Steams R18+ Age Verification Now Requires An Actual Credit Card, no debit card, no pre paid card. Credit card. F to us all that have a bad credit score.

[u/Cell_thePerfect]

https://press-start.com.au/news/2026/09/09/steam-r18-age-verification-requires-an-actual-credit-card/amp/

[u/unit187]

Can somebody explain why credit card only? Why debit card, this is so weird as if verification services and payment processors want you to get hooked on credits.

[u/matthewpepperl → u/unit187]

Is because you have to be 18 to get a credit card a believe. You can probably get a debit card as a minor.

Edit:whoa what a response just for an update i was able to verify my age with a credit card on google there was no option todo so with a bank card.

[u/TAJack1 → u/matthewpepperl]

Yeah I got my first debit at 15

[u/uagotapo → u/TAJack1]

I got my first one when I was 12 lol

[u/jhenryscott → u/uagotapo]

I got mine in utero, and a money market account.

[u/throwaway321768 → u/jhenryscott]

Let me guess, you were also born with 10 years of experience for any possible entry-level job.

[u/Formal-Thing-2888 → u/throwaway321768]

10 years of experience, on an app that's only been around for 3.

[u/Amazing-Heron-105 → u/Formal-Thing-2888]

Finally someone suitable to work in IT

[u/jhenryscott → u/Formal-Thing-2888]

Yeah 46 years working on Linux

[u/Cefalopodul → u/jhenryscott]

10 years experience of working with Claude in 2022.

[u/AppleSlacks → u/[deleted]]

I recall the doctor’s hand passing me my first debit card while I was in the womb.

[u/maxglands → u/AppleSlacks]

My dad got my mom pregnant by scraping his essence into her using a debit card that became mine.

[u/Dr_Van_Nosstrand → u/maxglands]

I was born out of a pregnant debit card from another planet of debit card like species, sent to Earth to propogate the Debit Cards race.

[u/Siemaster → u/matthewpepperl]

You can get a credit card when you’re like 12 as secondary on your parents card if they wish to do so for whatever reason and their income is good enough.

Just a faux age verification again.

[u/Pineapple_Spenstar → u/Siemaster]

You can also use your parent's info and credit card when you're 12

[u/drunkenvalley → u/Pineapple_Spenstar]

Ultimately, that's all operating on the logic that the parents are giving permission at that point.

[u/jackal406 → u/Pineapple_Spenstar]

Yep, no under age boy in the history of the internet has gone into his mothers purse and used the credit card for some type of age verification.

What if your steam account is over 19 years old?

[u/tscalbas → u/Siemaster]

In Australia?

[u/traumalt → u/tscalbas]

Nah, at least none that I've heard of.

Theres youth accounts but those are still technically debit cards at the end of the day.

[u/terraphantm → u/matthewpepperl]

But you can be added as an authorized user to your parents card, which does get you a physical card with your name on it. Actually a pretty common way to help kids build their credit score

[u/tlst9999 → u/terraphantm]

That sounds like owning a company and giving your child 7 years work experience for a headstart in the post-graduation hiring.

[u/Tba953 → u/matthewpepperl]

Well in Europa there is age id on ec or debit cards maybe being able to drink and smoke begore you can do debt is helpful

[u/Somebody23 → u/matthewpepperl]

You gotta have stable work to get credit card in some parts of world.

[u/Alone_Look9576 → u/Somebody23]

You can have good history, be eligible for loans and still not be eligible for credit cards

[u/OctoMiku01 → u/Alone_Look9576]

Yeah that's my case. Simply because I have a person who watches over my financials, documents etc as an adult so my bank denies me credit cards due to my status. I do have a job and I'm 27 years old but simply because i have a legal guardian it disqualifies me from credit cards. If i would get the same restriction in my country than Australia with steam i would be banned from buying lots of games from steam.

[u/Crafty_Independence → u/unit187]

Because the alternative methods allowed under Australian law are even more invasive: https://outbyte.com/blog/vpn-australias-digital-id-and-age-verification-explained/

[u/Throwaway-tan → u/Crafty_Independence]

I have a feeling they might end up having to implement them anyway, I'm well past 18 at this point (my Steam account is 18 years old) and I've never owned a credit card and a good 80% of my friends don't own a credit card either.

Most of the ones that do it's just because it was attached to their mortgage and they basically never use it.

This is going to massively eat in to sales.

[u/TheBSQ → u/Throwaway-tan]

I didn’t for a long time, but credit cards offer a lot more fraud protection in case they’re lost or stolen. If someone uses your debit card & takes money from your account, it’s gone. 

But, you can block and fight charges on a credit card.

And, you can earn rewards points.

As long as you’re responsible and use it just as you would like a debt card, there’s lots of upsides. 

The only real downsides is if you can’t trust yourself to have access to credit & you’d spend money you don’t have. 

But, also, sometimes life involves emergencies where spending money you don’t have is really helpful. (Eg, you’re stranded & need to pay for a hotel room, or a key thing in your home breaks or fails & you need to fix your heater or leaking roof or something ASAP.  You can swipe the card, solve the immediate problem, then worry about how you’ll pay for it, rather than having to figure out the money part before you can deal w/ the emergency. 

[u/Throwaway-tan → u/TheBSQ]

This seems like it's written from a US point of view.

I've blocked and done chargebacks on my debit card without issue.

Rewards are basically worthless in Australia because they are so minuscule due to card companies not being able to charge exorbitant fees.

To me a credit card would go unused and I'd be charged a regular fee just for having it exist.

The last one is probably the only potentially valid point, but if you're able to you're still better off just keeping a credit card limit's worth of liquid savings as an emergency fund instead. If not, well then a credit card probably will just end up causing you more money problems anyway.

[u/The_Autarch → u/Throwaway-tan]

To me a credit card would go unused and I'd be charged a regular fee just for having it exist.

we have plenty of credit cards with zero fees in the US. you can literally have one just in case of emergencies and it doesn't cost you a thing.

do credit cards with no fees not exist at all in Australia?

[u/metasophie → u/The_Autarch]

do credit cards with no fees not exist at all in Australia?

Not from any major bank that people custom from.

[u/Throwaway-tan → u/The_Autarch]

No fee cards exist, but they do not offer rewards and often have minimum monthly spend.

[u/cashmereandcaicos → u/Throwaway-tan]

Yea, rewards are way worse outside of the US for credit card rewards.

They are great for disputes/chargebacks and building credit score to get lower interest rates for like loans for mortgages and vehicles for example

Credit cards are just good for building credit and are far safer overall to keep in your wallet as long as you don't have crazy irresponsible spending habits

[u/Mineplayerminer → u/unit187]

Credit card holders must be at least 18 years old and have the card active. The verification process simply puts a 1€ charge on the card and then cancels it if it gets through. It doesn't seem like there's anything else tracked using the card's details, unlike with the ID card scans or selfies which get sold over to the companies or leaked.

[u/shiddedandfarded69 → u/Mineplayerminer]

That works fine for parts of the world where you can't get a credit card until you're 18. I've had one since I was 14.

[u/eulersheep → u/unit187]

Yes can someone explain this? I've never owned a credit card because I've never needed one?

[u/f3rny → u/eulersheep]

I'm guessing an American thing? Because in Europe most people only have debit cards

[u/ItsGonnaBeMeNSYNC → u/f3rny]

It would be pretty strange if they tried to age-verify Europeans by a card only like 5% of people even have.

[u/AibofobicRacecar6996 → u/ItsGonnaBeMeNSYNC]

Where do you get that 5%?

[u/Immolation_E → u/AibofobicRacecar6996]

99% of the time when someone states a statistic, they just made it up...

[u/ItsGonnaBeMeNSYNC → u/AibofobicRacecar6996]

Okay, fine, let's not misinform, it's 39% of adults in the EU. Around 15% in the Eastern bloc.

[u/-Aeryn- → u/ItsGonnaBeMeNSYNC]

That's low already, but it's significantly lower among those most likely to need online age verification as their demographic trends are opposite each other. Younger people use the internet more and are less likely to own credit cards.

[u/V_P_3_D_ → u/AibofobicRacecar6996]

Statistic sourced rectally.

[u/PolicyWonka → u/f3rny]

Really? That’s wild. Do credit cards not provide benefits in Europe? I got up to 2-6% back on purchases. Ends up being hundreds of US dollars per year that I get for free because I don’t carry any debt month-to-month.

[u/lioncryable → u/PolicyWonka]

That's right because so few people here even have credit cards (mostly for traveling and maybe renting a car or hotel) they don't offer many benefits at all, there is almost no competition.

I'd say we Germans are particularly risk-averse which also goes for debt, people usually (generalizing heavily here) don't spend money that they don't have except for cars or houses.

[u/curtcolt95 → u/lioncryable]

tbf even using a credit card in America anyone who knows what they're doing doesn't spend money they don't have. I use one for every purchase for the points but it gets paid off literally immediately. Obviously they make their money though preying on people who can't do that. It's a fairly toxic system but hey I'll play the game for the amount of money I save using one lol

[u/sitefall → u/PolicyWonka]

In Europe the bullshit ass fees they can charge you are limited so you don't get much back. There is cashback but like 1%, not 5%. You can get more back in the US because they are screwing over poorer people with higher fees that aren't as reasonably regulated. Your 2-6% cash back comes from (a tiny tiny tiny tiny) percent of the huge profit the bank is getting from your poor neighbor who had a medical emergency this month and is going to carry a balance.

There is still cash back stuff, rewards, and specialty cards for retailers and things have loyalty systems and all that stuff in EU.

[u/masterX244 → u/sitefall]

There is still cash back stuff, rewards, and specialty cards for retailers and things have loyalty systems and all that stuff in EU.

they only do that because that yields them more data. they lay bait to get the customers to opt in to tracking

[u/ItsRobbSmark → u/unit187]

You can easily get a debit card without being 18, but cannot get your own credit card under 18... This is a way for them to do age verification without a huge department that has to manually verify people's ages, because that wouldn't be viable.

[u/UmbrellaWithRaccoon]

This verification shit is so pointless. Like, do governments really think little Timmy can't just steal his mommy's credit card at night to buy GTA or steal daddy's ID to watch some dirty videos? This "protect our kids" shit is just another excuse to make internet even less anonymous than it is now.

[u/DeafeningSilence- → u/UmbrellaWithRaccoon]

It has literally never been about protecting children. It's about collecting data to both sell and monitor us.

[u/VideoGameAficionado → u/DeafeningSilence-]

Yeah, if it were about the children then the government would have done something about all those high ranking people in the Epstein files.

[u/Moo_Kau_Too → u/VideoGameAficionado]

epstein?

mate, former prime ministers where supporting george pell when he was done for raping children.

[u/Jimbuscus → u/DeafeningSilence-]

The Australian Government was asked to implement a privacy orientated double-blind link to their existing ID checking system, they refused and capitulated in a way that blocked organisations from getting our identity.

They intentionally set it up to fail so that they could say they tried but it didn't work so now we need to provide our identities for anything that the eSafety Commission wants to enforce and prosecute.

This whole saga is because our right to privacy is at odds with the governments objectives. They want us to get tired enough of losing access to everything that we give in and accept the non-private ID option to get what we are supposed to have a right to back.

It's incredibly infuriating.

Right now, only the half of adults with a credit card have access to buy games like Call of Duty or Resident Evil. This disparity is literally discriminating against disabled and low-income Australians who do not have access to a credit card.

[u/CagedRoseGarden → u/DeafeningSilence-]

And now it's apparently about making sure literally every adult has a credit card too. Because some of us are smart enough to know that only 30% of credit card users reliably pay off the balance every month we don't get one. But to the banks that's money waiting to be collected.

[u/SilverRaspberri → u/UmbrellaWithRaccoon]

The reason why NSFW games have age verification is because a religious group decided to try and sue every place that sold NSFW video games.

[u/Xzenor → u/SilverRaspberri]

Fuck religion

[u/Ocelot-79 → u/UmbrellaWithRaccoon]

Age verification is pushed by governments so they can make profiles out of people and track them. It has nothing to do with children.

Their goal is to be able to have a random police guy press a button and see what you've said online without all the additional hassle or doubt.

[u/TheDregn]

I really hope this won't come to the EU. I don't have a credit card, a don't care about a credit card and I definitely do not want to pay for a credit card, while my account is 20 y/o lmao.

[u/RavenWolf1 → u/TheDregn]

EU is planning for it. There is initiative trying to stop this:

Stop Killing The Internet: No Digital ID & No Age Verification https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/initiatives/details/2026/000011_en

It made by same dude who made Stop Killing Games.

[u/JimothyJollyphant → u/RavenWolf1]

It made by same dude who made Stop Killing Games.

Can't imagine Ross being involved in this

[u/langotriel → u/JimothyJollyphant]

To be fair, he didn’t mention Ross. Might have meant the one who made the stop destroying games initiative, which was not Ross.

[u/MrBlueA → u/JimothyJollyphant]

Ross is just the face of the SKG, he's not actually the one who made it nor the ones who makes the decisions.

[u/StrongExternal8955 → u/RavenWolf1]

Age proving tokens can be done in such a way that the website doesn't know who you are and the provider doesn't know what site you visit.

The rich who control govenrments don't want to do it this way though.

[u/podgladacz00 → u/TheDregn]

Almost nobody has credit cards in Europe.

[u/UnderscoreDasher → u/podgladacz00]

There's little point since debit cards operate functionally the same, and cashback/benefits are a joke in EU.

[u/onespiker → u/UnderscoreDasher]

A lot because they can’t charge anything near as much for transactions. The transaction fees are part of the reason for high prices in the USA.

[u/RiddleGull → u/onespiker]

I googled that out of curiosity and holy shit. In the US the CC fees are typically around 1.5%-3.5% of the transaction value.

[u/TheBSQ → u/[deleted]]

And when someone at the International Criminal Court said or did something that the U.S./Trump didn’t like, their credit cards stopped working. 

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2026/feb/18/international-criminal-court-icc-judges-trump-sanctions

[u/Karmaisthedevil → u/[deleted]]

And this is why so many people were excited about bitcoin

[u/gigagnU → u/Karmaisthedevil]

where you also have to pay fee to make it not take several days..

[u/slash2213 → u/gigagnU]

Yeah but the fees go to edgelord tech bros instead of banks so it’s good.

[u/Ok_Astronomer_8667 → u/[deleted]]

And then if you go to an ATM that isn’t your bank, you gotta pay a fee to take the cash out

[u/TotallyWorthLife → u/RiddleGull]

If what I read is correct, in the EU it's capped at 0.2% for debit and 0.3% for credit

[u/gymbaggered → u/TotallyWorthLife]

card payments are 100% free for the buyer, but the merchant receiving the payment pays a fee capped at 0.2% for debit and 0.3% for credit

[u/zuilli → u/gymbaggered]

Eh, while I get the distinction in the end it all translates to a higher final price anyway so it always ends up being paid by the buyer.

Same as tariffs, saying it's the companies paying it like they wouldn't pass those costs down is wishful thinking.

[u/Kastamera → u/podgladacz00]

Thanks to you, today I learned that the credit card I've had for over 10 years is in fact, not a credit card.

People on the internet use credit card so much more than bank card or debit card that I just assumed credit card and bank card were interchangable. (Also not a native English speaker, so this misunderstanding never came up IRL.)

[u/TheDevilSurvivor → u/Kastamera]

It's okay buddy, in France they're called "Blue Cards" 🤷🏻 go figure

[u/Technical_Shake_9573 → u/TheDevilSurvivor]

We also call them " carte de crédit", except they never were credit cards in the first place.

[u/Alerymin → u/TheDevilSurvivor]

It's actually because "Carte bleue" was the name of the payment network we used in France instead of Mastercard and Visa. It's now CB but the name remained.

[u/TheRomanRuler → u/Kastamera]

Yeah "almost nobody" is too strong phrasing, but in EU only about 35-40% of adults have credit card, while nearly everyone has debit card.

So it seems likely it won't be coming to EU thankfully. Steam does not want to lose that many customers.

[u/RavenWolf1 → u/TheRomanRuler]

It comes EU bring age verification. EU is planning for it. To stop it:

Stop Killing The Internet: No Digital ID & No Age Verification https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/initiatives/details/2026/000011_en

[u/OberonFirst → u/Kastamera]

In my country the "credit card" is a name that's synonymous with all kinds of payment cards, even though only like 10% of people uses one

[u/althaz → u/Kastamera]

I used to think this as well.

[u/Szetyi → u/Kastamera]

I learned this the hard way when i rented a car aboard, they only accepted a credit card for the deposit, not a debit one. I had to pay extra in the end

[u/[deleted] → u/podgladacz00]

What?

[u/r3vange → u/TheDregn]

I’ve never had a credit card in my life and I don’t plan to. And yeah my account is south of 20 years old too.

[u/Drunkpanada → u/TheDregn]

You can get no fee credit cards. You dont pay for using them.

[u/Cell_thePerfect]

Sorry, forgot to mention this is Australia only!

[u/noopdles → u/Cell_thePerfect]

It happens in the UK too - EDIT: for any game labelled as NSFW apparently not just everything rated mature. But same mechanism

And it doesn't work with AMEX, only Visa and Mastercard, to make it more fun.

I had to order a shit mastercard credit card from CapitalOne to get around it... and my account is 21 years old.

[u/purekillforce1 → u/noopdles]

And it's just laziness. Plenty of other ways to verify age, but steam chose that one and then said "good enough".

Not getting a credit card just for them, fuck that. If I can't get it on steam due to age restrictions, I'll just pirate it.

[u/RoyalWe666 → u/purekillforce1]

No, they just don't want to be responsible for inevitable data breaches including face and ID scans.

[u/ziplock9000 → u/RoyalWe666]

Indeed, CC is by far the least intrustive.

[u/Hellstorm901 → u/ziplock9000]

Even if you make that argument them refusing to accept a Steam account being registered for 18+ years is insane

[u/Akiias → u/Hellstorm901]

Is it because that doesn't count by the law?

[u/Hellstorm901 → u/Akiias]

Steam haven't offered an explanation, the legal requirement on businesses is to prove the age of a user. "Predicted age" is allowed and it's why some sites just want to take a photo of you to guess your age so there's legally speaking no reason Steam shouldn't be allowed to use an account being a registered customer for 18+ years as proof the person operating it must be 18 as the argument someone could give an 18+ account to another person who isn't 18+ is no different to someone giving them their driving license on another site to age verify

[u/that1dev → u/Hellstorm901]

If there's not precedent of that specific method being legally recognized, steam may not want to try it. If they do it that way, and and some court says it's not good enough, it could cost them a lot. Sucks for all parties involved

[u/DPH996 → u/Hellstorm901]

In the UK age of account is not evidence of age under the Online Safety Act.

[u/kael13 → u/Akiias]

It does. Works just fine with Apple IDs and was how I got verified there.

[u/DarkIcedWolf → u/Hellstorm901]

That’s 100% dumb but it’s far better and safer for a users credit card to be leaked. I don’t want to have to chase down whoever stole mine if it were to leak.

[u/mistahfreeman → u/DarkIcedWolf]

Leaking an identity is way worse friend. Your face, identification info, address, etc ( not sure what all is included on AU or UK ids ) is PIA, it tends not to change often or ever, and can be used to steal your identity, track you down, or any other numerous bad actions. Credit cards can be changed with a phone call, guaranteed to be refunded by the bank in the event of theft ( in most cases ) and are usually useless without the CVV code which is prohibited to be stored to maintain PCI compliance ( the standard required to maintain credit card use as a store, breaking this compliance can lead to a store not being able to accept credit cards ).

[u/DarkIcedWolf → u/mistahfreeman]

Exactly. I could give two shits about giving them my credit card if it means I don’t have to deal with services like Incogni or god forbid a lawyer/lawsuit for it leaking and the person who used it/leaked it. You aren’t going to get anything but a headache and stress using an ID, at most it’ll be time wasted and at worst it’ll be that while paying out of pocket for lawyers/services alongside government paperwork.

[u/gusthenewkid → u/purekillforce1]

Just buy it on humble bundle or something and redeem it on steam 

[u/purekillforce1 → u/gusthenewkid]

Are they all on there, too? Didn't realise that, I thought that website was just for bundle deals! I'll have a proper look at it, thanks!

[u/produno → u/purekillforce1]

Or itch.io. Some devs inc myself give steam keys with every itch purchase.

[u/purekillforce1 → u/produno]

My man! I shall check that out also! Coming from PS, it's great to have store options!

[u/gusthenewkid → u/purekillforce1]

Yeah, there is fanatical and greenmangaming as well 

[u/ziplock9000 → u/purekillforce1]

I actually prefer it. It's less intrusive on personal details than uploading pictures, passports, addresses, etc etc.
Not everyone has a drivers licences and they give them move info than a credit card anyway.

What are those other ways?

[u/peterkayscarshare → u/purekillforce1]

don't act like you wouldn't kick off if they asked for ID photos though

[u/Astillius → u/noopdles]

my account is 17 years old. if Valve can't do the fucking math here, then they clearly don't want my cash and i'll go back to sailing the high seas like i'm 17 again. fuck 'em!

ETA: if ol' ziplock is anything to go by, i guess valve may not be able to do this math... shit.

[u/B3owul7 → u/Astillius]

gog.com, my friend.

[u/REDDIT_JUDGE_REFEREE → u/Astillius]

A lot of lawyers on Reddit this morning, claiming the account age is a legally valid verification strategy. I don’t think Valve is requiring this because it’s a fun epic time for them.

[u/ArunKT26 → u/Cell_thePerfect]

The whole title turned into a clickbait whithout the information you conveniently forgot to mention

[u/L0rdSkullz → u/ArunKT26]

Yeah holy karma farming lmao

[u/The-Dutcher → u/Cell_thePerfect]

Lucky me. Europe doesn't really have a credit card culture afaik

[u/ayu-ya → u/The-Dutcher]

Yeah, I'm in Europe and don't know anyone who has a credit card. I have no idea if I could even get approved for one, currently being new at my job, not being super wealthy etc.

[u/fazzah → u/ayu-ya]

you can easily get a CC in most EU banks, granted they can see a history of regular money deposits on to your account. they have systems for patterns and calculate your credit score

EDIT: withdrawals -> deposits

[u/JuustoKakku → u/ayu-ya]

I'd say they are common in Finland. Banks generally offer cards with both debit & credit on the same physical card. Different numbers of curse. You can still get a plain debit, but the joint card is more common of you have stable income I believe.

I generally do any bigger purchases with it, due to the better protections, and pay it fully back each month. That said, based on random news articles, people also avoid using it even if they have one, because it's debt.

[u/jibbycanoe → u/Cell_thePerfect]

How convenient. Australia has had ridiculous censorship and other retarded laws for decades now. The group behind the worldwide censorship of R18 games is from Australia and y'all have some of the most draconian drug laws in the world while also behind full of drug users and alcoholics. I've met many an awesome Australian, and absolutely love the geology and ecology of the continent, but it has one of the most retarded governments and populaces in the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_Shout

[u/Khaosina → u/Cell_thePerfect]

Good clickbait lmao, I was confused since credit cards literally do not exist in my country.

[u/Hoenirson → u/Khaosina]

What country?

[u/Khaosina → u/Hoenirson]

France. We can have debit cards attached to a loan/credit from a bank, but like 95% of people use debit, deferred debit exists too. The "traditional" credit card based on revolving credit as one would have in USA/UK/Aus doesn't exist. Even French AmEx are actually deferred debit.

In a similar vein, credit scores do not exist either. Anything to do with loans is based purely on income and banking history.

[u/Sawses → u/Cell_thePerfect]

Man, over the last 15 years it's been insane how much Australia has tumbled down an authoritarian pipeline. Like everybody talks about the US (and we definitely have problems...) but nobody's talking about how Australia is further along that path than pretty much anybody else and they're one Trump away from a genuine authoritarian dictatorship.

[u/XsNR → u/Sawses]

I mean they've always been a weird mix of authoritarian and freedom. We're just seeing them actually put that into play on the internet in the last few years.

[u/Sinniee → u/Cell_thePerfect]

That implies its not steams decision to do this. The title implies it is

[u/AtlasWH]

Is this because of Australian politicians? 

[u/boneless117 → u/AtlasWH]

Australia already has laws in place for brick and mortar stores selling R18+ rated items. You may be asked to provide identification to confirm age.

The recent online safety act is just playing catch-up forcing it to not be a type in your age situation.

[u/Catboyhotline → u/boneless117]

ID checks at physical stores are always a bad comparison, internet age verification would be like if a store took a photocopy of your ID and locked in a box in a storage room out back. Idk about you but I'm not comfortable with copies of personal documents sitting around out of my reach

[u/Area51_Spurs → u/boneless117]

It’s to collect data on all the naughty shit you’re watching. Be forreal.

That protecting the children nonsense is bullshit.

[u/OnkelKankel]

In Europe debit cards is prefered over credit cards this is just stupid.

[u/AnakinPuddlehopper → u/OnkelKankel]

This affects Australia only. 

It is still stupid nonetheless. 

[u/Kruxxor → u/AnakinPuddlehopper]

It's already in place in the UK, has been for months.

[u/AnakinPuddlehopper → u/Kruxxor]

Commonwealth gotta stick together, I guess? Canada next?

[u/Joker2kill → u/AnakinPuddlehopper]

Credit cards are extremely popular in Canada.

We take a lot of our consumer culture from the USA in that regard.

[u/Technical_Shake_9573 → u/OnkelKankel]

It's not prefered... It's the actual defaut type of cards delivered. In France, you actually needs to Ask for a credit cards which will be way more complex to get instead of a simple debit one.

In my 30+y of existence, i may have only knew 2 people that had a credit card.

[u/silentaba]

It's also a massive F to people like me who just do not want a credit card. I've done fine up until all most 40 without one and I'm not starting now tyvm, and if that means not purchasing on steam then fine.

[u/sucr4m → u/silentaba]

My stream account being over 20 years old should solve any of this bullshit no?

[u/silentaba → u/sucr4m]

No, according to other people. I've had this account since the OG orange box and HL2, haven't been hot yet myself

[u/Hellstorm901 → u/silentaba]

In the UK we already have this on Steam under the OSA, I can confirm as it stands right now Steam is refusing to accept legally recognised ID's such as full drivers license and government employee cards and is refusing to apply common sense like other websites are that accounts which have been registered for over 18 years must be 18

[u/[deleted] → u/Hellstorm901]

Worth pointing out the OSA absolutely does not prevent them saying "The account is over 5 years old and you had to be over 13 to set it up, thus you are 18".

Apple is one who have taken that approach.

[u/CurryMVPGOAT30 → u/silentaba]

If you haven't been hit I imagine whatever you're using is been seen as a credit card. Debit cards that are MasterCard seem to be able to pass it because MasterCard have some age verification shit themselves which steam seems to be relying on, would explain why some CCs are working and others aren't and vice versa with debit cards.

There is no prompt, just comes up when you try access an R18 page on steam

[u/Zeraphicus → u/sucr4m]

Now thats funny, "my steam account is of age gaben"

[u/[deleted] → u/Zeraphicus]

This stuff has been around long enough it's almost always true. My Xbox, PSN and Steam accounts are all older than 18 but all 3 want me to prove I am.

[u/yewEngine → u/silentaba]

Same with me. Why do they assume everybody wants or has a credit card.

18% of adults in the USA and 35% of adults in Europe do not own a credit card.

[u/nonyabuissnes_95]

Disclaimer: it is for australia

Edit: typo

[u/Mr_F1xEr → u/nonyabuissnes_95]

for now*

[u/Grizzack]

Australia really out here trying to be the worst place to live for normal people

[u/chunkyassassin98]

Can the Australian government please find some other shit todo instead of fucking up peoples shit online and restricting us so much like we are some communist country. Every day I feel like we are getting another leash around our neck for something we should have freedom over.

Just leave people alone and let them do what ever they want online! Jesus Christ man, I’m genuinely sick of more and more rules coming out to restricting us, They have such bigger issues they need to address but no, let’s go fuck around with steam and more age verification on the internet.

Just leave shit alone ffs

[u/ScarredDjinnOfWar → u/chunkyassassin98]

It's to protect the children, THE CHILDEN!!!111!!!

Meanwhile children are being trafficked by those who make up these new rules.

[u/No_Base9153 → u/chunkyassassin98]

Solve housing crisis? Help homelessness? ATSI equality? Transport equity? Cost of living? Nope, they would rather produce pervasive solutions that interfere with online users, and who knows, this could just be the start. Get greens in

[u/banksie94]

What happens if you never had a credit card and never want a credit card

I avoid those things like the plague and even my love of steam won't make me get one

[u/ayu-ya → u/banksie94]

I'm holding off buying games on Steam ever since it came to the UK. I don't want to risk it coming to where I live and Valve still not adding ANY other option for adults who don't or can't have a cc.

[u/selco13]

Lots of talk about the US, but the article is talking about Australia.

[u/Guaymaster]

My steam account is 14 years old, meaning that as long as I was 4 when I made it I should be at least 18. Does that help?

[u/TidalLion → u/Guaymaster]

I wish. I was like 17 or 18 when I made mine.

the logic should be this: (minimum age to make the account) + (age of the account) = estimated age of account owner. If that number is 18 or higher, then no verification needed. If that number is lower, then cross reference with person's Birthdate/ birth year.

Yes that system could be tricked i understand that, but it would be less invasive

For example 13+15 year old account= estimated age of 28 year old owner of account. No verification needed.

I mean, if an account is so old it's almost old enough to drink, I don't think Verification needs to happen.

[u/SuspendedHalo]

Australia has some pretty shit legislation

[u/Bulky-Ganache2253]

Welp, Australian government at it again

[u/Magius05]

Can you maybe change regions and use a vpn to get around this? Sorry no idea if that will work for you but seems like the only viable solution. Thankfully we not dealing with stuff like this. Yet.

[u/BRB1993 → u/Magius05]

Possibly? For me, it doesn't work. Using a VPN in Firefox doesn't allow me to see anything R18+ unless I sign in. Once I sign in, I get hit with the 'add a credit card' check. Same goes with using the VPN on my router.

I personally haven't tried changing the Steam Store location to elsewhere outside Australia. I suspect it wouldn't bypass it but who knows.

Either way. This situation sucks. I'm pissed off at the Government and the eSafety Commission. I'm more annoyed than pissed at Steam, simply for having just the credit card check and nothing else.

[u/LSD_Ninja → u/Magius05]

I imagine that was already locked down from people using it to abuse regional pricing.

[u/Stuckinatransporter]

Im mid 60s haven't had a credit card in 20 years if they think Im going to get a CC to ID myself they know where they can shove that (o)

[u/DraciVik]

Lol, I actually avoid credit cards in europe since they have no benefits.

[u/Arkyja]

F to like half of europe if this comes over here.

[u/Catboyhotline → u/Arkyja]

You guys better do a better job making noise about this than Australia does. We're so politically apathetic they can do anything to us

[u/Arkyja → u/Catboyhotline]

I mean we dont really have to make noise in this case. We are one of the biggest markets and if they require a credit card they'll lose half the customers because they dont have credit cards. So the problem would solve itself because they're not willing to lose all that money.

[u/Skithe]

Stop getting mad at steam when all they are doing is complying with a legal lawful order of your select government. If you want to get mad, get mad at your government for over reaching their power under the disguise of protecting the children.

[u/EmBur__ → u/Skithe]

Not just the government but the people of your country as well. The amount of gormless apes in this country (uk) that believe in this is actually about child safety is enough to drive a man insane due to their sheer idiocy.

Governments aren't just pushing this authoritarian crap on us because they want to, they're doing it because they know they can get away with it due to how unaware and naive the population is.

[u/jamyjet]

I'm curious, people have complained about this in the UK for a while but I've never had to verify my age using PayPal or my debit card. Are those methods fine because they're linked to my bank account?

[u/Totally_Rand0ms → u/jamyjet]

It's only for specific explicit games in the UK. You can see pretty much everything except those games and use steam as normal without age verification. GTA doesn't require verification, something like huniepop does

Edit to add: debit card or paypal doesn't work for age verification in the UK, I tried it, both linked to bank account. It has to be credit card

[u/M0untainWizard]

My steam account is 21 years old. It this enough for age verification?

[u/Accomplished-Risk486]

What if I have had my Steam account for more than 18 years?

[u/LSD_Ninja]

I haven’t tried it with mine yet, but there was talk in another thread that MasterCard Debit cards work with certain banks.

[u/dompromat]

What if my account is 18 years old?

[u/Cathulion → u/dompromat]

You still have to. They are ignoring your account age.

[u/dompromat → u/Cathulion]

Interesting. Does the ability of Australian children to apparently time travel have anything to do with the water flowing in the wrong direction down there?

I bet it does

[u/JackRyan13 → u/dompromat]

Valve obviously feels that account age is not enough to protect it legally in the case of a breach.

[u/The-Bear-Jew-TopHits]

Wtf are you supposed to do if you don’t have a credit card?

[u/NatFluff → u/The-Bear-Jew-TopHits]

Learn how to sail the seas.

Edit: The smartest things the devs can do now is create a "family friendly" version of the game on Steam, and allow the games to have an uncensored patch for free outside of Steam. (Like most mature games do on Steam.)

[u/ElonsMuskyFeet]

Link is Australia so im guessing its only for Australia? 

[u/Macaron-kun]

I guess I'll be buying third party for the foreseeable future.

[u/ParanoidalRaindrop]

Lmao, I don't even have one.

[u/shaneo88]

What if you don’t have a credit card?

[u/Alternative-Suit5541]

Wait

What? In Germany almost no one has a real credit card

[u/phoenixmusicman]

Im a grown ass adult and have never once needed a credit card, I've always lived with a debit card.

[u/aeline136]

That's fucked up, I live in France and I don't know anyone with a credit card (i only have a debit card with no deficit allowed like most young people), they have a bad rep here since the 2008 financial crisis as it's too easy to drown in debt. I'm not getting one just to prove that I'm an adult.

[u/red286]

Hopefully this stays in Australia, like many other things there.

[u/Derpykins666]

I wonder if they could just look at how old an account is and stop asking 'how old are you'

my account is 21 years old.

[u/Walk-the-layout]

In my country it's super rare for people to have a credit card.

Also, fuck collective shout and all these associations and politicians that pressure steam and visa/MasterCard to apply their political ideas on the world.

[u/Tym4x]

But my account is 23 years old

[u/Cathulion → u/Tym4x]

Sadly they cant take that as proof in Australia.

[u/JackRyan13 → u/Cathulion]

They could take it as proof, valve just has to feel confident that it's enough to protect itself legally. They obviously don't, or they want to be as obtrusive as they can with law.

[u/dominik7778n]

does steam know that outside the US Credit cards are quite rare in my country only 17% got one and that is sinking quite fast

[u/JeffMakesGames]

Why are people upset with Valve over this and not their country?

VALVE HAS TO FOLLOW THE LAWS IN YOUR COUNTRY IN ORDER TO OPERATE THEIR BUSINESS.

If you guys don't like it, try changing the law?

[u/NotJimmy97]

You can get a credit card easily as a person with terrible credit. You're just going to have one with a worse than average interest rate. Which should be fine because you'll pay it off at the end of the month - considering you were originally planning on paying with a debit or pre-paid card. Right? Riiiiiight?