Turning 18 is supposed to mark the beginning of adult freedom. Finally unbound from the shackles of your parents, starting university and learning to live independently, stressed out students may be looking to blow off some steam- quite literally. Gaming platform ‘Steam’ offers a variety of titles for gamers to enjoy, including some that are X-rates.
Thanks to the new compliance measure introduced by Steam in response to the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA), purchasing or even viewing mature-rated games now requires users to register a credit card. Although this change was supposed to offer an online landscape where it restricted harmful content from children, it has now brought about a new dilemma; a large portion of the affected demographic do not own credit cards.
In fact, research shows a significant gap between age eligibility and credit ownership. A report from Generation Money states that only 28% of 18–24-year-olds in the UK own a credit card. There are barriers that prevent young people from applying for credit cards, like their lack of credit history and lower income, which ultimately creates a gap in credit card ownership. This data suggests that over half the country’s young adult population may now be blocked from accessing content they are legally allowed to view or purchase, solely because they lack a financial product that was never intended to be a universal form of identification.
Frustratingly for many student gamers, Steam does not currently offer any other way of verifying age. Other websites such as Reddit and Discord, allow users to upload their ID. If Steam followed in their footsteps, student gamers would not be blocked from content they are entitled to play. It is quite thought provoking when steam users who already own mature content are reporting that they can no longer view its store page or participate in related forums.
Could this cause a catastrophic reaction for upcoming mature games? Simply, yes. Even though we are still a while away from the hotly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 launch, Steam’s restrictive new system poses the question as to how successful the game will be. A subreddit, r/gtaonline has found that there is code for age verification in the game files, but it is not yet active, suggesting what devastating impact the OSA could have for future games.
Apart from the whole credit card fixation, there is another fatal flaw. Most games requiring age verification are of a sexual nature, not violent. In other words, the UK government believe it’s alright to walk around online shooting people and setting off bombs, but looking at some cartoon boobies is obviously over the line.
The credit card requirement assumes that all legal adults have access to credit, but this is far from the case. In the UK, owning a credit card is more than just being over a certain age. Other factors, such as having a stable income and a clean credit history, also contribute to whether you have access to a card. The reluctance to own a credit card is not just about accessibility but cultural and financial attitudes. A study published by Credit Connect and Uswitch found that “one in three young people view credit cards as ‘potential debt traps’”.
Most university students are financially independent for the first time, relying on part time jobs and student loans and are still building a credit profile. To be unable to access a major part of the gaming world because of financial inaccessibility is not just inconvenient- it is discriminatory. This also risks pressuring young people to apply for credit cards before they are financially ready.
These are still the early beginnings of Steam’s new policy on age verifying, however, the future seems uncertain. It may in fact limit teenagers and children from accessing unsuitable gaming content, but it is at the cost of adults who deserve to be able to unwind however they want.
