Steam Doesn't Want My Money

At the end of August, the United Kingdom implemented a law which forces websites to lock out users based in the country, unless they are proven to be over the age of 18. This is to “protect their users from illegal content and content harmful to children”, as per the letter of the law.

“Illegal content” is, of course, anything that would get you arrested under normal circumstances, such as terrorism. “Content that is harmful to children” is split into two categories: one in which content is explicitly forbidden for those under the age of 18 and the other, which allows age-appropriate access to the content. Included in that second one are “bullying” and “abusive or hateful content”, so it’s perfectly fine for kids of certain ages to see those, along with content that “encourages serious violence” and “encourages dangerous stunts”. Yeah, let’s give hormonal teenagers the worst of the internet… sounds good.

Trigger warnings ahead. Of course, you already know that the first category includes pornography, that goes without saying. It also includes anything that “encourages” self-harm, eating disorders, or suicide. Quite why those last three things are on the “keep away from kids” list and not the “illegal” list, I couldn’t tell you.

Literature on the Act also claims that it will give adults more control over what they see. It will somehow give people the tools to reduce the likelihood of seeing posts by internet trolls and coming across hateful content. I can’t help but notice that certain social media platforms and imageboards are still very accessible in the UK, and no tools have been made available despite the stated matter of “The tools must be effective and easy to access.”

Anyway, what does this have to do with Steam? Accounts made or based in, the UK now need to add a credit card to their account to access mature content. No, not 18-rated games such as F.E.A.R.., Grand Theft Auto V, or Duke Nukem Forever. For those, I just need to enter a random date, usually setting the year a full 20 years before I was born, even in an Incognito web browser. No, I mean games that are about sex.

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But not all games that are about sex! House Party and its DLC are all viewable — except for the Explicit Content DLC. Same story for Hush Hush - Only Your Love Can Save Them — the 18+ Uncensored DLC store page is blocked, even if you own it.

There are items in my Wishlist that I can buy, but I’m not allowed to see the store page of. There’s been a bunch of games releasing in bundles with other titles recently, but I can’t see if TurretGirlsis being paired with something else. I can’t even see the Community page! And that game doesn’t actually have any nudity in it! Well, as far as the version I played for preview went, I should say, I can’t confirm or deny if there’s any nudity in the full game because I can’t see the store page! How can I make an informed purchase?

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Steam still takes a huge 30% cut of a developer’s money, so while I agree that requiring a credit card is the best way to ensure users aren’t sharing their faces and buying habits with random age verification startups, it’s not like Valve can’t afford to hire one of them. I don’t actually know anyone who has a credit card, and I’m 41. I even considered asking my parents — which any under-18 could also do — but they don’t even have one.

When I reached out to Steam Support, I was told that they were “gathering data on potential pain points” but could not give me a timeframe on how long that would take. It’s not the first time that Valve has rushed something without considering all of the angles, only to backtrack, so right now we might be just waiting for that. Fortunately, until they do, I have a backlog of games on GOG to play, because Steam clearly doesn’t want my money.