4Game

First off, I am aware that 90% of the playerbase believes most of the rest of the playerbase is preteen, and maybe it very much is so. Also, I'm aware that it's not exactly popular to bring the youth into the game so early, but feel free to let me know in more vivid detail, by all means.

I have submitted a ticket into Steam to address a few issues I had when I tried to create a preteen account to introduce my niece to DotA 2. I can see where all the red tape comes from, and I do know how I likely could get around it, but I thought I'd try to introduce a perspective from a former MOBA gamer as to where my gameplay opinions lie, and see if improvements can be made somewhere.

Anywho, I brought up a few issues that I had, trying to be as up-front about everything as possible. If nothing else, I thought I'd give the Steam Support Team something to chuckle at as they swiftly slammed the ban button. I'm creating this thread in hopes that someone out there can shed some light on how they perceive the issue, and maybe give options for where anybody can go from here. Heck, maybe I'm missing some obvious feature that fixes everything.

So, without further ado, here's my ticket:

"I'll be up front about this. My goal with this account is to break the ToS. I don't intend to do anything particularly malicious or anything. My issue is that I have a younger child who wants to play video games. The Family View options work decently well, and those have gone over pretty good.

However, my niece has grabbed ahold of the mobile game Mobile Legends, which she liked, but didn't like the fact that she died a lot. Understandable because she has no experience in the game. I wanted to work through a small taste of DotA 2 in order to maybe get some of the basics going, and as a past player of DotA Allstars and League of Legends, it seemed like a fitting idea to sneak DotA 2 into our repertoire. I don't even intend harsh content as would be expected from a standard match, probably just some bot matches, which are usually less edgy, and with supervision from me.

So, I want this account to simply play DotA 2 against bots and stay in the shallow waters, and only when I am playing alongside. However, there are a number of things I had issue with in attempting a break from the ToS (hilarious, I know).

1. She has to buy $5 of material to make me her friend. I get the point of this detracting bot users, but I'll just say it's a little painful to actually force a $5 price tag on DotA 2 to play with friends, which is supposed to be free to play. But I get it.

2. You can't gift bundles. Like, why? I decided to buy a child-friendly game to get her up and running on the $5 issue, and Dreamworks Dragons: Dawn of whatever seemed to fit the bill, but I saw a bundle I can't pass up for a game I'd otherwise not be interested in. I can't make a bundle gift happen, for some reason. I'd prefer the purchase gifted to my main account to combine with my present library, as Family View has made that a very attractive option. After this episode, though, I'm concerned I'm missing some of the fine print for a later date… But lastly:

3. You say that you can spend for gifts to break the $5 initial charge, but you can't get any friends to actually complete a gift. This feels like an oversight, I hope, and I'd think there's some way around that.

Overall, I understand you guys' stance on the matter, and I wish I was doing this from a more benevolent position, but these measures are just a little harsh. Just to put my point of view out there, some of these e-sports savants are only a couple of years older than the age limit to play in the first place. I'm pretty sure a younger audience is playing the game, I just want to give my niece the experience without stepping on too many toes.

On another note, I'll mention that it would be workable if there were some other method to allow my niece and I to play together while she's on Family View, or something like that, but it's to my experience that only one user can play my account at a time, plus I'd need the ability to create a second DotA profile, but I think it simply goes off of my Steam Account.

For reference, my Steam Account username is actually ____________.

Please be gentle."

A lot of this complaint is Steam usage issues, but I figure a DotA 2 perspective would be fitting on the matter. I'd throw one up on a more general Steam sub as well, but I'm not sure how a dupe of that nature would go down. Anyways, let me have it.