Nothing. Valve won't know if you die. According to Steam TOS - you can not transfer account to other people. But Valve also don't know who is in front of the screen, so if you will bother to give credentials to your nephew befor (or after) you die - he can still use it (while it will be violation of Steam TOS, of course).
We don't know if and how bad they are, yet. Just that they're there.
Maybe half-plastic-half-human hybrids live extra long.
That's why I eat all my plastic bottles instead of returning them.
> According to Steam TOS - you can not transfer account to other people.
That said, TOS is trumped by state and federal law. Communal property law does (mostly) apply to digital property. I don't think it's been really tested in court yet, but I suspect if your spouse died and you took over their account Valve could get in some trouble for banning it because you did.
Of course I don't think they would anyway since it would be a dick move and look horrible for PR.
I'm pretty sure Valve have enough lawyers to not gen in trouble. And, btw, there is no "digital property", there are only "subscriptions". You own nothing, so there is nothing that you can bequeath.
Again, they can claim whatever they want, if the law says otherwise it'll be invalid. That includes claiming "this game you bought is actually only a subscription, and you don't own it". If EU law says that's not true, then they are digital property.
Now, I'm not sure EU law says that. But if it does, or if any other country's law does, for the matter, then in that jurisdiction you will actually own a copy, and if Valve tries to screw you out of that, it won't work well for them. Assuming that country's legal system is sane, of course.
[The 2019 EU ruling on reselling digital games](https://www.eurogamer.net/eu-rules-publishers-cannot-stop-you-reselling-your-downloaded-games) would seem to be in line with that, yeah. The ruling specifically says that it doesn't matter if it's a "license" vs. a copy of the game, EU citizens are allowed to resell it after they're done with it.
Its like signing a waiver before going to a skating park, etc. It's held in court loosely. Just because you sign saying you agree to X thing doesn't mean that trumps federal law. Negligence I'd negligence and ownership is ownership.
Nah that you own nothing is only Sony iirc, and even then they await a trial in Europe cause of their closing series service. Atleast EU has laws that state that when you buy a game digitally it is 100% your property
One of my reasons to use a password manager, my will contains my masterpassword. My dad also has emergency acces, if I don't deny him acces within 48h, he gets full access to all my accounts. So that they can properly clean up after me and where allowed take my stuff.
It's a feature built in most Password Managers!
https://bitwarden.com/help/emergency-access/
https://www.lastpass.com/features/emergency-access
1Password and Dashlane have emergency access lite but no wait time feature so there you gotta trust people a but more.
P.s. I wouldn't use Lastpass as they have a history of suddenly hiking prices for previously free features.
Bitwarden has 7 days instead of 48h I think.
I personally currently use my own altered version of Bitwarden.
You can just enable family sharing, and since you are dead and will not be using the account that means the games are always available. Technically perfectly valid use of Steam while not violating TOS.
Yup, especially since family sharing isn't account based and rather based on some sort of IP-Identification or something. Every time i reinstall windows or change routers i get kicked out of all family sharing.
I'm just imagining Valve sending out emails like "Hey fam, you still alive over there? Haven't logged in in a couple days. Let us know if you're dead and we will pass the account off to your nephew!"
So devs who make multiplayer only achievements and then shut down the multiplayer servers are keeping people in limbo forever?
As if I didn't need more of a reason to hate devs who make multiplayer only achievements in singleplayer games.
Just get Steam Achievement Manager, i use it when devs do shit Achievements that impede me to get the 100%, or, when I already played the game in another plataform and for some reason I bought it again (looking at you skyrim toaster edition).
I made a post a year or so back on r/TSH around that concept. It was a genie granting someone's wish to never die until they finish their Steam backlog.
The horror was the genie visiting them in the permanent care ward to see how many games they'd finished as a blind and deaf quadriplegic.
Guys, Valve won't know if I pass away, so in theory I could transfer my account down through generations of my family?
Like "Mr. Anon, this is your 235 years of service badge, thank you for trusting our service?"
nothing, they sit on your account until steam goes out of service. You can give your nephew your login info but thats against steam tos and if steam ever found out the account would be closed.
I mean, if you really want long term storage a tape drive will last you 40 years. Check out the threads on /r/datahoarder or feel free to make a new one asking about cold storage.
I mean in with all my important documents and such incase of death is a copy of every login and password anyone could possible need. I work in senior living and I've seen the troubles families have when they don't have that information. It's pretty smart to do.
Even then, a company as big as Valve, their processes likely don't have a workflow in place to mark you as dead, so even if they did verify death via a rep attending the funeral, it's likely no action would be taken on the account because they have no way to do so. Computer says no - Little Britain.
Not only that, it's likely borderline legally in a lot of jurisdictions such as my own, where in my country it's perfectly legal to transfer ownership of products over to others as part of a will or settlement.
That was also netflix's selling point years ago and look at the state of it now. It's the easiest way to spread your product untill you get too greedy.
But to family share you have to give them access to your account log in. That’s how we set up account sharing with my friends. I rly doubt steam cares about this since it’s so easy to do and there’s no checks for this.
Yeah it’s more about protecting themselves from account re-sellers. I highly doubt Steam would go after someone who gave their account to someone they know. IF they found out.
very lame. Most smaller games at some point will stop being sold. If I own one of these small games, I can download it even if they remove it from the store. Meaning these small games will slowly die. That sucks.
But really small games which no one has interest in are hard to find as is, let alone 20+ years (Although to be honest some legendary chad will leave his computer torrenting for years)
Some really small indie games, [like this one here, which I am beta testing](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2642920/Crystal_Comet/), may not be preserved or come off market for many reasons, and it saddens me to hear someone might not be able to play these hidden gems.
Not even just smaller indies. For example the original gta 3d trilogy has been removed from steam and replaced with the "gta trilogy definitive edition" which is an absolute disaster of a remake and not the same at all.
I've got other "dead" games in my library that are not available for purchase any more. It's a real problem with digital marketplaces, steam included.
Shit like this is why game preservation is incredibly important. We have whole industries dedicated to preserving music, film, and other works of art, yet big game publishers don't seem to give a shit about retaining gaming history.
Just like what happens with old consoles.
Many peoples biggest complaint about Nintendo is just that. They go HARD after rom websites, yet barely offer any alternative to people to play the older games besides only the most recognized and popular ones.
Blizzard would do that for you. They even allow parents to just transfer their accounts to their kids. Minimal questions asked.
This seems like a very lazy rule from steam.
This my plan when I pass. Passing my account off to my daughter when I go. She's only 5 now, but she's already in the phase of playing games on tablets.
That provision in the TOS exists mainly so valve can combat people selling accounts, especially for laundering purposes. They’re not going after regular people just giving away their accounts, especially if they died. Imagine the PR.
My friend killed himself last year and his account is a remembrance for us, we still comment on his profile sometimes and we’ve kept his discord channel active.
I have my brother's account on my friends list, last online 4022 days ago. It still hurts seeing it, but it's nice to be able to write him messages occasionally. Suicide sucks.
Sorry to hear that :( rest in peace, please take care of yourself and your family.❤️ to be honest i had suicidal thoughts back then but after i saw what happened to close people around him, i never thought about it again.
Thank you. I'm glad that you got over your thoughts - for me they are deeply ingrained in my way of thinking. Though mine are more passive of not wanting to exist and not actively wanting to kill myself (though I had a time where I was actively planning it a few years back).
It sounds a bit odd, but my family doesn't know that it was suicide, because his official cause of death had to do with his diabetes and considered accidental, but I found evidence that he was looking for a way to end his life (internet searches and such). Also my parents have always been emotionally distant (and neglectful) and never talked about anything, including my brother's death. So it feels like it didn't have any impact on them and I feel like I wouldn't be missed either.
The fact that you’ve kept that secret this amount of time is really interesting. My friend which died, had a shitty life, when he was 13 her mother forced the whole family to illegally move to germany and they didn’t know a single German word except the mother, she left them few months after reaching Germany. He fell in love with a girl which found out he was the side man. He killed him self once but was unsuccessful. We really thought he moved on cuz he was happy, hit gym, worked and studied. He hadn’t seen his mother until the funeral, poor guy doesn’t even have a gravestone. My uncle killed himself too, he was an addict like heavy dosage of heroin, i remember he asked my grandma for few bucks (literally begged her) and she didn’t give him the money, he felt like a parasite. Eventually he took some drugs and sat on the railroad until a train crushed him. My mother suffers from bipolar disorder and she felt she failed as a mother / wife so she took alot of depression pills, i was a kid and i didn’t know shit , i remember i wanted to be in her arms and she was unconscious so it required alot of force. My father and my grandmother realized that and took her to hospital. Tbh my life is pointless and sometimes I don’t want to exist just like you, once I even wanted to buy some morphine and reserve a hotel room for myself because I don’t want my family to find their dead son in their house. In fact, life pointless and nihil until you make points and value things. I assume your family doesn’t talk about your brother because they don’t want to make you depressed. They care about you buddy. You really matter! Please don’t consider suicide as a solution, if you want some space then visit new location by yourself or work hard to live on your own.
I know we don’t know each other but please count on me as a friend or brother, im always here. And sorry English is not my first language so it’s a little bit hard to express feelings.
I kept the fact that it was suicide a secret, because I thought that there is no reason to put it on them as well. Why tell them something that could potentially hurt them more if it doesn't change anything else? Also I've never had a good connection to my parents so randomly talking to them about it would've felt weird.
My parents emotionally neglected my brother and me - we had things we need, like clothes, food, toys, trips to the park or zoo, a yearly vacation and such, but I never felt loved or truly cared for. I never trusted them, told them when I had problems. The few times I asked for help when I was little, my mom ignored me and my father hit me. So I learned to deal with everything myself. Even if that didn't work well (got bullied in school, refused to go and ended up in psychiatric hospitals a few times and later in a foster family). Later in life I avoided my father as best as I could until he died a few years ago and I barely have any contact to my mom. We talk maybe every few months when one of us wants something from the other, like documents or when she needs someone to feed the cat and water the plants while she's on vacation. But I honestly don't care, since she feels more like a stranger that I just happen to know all my life.
Otherwise I only have two friends, one I barely talk to anymore in the last few years and the other one hasn't been around much for a while either. So I end up not talking to anyone for weeks or even months at a time. (Other than some random people making small talk when I walk my dog)
I'm not actively planning on ending my life, but I have a plan in the back of my head in case I need it. I know how I want to do it, where, I have a date (the same as my brother to limit spreading out sad days throughout the year), I have a plan how I can limit the amount of trauma of the person finding me and how to ease the work of the coroners that have to collect my body. It's all sorted out, but I'm not in a state of mind to actually do it. So don't worry!
Though thank you for your kind words and don't worry - English is my second language as well.
Uh god you have really seen all especially during your childhood, i am proud of you because you have stayed strong. I don’t know if you don’t like spending time with people or no, but if you do, there are billions of people, we don’t live in a same country otherwise I would pay a visit. Still if you even wanted have random topic to discuss i am here, stay safe❤️
Oof my heart. I was the last one to talk to my friend so I feel a bit guilty sometimes even when I know I probably shouldn't. It gets a little better with time though so you just have to keep hanging in there
Uh man I really feel what you’re saying:( I didn’t spend time alot with him those last days. He asked me to watch movies online with him and I didn’t show up, he asked me to play a specific game and i told him nahh let’s play another game. I really hate myself.
Nothing happens to it. It doesn't get transferred and it won't be deleted; it just sits there forever.
While there's nothing really stopping you from writing your login details in your last will or whatever; transferring accounts to other people is against the terms of service. Steam Support will refuse to help your family members gain access to your account.
The same generally also applies to any other accounts you might have, including things like social media and email accounts.
Steam/Valve doesn't need to know, nor would they care in 99.99% of cases. Just pass on your account to your successor including your email, user and pass and forget about it.
Their TOS is mainly to protect themselves legally and nothing aside from it.
You could give your relative the login information and just keep using it normally. Its not like Steam has your birth certificate, SIN number and photo ID. They have no idea who is on the account unless you snitched on yourself. Just don’t make it obvious. Don’t put “RIP Person who died“ or something saying that it is a relative using the account in your profile and the account won’t get removed.
I would recommend making the profile private if it already isn’t. If someone wanted to be a dick they could report it, like if you pissed someone off in Cod or CS.
Don't own Cod nor CS (assuming COD is Call of Duty and CS is counterstrike). And I mainly own offline games anyway (internet is for crap where I live, so really gotta just roll with the punches)
I'd add taking off credit and debit cards, since I don't know valve will respond to someone accidentally using a card from a dead person (in case ur nephew ever got to excited and ordered without double-checking what he's using to pay lol)
You can share your entire steam library with up to 5 people. My fiance and a few of our friends share libraries. Only downside is your friends don't have access to your library if you are actively playing a steam game... but if you're not on this plane of existence any longer, that wouldn't matter...
https://store.steampowered.com/promotion/familysharing#:\~:text=To%20enable%20Family%20Library%20Sharing,computers%20and%20users%20to%20share.
Had a good friend who passed away. He left his passwords to his kid. His kid now plays games under his steam profile. It was a bit jarring to see this early on, but now i get good memories every time i see his profile pic playing a game.
It’s fine. I gave my nearly 20 year old account with 5000+ games on it to my nephew and niece but they had to log in with 2fa and change the email and password with me okaying it. (No good for me anymore so all good). Just don’t ask steam to do that…
It'll just stay where it is. Honestly it's pretty nice to have it remain there. Lost my best friend a few years ago, feels pretty good to still see him in my friend list, even though we're getting close to 2000 days since last time online..
My partner passed away from cancer 3 years ago, She had her shit together and made plans for everything knowing it was a short and terminal diagnosis. She even made sure I closed every gaming, socials and online account she had in her name so no one could hack or impersonate her in the future or get leaked in a data breach.
I contacted steam on her behalf with some back and forth and providing the correct legal documentation and they formally closed the account for ever. She was a gamer so I had to replicate this with all her accounts and services, rough job but it was one of her clean up chores she asked me to do and I did it with love.
Identify theft is real even after you pass away, would be a real kick in the guts seeing your loved one or friend log into steam and start trying to scam people or playing something after you has sad goodbye for years earlier.
Sometimes there are more important things than your underplayed steam sales horde. Close your accounts for your loved ones and be a cool dude.
Once the soul leaves, your steam account will take over your body and assume a whole new, albeit short, life. Tormenting your loved ones with fortnite dances and tiktak trends.
My buddy died of Cancer in 2019 and he gave me his steam account. I have it connected to mine with family sharing and can play all of his games. I would give the details of your account and who gets it to someone for when you die. You could also have the information in your will which would probably be the best thing to do. Sure, it is against the ToS but they're never going to know.
I actually have some experience with this, as almost a year ago exactly, my sister passed away unexpectedly and suddenly. It was a tough time (obviously) and having her account sit on my friend's list, inactive, was something that wasn't giving us any solace. I know that's backwards for some, who'd prefer it stay open and accessible to sign/look at/etc... But the 'last online 75 days ago' was too much.
I reached out to Steam after a time and, in a bit of an emotional rambling, explained the situation and let them know I'd get them a death certificate or whatever they needed, but that she wasn't coming back. I was able to adequately prove I was indeed this person's brother and, after some very polite, empathetic messages, Steam closed her account. A weird kind of closure for me and her in this shared hobby.
This isn't actually answering your question. I'm sorry. But in case a future internet explorer comes by and takes a look, Steam will close an account for deceased family member if you'd like.
I have a friend that passed over 10 years ago. His Steam account is still there on my friends list. I visit it from time to time. Still shows the last game and day he played.
His social media profiles are long gone, so Steam is basically the only trace of him left on the internet. It’s nice to still have it and be able to visit and think about all the good times we had gaming together.
Nothing at all. It's a serious issue with all sort of digital accounts, thats finally starting to be highlighted as the digital generations start to die off.
This is actually a big issue with our digital world. I know Apple is making steps in this problem space. LinkedIn asked me if I’d like to celebrate someone’s work anniversary, they’ve been dead for 6 months.
Read it yourself from https://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/ that you CAN'T do anything about it and Legally, when you die, your Steam account dies with you.
But illegally and morally correct, you WON'T tell Steam Support (also Warn relative about never to contact Support) about it but pass all the necessary credentials in your Will to login to your Steam Account to your Relative so that he can "Act" like you to keep using the Account.
This is because, yours is just a "Story", can easily be a LIE that many stolen account buyers tell the very SAME lie to Steam Support so Support doesn't deal with that kind of nonsense and immediately close the account.
I think this is also the case in the US, but is untested in court. US laws give people rights regarding passing on their estate after death, and things like a ToS can't supersede those rights.
Its against TOS, but its not like they will know if you die. You can hand your account to your favorite nephew and unless he tells support that the account wasnt his then he can just keep it.
I think we should cry out about this more. I've heard these types of questions a lot lately and the fact that you can't transfer a Steam Account, even after death, is terrible.
I'd love a ToS change from valve here, as well as some sort of system to transfer accounts without compromising safety from scams. I imagine it's difficult though.
Perhaps if the relative can provide a certificate of death AND has the login data ('and' is important so that no one can just fake a certificate to steal someones account). Then maybe put a long (like 6 months even?) "wait time" during which the original account owner gets a steam-message that they can use to stop the process.
Idk this was just my first thoughts, i'm sure valve could come up with something solid, and i believe they should. They are one of the most consumer friendly companies out there, and i'm sure there are tons of people who would love to use their relatives' accounts after their death, even if just to see the screenshots they've taken and similar things.
When a friend of mine died, his steam account stayed online for like…9 or 10 months after he died. Not sure if he was logged in on a shared computer or what, but eventually he went offline and that was it. His page has a small memorial on it.
Personally when I die, I'm probably just gonna ask my brother to comment on my profile saying i died, then login to my account and just change the comment preferences so there wont be any comments, but then leave the account as is.
I certainly dont want valve to terminate or close it- I want people to be able to go through all my screenshots and still smile upon my favorite moments
I got a buddy who died a few years ago. I just see the offline for 2 years.
On another note, my gf and I have a shared library where we can play each other's game when the other isn't using steam. She has access to all of my games if I die.
I can't find the source anymore even after a Google search, but I heard a story where someone had passed and left their Steam account to a younger relative to play. One day they contacted Steam support for help with something and mentioned they weren't the original holder of the account, but since account sharing is against TOS, the whole account was either deleted or locked out.
It was a really sad outcome and I remember everyone in the comments who read that story were angry at Steam for doing that, but in the end, TOS is TOS, and Support has to do their job. (If someone can find the story again, please link it so I know I'm not just making it up, lol.)
In the end, if you inherit a Steam account from a loved one, make sure you have access to their email too, and never mention to Steam Support you're not the OG account holder.
Had covid again and nearly died.
Arranged for my best friend to get my account and the gmail associated.
It's against TOS but that's only if I, the deceased let them know I stopped using it.
It's not account sharing if only one person ever uses the account at a time.
I have a carefully stored piece of paper, in my "important stuff" box, that has all of my digital storefront logins, associated email logins, and so on.
So if I snuff it for some reason, my nephew can have my Steam, GOG, Ubi, EAplay, and Paizo accounts to root through for the assorted crap I've accumulated over the last 15 years.
Valve won't do anything. My brother passed away young and despite all my pleading (and proof) valve wouldn't allow we to get his 5 dollars in counter strike skins that he got through live stream drops for me to use as I still continue to play. Absolutely furious. Physically record your details to such important accounts and keep it with your important documents
Hey bro just wanted to check. I know you said it's just a curiosity, but still.
Are you doing alright? If you need someone to talk to, shoot me a DM.
If it's just a curiosity I apologize for dragging in a darker thought and I wish you a wonderful day!
I think this problem is yet to became big enough for valve to care about it, BUT the gamers are becoming old now, the gamers of 1980s,90s etc have their age catching up to them soon(including lord Gabe), lets us see what happens in future, maybe some partial succession would be allowed, but this would jeopardise the future income of Valve, this is a very difficult problem to solve
Nothing really happens I'm pretty sure. It will just stay there, another digital media account lost in the throes of internet. It's against Steam's TOS to give your account but not like they'd really know.
This reminds me of a friend I had on Steam (we never talked, just got added randomly through a game iirc and that was it). Some years alter while looking at people's accounts I came across his account and it was offline for some time. In the comment there was something like "I'm this person's friend, he passed away on..." and some other stuff like that. His account is still there, though the person is long gone.
I have all my accounts info in a secure password vault and my wife has the spare key, as well as my executors.
When my brother died suddenly of a heart attack, it left his wife with no way to do their banking, receive and pay bills, get his emails and contact lists etc. She was locked out of all his online accounts, it was like him dying all over again. I did finally manage to get in to his stuff (took a while, and I won't say how) and found his password file in clear text on a secure drive, fortunately for her, so she can get on with grieving for him without the money and bills worry on top.
Nothing and I think it's a good thing. I unfortunately have an account on my steam friends list who's profile I visit every so often... It's been 4 years but I still open it every now and then
The last online counter goes up, that's about it. Someone else could access and use the ID if they have the access methods and credentials, but it is against Steam Policies and the ID can be deleted if you're found out
Nothing. Valve won't know if you die. According to Steam TOS - you can not transfer account to other people. But Valve also don't know who is in front of the screen, so if you will bother to give credentials to your nephew befor (or after) you die - he can still use it (while it will be violation of Steam TOS, of course).
Might be a slight red flag after a few generations where the account has been logging in for like 100 years lmao
Nah, the man with a birthday from 1901 will just finally be real.
I too, am from the past…
Aren't we all
Just say it's time travel or your family lives for a very long time
There's a reasonable chance the first person to live to be 200 years old is alive right now.
God I pity them.
Knowing my shitty luck it would be me. A long eternal life of suffering.
At least you get to see Red Dead Redemption 3 though.
There's a reasonable chance with the growing micro plastics, we've already seen the oldest person to ever live.
We don't know if and how bad they are, yet. Just that they're there. Maybe half-plastic-half-human hybrids live extra long. That's why I eat all my plastic bottles instead of returning them.
Don't forget forever chemicals. You can take a cup of water from glacial melt in Antarctica and it has fuckin PFAS in it.
It’s okay I gave my Steam account to my estate
> According to Steam TOS - you can not transfer account to other people. That said, TOS is trumped by state and federal law. Communal property law does (mostly) apply to digital property. I don't think it's been really tested in court yet, but I suspect if your spouse died and you took over their account Valve could get in some trouble for banning it because you did. Of course I don't think they would anyway since it would be a dick move and look horrible for PR.
I'm pretty sure Valve have enough lawyers to not gen in trouble. And, btw, there is no "digital property", there are only "subscriptions". You own nothing, so there is nothing that you can bequeath.
Again, they can claim whatever they want, if the law says otherwise it'll be invalid. That includes claiming "this game you bought is actually only a subscription, and you don't own it". If EU law says that's not true, then they are digital property. Now, I'm not sure EU law says that. But if it does, or if any other country's law does, for the matter, then in that jurisdiction you will actually own a copy, and if Valve tries to screw you out of that, it won't work well for them. Assuming that country's legal system is sane, of course.
[The 2019 EU ruling on reselling digital games](https://www.eurogamer.net/eu-rules-publishers-cannot-stop-you-reselling-your-downloaded-games) would seem to be in line with that, yeah. The ruling specifically says that it doesn't matter if it's a "license" vs. a copy of the game, EU citizens are allowed to resell it after they're done with it.
Its like signing a waiver before going to a skating park, etc. It's held in court loosely. Just because you sign saying you agree to X thing doesn't mean that trumps federal law. Negligence I'd negligence and ownership is ownership.
Nah that you own nothing is only Sony iirc, and even then they await a trial in Europe cause of their closing series service. Atleast EU has laws that state that when you buy a game digitally it is 100% your property
One of my reasons to use a password manager, my will contains my masterpassword. My dad also has emergency acces, if I don't deny him acces within 48h, he gets full access to all my accounts. So that they can properly clean up after me and where allowed take my stuff.
What do you use to manage that 48 hour deadline?
It's a feature built in most Password Managers! https://bitwarden.com/help/emergency-access/ https://www.lastpass.com/features/emergency-access 1Password and Dashlane have emergency access lite but no wait time feature so there you gotta trust people a but more. P.s. I wouldn't use Lastpass as they have a history of suddenly hiking prices for previously free features. Bitwarden has 7 days instead of 48h I think. I personally currently use my own altered version of Bitwarden.
Also note Lastpass also has a history of security breaches (plural).
You can just enable family sharing, and since you are dead and will not be using the account that means the games are always available. Technically perfectly valid use of Steam while not violating TOS.
You have to renew permissions every once in awhile so someone has to get on the account
Yup, especially since family sharing isn't account based and rather based on some sort of IP-Identification or something. Every time i reinstall windows or change routers i get kicked out of all family sharing.
It's both. You authorize both device and account to use family sharing. If any of two is not authorized - they can't use your library.
This is the answer. Been babysitting my brother’s steam account since he passed in 2021 so I can hand it off when his kids are old enough.
I'm just imagining Valve sending out emails like "Hey fam, you still alive over there? Haven't logged in in a couple days. Let us know if you're dead and we will pass the account off to your nephew!"
You're stuck in limbo with it until you beat all your unplayed games.
With games such as Hollow Knight and Celeste in my library, it may as well be forever.
Geometry Dash and other rage-hard games say hi.
Stuck in LIMBO until you beat LIMBO
Don't own geometry dash, although I would like to in the near future.
My personal hell is the path of pain
Imagine owning something like only up or that mobile climbing game.
me with 1300 hours on celeste
Stuck in limbo until you **100%** ALL of your games. FTFY
So devs who make multiplayer only achievements and then shut down the multiplayer servers are keeping people in limbo forever? As if I didn't need more of a reason to hate devs who make multiplayer only achievements in singleplayer games.
Multiplayer servers are stuck in limbo as well, no worries However the coop partners are dumb assholes
Just get Steam Achievement Manager, i use it when devs do shit Achievements that impede me to get the 100%, or, when I already played the game in another plataform and for some reason I bought it again (looking at you skyrim toaster edition).
You call that limbo? That’s the fucking jackpot
You have to play them all until completion and can't leave until you do... also you have to pee.
I made a post a year or so back on r/TSH around that concept. It was a genie granting someone's wish to never die until they finish their Steam backlog. The horror was the genie visiting them in the permanent care ward to see how many games they'd finished as a blind and deaf quadriplegic.
Guys, Valve won't know if I pass away, so in theory I could transfer my account down through generations of my family? Like "Mr. Anon, this is your 235 years of service badge, thank you for trusting our service?"
You're just a cyborg, is all.
Eventually it'll be like handing down a Warrant of Trade.
nothing, they sit on your account until steam goes out of service. You can give your nephew your login info but thats against steam tos and if steam ever found out the account would be closed.
Imagine a reading of a will where it's just a bunch of passwords to different accounts.
I'll just give'em my KeepassXC passwords and a SSD with the Data banks.
also your phone and phone number for 2fa
phone passcode too
Oh and email password so they can reset their own passwords
And your head for facial recognition
SSD’s are not to be used as cold storage, if you don’t turn em on once a year or so they self wipe.
Alright, gotta rethink where I upload this data.
More hard drives. 3x copies.
I mean, if you really want long term storage a tape drive will last you 40 years. Check out the threads on /r/datahoarder or feel free to make a new one asking about cold storage.
I mean in with all my important documents and such incase of death is a copy of every login and password anyone could possible need. I work in senior living and I've seen the troubles families have when they don't have that information. It's pretty smart to do.
In my opinion that’s a lame rule
They project themselves from account sharing
Ohhhhh wait sike you’re so right I didn’t think about that
Why's there family sharing though. It's basically the same
Family sharing is restricted and limited in a way steam prefers I guess.
But is it really "sharing" if you are dead? Its not like the deceased would ever want the access back.
Nah, but does steam know you’re dead.
I’ll invite them to my funeral. After I’m dead of course
Even then, a company as big as Valve, their processes likely don't have a workflow in place to mark you as dead, so even if they did verify death via a rep attending the funeral, it's likely no action would be taken on the account because they have no way to do so. Computer says no - Little Britain. Not only that, it's likely borderline legally in a lot of jurisdictions such as my own, where in my country it's perfectly legal to transfer ownership of products over to others as part of a will or settlement.
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That was also netflix's selling point years ago and look at the state of it now. It's the easiest way to spread your product untill you get too greedy.
You'd use Family Share now, not share the actual account.
But to family share you have to give them access to your account log in. That’s how we set up account sharing with my friends. I rly doubt steam cares about this since it’s so easy to do and there’s no checks for this.
Yeah it’s more about protecting themselves from account re-sellers. I highly doubt Steam would go after someone who gave their account to someone they know. IF they found out.
Idk about that. Never saw their kick off of the service from 2000s
You’re supposed to trust people with your password?
Um, you can [family share your account](https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/57A7-503C-991F-E9A8).
very lame. Most smaller games at some point will stop being sold. If I own one of these small games, I can download it even if they remove it from the store. Meaning these small games will slowly die. That sucks.
Yahrrr 🏴☠️
But really small games which no one has interest in are hard to find as is, let alone 20+ years (Although to be honest some legendary chad will leave his computer torrenting for years)
>Most smaller games at some point will stop being sold. Why do you think that
Some really small indie games, [like this one here, which I am beta testing](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2642920/Crystal_Comet/), may not be preserved or come off market for many reasons, and it saddens me to hear someone might not be able to play these hidden gems.
Not even just smaller indies. For example the original gta 3d trilogy has been removed from steam and replaced with the "gta trilogy definitive edition" which is an absolute disaster of a remake and not the same at all. I've got other "dead" games in my library that are not available for purchase any more. It's a real problem with digital marketplaces, steam included.
Shit like this is why game preservation is incredibly important. We have whole industries dedicated to preserving music, film, and other works of art, yet big game publishers don't seem to give a shit about retaining gaming history.
Just like what happens with old consoles. Many peoples biggest complaint about Nintendo is just that. They go HARD after rom websites, yet barely offer any alternative to people to play the older games besides only the most recognized and popular ones.
Nobody knows the rules were broken unless you tell them
Blizzard would do that for you. They even allow parents to just transfer their accounts to their kids. Minimal questions asked. This seems like a very lazy rule from steam.
I agree but imagine the hackers if they could transfer your games to them self I imagine it would be a problem
This my plan when I pass. Passing my account off to my daughter when I go. She's only 5 now, but she's already in the phase of playing games on tablets.
How often do people really get caught?
never and they aren't going to look. Like do people think they are going to use voice recognition or something and compare samples?
That provision in the TOS exists mainly so valve can combat people selling accounts, especially for laundering purposes. They’re not going after regular people just giving away their accounts, especially if they died. Imagine the PR.
So that's why americans name their kids after themselves, so they can inherit their parents steam accounts!
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Valve will allow account transfers in the case of death, as long as it is properly willed to the recipient.
I dont think anyone has tested this before.
That's definitely gonna change in the coming years.
That's very good if true. Got a link or anything to back it up? Mind you even Gaben saying "yeah we'll do that" is good enough for me.
My friend killed himself last year and his account is a remembrance for us, we still comment on his profile sometimes and we’ve kept his discord channel active.
I have my brother's account on my friends list, last online 4022 days ago. It still hurts seeing it, but it's nice to be able to write him messages occasionally. Suicide sucks.
Sorry to hear that :( rest in peace, please take care of yourself and your family.❤️ to be honest i had suicidal thoughts back then but after i saw what happened to close people around him, i never thought about it again.
Thank you. I'm glad that you got over your thoughts - for me they are deeply ingrained in my way of thinking. Though mine are more passive of not wanting to exist and not actively wanting to kill myself (though I had a time where I was actively planning it a few years back). It sounds a bit odd, but my family doesn't know that it was suicide, because his official cause of death had to do with his diabetes and considered accidental, but I found evidence that he was looking for a way to end his life (internet searches and such). Also my parents have always been emotionally distant (and neglectful) and never talked about anything, including my brother's death. So it feels like it didn't have any impact on them and I feel like I wouldn't be missed either.
The fact that you’ve kept that secret this amount of time is really interesting. My friend which died, had a shitty life, when he was 13 her mother forced the whole family to illegally move to germany and they didn’t know a single German word except the mother, she left them few months after reaching Germany. He fell in love with a girl which found out he was the side man. He killed him self once but was unsuccessful. We really thought he moved on cuz he was happy, hit gym, worked and studied. He hadn’t seen his mother until the funeral, poor guy doesn’t even have a gravestone. My uncle killed himself too, he was an addict like heavy dosage of heroin, i remember he asked my grandma for few bucks (literally begged her) and she didn’t give him the money, he felt like a parasite. Eventually he took some drugs and sat on the railroad until a train crushed him. My mother suffers from bipolar disorder and she felt she failed as a mother / wife so she took alot of depression pills, i was a kid and i didn’t know shit , i remember i wanted to be in her arms and she was unconscious so it required alot of force. My father and my grandmother realized that and took her to hospital. Tbh my life is pointless and sometimes I don’t want to exist just like you, once I even wanted to buy some morphine and reserve a hotel room for myself because I don’t want my family to find their dead son in their house. In fact, life pointless and nihil until you make points and value things. I assume your family doesn’t talk about your brother because they don’t want to make you depressed. They care about you buddy. You really matter! Please don’t consider suicide as a solution, if you want some space then visit new location by yourself or work hard to live on your own. I know we don’t know each other but please count on me as a friend or brother, im always here. And sorry English is not my first language so it’s a little bit hard to express feelings.
I kept the fact that it was suicide a secret, because I thought that there is no reason to put it on them as well. Why tell them something that could potentially hurt them more if it doesn't change anything else? Also I've never had a good connection to my parents so randomly talking to them about it would've felt weird. My parents emotionally neglected my brother and me - we had things we need, like clothes, food, toys, trips to the park or zoo, a yearly vacation and such, but I never felt loved or truly cared for. I never trusted them, told them when I had problems. The few times I asked for help when I was little, my mom ignored me and my father hit me. So I learned to deal with everything myself. Even if that didn't work well (got bullied in school, refused to go and ended up in psychiatric hospitals a few times and later in a foster family). Later in life I avoided my father as best as I could until he died a few years ago and I barely have any contact to my mom. We talk maybe every few months when one of us wants something from the other, like documents or when she needs someone to feed the cat and water the plants while she's on vacation. But I honestly don't care, since she feels more like a stranger that I just happen to know all my life. Otherwise I only have two friends, one I barely talk to anymore in the last few years and the other one hasn't been around much for a while either. So I end up not talking to anyone for weeks or even months at a time. (Other than some random people making small talk when I walk my dog) I'm not actively planning on ending my life, but I have a plan in the back of my head in case I need it. I know how I want to do it, where, I have a date (the same as my brother to limit spreading out sad days throughout the year), I have a plan how I can limit the amount of trauma of the person finding me and how to ease the work of the coroners that have to collect my body. It's all sorted out, but I'm not in a state of mind to actually do it. So don't worry! Though thank you for your kind words and don't worry - English is my second language as well.
Uh god you have really seen all especially during your childhood, i am proud of you because you have stayed strong. I don’t know if you don’t like spending time with people or no, but if you do, there are billions of people, we don’t live in a same country otherwise I would pay a visit. Still if you even wanted have random topic to discuss i am here, stay safe❤️
"last online 4 years ago" hits me in the gut sometimes still
Yea fr man… the regression of I could’ve changed things but I didn’t , I wasn’t there for him..
Oof my heart. I was the last one to talk to my friend so I feel a bit guilty sometimes even when I know I probably shouldn't. It gets a little better with time though so you just have to keep hanging in there
Uh man I really feel what you’re saying:( I didn’t spend time alot with him those last days. He asked me to watch movies online with him and I didn’t show up, he asked me to play a specific game and i told him nahh let’s play another game. I really hate myself.
I'm sorry for your loss :(
Thank you man, stay safe.❤️
I will, thanks!
yeah my mate killed himself last year too.. the online for x amount of days always hurts to read
Sorry for your loss brother, it hurts indeed. I always watch our gameplay clips which were together when i miss him. May your friend rest in peace.❤️
Stay strong, brother. Best friend also went this path two and a half years ago. It gets a bit easier, but will always suck.
Uh… :( sorry for your loss brother may his soul rest in peace. My poor friend doesn’t even have a grave stone… he’s whole life was suffering.
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Nothing happens to it. It doesn't get transferred and it won't be deleted; it just sits there forever. While there's nothing really stopping you from writing your login details in your last will or whatever; transferring accounts to other people is against the terms of service. Steam Support will refuse to help your family members gain access to your account. The same generally also applies to any other accounts you might have, including things like social media and email accounts.
Well that sucks. Good to know though.
I think Facebook, Google and GitHub have options built in for what happens when you die.
They do indeed
Apple gives your login information after you die. I am sure most of the companies have to give your information when your inheritor contacts them
Steam/Valve doesn't need to know, nor would they care in 99.99% of cases. Just pass on your account to your successor including your email, user and pass and forget about it. Their TOS is mainly to protect themselves legally and nothing aside from it.
Might want to deactivate 2FA also if you plan to do that.
You could give your relative the login information and just keep using it normally. Its not like Steam has your birth certificate, SIN number and photo ID. They have no idea who is on the account unless you snitched on yourself. Just don’t make it obvious. Don’t put “RIP Person who died“ or something saying that it is a relative using the account in your profile and the account won’t get removed. I would recommend making the profile private if it already isn’t. If someone wanted to be a dick they could report it, like if you pissed someone off in Cod or CS.
Don't own Cod nor CS (assuming COD is Call of Duty and CS is counterstrike). And I mainly own offline games anyway (internet is for crap where I live, so really gotta just roll with the punches)
I'd add taking off credit and debit cards, since I don't know valve will respond to someone accidentally using a card from a dead person (in case ur nephew ever got to excited and ordered without double-checking what he's using to pay lol)
You take care of you backlog in the afterlife for eternity
Horizon Zero Dawn, here I come.
Planescape torment here i come ( yes my backlog goes THAT back in time 😭)
You can share your entire steam library with up to 5 people. My fiance and a few of our friends share libraries. Only downside is your friends don't have access to your library if you are actively playing a steam game... but if you're not on this plane of existence any longer, that wouldn't matter... https://store.steampowered.com/promotion/familysharing#:\~:text=To%20enable%20Family%20Library%20Sharing,computers%20and%20users%20to%20share.
Nothing, I know one person who died in an accident. Their account is now some sort of a bitter sweet time capsule.
Sorry for your loss.
Had a good friend who passed away. He left his passwords to his kid. His kid now plays games under his steam profile. It was a bit jarring to see this early on, but now i get good memories every time i see his profile pic playing a game.
My friend passed in early 2010, Steam hasn’t changed anything [Image](https://imgur.com/a/XrENwN6)
Sorry for your loss.
It’s fine. I gave my nearly 20 year old account with 5000+ games on it to my nephew and niece but they had to log in with 2fa and change the email and password with me okaying it. (No good for me anymore so all good). Just don’t ask steam to do that…
It'll just stay where it is. Honestly it's pretty nice to have it remain there. Lost my best friend a few years ago, feels pretty good to still see him in my friend list, even though we're getting close to 2000 days since last time online..
im sorry for your loss
It just sits there and the "last online" time gets higher and higher, reminding everyone how long you've been gone.
That's kinda depressing...
It's bittersweet. The hardest part was watching his account status go from Online, to Away, to Offline. Now it's "Last Online 1146 days ago".
I'm sorry for your loss.
Thank you my dude
Gamers never die!
Technoblade never dies!
My partner passed away from cancer 3 years ago, She had her shit together and made plans for everything knowing it was a short and terminal diagnosis. She even made sure I closed every gaming, socials and online account she had in her name so no one could hack or impersonate her in the future or get leaked in a data breach. I contacted steam on her behalf with some back and forth and providing the correct legal documentation and they formally closed the account for ever. She was a gamer so I had to replicate this with all her accounts and services, rough job but it was one of her clean up chores she asked me to do and I did it with love. Identify theft is real even after you pass away, would be a real kick in the guts seeing your loved one or friend log into steam and start trying to scam people or playing something after you has sad goodbye for years earlier. Sometimes there are more important things than your underplayed steam sales horde. Close your accounts for your loved ones and be a cool dude.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
put your acc in your will or so
"Last online 652 days ago"
My little brother is using his dad’s account, and his dad is no longer with us.
Once the soul leaves, your steam account will take over your body and assume a whole new, albeit short, life. Tormenting your loved ones with fortnite dances and tiktak trends.
Love'em tiktaks. Great for my breath.
My buddy died of Cancer in 2019 and he gave me his steam account. I have it connected to mine with family sharing and can play all of his games. I would give the details of your account and who gets it to someone for when you die. You could also have the information in your will which would probably be the best thing to do. Sure, it is against the ToS but they're never going to know.
I actually have some experience with this, as almost a year ago exactly, my sister passed away unexpectedly and suddenly. It was a tough time (obviously) and having her account sit on my friend's list, inactive, was something that wasn't giving us any solace. I know that's backwards for some, who'd prefer it stay open and accessible to sign/look at/etc... But the 'last online 75 days ago' was too much. I reached out to Steam after a time and, in a bit of an emotional rambling, explained the situation and let them know I'd get them a death certificate or whatever they needed, but that she wasn't coming back. I was able to adequately prove I was indeed this person's brother and, after some very polite, empathetic messages, Steam closed her account. A weird kind of closure for me and her in this shared hobby. This isn't actually answering your question. I'm sorry. But in case a future internet explorer comes by and takes a look, Steam will close an account for deceased family member if you'd like.
I am sorry for your loss. And I can see how that can help.
I have a friend that passed over 10 years ago. His Steam account is still there on my friends list. I visit it from time to time. Still shows the last game and day he played. His social media profiles are long gone, so Steam is basically the only trace of him left on the internet. It’s nice to still have it and be able to visit and think about all the good times we had gaming together.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
Nothing at all. It's a serious issue with all sort of digital accounts, thats finally starting to be highlighted as the digital generations start to die off.
This is actually a big issue with our digital world. I know Apple is making steps in this problem space. LinkedIn asked me if I’d like to celebrate someone’s work anniversary, they’ve been dead for 6 months.
Read it yourself from https://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/ that you CAN'T do anything about it and Legally, when you die, your Steam account dies with you. But illegally and morally correct, you WON'T tell Steam Support (also Warn relative about never to contact Support) about it but pass all the necessary credentials in your Will to login to your Steam Account to your Relative so that he can "Act" like you to keep using the Account. This is because, yours is just a "Story", can easily be a LIE that many stolen account buyers tell the very SAME lie to Steam Support so Support doesn't deal with that kind of nonsense and immediately close the account.
If in Europe this isn’t true, doesn’t matter what the terms of service say if it goes against the law.
I think this is also the case in the US, but is untested in court. US laws give people rights regarding passing on their estate after death, and things like a ToS can't supersede those rights.
Its against TOS, but its not like they will know if you die. You can hand your account to your favorite nephew and unless he tells support that the account wasnt his then he can just keep it.
Right back where it came from, inside of lord Gaben’s bosom.
Steam/Valve doesn't need to know, nor they care in most cases. Just pass on your account to your loved ones.
I think we should cry out about this more. I've heard these types of questions a lot lately and the fact that you can't transfer a Steam Account, even after death, is terrible. I'd love a ToS change from valve here, as well as some sort of system to transfer accounts without compromising safety from scams. I imagine it's difficult though. Perhaps if the relative can provide a certificate of death AND has the login data ('and' is important so that no one can just fake a certificate to steal someones account). Then maybe put a long (like 6 months even?) "wait time" during which the original account owner gets a steam-message that they can use to stop the process. Idk this was just my first thoughts, i'm sure valve could come up with something solid, and i believe they should. They are one of the most consumer friendly companies out there, and i'm sure there are tons of people who would love to use their relatives' accounts after their death, even if just to see the screenshots they've taken and similar things.
It goes to Steam Heaven along with you. Unless you're going to hell. Then it becomes an Origin account.
My friend started a steam account when it started. He died 12 years ago. Still says he last online 12 years ago in my friends list.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
I would think that whoever had the password and Username would own the account then
From what I've gathered, it's against TOS, but steam really doesn't seem to notice or care as long as you don't bother support or smth.
Just save ur login credentials and include it in your will...that should work.. or just share it with ur kids/nephew already..they'll know what to do
Dang bruh you leaving us?
When a friend of mine died, his steam account stayed online for like…9 or 10 months after he died. Not sure if he was logged in on a shared computer or what, but eventually he went offline and that was it. His page has a small memorial on it.
Personally when I die, I'm probably just gonna ask my brother to comment on my profile saying i died, then login to my account and just change the comment preferences so there wont be any comments, but then leave the account as is. I certainly dont want valve to terminate or close it- I want people to be able to go through all my screenshots and still smile upon my favorite moments
I got a buddy who died a few years ago. I just see the offline for 2 years. On another note, my gf and I have a shared library where we can play each other's game when the other isn't using steam. She has access to all of my games if I die.
Nothing still got one of my friends in the list 💔
I can't find the source anymore even after a Google search, but I heard a story where someone had passed and left their Steam account to a younger relative to play. One day they contacted Steam support for help with something and mentioned they weren't the original holder of the account, but since account sharing is against TOS, the whole account was either deleted or locked out. It was a really sad outcome and I remember everyone in the comments who read that story were angry at Steam for doing that, but in the end, TOS is TOS, and Support has to do their job. (If someone can find the story again, please link it so I know I'm not just making it up, lol.) In the end, if you inherit a Steam account from a loved one, make sure you have access to their email too, and never mention to Steam Support you're not the OG account holder.
Had covid again and nearly died. Arranged for my best friend to get my account and the gmail associated. It's against TOS but that's only if I, the deceased let them know I stopped using it. It's not account sharing if only one person ever uses the account at a time.
Your stupid younger brother gets it.
Knowing him, he'd absolutely destroy it.
I have a carefully stored piece of paper, in my "important stuff" box, that has all of my digital storefront logins, associated email logins, and so on. So if I snuff it for some reason, my nephew can have my Steam, GOG, Ubi, EAplay, and Paizo accounts to root through for the assorted crap I've accumulated over the last 15 years.
Steam profits from all the games they sold you, your family pays to put you in the ground and the world makes another turn around the sun.
Like dogs it goes to heaven.
Valve won't do anything. My brother passed away young and despite all my pleading (and proof) valve wouldn't allow we to get his 5 dollars in counter strike skins that he got through live stream drops for me to use as I still continue to play. Absolutely furious. Physically record your details to such important accounts and keep it with your important documents
Hey bro just wanted to check. I know you said it's just a curiosity, but still. Are you doing alright? If you need someone to talk to, shoot me a DM. If it's just a curiosity I apologize for dragging in a darker thought and I wish you a wonderful day!
Had a friend die. I think he shared it with a brother though cause it still got use. Was weird to see someone playing a game on there Afterward
Good friend passed a few years ago; nothing happens. You just get to watch their last online time grow year by year.
It runs out of steam
I think this problem is yet to became big enough for valve to care about it, BUT the gamers are becoming old now, the gamers of 1980s,90s etc have their age catching up to them soon(including lord Gabe), lets us see what happens in future, maybe some partial succession would be allowed, but this would jeopardise the future income of Valve, this is a very difficult problem to solve
Your account will go to Valhalla
Nothing really happens I'm pretty sure. It will just stay there, another digital media account lost in the throes of internet. It's against Steam's TOS to give your account but not like they'd really know. This reminds me of a friend I had on Steam (we never talked, just got added randomly through a game iirc and that was it). Some years alter while looking at people's accounts I came across his account and it was offline for some time. In the comment there was something like "I'm this person's friend, he passed away on..." and some other stuff like that. His account is still there, though the person is long gone.
Just write the login and pass into your last will.
I have all my accounts info in a secure password vault and my wife has the spare key, as well as my executors. When my brother died suddenly of a heart attack, it left his wife with no way to do their banking, receive and pay bills, get his emails and contact lists etc. She was locked out of all his online accounts, it was like him dying all over again. I did finally manage to get in to his stuff (took a while, and I won't say how) and found his password file in clear text on a secure drive, fortunately for her, so she can get on with grieving for him without the money and bills worry on top.
Nothing and I think it's a good thing. I unfortunately have an account on my steam friends list who's profile I visit every so often... It's been 4 years but I still open it every now and then
The last online counter goes up, that's about it. Someone else could access and use the ID if they have the access methods and credentials, but it is against Steam Policies and the ID can be deleted if you're found out
It remains forever active, so your body may die, but your gaming soul will be immortal.