Several countries have made it mandatory to create age verification systems for certain platforms, such as Steam. The bad news is that this system is causing more than a few headaches.
In recent times, age-related laws have become much stricter, with the aim of protecting minors. Many video game platforms, such as PlayStation and Steam itself, have had to introduce age verification systems for their users. The problem is that they are not working as well as we would like.
A Reddit user shared their story through the forum. In it, they explained that they were unable to view a Steam game because their age had not been verified. The problem was that they also had no way to verify it.
Steam Age Verification Is Locking Some Users Out of Games
Currently, the only system available to verify the age of a Steam user is through a credit card. However, there are countries where these types of cards are becoming less common, as is the case in Australia, where only 51.41% of adults have a credit card. And the affected user was not part of this percentage.
This led them to contact Steam support to try to solve the problem in another way. However, to their disappointment, Valve’s team replied that this was the only way they could currently verify the age of their users. As a result, the user has no way to view games that, according to regulatory rules, include content considered inappropriate for teenagers.
Without a doubt, this is a fairly serious problem, since access to games is being limited without an alternative that can solve the issue. For now, we will have to keep waiting, but we hope that Valve manages to offer an alternative for those who are unable to verify their age with the current system.
