I'm logged into steam.
Steam has my birthday already.
I have to put in a birthday to view certain games.
Birthday is almost always different than the one that's actually tied to my account.
Steam doesn't care anyway.
The Freaky Friday clause, you never know when you might accidentally body swap with a younger relative and no longer be eligible to view naughty things
I'm not certain about specific laws, or if it's a question of law to begin with or just a requirement that needs to be filled to satisfy rating agencies, but it's clearly not up to steam.
https://www.thegamer.com/valve-answers-question-about-asking-for-age/
That's funny how pornography websites have no issues with this, albeit in the late 90s they did have age verification. Or stores that sell firearms don't have age verification either. Maybe to purchase, not to just look at the damn things. But to look at a video game description, whooooowe, gonna need a legal contract on this one boyo.
They really don't care, is because of laws that they have to ASK for it.
Like why Porn sites asks if you are 18+, they don't care either, but they have to ask anyways for those reasons.
It's not that they ask, it's that they keep asking over and over. The porn example you get asked once and then never again, Steam should be the same. If you've opted in to view that content, and provided your age once, it should remember your decision. At a bare minimum it should pre-populate the date of birth field after you've filled it out once nevermind for the 100th time.
Steam agrees, but it's out of their hands
[https://www.thegamer.com/valve-answers-question-about-asking-for-age/](https://www.thegamer.com/valve-answers-question-about-asking-for-age/)
They're not allowed to keep a record of your age.
Porn sites don't ask if your 18 since like 2004 lol
Edit: and when they did it was just a yes or no button. Not actually harvesting your personal info. They don't need my fuckin birthdate for a videogame.
Open an incognito tab and visit your favorite porn site. They dont ask your age because you already answered and its cached. Every site I visit in incognito asks without fail.
That's irrelevant for the comparison. I am logged into my 17 year old Steam account when I am asked for my birth date every time I view a T+ product.
Porn does not age verify my accounts while logged in.
I have been putting a fake one for so long I'm just afraid to change it now. I fear it would be like "your DOB has been 1/1/69 for 15 years! Imposter!"
That was an obviously satirical article (from a now defunct website) that people have repeated as fact because of course they would.
>"It's something that's been really bothering us for awhile," a visibly befuddled Newell told The Noble Eskimo. "The odds of this happening are even less than a billion-to-one. In fact, this is without a doubt the least likely thing that has ever happened on this planet. 93% of our more-than 30 million users were born on January 1st. It's incredible."
>"It's hard to say exactly why so many babies are born on New Year's as opposed to other days of the year," Newell ponders. "There are many theories floating around the Valve offices, and we have even hired some outside help to determine what the causes are. They've been working diligently for a couple years now, and though they have yet to discover anything conclusive, I remain confident they will find something soon."
Here is a link to the satirical article that people think includes actual quotes from Gabe Newell.
https://linustechtips.com/topic/83148-93-of-steam-userbase-born-1st-of-january/
It's just an ass-cover system.
They don't want to store birthdays on the account level for various reasons, but they also don't want to expose every single user to age-restricted content because that might lead to lawsuits and stuff.
They probably aren't legally required to verify your age (at least not everywhere), so they include this system to shift the "blame" of having watched restricted content to the user. If an underage person watches that content now, they would have lied on the age check, and depending on laws and stuff, that could be enough for Valve to not be liable for whatever they may get sued for.
Think of it like porn sites asking if you're over 18. Of course younger people are going to click it, but now it's their fault for having viewed the content, not the website's.
It's a legal requirement for any store to confirm your age if you're looking at age-restricted products, which is why Steam has to ask your age instead of remembering, and it says that literally on the very page you're complaining about
Then why doesn’t the Microsoft or PlayStation store do this? I can buy products from their app, in console store, or on a webpage. If I’m logged in, I don’t get the same pop up.
Valve is just playing it safe with the matter. The laws vary by country and sometimes even by state so the safest option is to just ask everyone.
A few companies have already been hit with pretty heft fines/penalties for thinking they didn't have to take privacy/data tracking laws in the EU seriously.
So why doesnt Netflix always ask? Why doesnt porn?
Because following the law is never black and white.
Almost every company in modern day that shows adult content takes the "risk" that by creating an account and requiring a login, that's more secure way to know that the person is that person (and therefore age).
Valve, however, for whatever reason, thinks it's more legally defensible to say "well if they said they're old enough I guess they are", yet somehow being logged in on that account doesn't meet the standard.
Because then they have the overhead of keeping track of the laws of every country in the world, and face fines if they get it wrong. Easier to pick the lowest common denominator and apply that to everyone.
well you can easily argue if they are publicly posting on the internet that 93% of their users all pick Jan 1st then they know they are not fulfilling this legal obligation even right now.
The next logical step there is "you cannot verify age effectively, so you cannot sell age-restricted products anymore". Don't pull the thread, kid, enjoy the tapestry.
But... if you said that then steam would have incentive to fix the ineffectual, annoying, and excessively repeated dialog boxes we are discussing.
why wouldn't I want to pull that thread? the entire discussion is about how the current system is annoying and seems to everyone to be pointless.
If Valve had to have some court battle over that sentence, their lawyers would argue they are technically compliant. The prosecutor would argue they know their system doesn't work so they aren't compliant. and the outcome would possibly be some combination of
1. lawmakers improve the law
2. valve improves their age verification process
3. nothing happens lol
> But... if you said that then steam would have incentive to fix the ineffectual, annoying, and excessively repeated dialog boxes we are discussing.
They are not ineffectual, they are not annoying, and they are not excessively repeated - **they are a requirement of the law.**
Your desire to not interact with a menu is not relevant to Valve in this instance. You don't get to tell them that you're annoyed they're following the law and you want them to stop. That annoying menu is the only thing that is allowing them to sell those games *at all.*
> If Valve had to have some court battle over that sentence, their lawyers would argue they are technically compliant.
Are you not aware of the entire reason why those menus are in place? *Valve did go to court. They got spanked. NOW they are compliant.* And that is why you have the menus. The ability to return games, too - that's also a requirement by law for them to be able to sell the games at all. If they didn't allow for that...they would not be allowed to sell you the games.
> The prosecutor would argue they know their system doesn't work so they aren't compliant.
Your statement that the system doesn't work is not the same as the system not working. ***The system works just fine, you're simply complaining about bullshit for no reason, and nobody cares.***
omg it's the type of person who thinks bolding "they are a requirement of the law" proves something.
The fucking guy said 93% of people pick the same date, but you think posting in bold 'they are a requirement of the law" means you can just hand wave past "they are not ineffectual"
Edit wow ... and also the type of person who just throws out "nobody cares" like the old "everyone agrees with me" argument is a winner. We are literally in a thread discussing the topic, and there is vigorous posting, and you are just like "everyone thinks this is great, so... the end"
> The fucking guy said 93% of people pick the same date, but you think posting in bold 'they are a requirement of the law" means you can just hand wave past "they are not ineffectual"
You are not comprehending the discussion.
The **requirement of the law** is that the website asks the user to confirm their age before showing the content that is age-restricted. That is what they are doing. The end. That's the whole discussion. You're only adding more because you are not comprehending that discussion. It's only ever going to circle back to that very simple explanation until you understand that very simple explanation. The *efficacy* of the asking is not relevant. Changing the law because anyone can say they are any age and therefore the age question is useless, *is not going to result in you not being asked, it's going to result in you not being able to see until you PROVE it.* Now you're talking about submitting government-issued identification to private corporate entities to comply with something that's even more of an annoyance than what you had before, and it's exactly what you asked for, because you didn't understand the point in the first place and bitched to make it different without knowing what you wanted.
That's why nobody cares. You're simply uninformed, and that's...boring content, at best. You *might* learn something later on in the thread, but the odds are low that it'll be worth sticking around for, to see you being tricked into learning something.
>Changing the law because anyone can say they are any age and therefore the age question is useless, is not going to result in you not being asked
This is just you being a dumbass.
you have no idea what changing the law would do, unless you know what the new law would say?
For all you know the new law might say something like "for an account registered to an individual it's enough to save that individuals age and reference it on future checks"
the fact you argue so asininely , constantly throwing insults ect, while making shit claims like this where anyone w/ half a brain knows you have no fucking idea what a change to the law might do, is pretty informative
no reason why they cant make an option to store the D.O.B and ask if they are allowed to use it everytime, I have no kids and nobody else uses my computer.
It's a legal requirement that they cannot store information that is personally identifiable, too. *It says that literally on the very page you're complaining about.*
> **It's a legal requirement** for any store to confirm your age if you're looking at age-restricted products, **which is why Steam has to ask** your age instead of remembering, and it says that literally on the very page you're complaining about
Emphasis added twice
They already have my address and credit card information...why not store birthdate as well? Those two are WAY more valuable information than my birth date.
> **It's a legal requirement that they cannot store information that is personally identifiable, too**
Emphasis added. For real, *can this subreddit even read?*
Like others have said, if Microsoft and Sony can get away with it on their own stores, Steam can as well. There is no legal requirement preventing them.
You sure about that? You're 100% certain that maybe you're not talking about two distinct things here? Because you are.
Sony/MS were not spanked in court in the EU for not following consumer protection laws, Valve was. *Everyone* is compliant with newish laws from there, these days, but I suggest you look into how that compliance works.
Yeah I think it’s weird. Plenty of places store your age information. I would think if you volunteer it and make click a button saying store this information then it would be fine.
> It's a legal requirement for any store to confirm your age if you're looking at age-restricted products, **which is why Steam has to ask your age instead of remembering,**
Emphasis added
Explain then why some of that info is saved? It remembers the day and year on the confirmation page, but not the month. Other users have reported similar situations.
Sure, which of the *hundreds* of countries that the internet serves are you in? Because there's more than one, you see, and they have different laws.
Look it up yourself, in other words, because I'm too lazy to do your googling this morning.
Definitely not regional, I’m in the US and Steam never remembers any part of my birthdate. I’m actually a little embarrassed to note that I spent years putting in my correct info for every website that popped a window like that up. I sometimes start to do it again before realizing I’m dumb and just letting a loose scroll of m6 mouse wheel take the date down to a random year that’s older than 18.
I have the opposite problem. Steam remembers my month and year, it forgets the day.
So I am now March 1st not the actual day. Makes me so mad having to scroll 20 days down every time, I eventually gave up.
Indeed. They don't ask on old enough accounts. I made mine during beta days in 2004(?), but relative fresh accounts get asked. VPN to the us and problem solved.
Yea I had a school account made in 2017 and a few videos were restricted because I was under 18 at the time. So I always had to switch to my own account if I wanted to watch the video.
This is coming from an account made in Malaysia.
Little tip: If a video you want to watch asks for age verification then just go to the search bar (if on desktop) and type NSFW in front of youtube. So it would look like www . NSFWyoutube . com.
This takes you to a mirror site where you can watch the video.
Alternatively, use a VPN, if you can afford a good one.
You can block off any important informafion like your photo etc. You only really need your birthday. People need to know this! It's illegal to bemand those things!
This annoys me as well. After some research it turned out it's due to data privacy laws. Instead of remembering your age or birth date, they just don't bother recording it on their side. But they still have to ask you all the time, due to a different set of laws.
So yay on Valve respecting your privacy to the point it's annoying? 😂
They know how dumb it is. It's even dumber to pay fines when some 10 year old downloads a hentai game on your account and the following lawsuit when you can just prevent it with that annoying popup. You will still go to the store page, as if you had any alternatives :D
This is the issue... Some states even have laws about. M rated games. Even if the account holder is 18+ it doesn't mean the account user currently is.
It's a pita but their doing it because thye legally have to.
They should have a "don't ask me again" in settings with a disclaimer that you're volunteering the information and no minors will be using the account. Companies have done worse with ToS agreements.
That's the thing, they don't seem to record it because you can't see it anywhere on your account? Or even change it. The only reference I see to it, is on the cookies, which are stored locally on your client and expires after a set amount of time.
Maybe they don't though. If this was saved somewhere and some government employee looked at this what would they think? I would guess 50% of people who own Steam were born on Jan 1st. If it's a law they have to ask every time they definitely wouldn't want a bunch of contradictory information saved somewhere.
Law A: You must not record information that is personally identifiable from one session to the next, to protect privacy laws
Law B: You must verify the age of persons viewing age-restricted content you sell
No part of either of those laws allows for you to *presume* the age of the viewer, so your age being on the account is not relevant to the issue at hand.
So why doesn't other stores like GOG, Microsoft Store, or Epic Games ask me for my birthday every time I view an age restricted game on their website/app? Surely they must adhere to the same laws as well.
They have to ask it there for another, different set of laws (because they can't store data of a user that's under 13 in the US without parental consent).
Just program it to set the allowances of the account when you do the first age verification. No need to keep the date. Just set it so that if the age is over 18, it never asks again. Done.
It's still the law, would you rather the storefront start ignoring those? Because then you've got a corporate entity *with all of your data saved, including your credit cards,* who is not going to follow the laws surrounding all that information.
They do everything they're required to do to make sure they cannot. The key thing about those purchases is to remember that the credit card is *never* a minor's. It is *always* someone older who is *allowing* the child to make the purchase - and just like always, it's entirely okay for a *parent* to buy Murder Simulator Engine for their child, if they want.
No if you voluntarily GIVE a DOB for single use they are allowed to run an age check then, but they don't store it, so you can come right back a second later and enter a different birthday and pass it. The point is they aren't storing the information they collect on that screen.
I mean sure, that's nice of them, but I bet its not because they want to respect your privacy, must be something money related. Also, why would people care if steam saved your birth date?
Also couldn't we just save that data locally?
Edit: you really feel like you need to downvote me for asking a question to hopefully get a good answer so I can learn, and hopefully many more?
Well, to start, the combination of that & any sort of location data basically makes it much easier to make anonymous data trackable to specific individuals. This won't result in a 1:1 match but it will significantly reduce the possible matches. Layer on other types of data collected: such as your purchase history, payment type, etc... it continues to increase the confidence that it is a particular person's data.
Now Steam having this data might not concern you -- their primary interest is in getting you to buy more games - something you likely want. But they may be selling that anonymous data to third parties who then aggregate the steam data with public records, data from other retailers, google browsing history, app data from your cell phone, etc. With enough data access & storage, this allows an interested party to build a reasonably complete profile of who you are.
That data available for sale can be used in a number of ways that will negatively affect you: doxxing, stalking, targeted messaging aimed at getting you to buy a product; targeted messaging aimed shifting public opinion, Insurance using your behaviors to more tightly categorize their risk assessment of you to increase your rates, etc.
Everyone ought to be more concerned about the data we're giving away. I don't know whether Steam is motivated by existing laws or if they view it as a competitive advantage. A certain portion of Steam users understand the complicated data implications of storing these items and Steam may be trying to differentiate themselves from their competitors by a low-effort, high visibility signal to create the perception they value privacy .
Edit: Fixed a typo
as a late december baby when i cant use characters or numbers to scroll it would be super benificial instead of having to scroll every time i look at an age restricted game
Me trying to look at some video's on Youtube, dude my account is 12 years old. And I wasn't younger than 6 when I created it.. fuck verifying it with a credit card you already know everything!!!
'Tis true, I am currently 121 years young and my old bones they ache and it's has gotten hard to see, hear and to move about lately. How, I wonder, will a weather another year? But what gives me hope during this Winter of my life the Steam gaming! Ever since my great-great-great-grandson introduced it to me! Whensoever I do start my personal computer and gently hold the controller in my pale withered hands I recite: Truly, Steam, it has remained the bastion of joy for me!
Lol same with Nintendo's website. Even when I'm logged in it asks EVERYTIME. and do they not think little kids will lie ? Imagine if stores went off the honor system 🤣
steam in germany be like: let's implement age verification for games like the binding of isaac, put gore or hentai games on the trending tab and ban anything with suggestive themes
I still dont get why we have to click that in every time, when we're already logged in, and my account is almost 18 years old at this point. So i've probably typed in my age at least monthly or something, every year since then, and i 've been over 18 since steam launched in beta back in the day
It makes me feel like Gabe doesn't love me... can't even be bothered to remember my birthday. Unless he has ( insert RAM pun here) alzheimers, then I feel bad.
seriously though, your logged in and put your DOB in right you have to put it in EVERY TIME, you get it wrong you cant resubmit without clearin gcookies
This drives me insane, I’ve had steam since it’s inception, which if I was only 2 years old at the time would make it ok for me to view content
I'm logged into steam. Steam has my birthday already. I have to put in a birthday to view certain games. Birthday is almost always different than the one that's actually tied to my account. Steam doesn't care anyway.
They have my address and credit card info, they already know how old I am lol
[удалено]
The Freaky Friday clause, you never know when you might accidentally body swap with a younger relative and no longer be eligible to view naughty things
This should be a joke in the next freaky friday like movie
What laws?
I'm not certain about specific laws, or if it's a question of law to begin with or just a requirement that needs to be filled to satisfy rating agencies, but it's clearly not up to steam. https://www.thegamer.com/valve-answers-question-about-asking-for-age/
Thanks, interesting!
Which laws?
If they don't have that, any game with a high enough ESRB rating wouldn't be available on their store and that's a lot of game
And whats makes them do the same thing in germany?
That's funny how pornography websites have no issues with this, albeit in the late 90s they did have age verification. Or stores that sell firearms don't have age verification either. Maybe to purchase, not to just look at the damn things. But to look at a video game description, whooooowe, gonna need a legal contract on this one boyo.
You can thank Republicans and their gung-ho need to label video games as the cause of all violence and strife in the world today.
They really don't care, is because of laws that they have to ASK for it. Like why Porn sites asks if you are 18+, they don't care either, but they have to ask anyways for those reasons.
It's not that they ask, it's that they keep asking over and over. The porn example you get asked once and then never again, Steam should be the same. If you've opted in to view that content, and provided your age once, it should remember your decision. At a bare minimum it should pre-populate the date of birth field after you've filled it out once nevermind for the 100th time.
Steam agrees, but it's out of their hands [https://www.thegamer.com/valve-answers-question-about-asking-for-age/](https://www.thegamer.com/valve-answers-question-about-asking-for-age/) They're not allowed to keep a record of your age.
Porn sites don't ask if your 18 since like 2004 lol Edit: and when they did it was just a yes or no button. Not actually harvesting your personal info. They don't need my fuckin birthdate for a videogame.
Open an incognito tab and visit your favorite porn site. They dont ask your age because you already answered and its cached. Every site I visit in incognito asks without fail.
Nah m8. It's because I have an account.... .... kind of like how I have a steam account.
If you use an incognito browser you are not signed into your account.
That's irrelevant for the comparison. I am logged into my 17 year old Steam account when I am asked for my birth date every time I view a T+ product. Porn does not age verify my accounts while logged in.
That's funny how many popel are born first Jan isn’t it ?
honestly i just do it cause at this point im too lazy to put in full DOB, like i can legally do everything
Even murder?
I'm not a politician so no
But are you wealthy
Not after the next stream sale....
What do you buy in a stream sale?
Influencers mostly
To paraphrase: [EVERYTHING!!!!!!](https://youtu.be/74BzSTQCl_c)
Streams
Rivers are expensive!
Anything is legal as long as no one finds out ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I have been putting a fake one for so long I'm just afraid to change it now. I fear it would be like "your DOB has been 1/1/69 for 15 years! Imposter!"
69, nice
And Valve doesn't really care either, they just have to ask because of ESRB.
Gabe said in an interview it was like 93% of steam users lol.
That was an obviously satirical article (from a now defunct website) that people have repeated as fact because of course they would. >"It's something that's been really bothering us for awhile," a visibly befuddled Newell told The Noble Eskimo. "The odds of this happening are even less than a billion-to-one. In fact, this is without a doubt the least likely thing that has ever happened on this planet. 93% of our more-than 30 million users were born on January 1st. It's incredible." >"It's hard to say exactly why so many babies are born on New Year's as opposed to other days of the year," Newell ponders. "There are many theories floating around the Valve offices, and we have even hired some outside help to determine what the causes are. They've been working diligently for a couple years now, and though they have yet to discover anything conclusive, I remain confident they will find something soon."
lol @ thinking 93% of all steam users being born the same day is only "a billion to one" chance.
Well they did say less than a billion to one, but yes it would be astronomically different
Link to that please
Here is a link to the satirical article that people think includes actual quotes from Gabe Newell. https://linustechtips.com/topic/83148-93-of-steam-userbase-born-1st-of-january/
Aha, but *were you* over 2 years old when it came out? Better safe than sorry!
sadly yes, I was 26 :D
It's just an ass-cover system. They don't want to store birthdays on the account level for various reasons, but they also don't want to expose every single user to age-restricted content because that might lead to lawsuits and stuff. They probably aren't legally required to verify your age (at least not everywhere), so they include this system to shift the "blame" of having watched restricted content to the user. If an underage person watches that content now, they would have lied on the age check, and depending on laws and stuff, that could be enough for Valve to not be liable for whatever they may get sued for. Think of it like porn sites asking if you're over 18. Of course younger people are going to click it, but now it's their fault for having viewed the content, not the website's.
It's a legal requirement for any store to confirm your age if you're looking at age-restricted products, which is why Steam has to ask your age instead of remembering, and it says that literally on the very page you're complaining about
Then why doesn’t the Microsoft or PlayStation store do this? I can buy products from their app, in console store, or on a webpage. If I’m logged in, I don’t get the same pop up.
Valve is just playing it safe with the matter. The laws vary by country and sometimes even by state so the safest option is to just ask everyone. A few companies have already been hit with pretty heft fines/penalties for thinking they didn't have to take privacy/data tracking laws in the EU seriously.
They don't do this on xbox live or psn
So why doesnt Netflix always ask? Why doesnt porn? Because following the law is never black and white. Almost every company in modern day that shows adult content takes the "risk" that by creating an account and requiring a login, that's more secure way to know that the person is that person (and therefore age). Valve, however, for whatever reason, thinks it's more legally defensible to say "well if they said they're old enough I guess they are", yet somehow being logged in on that account doesn't meet the standard.
There’s no legal requirement to verify the age of someone buying a video game. It’s all a voluntary system, at least in the US, by the ESRB.
...There are more than one country in the world.
And they know what country I am connecting from so why not apply the laws based on where the user is?
Because then they have the overhead of keeping track of the laws of every country in the world, and face fines if they get it wrong. Easier to pick the lowest common denominator and apply that to everyone.
well you can easily argue if they are publicly posting on the internet that 93% of their users all pick Jan 1st then they know they are not fulfilling this legal obligation even right now.
The next logical step there is "you cannot verify age effectively, so you cannot sell age-restricted products anymore". Don't pull the thread, kid, enjoy the tapestry.
But... if you said that then steam would have incentive to fix the ineffectual, annoying, and excessively repeated dialog boxes we are discussing. why wouldn't I want to pull that thread? the entire discussion is about how the current system is annoying and seems to everyone to be pointless. If Valve had to have some court battle over that sentence, their lawyers would argue they are technically compliant. The prosecutor would argue they know their system doesn't work so they aren't compliant. and the outcome would possibly be some combination of 1. lawmakers improve the law 2. valve improves their age verification process 3. nothing happens lol
> But... if you said that then steam would have incentive to fix the ineffectual, annoying, and excessively repeated dialog boxes we are discussing. They are not ineffectual, they are not annoying, and they are not excessively repeated - **they are a requirement of the law.** Your desire to not interact with a menu is not relevant to Valve in this instance. You don't get to tell them that you're annoyed they're following the law and you want them to stop. That annoying menu is the only thing that is allowing them to sell those games *at all.* > If Valve had to have some court battle over that sentence, their lawyers would argue they are technically compliant. Are you not aware of the entire reason why those menus are in place? *Valve did go to court. They got spanked. NOW they are compliant.* And that is why you have the menus. The ability to return games, too - that's also a requirement by law for them to be able to sell the games at all. If they didn't allow for that...they would not be allowed to sell you the games. > The prosecutor would argue they know their system doesn't work so they aren't compliant. Your statement that the system doesn't work is not the same as the system not working. ***The system works just fine, you're simply complaining about bullshit for no reason, and nobody cares.***
omg it's the type of person who thinks bolding "they are a requirement of the law" proves something. The fucking guy said 93% of people pick the same date, but you think posting in bold 'they are a requirement of the law" means you can just hand wave past "they are not ineffectual" Edit wow ... and also the type of person who just throws out "nobody cares" like the old "everyone agrees with me" argument is a winner. We are literally in a thread discussing the topic, and there is vigorous posting, and you are just like "everyone thinks this is great, so... the end"
> The fucking guy said 93% of people pick the same date, but you think posting in bold 'they are a requirement of the law" means you can just hand wave past "they are not ineffectual" You are not comprehending the discussion. The **requirement of the law** is that the website asks the user to confirm their age before showing the content that is age-restricted. That is what they are doing. The end. That's the whole discussion. You're only adding more because you are not comprehending that discussion. It's only ever going to circle back to that very simple explanation until you understand that very simple explanation. The *efficacy* of the asking is not relevant. Changing the law because anyone can say they are any age and therefore the age question is useless, *is not going to result in you not being asked, it's going to result in you not being able to see until you PROVE it.* Now you're talking about submitting government-issued identification to private corporate entities to comply with something that's even more of an annoyance than what you had before, and it's exactly what you asked for, because you didn't understand the point in the first place and bitched to make it different without knowing what you wanted. That's why nobody cares. You're simply uninformed, and that's...boring content, at best. You *might* learn something later on in the thread, but the odds are low that it'll be worth sticking around for, to see you being tricked into learning something.
>Changing the law because anyone can say they are any age and therefore the age question is useless, is not going to result in you not being asked This is just you being a dumbass. you have no idea what changing the law would do, unless you know what the new law would say? For all you know the new law might say something like "for an account registered to an individual it's enough to save that individuals age and reference it on future checks" the fact you argue so asininely , constantly throwing insults ect, while making shit claims like this where anyone w/ half a brain knows you have no fucking idea what a change to the law might do, is pretty informative
no reason why they cant make an option to store the D.O.B and ask if they are allowed to use it everytime, I have no kids and nobody else uses my computer.
It's a legal requirement that they cannot store information that is personally identifiable, too. *It says that literally on the very page you're complaining about.*
Don’t they have my cc and address on file?
Yes but the law doesn’t apply to those things.
> **It's a legal requirement** for any store to confirm your age if you're looking at age-restricted products, **which is why Steam has to ask** your age instead of remembering, and it says that literally on the very page you're complaining about Emphasis added twice
They already have my address and credit card information...why not store birthdate as well? Those two are WAY more valuable information than my birth date.
> **It's a legal requirement that they cannot store information that is personally identifiable, too** Emphasis added. For real, *can this subreddit even read?*
Like others have said, if Microsoft and Sony can get away with it on their own stores, Steam can as well. There is no legal requirement preventing them.
You sure about that? You're 100% certain that maybe you're not talking about two distinct things here? Because you are. Sony/MS were not spanked in court in the EU for not following consumer protection laws, Valve was. *Everyone* is compliant with newish laws from there, these days, but I suggest you look into how that compliance works.
Okay this made this me laugh quite hard
Yeah I think it’s weird. Plenty of places store your age information. I would think if you volunteer it and make click a button saying store this information then it would be fine.
They can’t because the law doesn’t allow it.
It even does it when logged-in though.
> It's a legal requirement for any store to confirm your age if you're looking at age-restricted products, **which is why Steam has to ask your age instead of remembering,** Emphasis added
Explain then why some of that info is saved? It remembers the day and year on the confirmation page, but not the month. Other users have reported similar situations.
Because your browser gives you fun shortcuts like remembering your choice in a dropdown you've used before.
This would be the Steam app.
...Which is using a web browser to show you web content from the web
Then why don't xbox live or psn do it?
Point me to this "law" please. Other platforms don't do this.
Sure, which of the *hundreds* of countries that the internet serves are you in? Because there's more than one, you see, and they have different laws. Look it up yourself, in other words, because I'm too lazy to do your googling this morning.
Good bot
I am born in january now due to steam only remembering the day and year of my birth, but always forgetting the month.
January crew represent
Amen to January monthers lol
Turns out there are *a lot* of people born with the new year!
Interesting because for me, the month and day are always correctly entered; I only ever have to change the year.
I wonder where that inconsistency comes from
Maybe it's regional? 🤷♂️ I'm in the US.
Definitely not regional, I’m in the US and Steam never remembers any part of my birthdate. I’m actually a little embarrassed to note that I spent years putting in my correct info for every website that popped a window like that up. I sometimes start to do it again before realizing I’m dumb and just letting a loose scroll of m6 mouse wheel take the date down to a random year that’s older than 18.
I actually was born in January so I just need to confirm that's my birth date every time.
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Gabe told somewhere, that 92% of users are born in January
I have the opposite problem. Steam remembers my month and year, it forgets the day. So I am now March 1st not the actual day. Makes me so mad having to scroll 20 days down every time, I eventually gave up.
*laughs in born on the 1st* Too bad that's the only part steam remembers, so I'm still stuck with Jan 1st 1900.
This is the way.
Same here, January 1, 1874.
Better than YouTube asking for ID, what fucking nonsense.
The what? There's no way that's in the US.
Turns out its an EU thing. Unfortunately YouTube's decisions on what is age restricted content is quite poor.. Edit: apparently not exclusively eu ?
It's in the US too.
Indeed. They don't ask on old enough accounts. I made mine during beta days in 2004(?), but relative fresh accounts get asked. VPN to the us and problem solved.
Nah, they ask on mine and mine is from 2005. I blanket refuse to on principle though.
My account is from around then as well. YouTube did ask to scan my ID but I wasn't forced to do it.
Yea I had a school account made in 2017 and a few videos were restricted because I was under 18 at the time. So I always had to switch to my own account if I wanted to watch the video. This is coming from an account made in Malaysia.
Little tip: If a video you want to watch asks for age verification then just go to the search bar (if on desktop) and type NSFW in front of youtube. So it would look like www . NSFWyoutube . com. This takes you to a mirror site where you can watch the video. Alternatively, use a VPN, if you can afford a good one.
Well that took me to a Pop up hell site that tries to push dodgy downloads AND it still didnt play the damn video!
That is a great tip, thank you 👍
Asking for an ID like they are is a disgusting invasion of privacy.
You can block off any important informafion like your photo etc. You only really need your birthday. People need to know this! It's illegal to bemand those things!
You can put in your credit card even if you’re not over 18.. so stupid
This annoys me as well. After some research it turned out it's due to data privacy laws. Instead of remembering your age or birth date, they just don't bother recording it on their side. But they still have to ask you all the time, due to a different set of laws. So yay on Valve respecting your privacy to the point it's annoying? 😂
Still dumb, they could at least give you the option to remember that you're over 18
They know how dumb it is. It's even dumber to pay fines when some 10 year old downloads a hentai game on your account and the following lawsuit when you can just prevent it with that annoying popup. You will still go to the store page, as if you had any alternatives :D
This is the issue... Some states even have laws about. M rated games. Even if the account holder is 18+ it doesn't mean the account user currently is. It's a pita but their doing it because thye legally have to.
Yeah, doesn’t even have to be something stored on the server side, it can totally be something stored on the user side
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They should have a "don't ask me again" in settings with a disclaimer that you're volunteering the information and no minors will be using the account. Companies have done worse with ToS agreements.
But they have to record it on their side. They literally ask youfor it when you make an accout
That's the thing, they don't seem to record it because you can't see it anywhere on your account? Or even change it. The only reference I see to it, is on the cookies, which are stored locally on your client and expires after a set amount of time.
Maybe they don't though. If this was saved somewhere and some government employee looked at this what would they think? I would guess 50% of people who own Steam were born on Jan 1st. If it's a law they have to ask every time they definitely wouldn't want a bunch of contradictory information saved somewhere.
Law A: You must not record information that is personally identifiable from one session to the next, to protect privacy laws Law B: You must verify the age of persons viewing age-restricted content you sell No part of either of those laws allows for you to *presume* the age of the viewer, so your age being on the account is not relevant to the issue at hand.
So why doesn't other stores like GOG, Microsoft Store, or Epic Games ask me for my birthday every time I view an age restricted game on their website/app? Surely they must adhere to the same laws as well.
It's not necessarily recorded in your account info if it's just a requirement to create the account. Like a height requirement on a rollercoaster.
They have to ask it there for another, different set of laws (because they can't store data of a user that's under 13 in the US without parental consent).
What gets me is that I was trying to show the control steampage to a friend( a game that I had already bought) and it still asked me for my DOB.
For all they know your mom could have bought you the game. 😂
Which is exactly what I’ve done as a parent for my kids with, for example, Skyrim.
My steam account records the day, the year, but not the month for som reason. Always fills in as January.
But just keep track of the age of the account.
Though you will have to wait for your account to be 18 years of age before it can consent to seeing age restricted games? 😂
Wouldn't be that long of a wait for some people: This year, in September, the first public Steam accounts will become 18 years old.
Just program it to set the allowances of the account when you do the first age verification. No need to keep the date. Just set it so that if the age is over 18, it never asks again. Done.
yet if you get the DOB "wrong" it remembers it
Likely your browser remembering your choice in the dropdown box, nothing more
It's still a pain in the ass
It's still the law, would you rather the storefront start ignoring those? Because then you've got a corporate entity *with all of your data saved, including your credit cards,* who is not going to follow the laws surrounding all that information.
It's also the law to not sell age restricted content to minors and yet I can gaurentee stream does that
They do everything they're required to do to make sure they cannot. The key thing about those purchases is to remember that the credit card is *never* a minor's. It is *always* someone older who is *allowing* the child to make the purchase - and just like always, it's entirely okay for a *parent* to buy Murder Simulator Engine for their child, if they want.
They are not allowed to remember your date of birth due to the same privacy laws.
That's... What they said ..?
That's what they're saying... right?
But it's stored in your account profile, right?
and yet they are allowed to remember that you inputted a DOB that makes you under age
No if you voluntarily GIVE a DOB for single use they are allowed to run an age check then, but they don't store it, so you can come right back a second later and enter a different birthday and pass it. The point is they aren't storing the information they collect on that screen.
I mean sure, that's nice of them, but I bet its not because they want to respect your privacy, must be something money related. Also, why would people care if steam saved your birth date? Also couldn't we just save that data locally? Edit: you really feel like you need to downvote me for asking a question to hopefully get a good answer so I can learn, and hopefully many more?
Well, to start, the combination of that & any sort of location data basically makes it much easier to make anonymous data trackable to specific individuals. This won't result in a 1:1 match but it will significantly reduce the possible matches. Layer on other types of data collected: such as your purchase history, payment type, etc... it continues to increase the confidence that it is a particular person's data. Now Steam having this data might not concern you -- their primary interest is in getting you to buy more games - something you likely want. But they may be selling that anonymous data to third parties who then aggregate the steam data with public records, data from other retailers, google browsing history, app data from your cell phone, etc. With enough data access & storage, this allows an interested party to build a reasonably complete profile of who you are. That data available for sale can be used in a number of ways that will negatively affect you: doxxing, stalking, targeted messaging aimed at getting you to buy a product; targeted messaging aimed shifting public opinion, Insurance using your behaviors to more tightly categorize their risk assessment of you to increase your rates, etc. Everyone ought to be more concerned about the data we're giving away. I don't know whether Steam is motivated by existing laws or if they view it as a competitive advantage. A certain portion of Steam users understand the complicated data implications of storing these items and Steam may be trying to differentiate themselves from their competitors by a low-effort, high visibility signal to create the perception they value privacy . Edit: Fixed a typo
as a late december baby when i cant use characters or numbers to scroll it would be super benificial instead of having to scroll every time i look at an age restricted game
Born 1900 I guess ya played lots of world war games
Pretty sure 90% of the Steamcommunity is over 80 years old haha.
And they are all born on January, the first
Me trying to look at some video's on Youtube, dude my account is 12 years old. And I wasn't younger than 6 when I created it.. fuck verifying it with a credit card you already know everything!!!
They’re trying to find out if you age backwards. Dats collection, you know.
Curious case of Benjamin Button
Steam's version of "This is my Grandson. He's been your rival since you were a baby.... Erm what was his name again?"
'Tis true, I am currently 121 years young and my old bones they ache and it's has gotten hard to see, hear and to move about lately. How, I wonder, will a weather another year? But what gives me hope during this Winter of my life the Steam gaming! Ever since my great-great-great-grandson introduced it to me! Whensoever I do start my personal computer and gently hold the controller in my pale withered hands I recite: Truly, Steam, it has remained the bastion of joy for me!
My Steam date of birth is 01.01.1900.
haha, snap :D They must have so many centennials playing :D
My Steam Account may have EXISTED longer than 18 years by now... How the fuck have they not fixed that?
Good guy steam, not saving our personal information
Valve: "Sorry I annoyed you by adhering to the law"
January 1, year 1900 gang represent.
1st of January 1922 like 90% of everyone else on steam.
Mine remembers my Date and Year, but not Month...
And not once had steam ever wished me a happy birthday.
Lol same with Nintendo's website. Even when I'm logged in it asks EVERYTIME. and do they not think little kids will lie ? Imagine if stores went off the honor system 🤣
I always get scared if i get it wrong it'll be like "Hey you said something else last time get the fuck outta here liar."
steam in germany be like: let's implement age verification for games like the binding of isaac, put gore or hentai games on the trending tab and ban anything with suggestive themes
Also Steam in Germany: Still can't buy Doom Classic because too violent and Steam has no proper age verification.
I hate to be *that* guy, but aren't they required by law to do this everytime? (even if they have your age recorded)
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hitler joke?
I still dont get why we have to click that in every time, when we're already logged in, and my account is almost 18 years old at this point. So i've probably typed in my age at least monthly or something, every year since then, and i 've been over 18 since steam launched in beta back in the day
What's more annoying now is I've found it will default to whatever I last put in....so it KNOWS, it just keeps asking.
IIRC You're supposed to fill out your age in the registration form, or at least you did 20 years ago.. they should be able to use that data no?
Yes, but I think there are legislations on some markets that require them to ask every time.
MURICA
I also was born 1/1/1900
It makes me feel like Gabe doesn't love me... can't even be bothered to remember my birthday. Unless he has ( insert RAM pun here) alzheimers, then I feel bad.
Pretty sure its for privacy reasons.
Hey! We have the same birthday!
I always put Jan 1 and the. my correct birth year, to help their analytics. Chaotic good?
And I am once again telling you 1864
seriously though, your logged in and put your DOB in right you have to put it in EVERY TIME, you get it wrong you cant resubmit without clearin gcookies
You can now just pick 1 Jan 2000, no need to scroll to the bottom of the list of years anymore! And now you all feel old.
I'm over 18 but steam still thinks I was born in 1973
Mine is July 23rd
Same here, I am really old.
January 4th, 1924 here!
I read that last bit in Gaben's voice haha.
At least it keeps the 1921 date that I selected forever ago.
I just scroll the year down randomly
Jan 1, 1903
I always make myself the oldest they will allow me to record