More than eight thousand Steam users have had enough of the platform repeatedly asking for their birthdate before viewing mature-rated games. Despite a year full of updates and verification improvements, players argue that this one pop-up remains the most pointless and frustrating hurdle. A viral Reddit thread has reignited the debate, calling for a smarter and less repetitive age-check system.
Browsing Steam’s enormous library can be more tedious than expected, and for many players, the blame falls on a single, all-too-familiar screen. In a Reddit post that quickly went viral, almost eight thousand users agreed that the age verification window – the one demanding your birthday each time you click on an adult-rated title – should be removed under certain conditions. Half-joking, half-serious, the author suggested a simple fix: if your account is already older than the required age, Steam should just skip the prompt entirely. “My account is of legal drinking age right now.”
Realistically, though, removing the check altogether wouldn’t be a smart move for Steam. While the company never explicitly explains it on the platform, the verification exists to protect Valve legally. The system is far from strict – even typing in something absurd like January 1, 1900 doesn’t trigger a warning – but that’s by design. The responsibility is placed solely on the user. If a parent attempted legal action after discovering their child had accessed inappropriate content, Valve could simply point to the falsely entered birthday as proof of user fault.
The system becomes even more questionable when we notice it doesn’t apply to every game. Since the verification step is tied to ESRB ratings, any title outside that system bypasses it completely. In another Reddit post, a user highlighted the inconsistency: Atomic Heart required age verification, while a cartoon porn game that appeared in their feed had no such restriction at all.
These unregulated adult titles have gone from being rare oddities to a widespread issue cluttering Steam’s catalog. This surge recently led to a larger controversy involving pornographic games and banking restrictions, a situation that even impacted titles without explicit content. Meanwhile, countries like the UK and Australia have begun tightening online protection laws for minors, introducing stricter verification systems that require photo identification.
Source: 3djuegos
