It’s not a good time to be an Australian gamer right now. In addition to the censorship of several games, users are now facing an age verification system that’s very difficult to bypass.

To comply with local laws, Steam now requires a credit card to verify buyers’ ages. In Australia, you must be at least 18 years old to obtain a credit card. All other payment methods are blocked, making it sometimes impossible for some customers to purchase games restricted to those 18 and older.

If Valve fails to comply with the new laws enacted in Australia, it risks fines totaling tens of millions of dollars. It’s therefore understandable why the American company has chosen to implement this system. When a player attempts to purchase an 18+ rated game without using a credit card, a message appears on Steam.

"Valve is required by the Age-Restricted Material App Distribution Services Code to verify that you are 18 or older before accessing mature content. If you wish to do so, please add a valid Australian credit card to your account and afterwards update the Mature Content Preferences."

Suffice to say that those affected are, to put it mildly, unhappy with the implementation of this measure. Aside from the age restriction, not everyone necessarily wants to get a credit card for their everyday purchases.