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    Steam users in the UK will need a credit card to access “mature content” games
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    Steam users in the UK will need a credit card to access “mature content” games

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    39 Comments

    1. Lost-Droids on

      People do not want to store their credit card details online

      Is this just pure credit cards? If so lots of people dont have them nor want them..

      This is a crazy idea and will be end of me using steam

    2. CyberPunkDongTooLong on

      The article seems to imply this requires *specifically* credit cards, i.e. debit cards and cash cards are excluded.

      This has to be wrong surely? Debit cards are vastly more common in the UK than credit cards.

    4. Deliriousious on

      “Hey dad, can I use your credit card to buy a game?”

      “Sure son”

      Wow. So secure.

      And by “Mature” do they mean porn games? Or anything mature such as GTA?

      I fucking hate this age of verification… and I hope it gets repealed quickly.

    5. BigGarry1978 on

      My steam account is like 14 years old. In 4 years it’ll be old enough to apply for one itseld

    6. shugthedug3 on

      Age verification without a credit card is entirely possible. Retailers who sell age restricted products use these services all the time, they presumably draw upon credit records, public electoral roll and other – presumably proprietary -databases to work.

    7. dendrocalamidicus on

      I am 34 and I’ve never had a credit card. I don’t plan on getting one either.

      My steam account is almost 19 years old. How is that not good enough proof that I’m over 18?

    8. InformationNew66 on

      Credit cards are a better option in one sense, at least no direct photo or ID photo.

      On the other hand, not everyone has credit cards. What about adults with bad credit? Just because they did a mistake in their past and can’t have credit cards they are punished by not having access to mature games? Seems excessive and unfair.

    9. Ryanhussain14 on

      I’m starting to believe the theory that religious groups are secretly funding puritan tyrannism because I have never seen society become so anti-NSFW/sex so quickly and so harshly like in the past few years. Who is this protecting?

    12. DeverickYeet on

      People will just pirate games instead. I don’t have a credit card and have no need for one.

    14. Dissidant on

      I don’t know how debit cards work across the pond, but my understanding was that in the UK at least, a debit card issued to an over 18/adult has age verify via the bank itself, so it seems daft that they aren’t on the list

    15. recursant on

      There is nothing inherently wrong with age restrictions. The two main problems as I see it are, first that there is no way to prove your age that doesn’t expose you to serious privacy and/or security hazards. Giving Steam your CC is probably no worse than giving it to any other company, but every extra place it is stored increases the risk. And if it becomes a general thing that youi have to use your CC as proof of age everywhere, then people will end up giving their card details to some very shady sites.

      There are technical solutions, ways that you can prove certain things about yourself without actually identifying yourself. But our clueless government doesn’t even see the problem, so they aren’t thinking about the solution at all.

      The second thing is that we need different age limits for different things. At the moment we treat 17 year olds exactly the same as infants, with the same restrictions as a 4 year old. Then on their 18th birthday suddenly they get access to everything.

      It is ridiculous that teenagers aren’t even allowed to see discussion of eating disorders, for example. They might have friends or family who are affected, and they need to know more about it.

      But that would require them to actually think about the law, rather than just creating something that sounds good in a headline.

    16. spuckthew on

      I’m not sure what’s worse or more divisive: forcing users to store a credit card (which inherently has an age restriction), or requiring a selfie/ID. Either way, there’ll be people who don’t want to do either or would be happy with one and not the other.

      Personally I already store my credit card details on Steam. Rather that than my bank card since CCs generally have better protections (most of my online purchases are done with a CC).

    17. TheChaoticCrusader on

      So I only need a credit card to access this ? I could still just pay with a debit card anyway once a credit card is assigned ?

    18. UnoriginalWebHandle on

      Is “Mature Content” anything that currently asks for your date of birth? Because that’s games like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty, not just the porn games.

    19. Zerodriven on

      My steam account is 19 years old. That’ll be fun.

      Yesterday Microsoft did this to me for the Xbox. My associated email address is older than the Xbox.. I had to provide nothing 🤣

    20. SmashedWorm64 on

      Sorry… what? I’m 21, but I don’t have a credit card? When they say mature content do they mean any game that is rated 18?

    21. lumbridge6 on

      But I’m a 34 year old man who doesn’t have a credit card, surely a debit card is fine?

    22. Luna259 on

      I lack a credit card so my business with Steam may have just ended. I didn’t really buy anything from Steam anymore but still

    23. Woodgar on

      I have a credit card, but I use it to back my PayPal account that I then use to make Steam and other online purchases.

      One of, if not the, advantage of PP is that the merchant never gets direct access to my bank details and so I’m not exposed to every retailer on the internet. The added protection of PP will be of no value if I have to hand over my credit card details directly.

    25. Extasio on

      Several UK content creators I watch have had videos banned in the UK due to the “Online Safety Act”

      The UK is truly and thoroughly cooked

    26. spudgun81 on

      Does this effect games already in your library? im 44 years old and do not want to have to go apply for a credit card just to play stuff I own. Steam with all their money and resources could have found a better way rather than punishing the customers. They took the lazy way.

    27. Ok_Blueberry9389 on

      I will start to pirate games before I submit ID or age verification for video games. It is the duty of parents to control their children’s access to the internet and technology.

    30. LostInTheVoid_ on

      It seems to only be for gooner type games. Cyberpunk, RDR2, GTAV, Postal 2, Dark Souls (all of them), RES, Dead Space (1-3), L.A. Noire… Etc..

      All have some form of nudity and or Extreme gore / violence. All do not require this verfication to view…

      I’m against the OSA cos it’s fucking stupid on so many levels but like what’s the justification for those extremely violent titles with some incredibly heavy topics and visuals being okay… But the gooner games are too much and the kiddies can’t be seeing that. Like what??

    31. Magic_Sandwiches on

      so people will now purchase games from outside of the country, there goes the tax revenue. lol.

    32. SufficientBreakfast1 on

      I have never had a credit card. However, I would rather this than submitting my ID. The lesser evil of a bad situation

    33. XXLpeanuts on

      Hilarious that steam never decided to just show the age requirement on store games and are instead doing this, while still not showing the age requirement of games on the store front.

    34. Crypt0Nihilist on

      Our politicians are so weirdly authoritarian when it comes to tech, it’s weird. I used to think it was due to strong lobbying from the likes of Sony and other media companies, but it’s more pervasive than that. I don’t understand it. This whole thing is so dystopian.

    36. TheAwesomeMan123 on

      Don’t like it but honestly it really is the best method of verification. No different than saving a debit card in terms of personal info so go valve for coming up with a semi decent work around.

      That said however I would not do this on any other site that I don’t already use a debit card on.

    38. TheCookieButter on

      If this hinders me in anyway I’ll just buy from 3rd party sites and add to Steam. Not Steam’s fault for having to implement this, but I’m not going out of my way to comply with this privacy nightmare of a law.

    39. Jimmni on

      If this includes games like Cyberpunk and not just sex games then no more buying such things on Steam for me then I guess.