Is it possible to safely "give away" a Steam account to a stranger?
Is it possible to safely "give away" a Steam account to a stranger?
I'm pretty sure I'm done with Steam gaming, haven't launched a game in almost a year, and generally want to move away from DRM.
So I had the idea I could just "give away" my Steam account.
Create a new email address without personal info attached, tie it to the Steam account, remove my payment info from Steam and just post the email and password somewhere (maybe here) for the first lucky person to claim.
Would that be safe, or is it possible to recover the changes I made before and get access to my private info? Or is there a better way to give away my games?
It should be fine. You'll have to be thorough in removing personal information. I would prioritise giving it to someone I know rather than a complete stranger.
Everyone else seems to be very concerned about the terms of service, but I don't know why ToS is of utmost importance to everyone suddenly. Anyone would gladly share their streaming service passwords, would previously rip CDs or DVDs, use VPNs to circumvent porn restriction laws in their country, lied in sites/apps to sign up as a teen, etc......suddenly Steam ToS is somehow sacrosanct.
This came up recently when Steam confirmed your account cannot be left to anyone else when you die. The conclusion everyone seems to mention there is: if you leave your username and password in your will, how would Steam ever know or enforce this?
Go ahead. Do what you want.
I don't think it's so much a concern about violating the ToS as it is the consequences of violating it. Valve may be able to lock the account or close it if they have good reason to suspect the account has a new owner. An example of solid evidence of this may be changing the payment method for purchases, such that the name on a credit card doesn't match the previous cardholder name on the steam account.
But if the new owner doesn't plan on making new purchases on the account, it would probably be more difficult to confirm the account was transferred.
I never gave out passwords for my accounts that I paid for no one is getting access to shit I pay for because if something goes wrong and the account is banned then I've pissed money down the drain.
They're talking about giving away their account. They don't care about what happens to it, except maybe in the sense they'd prefer someone who wouldn't waste it.
I wouldn't post the login for random people to copy and paste. Still do all that other stuff to remove all traces of yourself from the account, but ask around and talk to people and when you find someone you want to offer it to, send it discreetly.
Be careful and double / triple check on https://help.steampowered.com/en/accountdata what information is stored on your account, especially chats, payment information, purchases, subscriptions and so on. But I agree regarding TOS if they ever find out the account will be locked most likely.
Too risky regarding personal info you might’ve overlooked IMO, maybe give it to a friend instead
And obviously it‘s against the ToS and might get the account banned but I assume you know that
legally steam accounts are nontransferrable. so ymmv
What do you suggest would go wrong? I never even gave Steam my name, so how would they even know it's different?
*by the standards set by our corporate overlords
The „laws“ that predatory, autocratic, overpowered nation states veiled as „companies“ push down our legal system are not the will of the people, nor are they based on „justice, fairness and equality“ as stated here so they are not laws.
Don't post accounts or keys online. Bots are a million times faster in soaking this data up, it's guaranteed no human who could deserve it, will get it. Make a post, pick some one at random and direct message them. Still a chance for multi accounting but less than just posting it online.
This is definitely against their ToS, so I would advise against it. That said, do you have any friends or relatives who might be interested? That’s less likely to lead to any negative consequences.
Btw, your original username will always be tied to the account. There’s no way to change that.
According to the TOS, no steam accounts are not transferable.
Check your purchases page to see if there is any pii there as that is what steam uses for account recovery.
I bought a Steam account back in 2007-ish. I wanted to play HL2 but didn't want to create a Steam account. I thought then, and still think now, that I shouldn't need to create an online account just to play an offline game.
The guy gave me his login information, and then I went in to change the email and all other info to generic info. I've been using that account for 17 years, but I did eventually have to give them real info to buy new games.
This is done all the time to sell games that aren't available as CD keys, against TOS.
The seller usually gives you a login to a webmail they control, and the account is tied to that email. You can then change the email on the account and you have access to the original email to confirm the move.
I‘d refrain from posting it openly as it may be monitored by valve if credentials of accounts surface somewhere. A bit far fetched but I‘d just make the first person who answers a specific post or whatever.
Your Steam account is tied to backed up cloud saves. I wouldn't just give away the account to a complete stranger. Also Steam's EULA forbids it, so any problem might lead to the account being closed.
I would only give my account to trusted people.
Not sure about all the personal stuff, but it is against the TOS to transfer the account.
Big answer is I DONT KNOW, but...
For payment/address stuff you could change them then try to revert to see if it works. For payment get a $5 gift card from Wal-Mart and set that as the credit card.
I know accounts aren't transferrable, but what are they gonna do? Ban me after I left their service? Ban the account? That wouldn't be worse than just letting it sit unused.
On places likw g2a.com steam accounts are sold all the time.
The worse they can do is ban the account. Just give it away if you want.
Double triple check everything and let a friend try to dig around... Befor posting your Infos make a post and chose a random comment or so. This way you can verify it's not a bot
You mean you don't have family, friends, colleagues, school mates or anyone you know personally who would benefit from this giveaway, so that you have to resort to a stranger? A nephew or niece is the perfect recipient for such a gift.
Give it to someone you already know, so you don't have to worry about your transaction history or identity leaking.
Cloud Saves may be difficult to deal with, depending on what games you play.
My brother gave me his alt account because it had TF2 premium. Still using that one!
Give me LOL I don't care about your history or something. Even you can have mine I have nothing in it.