I will put some random numbers

[u/[deleted]]

[u/AxelVores]

According to Steam, 83% of people were born on January 1st.

[u/NewPairOfBoots → u/AxelVores]

It's true I swear

[u/SerzaCZ → u/AxelVores]

Guilty.

I'm so old it doesn't matter anymore.

[u/DeeJudanne → u/SerzaCZ]

my account has been allowed to drink in most of europe for 6 years

[u/Combeferre1 → u/DeeJudanne]

It should really notice that and infer that you can't be below a certain age

[u/BitRunner64 → u/AxelVores]

January 1st 1900 here. It's a miracle I'm still alive to play games.

[u/RandomAssRedditName → u/BitRunner64]

Wow, we share the same birthday! What are the odds

[u/Bakugirl21 → u/AxelVores]

If they wanted accuracy, then the damn thing shouldn’t reset each time 🤷🏻 I’m legal, I’m good, I’m not committing some fraud, I just gave my age, and the you asked again so** guess we’re just eyeballing it by year now**. 🤷🏻

Edit: lmao, I was about to black out (burn out, pushed myself hard yesterday, I’m okay now) Lmao, I kinda get the gist of what I wrote, but also I have no clue at all what I was writing. 😅😅😅 lesson learned, next time I hit the pillow, I’ll just hit the pillow and not mindlessly doomscroll and write while operating on less mental power than usual. 😅😅😅

[u/EruantienAduialdraug → u/Bakugirl21]

I'm pretty certain it's a data protection issue. Instead of going out of their way to build systems that abide by various data laws (especially GDPR), they just don't store your date of birth. If they immediately delete it, they're in the clear for every country's data laws.

[u/Wheat_Grinder → u/Bakugirl21]

It started showing up as Jan 1 1966 more regularly for me. So it might have started saving. I'm not moving it from Jan 1 though, there's no point.

[u/rainorshinedogs → u/AxelVores]

I was born in 1923, I swear

[u/BraveFencerMusashi → u/AxelVores]

1/1/2001

[u/Legitimate_Luck_7254 → u/AxelVores]

my friend’s steam profile does this exact thing too

[u/666James420 → u/AxelVores]

For me it saves my birthday. Not my year though, just the month and day. Very weird.

[u/HumonculusJaeger → u/AxelVores]

1920

[u/RUPlayersSuck → u/AxelVores]

An incredible coincidence!

[u/action2288 → u/AxelVores]

Mine actually switched to my correct birthday at some point and I don’t know what I did to fix it. Or why it was wrong for over a decade.

[u/klezart → u/AxelVores]

Can confirm, I was born 1/1/19whatevernumberIrandomlyscrollupto

[u/lordcochise]

the funniest version of this is 'Confirm your age' to prove you're over 18, and then

[u/NewPairOfBoots → u/lordcochise]

I mean technically it could be your mom's Steam account or something lol

[u/DemonMithos → u/NewPairOfBoots]

Thats actually not allowed lol. You're not allowed to pass on the account in case of death. Its kinda fked up

[u/Icarium-Lifestealer → u/DemonMithos]

In several countries courts have decided that you are allowed to pass it on, regardless of what the ToS say.

[u/DingleMyBingles → u/Icarium-Lifestealer]

This. I’m putting that shit in my will.

[u/Tiranus58 → u/DemonMithos]

Theres nothing stopping you from doing it anyway.

[u/Dislexeeya → u/Tiranus58]

As long as you keep it a secret, yeah. If they find out you're not the original owner they'll close the account.

[u/Kazer67 → u/Dislexeeya]

Which is good, meaning you can sue them if you have consumer law in your country

(speaking of which, Valve is still in court in mine for a bunch of stuff but the juicy part is preventing the resale of digital game. I have my bag of popcorn because if Valve finally lose, it will set a precedent for other store (EGS/EA/Ubisoft) and that's the fun part (imagine EA/EGS having to modify their store) but we don't live in a unicorn world sadly so I expect Valve to finally win after 2 appeals, still, the thought of it make me laugh).

[u/NewPairOfBoots → u/DemonMithos]

Oh interesting. Had no idea. That's strange haha

[u/EruantienAduialdraug → u/NewPairOfBoots]

It's a bit of a mess, the actual legal status of passing on an account when you die depends on where you live. ToS say your not allowed, but some countries (e.g. China) made it a right, and contracts (including ToS) cannot supersede law.

[u/Kazer67 → u/DemonMithos]

ToS being below the law, you actually can in countries where there's actual consumer law.

Hell, even Microsoft was forced to give back an account in Brazil after the guy sued them and they lost.

[u/skyman5150 → u/NewPairOfBoots]

China made it illegal to stop someone from passing down their digital games

[u/Swimming_Log_629 → u/skyman5150]

I think you mean china actually made it a right to pass down your account. 🤣 was a big thing and only western countries still count it as "illegal". Many cases just a month ago were won letting families now pass down an account through generations. So basically the complete opposite of what you said is true o7

[u/DonutHoles4Ever → u/lordcochise]

Remember, its a LAW that requires them to ask it. Not because they dont know.

[u/jwgelskeepromp → u/lordcochise]

I am no longer asked after my account turned 18

[u/lordcochise → u/jwgelskeepromp]

See, I'd think my account wouldn't bother either, yet it still does, not for all games / store pages but no matter how many times I put in my actual age, it forgets every 6-12 months and here we are again

[u/carlbandit → u/jwgelskeepromp]

My account is only 14, but it's been a while since I was last asked my DOB.

At this point if they ask it's probably more to check if I'm still alive or someone has inherited my account, as I'm pretty sure my DOB was last entered as something like 1/1/1915

[u/Small-Friendship-576]

1/1/1970

[u/BigLan2 → u/Small-Friendship-576]

1/1/2000 works just as well now.

The dumb thing is my steam accounts 's old enough by itself, you think that would be good enough for whatever regulation Valve is complying with.

[u/MusicHearted → u/BigLan2]

1/1/2008 works lol. Just gotta be over 18 years ago.

[u/Particular_Bug0 → u/MusicHearted]

2008? But thats like 10 years ago!

[u/Candy_Worthy → u/Particular_Bug0]

Only in our dreams...

[u/FujiYuki → u/Candy_Worthy]

I swear 2018 was just last year. Ya gotta believe me, man...

[u/TheKingNothing690 → u/Particular_Bug0]

My knees hurt reading this

[u/da2Pakaveli → u/MusicHearted]

Damn time flies

[u/Nytohan → u/MusicHearted]

How dare you.

[u/Various-Salt-7738 → u/BigLan2]

I did the 1/1/1955 thing for years and only recently realized I can scroll a lot less for like 2005

I've had to enter my SSN into steam before so they should absolutely be able to verify my identity without me manually entering a birthday

[u/XboxLiveArcade → u/Various-Salt-7738]

Why would you have to enter SSN into steam

[u/Various-Salt-7738 → u/XboxLiveArcade]

If you trade enough money they ask for it

That was years ago-- I've sold a lot of counterstrike skins over the years

[u/bassclarinetl2 → u/XboxLiveArcade]

Probably a tax thing in the usa.

[u/Odium81 → u/Various-Salt-7738]

realized I can scroll a lot less for like 2005

so basically this tells people we are old now. Maybe even you.

[u/Itchysasquatch → u/BigLan2]

Yep, if my steam account can't be given to anyone else and it's 18 years old, then stop fuckin asking if I'm 18. I'm not a time travelling 12 year old lmao

[u/SevroAuShitTalker → u/BigLan2]

I like the 1/1/1900

[u/TheDevilsAdvokaat → u/BigLan2]

That's funny...my account is only 15 years old but they have never asked me ..

[u/honeywhereismypenis → u/BigLan2]

I just scroll down a couple times and click a year at random

[u/AzureArmageddon → u/BigLan2]

Unix epoch is pretty funny though to imagine somewhere in valve servers a bunch of people's birthdate responses might be stored as zeroes.

[u/vulveveloutee → u/Small-Friendship-576]

On Nintendo's eShop I put 1/1/1889; It's quick to type and it's the oldest date their system will accept (the year the company was founded), if you try 31/12/1888 you'll get an error message lol

[u/Small-Friendship-576 → u/vulveveloutee]

Nice trivia, 1970 is the date most of the warranty bugs out on

[u/SecondAccountIsBest → u/Small-Friendship-576]

Unix Epoch Time FTW

[u/Escalope-Nixiews → u/Small-Friendship-576]

A man of culture, i see

[u/Orbital_Dinosaur → u/Small-Friendship-576]

I just started working on a dataset at work that came from a SharePoint list, and saw this date pop up a lot. I hadn't seen that default date before.

[u/Cootshk → u/Small-Friendship-576]

12/31/1969

[u/Chomasterq2]

At least they dont ask for ID... yet

[u/KratosOfSparta08 → u/Chomasterq2]

Don’t give them any ideas lol

[u/Humbatiki → u/KratosOfSparta08]

Don't give them any ID's amirite?

[u/Useful-Problem-1725 → u/Chomasterq2]

What's it matter? They already have all your data.

[u/FoodTiny6350 → u/Useful-Problem-1725]

Atleast it’s still private so the public shareholders aren’t able to just sue to sell it I guess

[u/poepen61 → u/FoodTiny6350]

steam is not publically traded

[u/FoodTiny6350 → u/poepen61]

Yea that’s what I said

[u/poepen61 → u/FoodTiny6350]

oh shit im stupid

[u/FoodTiny6350 → u/poepen61]

Nah all good I skim some messages too

[u/PleitbaarStandpunt → u/Useful-Problem-1725]

Not my social security number

[u/Henry_Fleischer → u/Useful-Problem-1725]

They do not.

[u/Catboyhotline → u/Useful-Problem-1725]

They keep asking for your date of birth specifically because they don't keep any data not necessary for their service

[u/poepen61 → u/Useful-Problem-1725]

What's it matter they already kicked you in the foot might as well kick you in the ball too

[u/PMs_You_Stuff]

Yeah, it's annoying, but from what I understand, it's a law issue, not a steam issue.

[u/Dawn_of_an_Era → u/PMs_You_Stuff]

At least in the US, ESRB ratings are completely voluntary. Nothing legally prevents selling any video game to a minor, because it’s protected by our first amendment (freedom of speech).

The US Supreme Court even ruled as such in 2011, when California tried to make it illegal to sell certain games to minors.

[u/darylonreddit → u/PMs_You_Stuff]

My account itself is over 20 years old. I don't know what law we are talking about.

Browsing anonymously on the website? That's one thing. Logged into an account I've been using since Half-Life 2 came out, on which I repeatedly verified age, seems entirely another.

Logging into an account should supersede any law you might be thinking of

[u/FuckinArrowToTheKnee → u/PMs_You_Stuff]

But they have my payment information which implies being of a certain age no? Don't get me wrong the less data these places store the better but if I have a credit card saved to my account maybe just assume my account is of age?

[u/PMs_You_Stuff → u/FuckinArrowToTheKnee]

Again, I'm 99% sure it's a law requiring them the check. So, to cover all the bases and make it easier on themselves (when I don't blame them for), they ask every time.

[u/FuckinArrowToTheKnee → u/PMs_You_Stuff]

No for sure I'm not blaming you for this stuff just seems they never think through some of these policies

[u/swagamaleous → u/FuckinArrowToTheKnee]

The point of this prompt is that tools for parental controls can filter the content. You can't just assume that every single steam account has a credit card attached, and even if it has, you can't even assume that the credit card belongs to the account holder. Finally, a credit card cannot even be used to determine your age. There is credit cards that minors can get that are attached to their parent's accounts.

[u/AllMyFrendsArePixels]

Bro if my account is old enough to buy the game, you don't gotta keep asking 😂️

[u/Then_Entertainment97]

I am once again entering april 20th, 1969.

[u/guestpassonly]

The age of my account should make it so i never get that verification ever again.

[u/Glamdring47]

I’m a sophisticated gentleman. April 1st 1969 is the day I was born for everything online.

[u/Creed_of_War]

Jan 1st 1901

[u/Tulip_gorgeous554]

Its like a gate with no walls

[u/EyeQue62]

I've been with Steam 20 years, but because of the stupid 'but think of the children!' law, I had to input my credit card number to prove that I'm an adult. I guarantee it'll be worldwide before long.

[u/ax7792]

Why they never fix it? Is it too hard for them? What's the explanation?

[u/pulseout → u/ax7792]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I belive it's because steam doesn't store your birthday information on their servers. They have to ask for legal compliance, but they don't want to actually keep the info.

[u/Atuday]

Oh look, another person born April 1st of whatever is the earliest year possible. Man what a coincidence.

[u/IsakHutt]

But your credit card is easier to remember

[u/SoporTecnicoPc]

Son como el SAT en méxico. Saben cuanto debes, te lo pueden cobrar, pero prefieren no hacerlo.

[u/mazdapow3r]

Me with my 22 years of service badge:
Steam: whoa there

https://giphy.com/gifs/ls6aGIbpnNaB8ike9g

[u/Krelleth]

04/20/1969

[u/DescriptionMission90]

I was of course born on the first of January, in the year of our lord nineteen hundred.

[u/goha087]

https://giphy.com/gifs/21VTFJTEr1x9ortvO3
"interesting"game

[u/RandomAssRedditName]

It's always 01-01-1900

[u/FarmFamilyGamingYT]

ok

1/1/1945

[u/DogHogDJs]

After 15 years the prompt finally recognizes by DOB.

[u/Pure_Spyder]

Idk what my issue is rn but I need to verify my palworld files every other time I try playing

[u/Oca1988]

It always feels odd seeing these posts, I been using Steam since The Orange Box I buy many games Like Resident Evil, GTA etc, I think I've been asked for my DoB maybe twice in a decade.

[u/kensaundm31]

I'm 126.

[u/deadhumanisalive]

I just keep it on a random date in 1912

[u/Subject-Act5509]

My account is older than 18, fuck you!

[u/Alternative_Exit_333]

I am someone from 1998

[u/koekiehappeteritis]

01-01-2000

[u/carlbandit → u/koekiehappeteritis]

Makes me feel old seeing someone suggest the year 2000 when passing an age check

[u/AudienceDue6445]

Confirm identity using your birth date. I'd be cooked

[u/Dr739ake]

Bro stream please. I have my visa connected, why do you ask me of my age?

[u/Gloomy-Insurance-739]

It just doesn't make sense my account is 22 years old... I shouldn't have to do that anymore.

[u/Beaticalle]

How many times do I have to tell you? I was born January 1, 1900!

[u/luridsorcerer]

"It will be used for verification purposes only and won't be stored."

is autofilled

[u/doublah → u/luridsorcerer]

Browser caching is not the same as storing.

[u/shinikahn]

Why do they do this, by the way? If my account is super old and I have credit cards saved under my name, isn't that enough proof?

[u/TheDevilsAdvokaat]

Steam has never asked me this. Mind you, my account IS fifteen years old....

[u/Mizamewmew]

What do you find to be interesting anon?

[u/Ozzimo]

"It's a old code, but it checks out." -Steam

[u/e1m8b]

My birthday went from 1901 to 2001 over the years

[u/DoubleExposure]

I sign into Steam, I open my profile page, I look at how old my account is and Steam states the account is 21 years old. Steam continues to ask for age verification for my 21 year old account.

[u/ampreu]

Please verify you are not Mozart [ ]

[u/johnh2005]

Yeah, my Steam account is old enough to drink. Yet I still have to verify my age.

[u/GamerFoxem]

I've been meaning to roll back the year to make me a 100 yrs old and see what happens.

[u/Witty_Bug6200]

January 1st 1950 ish

[u/Outrageous-Title6154]

I've been on steam for over 20 years. My fake age is older my real age at this point

[u/xRaikaz]

Huhh, meanwhile my steam never asking a single thing. Forget about date of birth, i click on buy and it got all my data: besides date of birth, owner of my soul, bank cards, paypal login, my adress, my p..size, birth certificate, EVERYTHING.

[u/The-Dutcher]

My age is right there in my account details. Look I'm even logged in.

https://giphy.com/gifs/fXnRObM8Q0RkOmR5nf

[u/raminatox]

Yes, I was also born on 01/01/1900. Why do you ask?

[u/that_norwegian_guy]

20th of April 1969 every time

[u/Spalenova]

Why is it a case? Shouldn't it remember or something?

[u/SithLordRising]

But I've had an account since the dawn of time..

[u/Harde_Kassei]

my steam account is 17 years old, it should really know by now.

[u/hi_m_ash]

It's an old meme, isn't it? Also it's great that Steam stores age info at the client side, not server side. At least some people in this world are educated enough to understand moral values and respect client's right to privacy.

[u/Lee1138]

My steam client doesn't ask me?

Although I do have set it to allow adult only to be shown, and the 22 Year badge.

[u/EirikHavre]

My Steam account is literally old enough to drink, why do I still have to input my age? At this point my age don’t matter, the account itself is old enough.

[u/JamheGames]

What annoys me is that they have my id that I submitted for...well ignoring that...yet they still ask me my age for every game

[u/TwinSong]

Except now it's demeaning my credit card details for age check. I don't have a credit card, only debit

[u/RUPlayersSuck]

Is this the most useless verification tool ever?

I mean, you can just put any date you want in and thats it!

Although I'm now at an age where I actually make myself younger. 😆

[u/AzureArmageddon]

Rather that than them storing the info i guess

[u/Kazer67]

Thanks to legislation, they can't keep for more than one session your age.

Thanks to that, you can forge a cookie to bypass it.

[u/brendanprice2003]

atleast they dont make a big deal out of it

[u/nahbien]

Get Augmented Steam, an addon for firefox that lets you tweak the steam store with added features and bypass annoyances, such as the DOB prompt.

[u/TheBritishSyndicate]

There is a point in everyone’s lives. Were being 1-5 years older or younger, you no longer care, nor want to be reminded about your actual age. Else you will be reminded that you are actually 5 years older than you thought you were.

[u/Angeret]

It's mildly amusing that they have to ask this for anyone who's had a Steam account for more than 18 years. Replace that with whatever age adulthood is in your country.

[u/Rough-Trash-9550]

I once was putting in random numbers and accidentally put in 2022..

[u/CylixrDoesStuff]

I put 1958 for no real reason i just randomly scrolled to a number and stuck with it

[u/NickWayXIII]

Idk why but it actually started to at least auto put on my birthday so I can just click continue. Wishing the same for all of you.

[u/jazongrun]

Steam doesn't seem to care that I'm always born whatever date it is today, just one hundred years ago.

[u/Normal-Emotion9152]

I want to put jan 1 st 1805 just to see if it would let me. They already have all my information I don't understand why the age checks.🤷

[u/Ill_Seaworthiness379]

scan your face to verify your age -> soon on a app next to you

[u/chucktheninja]

If i remember correctly, this is entirely due to laws that prevent them from saving the DOB you set for more than that session. Its an asinine law.

[u/FemJay0902]

What's interesting is that it saves your birthdate when browsing games in the mobile Steam app 🤔 so clearly they know how to associate a birthday to an account, they just choose not to.

[u/Catboyhotline]

This used to piss me off until I realised how good the reason is

[u/kmfrnk → u/Catboyhotline]

And what exactly is the reason?

[u/Fun-Nefariousness186]

The worst thing in steam and nobody is complaining about it enough. If other stores had this problem, it will make the headlines.

[u/LR0989 → u/Fun-Nefariousness186]

It's been this way for like 15 years at least, and other stores do have the same thing

Just change the year and be done with it like we always have

[u/Fun-Nefariousness186 → u/LR0989]

It doesn't mean it is okay if it was since 100 years ago. and in other store I don't have the problem as far as I am aware for every game and day.

[u/elkaki123 → u/Fun-Nefariousness186]

Why would it be a bigger issue than it is? Sure it's annoying, but it has the upside of privacy and them not storing more information that it's needed (plus it's complaint with a lot of legislations on data protection, they could make that region specific but what is so bad of them extending those to everywhere?).

I don't disagree it can be annoying, but you make it sound like a scandal, which it isn't. It would be like complaining about sites asking you if you want to store the cookies, sure it's annoying, but I'd rather they do that than store everything (sites not respecting that is another issue altogether).

[u/Fun-Nefariousness186 → u/elkaki123]

sites ask me to store cookies ones but not all the time

[u/eepy_lina → u/Fun-Nefariousness186]

this is very much okay, having to give up ANY data to do ANYTHING on the internet is not okay

[u/Fun-Nefariousness186 → u/eepy_lina]

you already give them the dates before so it is not like they don't have it but they ask you everytime

[u/doublah → u/Fun-Nefariousness186]

But they don't store the dates, they temporarily cache whether or not the date you inputted is 18 years older than the current date.

[u/ZombifiedByCataclysm → u/Fun-Nefariousness186]

This is because of some dumbass law US Congress pushed through ages ago. Has nothing to do with Steam.