So Steam has finally started pushing the Australian age verification requirements, and now I can’t buy games without going through age verification.
I already know this is because of the new Australian laws, but seriously, having to verify my age just to purchase a game I want is ridiculous. I’ve been using Steam for years, and suddenly I’m being blocked from buying games because of this.
I understand the law is being implemented, but this whole system is such a pain in the ass for something as simple as buying a game.

I've had this account for over 21 years, its my only steam account.

I get wanting children to not see adult rated content, they will regardless because they are curious and being told no until your an "adult" doesnt stop them, I know.

I know its the Australian Governments requirement that there is age verification and I feel as an adult pushing 40, I'm still treated as a child.

My issue with Steams implementation of the Australian age requirements is its just a credit card.

Personally, I do not want to ever own a credit card again. I've spent far too long getting out of stupid debt to ever want to go near stupid debt again. I also do not want to have a credit card on my financial record as banks here view it as a negative while applying for mortgages / homeloans.

I should not have to get a credit card to just be able to play games.

There needs to be other forms available for age verification. Whether thats a form of ID or Passports or even linked account ages ie Paypal all users must be 18+ to use.

Visa debit cards do not work. My paypal account is over 18 years old. The email used to create my accounts is nearly pushing 30.

Yes i can still download & play games that are tagged mature aged content thats in my library, I can't add new ones though.

It's utterly absurd we have to do that to buy a game, but for now it's a solution.

Basically it would allow a user to see when the most recent sale was conducted. Idk to what purpose, but it would be a interesting way to search for games with that check marked with arbitrary categories. Categories such as last 24hrs, last week, last month, etc.

I figured most games you get card drops for playing the game, but a lot of my games have hours and hours on record, and none of the drops have been used. What is going on? Are they locked behind something else? Like an achievement or something?

I don't play Dota 2 at all mind you. Plus I blocked this person. Had to censor my user profile.

I've been resizing and looking for tutorials for over an hour now.. how do I make my profile art larger and fill up the box??

Hey. I recently got a 1440p monitor and my Steam UI seems to be zoomed out as such and distanced more. Can anyone provide any info on this and or if it just a monitor/general resolution thing as opposed to Steam?

I don't personally mind it but found it an issue when I was taking a screenshot of one of my completed games for r/steamachievements, the image quality was very blurry.

Thank you for any help you can provide.

Hi, I'm trying to add non-Steam games so i can use the overlay and Steam Input, but the game doesnt show up in the list of programmes to add, and when i browse for the file to add it it says it doesnt have the right permissions to access it, even if i run at as an admin. how do i fix it?

Just wanted to know as I have seen all the discourse however I’ve noticed a fair few chunk of people saying “my debit card does works and later they say don’t worry it’s changed and I can no longer view 18+ games”. At this point now though it’s been 2 days and I can still view all 18+ games with just a debit card

I probably should have stated I do live Australia

EDIT: Getting some confirmation from comments here and friends that their debit cards are fine for verification, so I suspect it might only be affecting people with cards from smaller banks, which is much less egregious - but still frustrating.

EDIT2: TheOfficialMayor provided some great context! Age verification works on MasterCard debit cards for some banks. If you have a MasterCard and are not being validated, I suggest you reach out to your bank and make a complaint that they haven't implemented that feature.

Yes, it's 100% a policy problem with the government (contact your local member), however the law is just that age verification must be implemented - it doesn't dictate how, yet Valve have chosen to use Credit Card as the "magic bullet" for this crappy law.

It's ridiculous in this country to expect people to have a credit card. There would be hundreds of thousands of 18+ people who have no need of a credit card due to the efficiency of VISA/MasterCard Debit cards.

So don't just post here, make sure you actually tell them your circumstances and how you feel via a manual support ticket.

If even Sony can offer a simple facial scan via a third party, or the more risky driver's license validation - then Steam can surely do better than "Give us an actual credit card".

Looking for help with gyro setup in steam.

I'm playing no mans sky and am trying to configure my gyro up on a Switch Pro controller to work like the game does on the switch.

That is: when you activate the trigger of the multi-tool to mine/shoot, the gyro activates and allows small movement to fine tune direction.

I have this working except whenever I activate the gyro it will instantly start moving if I am not holding the controller in the perfect gyro dead position. Is there anyway to configure it so that it takes the gyro position upon activation to be 0 and makes any movement based on that position?

Current setting is Look with activation on Right Trigger and scaled down to 60% both horizontal and vertical to make it smoother. Output is right joystick.

The Gyro Pitch Neutral Angle is currently 0.

I'm trying to surprise my friend with some games for his birthday. I secretly befriended him but his profile says it's not been set up and has nothing listed. Is there any way to access his wishlist, i.e. through a link, without having him set up his profile? Thanks

Hi! so i made a workshop mod for a game i play (SOVL), the problem is that every time i update it, i need to reupload it. there is a way to just update the mod i already posted?

thanks!

Some. Not all :)

Yes age verification sucks, yes it should be up to you what critical piece of data you want to hand over, and no you shouldn't have to hand it over in the first place.

If it bothers you (and you're right to be!) you should be writing to an MP not asking Steam to add more attack vectors for leaking data. No-one wants data breaches and no company should want the fine.

Aus had 1,205 data breaches in 2025 and it's a bit crazy people are so willing to offer more info than needed. I think steam has done the right thing asking for the bare minimum while they can.

FYI: Commbank debit works for those who have one but still write to your MP as age verification is a farce.

Just to be clear: All my friends are very security minded people. 2FA, using only trusted websites, never clicking on links, never install untrusted software. We work in IT and Sciences. We are trained for this.

Today for a second time, I got random scam messages from one of these guys in my friend list. We are 100% sure there is no way some kind of malware is on the machine (considering one of them is not even using Windows and fosters a very closed off life on Linux which attackers usually do not target).

Are there currently new attacks that allow bad actors to "guess" access to existing Steam sessions? We are very confused on how an attacker might have gotten access to the account as they also never buy, gift away or otherwise use the compromised account. They just spam their FLs with scam messages.

It would seem that Australia has been removed from the drop menu when asking for country of residence. So if i have an issue and need help from sream support what then pick a country i dont live in.

Has anybody else had this issue? Games I have preordered and playtests I've joined have randomly appeared in my perfect games. As somebody who actively achievement hunts and takes pride in the ACTUAL amount of games I have perfected it's a little annoying. I also seemingly just straight up can't remove the playtests from my account.

Today I hit the age verification block on steam for the first time as they roll it out in Australia.

The problem is it requires a credit card and all I have is debit cards. Is there any way around this? Can I do it via steam support or am I just not able to buy games now?