Privacy laws prevent them from being able to keep personal info, such as ID cards, hell Steam isn't even allowed to remember your birth date for longer that a day.
And you never answered the question of: How can you prove with your ID that you are the account owner?
As Valve does not ask for that info (as again, private info they are not allowed to keep), how do you plan on proving that your the same person that made the account with your ID?
That means EVERYDAY, you would have to go to the verification center to simply login to Steam.
You are asking for Steam to do something they are not allowed to do, the laws of multiple countries make what you want illegal.

sorry but what you say is wrong
valve can sell adult only games in germany, but it its forbidden to sell them without a valid age verification. if i get a key from a developer, because i support the game on patreon or whaterver, i can activate the game without any problems.
if valve would use the post-ident verification, they can chose who pays for this. it pretty common that the customer pays that one time fee.
and there is no sensible information transfered in this process. valve simply get a yes or no answer for the question if this person is 18+. no id numbers, birthdates or whatever. and since this is a information the user provides on his own decission and aknowledes that, they can keep it.
to ensure that no one else uses your steam accout is first, coverd in the steam tos, secondly not part of the law. thats the responsebility of the user to ensure that no minor user is able to use your account. this i coverd with the user account password

[Fenris]

and again i have to question myself why a bunch of bystanders that are absolutly not affected by the issue or the possible solution, arguing about something they know nothing about and try to defend a situation that is confusing for developers and customers that could be resolved with a simple process implemented from valve.

[zirkustier]

I always ask myself, if this process is so simple, why doesn't it exist?

[TBS AlexDK]

Fenris eredeti hozzászólása:

and again i have to question myself why a bunch of bystanders that are absolutly not affected by the issue or the possible solution, arguing about something they know nothing about and try to defend a situation that is confusing for developers and customers that could be resolved with a simple process implemented from valve.

If it's so easy then go and create a store for the market that is not getting serviced, and yes the issue is the German government, as they are the ones making it harder to sell certain types of games in the country

[Fenris]

TBS AlexDK eredeti hozzászólása:

Fenris eredeti hozzászólása:

and again i have to question myself why a bunch of bystanders that are absolutly not affected by the issue or the possible solution, arguing about something they know nothing about and try to defend a situation that is confusing for developers and customers that could be resolved with a simple process implemented from valve.

If it's so easy then go and create a store for the market that is not getting serviced, and yes the issue is the German government, as they are the ones making it harder to sell certain types of games in the country

i did this age verification on other websites already. some of them were run by a hand full of people, some of them run by bigger teams. and the process to verify was easy.
as much as i dislike this stupid law, from a neutral point of view, it is the former existing laws tansfered to the internet.
if you want to buy a age restricted product in a local store, you have to show your id if you dont look old enough. this is the same process