Steam Age Request

SoAdCrAzY · 25 Jun 2011 at 18:44

I was just wondering, I know it's probably a stupid answer. I don't know the legalities.

But why do you always have to enter your date of birth on sites (such as Steam) that you are logged in to when you are viewing certain videos or game pages?

Is it just a legal thing?

Tefal · 25 Jun 2011 at 18:48

because certain games are age rated and the pages contain gameplay footage.

Jono8 · 25 Jun 2011 at 18:49

I don't get age requests. One of the most absurb things on the internet.

James J · 25 Jun 2011 at 18:49

If I understand you correctly, your saying why get asked for your DOB when your logged into steam as an example which most likely has your DOB stored already? If so its probably a secondary test just to see if someone apart from the original owner is using the account to access age restricted content.

SoAdCrAzY · 25 Jun 2011 at 18:52

James J said:
If I understand you correctly, your saying why get asked for your DOB when your logged into steam as an example which most likely has your DOB stored already? If so its probably a secondary test just to see if someone apart from the original owner is using the account to access age restricted content.

Ah thanks, thought so.

Yeah, I meant if my DOB is already stored on my account.

I wonder, if you could see the dates people put on them Age Restriction things, how many people say they were born on the 1st of January 1901.

James J · 25 Jun 2011 at 18:53

SoAdCrAzY said:
Ah thanks, thought so.

Yeah, I meant if my DOB is already stored on my account.

I wonder, if you could see the dates people put on them Age Restriction things, how many people say they were born on the 1st of January 1901.

Yeah a similar thing crossed my mind a while back but I'm still not sure if its actually monitored or not and if so, to what extend/reprecussions.

Tefal · 25 Jun 2011 at 18:55

James J said:
If I understand you correctly, your saying why get asked for your DOB when your logged into steam as an example which most likely has your DOB stored already? If so its probably a secondary test just to see if someone apart from the original owner is using the account to access age restricted content.

more likly that steam doesn't share personal account info with webpages (even oens run by steam)

orderoftheflame · 25 Jun 2011 at 18:59

Your Steam profile doesn't contain your DoB or age does it?

I thought it was just a legal covering themselves thing.

"By entering your date you are confirming that you are above this age, therefore if you lie and see stuff your parents don't want you to... don't say we didn't warn you."

arknor · 25 Jun 2011 at 19:06

Jono8 said:
I don't get age requests. One of the most absurb things on the internet.

highly annoying aswell and i doubt anyone gives the real info usually i just scroll down the years and pick a random one rather than waste time filling in my real DOB

badcompany · 25 Jun 2011 at 19:52

My birthday tends to be jan 1st 1901 on those age verification thingys lol

soullessfire · 26 Jun 2011 at 01:49

Had the same thought recently too. What's annoying is having to input it more than once in a row. More of a gripe than a real complaint though, I can understand why they do it, it's just that being logged in, it seems unnecessary.

dirtybeatfreak · 26 Jun 2011 at 02:48

orderoftheflame said:
Your Steam profile doesn't contain your DoB or age does it?

I thought it was just a legal covering themselves thing.

"By entering your date you are confirming that you are above this age, therefore if you lie and see stuff your parents don't want you to... don't say we didn't warn you."

this has got to be the reason for it imo

Strife212 · 26 Jun 2011 at 02:52

Yeah I just arbitrarily pick a date that will allow me in

gronf · 26 Jun 2011 at 08:01

Yep, countless times I've alleged my "back in the day" was before TVs were around, let alone those vidya games these whippersnappers are obsessed with

orderoftheflame · 26 Jun 2011 at 08:14

Do people really make such an effort to go back that far? :confused:

The Steam drop down for me shows from 1992 to 2011 by default, I just click the top one in the list knowing that it'll be far enough.

Tefal · 26 Jun 2011 at 08:20

orderoftheflame said:
Do people really make such an effort to go back that far?

The Steam drop down for me shows from 1992 to 2011 by default, I just click the top one in the list knowing that it'll be far enough.

normally i just free spin the mouse wheel (mxrev ***) so as soon as i click the drop down button it flies to the bottom in a second so i can just click

Snograt · 26 Jun 2011 at 09:05

Heh, I've always been anal enough to always enter my proper age in those things. Really annoying scrolling back to 1963

drunkenmaster · 26 Jun 2011 at 09:12

Jono8 said:
I don't get age requests. One of the most absurb things on the internet.

Yes, truly ridiculous, its one of those appearing to be following the rules thing while theres zero legal requirement for it, and zero ability to enforce the person not putting in their accurate DOB.

The most retarded thing off the internet is Sky making you put in a pin for TV as standard, sure add the option so parents can turn it on, but ofcom decided that people over 18 should have to prove their age every time they change channel, laughable. Watching films is such a pain in the ass, for no reason at all.

If I owned steam, or sky I'd simply say, smeg off, parents are responsible for their kids, not us, deal with it yourselves.

How many times do you have to restate how ruddy old you are in your life, its a complete joke.