We must never take Steam's display names for granted

[u/Complete_Iron_2656]

It baffles me how still, after all of these years, companies like Sony and Microsoft will charge their users if they want to change their display name. And how even other PC platforms like Epic, EA, or Ubisoft will force you to have a unique display name, one which can only be changed anywhere from a couple of weeks, to several months. I only wonder why other platforms have never mirrored Steam's system, and allowed users to use whatever display names they want, within reason. Just a completely innocuous feature in the grand scheme of things, but I still remember it being a breath of fresh air, being able to make my name as short or as generic as I wanted it to be, when making the jump to PC. Feel like I'd unironically be very upset if they ever decided to up and change how the system works, to make each display name strictly unique per user.

[u/El_Reto]

Having your display name be different from your login name is such a big deal for security reasons. Can't believe it isn't a standard everywhere.

[u/LetOk8476 → u/El_Reto]

Especially grateful because dumbass 11 year old me made my username my real name 😭

[u/akatherder → u/LetOk8476]

Yeah I spent a lot of time coming up with Gmail usernames/email addresses for my kids. I wanted it personalized so they could use it when they grow up (if they choose to), but not easily identify them IRL or give their age.

But then some sites want to make that your username too.. which sucks because it gives part of their real name.

[u/wolfreaks → u/akatherder]

I wanted it personalized so they could use it when they grow up (if they choose to), but not easily identify them IRL or give their age.

Meanwhile mine was [firstname_[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) lol

[u/Zuryan_9100 → u/wolfreaks]

Firstname.lastname@ is a great account for banking or job related things. Just get a different accout for non-personal websites.

[u/Luziy_Loro → u/wolfreaks]

Yea.. works wonder untill u hqve everything your life depend on + sus stuff linked to it...

[u/wolfreaks → u/Luziy_Loro]

I had over 10.000 mails in there before google added the automatic deleting system.

[u/Thebombuknow → u/wolfreaks]

Those are rookie numbers. This is the current number of emails in my primary inbox. I have never deleted an email before. I still have my "Get started with Gmail" email from 2012...

[u/unregretfully → u/Thebombuknow]

I just check my Gmail has 179,000 emails in the inbox lol

[u/akatherder → u/wolfreaks]

Theirs is just about as bad, maybe worse. First name, last initial, birth month and day (no year). They were born long after you could get any reasonable combo of their full name.

[u/ItsYaBoiiRoan → u/wolfreaks]

My business mail is [email protected] 😭

[u/TangoIndiaTango420 → u/wolfreaks]

My main email is still the one I made at 12 years old

[email protected]

[u/emotek74 → u/wolfreaks]

Meanwhile mine was firstnamelastnamebirthdaybirthmonthbirthyearphonenumbersocialsecuritynumbercountryiliveinhomeadressmycurrentjob@gmail.com lol 😂😂😂

[u/ShinyBulblax → u/wolfreaks]

Hotmail is awesome because you can make as many aliases for your Microsoft account as you want, with different domains, all permanently bonded to your account.

[u/EnzoVulkoor → u/akatherder]

I hate how elite dangerous puts your real name all over the client and stuff.

[u/Miciso → u/EnzoVulkoor]

that ehm. seems really dumb... i mean blizzard as well. once u add as a close friend they see your full legal name to. the one that is on whatever card u used etc. and i thought stuff with autofull was dumb. i went to googles search bar ''adress'' bar and it full on put in my city and street name. im SO happy i wasnt streaming that monitor. but the hell google chrome.

[u/EnzoVulkoor → u/Miciso]

Like i get being a streamer our own security is on us. But plenty of people use their computers or mobile devices in public. Having " steam account is connected to john smith" adds nothing to the client that just using a username couldnt also do or you know the steam username..

As much as it seems like reactionary content pays im glad i dont have to micromanage my browser to look for things that will dox me. I never even thought about how the search bar being there does that. Or i guess even the weather for that matter.

[u/ricokong → u/EnzoVulkoor]

Sony does this too on the PS4 and PS5. Others in online multiplayer can't see it fortunately but your real name shows up on the UI when in the home menu or checking your own profile.

[u/Hooch180 → u/akatherder]

Buy a domain for family emails and use that. This way you are indepenedend from big corporations.

I bought a domain that is my surname, and I love it.

[u/Goo_Cat → u/akatherder]

Always surprised how few people know about email aliases. You can use [email protected] and [email protected] to send and receive on the exact same email account for free.

[u/LicoriceSeasalt → u/akatherder]

In 20 years that email is likely to have gone though so many leaks that your kid will want to make a new one as an adult anyway.

[u/vengirgirem → u/akatherder]

When I was creating my Gmail I was told by my parents to just put my real name and surname through a dot without any further modifications to it lol. I am still stuck with that 15 years later

[u/Zuryan_9100 → u/akatherder]

If you don't want anyone on the site to see your real credentials, don't use a mail adress with your real credentials. Don't get me whong, it's amazing you got a poper mail adress for you kids. That can come in very handy with serious things like a job. For everything else, use a "burner" mail account.

[u/GhostxxEvil → u/akatherder]

Don’t use your real name in your email addresses.

[u/MeltheEnbyGirl → u/LetOk8476]

That’s understandable. Also off topic but could you tell me your real name

[u/Hytekdk → u/LetOk8476]

The name's Ok, Let Ok 🎯🔫

[u/shitscentedsocks → u/LetOk8476]

I once tried to piss off a friend on the 360 days and changed my gamertag to his first name, middle initial, last name and I had to beg my parents for $10 to change it again 8 hours later because my friend threatened to sue me with his lawyer uncle lol

[u/reyxe → u/LetOk8476]

Ha, jokes on you, as a loner nobody knows my middle name anyway!

Ha... Ha...

[u/EHFoxVocs → u/LetOk8476]

I have such a generic name that you'd think I was in WitSec. I had to come up with usernames bc other people with the same first and last name had already used it for everything

[u/Goo_Cat → u/EHFoxVocs]

John Smith?

[u/EHFoxVocs → u/Goo_Cat]

Not quite but you're real close

[u/-PringlesMan- → u/EHFoxVocs]

John/Jane Doe are the "default" names, I believe.

[u/Gasrim4003 → u/LetOk8476]

ill take that over the stupid "ha ha swear words are cool" username i have.

[u/Bscotch_Torin → u/LetOk8476]

I used to do plushtubing when I first made my Steam and Roblox accounts and I have to be reminded of that every time I log in

[u/Schw4rztee → u/LetOk8476]

At least you didn't name yourself after a gang...

[u/Kind-Title5194 → u/LetOk8476]

😭😭😭

[u/Icky_Thump1 → u/LetOk8476]

Dumbass 14yo me made my username my full email address (that is no longer used and is cringe sounding 😂)

[u/eternalsleepies → u/LetOk8476]

Could be worse. My steam username is so cringe I cant even say it

[u/TrollDecker → u/LetOk8476]

While not a security issue, setting a gendered account name is also likely to bite you in the arse in later years. 🙃

[u/funforgiven → u/El_Reto]

Not really. Using a different display name is security through obscurity and only a minor help at best. Strong, unique passwords and MFA matter far more and are sufficient for security.

[u/StormMedia → u/funforgiven]

it still helps to avoid being targeted especially if you’re a online personality. More options is better

[u/AConfusedGoose_ → u/StormMedia]

Every Steam account has a numeric ID that is public info. Once you've gotten someone's account ID you can always look at their profile using it and see their current avatar and display name.

To be clear; being able to change your display name is a great feature but it doesn't help at all for security or stalking stuff.

[u/Llandu-gor → u/AConfusedGoose_]

your steam id and display name is useless to login.

if your display name is user1 and id 123456789, I can't log into your account because I would need your username something unique that was chosen when creating your account

[u/StormMedia → u/AConfusedGoose_]

That’s completely different chief

[u/MorRochben → u/funforgiven]

It might not be very secure on its own but the most important principle in security is to have as many layers as possible (that people are willing to deal with).

[u/TheMortalOne → u/funforgiven]

It's bad as the main/only source of security, and if you could only choose two of the 3, then strong password and MFA are obviously more important, but it's still a very useful additional layer of protection. 

[u/Taolan13 → u/funforgiven]

talking about personal security and not info aecurity my dude

[u/didntplaymysummercar → u/funforgiven]

Security through obscurity means hiding how the system itself works. Making logins (in addition to passwords) a secret is not security through obscurity.

[u/EffectiveDandy → u/funforgiven]

TIL that knowing the account name of the account you are trying to sign into is only a minor help at best LOL.

[u/the_dude_that_faps → u/funforgiven]

Security through obscurity is such a misunderstood statement. What do you think a password is...

[u/funforgiven → u/the_dude_that_faps]

You are confusing secrecy with obscurity. Usernames often appear in emails, URLs, logs, profiles, or breach data, and they are not intended to be secret. A password is different because the authentication system is explicitly designed around it remaining confidential.

[u/syku → u/the_dude_that_faps]

the irony of you saying this is funny.

[u/83athom → u/funforgiven]

When my display name was the same as my login name I would get like a 2FA message at least once every 2 weeks for a long time (sometimes multiple a day). After I changed it I haven't had a single login attempt message.

[u/Antique_Door_Knob → u/funforgiven]

Using a different display name is security through obscurity

That's like saying using a password is security through obscurity...

[u/Potential_Garbage → u/funforgiven]

Even MFA can be backdoored.

[u/inzaris → u/Potential_Garbage]

Depends on the method. SMS, sure. A hardware FIDO token? Naw

[u/steakanabake → u/inzaris]

fido wont help if you get a session hijack.

[u/evernessince → u/funforgiven]

Separating username and login name prevents credential stuffing and phising and can provide a significant layer of security equal to 2FA if the login name used isn't recycled among many of your accounts. Even better if ZKPs are used to hide the username from the website / service itself.

Even if a hacker knows your password and email, a service with separate public and private login names would still prevent that hacker from gaining access to that account unless they resort to more drastic measures.

[u/D4shiell → u/funforgiven]

What kind of braindead morons even upvote this comment?

When I played bf4 on origin for single month it followed by half year of getting smses in russian about attempts to recover my acc.

This never happens on steam because nobody sees our logins so they can't even attempt to brute force it.

[u/funforgiven → u/D4shiell]

Considering that Origin/EA uses your email address, not your public nickname, to log in, your own example does not support your argument. So calling everyone else "braindead morons" is pretty ironic.

[u/Impressive-Pride-954 → u/funforgiven]

Cybersecurity Specialist here.
Unfortunately, you're incorrect on almost all accounts.

First of all, the topic of discussion isn't building cryptographic systems or discussing specific implementations, so terms meant for them like security through obscurity can't be applied here.

Security through obscurity and its best practice counterpart, security by design, are principles concerned about the secure design of software or other security systems after all.

The core idea behind security by design is Kerckhoffs's principle - a system should be designed in a way that everything except the key can be known to an attacker and the system would still be secure.
This idea has merit because at some point, parts of these systems will inevitably be leaked/become known, whether by accident or on purpose, so this must be taken into account when creating them.

If we did view this in regards of system design, a login name is part of the key that mustn't be revealed rather than a part of the system that should be secure even if revealed.

This may seem strange, after all one would usually consider just the password to be the key.
However, without the login name, a password is of either limited or no use, depending on whether or not the login name can be figured out based on other factors or brute forced.
Similarly, a login name without a password is of limited or no use, depending on whether or not the password can be figured out or brute forced.

So no, choosing a different display name isn't security of obscurity but rather good security practice that takes into account the limitations of any IT-system secured through cryptography.

Now, your commend and my response up until now all focused on an attacker logging in and taking control of an account.
However, keeping your login name and display name distinct has other security advantages, i'll use the ideal case of the display name being randomized after every game as a basis, but just having a fixed distinct display name also carries some of these benefits, especially if they are changed every so often:

For one, it makes abuse of report systems significantly harder.
It is difficult to spam reports on a user as a means of attacking them if the attacker can't find them again after the match and any collaborators outside the match can't find them.
This doesn't impact legitimate reports as those would come from players in the match during the match and improves the reliability of reports for the support team.

It also makes tracking a user difficult if not impossible, having a fixed name makes it possible to find videos or streams where this username appeared and possibly allows an attacker to find other information about this user like things they said that when combined with other information they shared in different matches against different people reveal parts of their identity, their play times through which other aspects of their life can be guessed, preferred servers and ping through which their home region can be narrowed down or other information that can be pieced together to de-anonymize/de-pseudonymize them.

To conclude, no, Using a different display name is not security through obscurity, but rather good practice.
No, it is not only a minor help at best, at best it makes an attack completely impossible.
Strong, unique passwords and MFA are certainly important, but depending on the attack, they don't matter far more than keeping the login name confidential - they might even be completely irrelevant or can be bypassed in some cases.
No, good passwords and MFA are not sufficient as they only protect from attacks aimed at taking control of the account directly, they don't protect from attacks that go through a different vector.

An example for the latter two would be an attacker pretending to be the victim and calling support to get "their" account back, like what reportedly happened to streamer Sodapoppin in WoW.

Another would be an attacker piecing together information about a victim by tracking them across matches and gathering everything they said, then having enough to be able to contact people the victim knows and through the information gained appear credible, for example contacting the victim's school or employer and through having heard their real name, place of residence or similar, being able to frame the victim as having stolen something or the like.

In business applications, attackers are also happy to find seemingly benign information about their targets, like the name of the receptionist, security personnel or CEO, which can then be used to launch targeted attacks like spear fishing or whaling.

[u/funforgiven → u/Impressive-Pride-954]

Calling yourself a cybersecurity specialist does not make this interpretation correct.

A username is not part of a cryptographic key. It is an account identifier. Authentication systems should assume that identifiers are public or discoverable and remain secure anyway. Treating a username as a secret is exactly reliance on obscurity, regardless of whether you call it "good security practice."

Kerckhoffs's principle does not mean "everything needed to log in is part of the key." The secret authentication factor is the password, private key, recovery secret, or equivalent. An email address or username merely tells the system which account is attempting to authenticate. Knowing it should provide no meaningful ability to authenticate as that user.

Modern authentication systems make this distinction especially obvious. With properly implemented WebAuthn and FIDO2 passkeys using discoverable credentials, the user does not even need to enter a username. The authenticator can present the appropriate credential, allowing the service to identify and authenticate the account in one step. The actual secret is the private key held by the authenticator, not the username.

A hidden login name may marginally increase the cost of untargeted password guessing, but it does not make an attack "completely impossible." Usernames can leak through databases, logs, emails, support interactions, password managers, browser autofill, telemetry, or account recovery flows. A system that depends on them remaining confidential is poorly designed.

You are also conflating authentication security with privacy and pseudonymity. Using a display name that is different from the login identifier can provide privacy benefits and make casual tracking harder. That is a legitimate argument, but it does not transform the login identifier into a cryptographic secret.

The report system argument is also a design failure. Reports should reference an immutable internal account ID and the relevant match, not depend on another player manually searching for a display name. Randomizing names should not be necessary to prevent report spam.

Likewise, social engineering against customer support is not evidence that usernames are secret keys. It is evidence that the support process allowed publicly obtainable information to substitute for strong identity verification. Hiding the username may reduce one piece of available information, but it does not fix that vulnerability.

The accurate conclusion is much narrower. Separating login and display names can improve privacy and slightly reduce account discoverability. It is not an authentication factor, not part of the cryptographic key, and not a replacement for properly designed authentication or recovery systems. Definitely not something you "can't believe it isn't a standard everywhere."

[u/EnzoVulkoor → u/El_Reto]

I can't believe how many people on here just dont understand every layer of security, big or small helps.

I swear these people must leave their front doors unlocked because why lock it someone can kick it down or bump pick it c.c

[u/Dark-Acheron-Sunset → u/EnzoVulkoor]

No but you don't understand, it's "not such a big deal" so therefore all of the hand wringing is justified, they dared use too sensational a phrase to describe it so it must be struck down.

[u/Maltavius → u/El_Reto]

Except in Steam where my account name is an email I havent had access to since 2005... And Im unable to change the account name on Steam.

[u/LiquidSean → u/Maltavius]

Same lmao

[u/reggyl → u/El_Reto]

Yeah your gamertag is not used to login to Xbox at all, probably the case for PlayStation too.

[u/ricokong → u/reggyl]

Yeah, PlayStation uses your email address, just like with Xbox. Nintendo uses email address as well or an optional username that can always be changed, but this username is never shown anywhere, it's purely used for logging in. Nintendo uses a display name for offline and online multiplayer similar to how it works on Steam. Can always be edited without any restrictions.

Edit: Forgot to point out that Nintendo still uses unique friend codes for adding friends which is what makes every account unique and lets players use display names without restrictions (other than a 10 character limit). Kind of works like Steam except Steam uses a unique account name that you chose yourself so that's often easier to share.

[u/reggyl → u/ricokong]

Yeah, with this confirmation, I have no idea what the guy I replied to was yapping about.

Probably a LLM bot lol

[u/mrRobertman → u/El_Reto]

It's not really all that uncommon if you consider that a lot of sites use your email for login instead of your display name.

[u/Bruno091004 → u/El_Reto]

Could you elaborate ?

[u/_BlNG_ → u/El_Reto]

At the very least it allowed me to replace that embarrassingly edgy email I had with something more generic.

[u/iAmAnAC → u/El_Reto]

For some profiles the login name is displayed in the profile url no?

[u/DamGoodAnimation → u/El_Reto]

In all fairness, back when I had an Xbox I signed in with my email. Still kinda dumb that gamertag was (is? Idk) an option tho

[u/enjoyingcurve46 → u/El_Reto]

I mean you dont use your xbox gamertag or psn to log in, you use the email.

[u/minos-and-v1-kissing → u/El_Reto]

One of my only gripes with Steam is that I wish we didn’t have account names. Let me type my email and password to log in. Don’t make me make a username no one is ever going to see.

[u/Fluffyturtle225 → u/El_Reto]

It is very nice. My account is basically just the family kids steam account that no one other than me used, so I just fuckin took it for myself lol

As such, the username of the account has almost nothing to do with my identity beyond being a part of a family.

[u/honda-cervix]

Out of all the shit that these companies do wrong and get shit for, I’m surprised there isn’t more outrage about this specifically

[u/Moneia → u/honda-cervix]

Most people don't know any better, for them "It's always been like this"

[u/SunsetSpark → u/Moneia]

very true, for years i paid to play games online, after the last 10 years or so of having a pc, when my dad wanted to play forza with me he said to wait cause he needed to get gold.
i was like oh, yeah. you cant play online for free cause youre on xbox lol.

[u/nan0ka → u/SunsetSpark]

This is such a scam, since they don't even host anything most of the time. They literally lock a feature that is already there behind a paywall

[u/Kreeper125 → u/nan0ka]

It's the price for selling the consoles at a loss tbh. If you built a PC out of the same/similar parts as lets say an Xbox series x, it's typically gonna cost you at least $800, probably close to $1000 or even more with AI making everything outrageously expensive

[u/Nickulator95 → u/Moneia]

Complacency is often just as destructive as supporting anti-consumer practices, but people often push back against that because it makes them uncomfortable to take responsibility and admit that they're part of the problem as well.

[u/SchalkLBI → u/honda-cervix]

I think it's a matter of frequency and scale - people don't change their names often, and the name change systems are usually hidden behind a few steps to navigate to, so there's never a huge influx of people changing their name and discovering it's behind a paywall. People may complain about it, but it's never enough to become a controversy.

[u/CKRatKing → u/SchalkLBI]

I remember PlayStation saying it wasn't possible to ever change your name and then like a year later you magically could for like ten bucks.

[u/ComradeJohnS → u/honda-cervix]

I just understood “this name is permanent” when I made mine.

[u/honda-cervix → u/ComradeJohnS]

I mean I did too but I was also like 13 when I made my PSN account and my idea of cool usernames shifted a lot since

[u/uzinald → u/honda-cervix]

i hope your psn name is hondacervix thats pretty good

[u/Key-Homework8503 → u/honda-cervix]

There is a whole pile of shit Xbox and PlayStation do that they get away with . They normalize it

[u/GhormanFront → u/honda-cervix]

The only people that pay for this are terminally stupid 

[u/Key-Department-2874 → u/GhormanFront]

I remember the SomethingAwful forums where you could pay to change another users name and avatar and they had to pay to change it back.

[u/wolfreaks → u/Key-Department-2874]

Well unlucky for you then, stinkypoopbutthole69

[u/sociobiology → u/Key-Department-2874]

You couldn't pay to change somebodies name but could pay to change their avatar

[u/finalremix → u/GhormanFront]

My younger cousin would get like 4 of his friends to report his name for "being offensive" on '360 live, and get a free "change your shit or else" message. He pulled that quite a few times, if I recall. He sure as shit wasn't spending money every time.

[u/goodsnpr → u/honda-cervix]

My friend's and I would change our names for Christmas every year, but last time we tried to play Call of Duty it had this fee. Like fuck you if you think I'm paying twice for the name change.

[u/leon3001]

In Twitter now you can RENT a username you want if it was taken in the past by an inactive account. And if you stop paying the subscription, they change your username back to your original one.

The account can be inactive for years, and the username might not resolve to any profile anymore, but it's taken artificially just to make you pay for it.

[u/based_birdo]

You think thats bad? sony, nintendo and xbox charge you that much per month just to play yourgames online

[u/drackmore → u/based_birdo]

And they don't even have the courtesy to have decent servers either.

[u/Masterking263 → u/based_birdo]

I remember when Sony were the ones who had free multiplayer.

[u/pgp555 → u/Masterking263]

The day I found out you had to pay to play online on the ps4 was the day I stopped giving a shit about playstation

[u/PissTitsAndBush → u/Masterking263]

The good ol days. When PS+ was just for discounts and some monthly games.

Edit: and cloud saves

[u/Practical-Skill5464 → u/Masterking263]

I'd say at least that money went into security. But psn has been powned several times since Sony started charging for psn. 

[u/RumHamEnjoyer → u/based_birdo]

As someone who has been a PC gamer my whole life and never really got into consoles, it is absolutely mind-boggling that console users pay every month just to play their games. I don't understand

[u/Objective_Base_3073 → u/based_birdo]

That's closer to what Nintendo charges per year than per month. With the extras they throw in and the complete lack of microtransactions in 1st party games $20 a year is honestly fairly reasonable.

[u/Bell-1979 → u/based_birdo]

and Xbox started the trend. As much as I love the Xbox 360 generation, that was the one where they pioneered some of the worst industry practices we deal with now.

[u/Smasher_001]

Still sucks that i can't change my account name at ALL

[u/Complete_Iron_2656 → u/Smasher_001]

It is a bit annoying, but I'm glad there's at least no circumstance in which my account name will be viewable to anyone but myself, and Steam themselves.

[u/Goo_Cat → u/[deleted]]

Security through obscurity is not a viable strategy anyway

[u/BoltGamr → u/Goo_Cat]

Passwords are security through obscurity, and we still use those

[u/nacke11 → u/Smasher_001]

At least now you can log in with your phone and never type in your account name...so now I don't care as much 😅

[u/caster]

At this point Steam just wins because everyone else is too stupid to see five feet in front of their faces.

"Hey why don't we charge $10 for people to change their names? Because revenue!"

"Get the fuck out of my office you moneygrubbing weasel. We will annoy our customers far more than we will gain any money. We are here to sell games, we do it better than everyone else, we get all the market share."

[u/BrutalisExMachina]

I guess I will remain 'p00pf@rt' forever then.

[u/Spider-cat_1984 → u/BrutalisExMachina]

See you in game, look for "fookYaMum" and you'll find me

[u/Im_Steel_Assassin]

Flash back to the Xbox 360 era, where you had your friends report your gamertag as inappropriate so that Microsoft automatically forces a name change (for free).

[u/Hlidskialf]

10 bucks for a:

UPDATE users
SET username = 'bazzonkers123'
WHERE id = 848543;

[u/Ravohr]

I really liked Discords old system. You got a Name but important was your number

[u/FuzzyWuzzyFoxxie → u/Ravohr]

And now xbox has that system and it sucks v.v

I liked seeing people get creative with their names. It's the sole reason I haven't changed my gamertag

[u/thatguyp2]

They only charge a fee for it because people are willing to pay for it.

[u/WorryLegitimate259]

Shit playstation players weren’t even able to change our names until a couple years ago

[u/AnonD38]

Because Steam follows a different business strategy, and I'd even say a different business philosophy.

For Steam regular Customers aren't just Customers, we are also Steam's most important "product".

Steam does sell things to us, true, but more importantly they "sell" us to the developers and publishers of games.

They get to use Steam to find customers and customers get to use Steam to find developers and publishers.

The reason Steam treats us right is that they know we are the reason they make money.

Not because we buy things from them, but because we go through them to buy from others, because we trust them to stand up for us when necessary, so that we don't have to.

[u/simonglundmark]

I would pay this to change my login name, however.

[u/National-Oil5849]

On Xbox I still have the same one since 2006 because I refuse to pay €10 to change it. 

[u/Seekret_Asian_Man]

Ubisoft sucks but at least you can change username every 30 days

[u/Firedogslie]

Im so happy that steam allows you to change your name whenever and for free. I hate when apps make you have to wait months. Steam is great!

[u/Happytreez69]

Yeah I made my gamertag when I was very young and it was cutesy, was praying for the day on PlayStation that I was able to change it because it got so many gamer girl comments it made me uncomfortable some of the things people said to a teen girl. By the time I was actually able to change it someone else had taken my soul tag and it made me sad lol

[u/PatientAllison]

Very helpful if you're a trans person and out your deadname in your tag

[u/TheFrogMagician]

Never take someone saying "hello!" To you on the street for granted.. other people stab you to death instead....

[u/unicornsandrainbowst]

Probably someone, a long time ago, in those companies that wont allow change, made the awful choice of having the account name be the same as the display AND be the primary key for the account in the DB. Basically locking all info and thousand of other related database entries to that ID.  

[u/Tiny_Rick_C137]

One of the million reasons why Gabe is the only billionaire I will always refuse to eat.

The rest get the fork.

[u/Individual_Drama9803]

Whoever came up with charging you for something that stupid must be miserable af

[u/Useless-RedCircle]

I change my name for different games played.

[u/440_Hz]

My ex and I created our Steam accounts together with cute matchy names. So I def wish I could change it (without paying) because I don’t really identify with that tag anymore.

[u/MrParadux]

Microtransactions in general are a scam and pure greed. Companies don't need that money to continue supporting a game.

The biggest example for that is No Man's Sky which has gotten new content and running servers for 10 years and they have never charged for anything than the base price of the game. And they are absolutely fine financially, so other games could also be way, way cheaper, but aren't.

[u/Ferzous]

inconvenient is the reason those company lost to steam in the first place is the Steam under gaben cleary told that steam success is from making the platform convenient and also reduce the Piracy, 2 birds in one stone

[u/ponyCurd]

The answer is a technical limitation caused by bad planning. I imagine that any platform that doesn't allow you to change your name - or charge you to do it - is because in their databases ALL of your data is tied to that one piece of unique ID. Depending on how bad the database scheme is, it's probably a huge MANUAL pain-in-the-rear, so, they don't do it.

[u/SuperArppis]

The worst thing is when people start downplaying it when companies start stripping away the things people have taken for granted. Meaning they are ok about it and companies keep taking away things little by little.

Steam is great, but never stop being vigilant about things like these.

[u/MisterFyre]

Steam's username changes are free because you can never change your username.

[u/TwinSong]

wait charging $10 just to change username??

[u/-lb21a-]

I love the display name being able to be changed, but why can't we change account names, I made mine when I was younger and it's stupid and now I have to live with it

[u/EferVejux_34]

Wish reddit had it as well, cause I created account with mail and now named like that

[u/nevadita]

better yet. the first change is supposed to be free but it has always costed for me even when i have never changed mine.

mine is from the OGXbox era.

[u/kitestar]

Literally the last line of defense for anonymity we got, and Sony and Microsoft have to go and charge for the right to make your handle not arse after the first try

[u/Feral_Heart]

In Hunt:Showdown we once fought with someone who had the murder granny skin and their steam name was also connected to that skin. It was a very good duel and they defeated us at the end. I added them as friend and though I don't play with Hunt anymore, but I sometimes see them with a different user name resembling the actual meme skin. Go Pyromaniac Joe. May your Hunt be many in the bajou.

[u/Tearakudo → u/Feral_Heart]

Hunt meme names are usually peak

[u/TheBrittca]

The big corpos are always looking for something new to monetize. Late stage capitalism at work.

Steam is different, at least for now.

[u/PhoenixPoop]

I forgot companies do that. I'm either on Steam or Nintendo. I di have an Epic account where I claim free games. I have a whole library of free games, but I still haven't ever used it. I should check and see what they have, I forgot about it and haven't claimed any in awhile now. Steam + Nintendo is the best by far imo. There's very few games I can't play, and given enough time they usually end up on PC anyways. And if they don't, given even more time it'll be available thru emulation.

GTA6 is the only one that comes to mind. But eventually I bet it'll be on PC.

I was upset about The Last of Us for awhile after I lost my ps3, but even it's on PC now, I just haven't bought it yet.

There's Spiderman games on PlayStation that look really pretty, and I believe aren't on PC.. But I don't care enough to even look it up, so it's not like I'm missing anything I really want, I just think it looks pretty af.

I can't think of anything else. Just GTA6 if it ends up being good.

[u/B1tchW0lf]

whats crazy to me is that Ubisoft wont even let you change your pfp

and yeah i had to pay to change my name in Overwatch/Blizzard... stupid of me putting my exes name in my nick :D

[u/Losinred]

I've had mine since 2007. Thought about changing it but nah. It honestly discourages from constant name changes. You guys remember how toxic mw2 was on 360 xbox live. For that alone it served its purpose.

[u/QuantumVexation → u/Losinred]

Yeah this is a rock and a hard place for me - it scummy to charge for it but people picking and sticking to an identity has more charm somehow than being able to change it to some lame joke of the day constantly

[u/Complete_Iron_2656 → u/QuantumVexation]

I don't think it's really such a big deal for that purpose, it's cool to have a tag that has been tied to you and your account for a long time obviously, and gives a bit of sentimental value to it knowing that it's unique to you, whether or not it's a desirable name. But that's my biggest gripe with it as well, the fact that there is such a community built around the idea of buying and selling "rare" tags, which are commonly just generic, often short names. And they'll go for ridiculous amounts of money, too. Just a bit egregious I think.

[u/DarkflowNZ]

Watching my friend change his steam display name from inside css as a joke blew my mind as a PlayStation kid

[u/No_Distribution_3398]

I remember some friends of mine naming themselves Mac n Cheese and duo queuing for Mann Up and changing their names back to normal after each session

[u/SudoPamacUpdate]

$9.99 for a display name change proves you think your customers are idiotic sheep, or you infrastructure is literally so incompetent that a simple change adds up to a cascading cacophony of madness that costs the system serious computation time. Neither is a good look.

[u/maxler5795]

fuck you mean 10 dollars to change my name

ok ig no more meme changes or VARPing for fun with the mates

[u/Chickennoodlesleuth]

Huh I wonder why I never changed my cringe gamer tag...

Oh yeah now I remember

[u/Antique_Door_Knob]

Reminds me of when I used this instant name change feature to tattle enemy positions in CSGO. Fun times.

[u/Dinierto]

Does Sony charge? I looked into it and it said I could do it but might lose save games or trophies or something from PS4 era stuff and that was enough to scare me away from trying it.

[u/Kuzkuladaemon]

I have never changed mine, and never will. No clan tags, no event things, no duplicitous actions or renames to throw off rust raiders. Always have been and will be since 98'

[u/you_killed_my_]

how many of you have had the same name for a really long time?

i can't imagine changing, and to be honest I might have my game name on my tombstone lol

[u/The_Dukenator → u/you_killed_my_]

For 10-20 years?

[u/Technical_Garden_762]

I picked my user name in 2018 and still haven't changed it tho. FullNelsonMandela. 

[u/BrennusSokol]

Blizzard charges for name changes too 😖

[u/hiddenhero94]

Their database was set up to use the username as the universal identifier in the database. Changing that is possible but would take a significant amount of time, so I get why they don't bother

[u/n0respect_]

This used to be how all games worked.

Disgusting that it ever changed. Valve keeping the old ways alive.

[u/White_C4]

Name change probably would've been free had Microsoft not set the precedence back during the 360 era. It would've been easier if they just set the gamertag change cooldown to like 2-3 years with no charge if they don't want people constantly changing their own usernames.

[u/Ange1ofD4rkness]

Display Name, or Username? Years back for Xbox, I paid this, but it was to change my username (aka my gamer tag). I assume it's not a light process to take

[u/Kitsunetsuki_ka]

Yeah, I remember when I changed my PSN username (it was a relic of my call of duty days), but then I noticed that after they'd make you pay.... what?

I've changed my Steam username a bunch, it never really dawned on me how convenient that was. This was pre-discord too, I don't think anything but Skype or Yahoo messenger had that kind of freedom?

[u/Zestyclose_Source571]

Havent played in a while but dont you get 1 or 2 free changes a year?

[u/Havange]

It feels unreal to live in a world where it's legal to put a price on something equivalent to thin air. And then they want us to believe steam is a monopoly

[u/HabenochWurstimAuto]

Its just as stupid when games restrict your charakter slots like Diablo IV....buy the expansion to get 2 more slots !!!

[u/F_A_F]

Looked through my past Steam names recently; it's been the same for 22 years apart from during lockdown. My son was at home schooling on my PC so all my mates kept accidentally inviting him to CSGO. Had to add -home schooling do not invite! to the end of my username.....

[u/dark_fesse]

I actually have a free change on my Xbox account, i keep my cringe username because 9 years with the same ain't nothing

[u/RCFProd]

For the record I think Its free for a first time change on both Sony and Microsoft right?

On Microsoft I guess It's not truly 1-time free because you're changing an auto-generated one into your personal one, so yeah that's not great.

I always got the impression they want to discourage users from too actively changing their names by asking for a fee, but they let you do it once for free if you need to.

[u/Vadym_PVP]

honestly i would even pay just to change my steam *login* name because it's so fucking stupid

[u/Zensiter]

Steam should let me change my account name that i made when i was a kid

[u/Nice-Elevator-4987]

I have a 3character handle, will never change it

[u/mimsvng04]

Especially because I made my display name for my microsoft acc when I was a freshman in highschool(?), and WHEN I PAID TO CHANGE IT I was charged but denied a change so even that is messed up. I had such a weird childish Steam name too but I changed it to my online name I use with my online friends turned gaming buddies

PS: Grades in Norway is differently graded so I was technically in teen/youth-school.

[u/Patrik7770127]

I hate that there are two games where I have to use a completely different nickname simply because of character limit being an issue with one and limited symbols you can use being for the other.

[u/JoanyC11]

Wtf damn thank god I never wanted go change my diaplay name on my dads ps4. This is absolutely insane.

[u/StormerSage]

Having separate display and login names is actually such a good practice because it means usernames shown to others don't have to be unique anymore. Every service should adopt this.

No more accounts getting their names changed by admins because a content creator wanted a particular name.

No more getting your name sniped if you are a content creator looking at a new platform.

No more security nightmares of people buying and selling accounts with "OG" names (looking at you Minecraft)

[u/FutureOwl8606]

Min steam we trust.

All others betray us

[u/LunarstarFurry]

Is it possible to change login name on Steam? Have mine for years and ngl kinda hope I can change it(

[u/Rasikko]

Wasn't it cheaper than that when Xbox Live was a thing??

[u/Tearakudo → u/Rasikko]

Nope, it's been this for almost 20 years now

[u/RetroDando]

I wish Xbox offered this for emails!!

[u/I_SHOT_A_PIG]

Im not a fan of it tbh, always had the idea that a name should be a proper name and not some gimmick/meme name that changes every month

[u/Complete_Iron_2656 → u/I_SHOT_A_PIG]

I think it's much better to give people that option to have a gimmick name, than force them to have a static name which can only be changed for a fee. I realistically don't think a ton of people even rotate their names often on Steam to begin with, but the ability to do so is still pretty huge in my book. Think Steam remedies this a bit by giving users the ability to add nicknames to their friends, so it doesn't become a game of "what character is my friend larping as this time?". Think this nickname also extends into games as well, which is very convenient.

[u/Noemor8Daniela16]

This is a game changer sir

[u/windyvalleyzone]

fr sometimes i change my name multiple times a day to fuck with my friends

[u/EV4N212]

It’s a bloody shame about the ram crisis because of the Steam Machine came out at a proper “console” price I really think it’d be the start of the death of PS and Xbox whose prime has long gone and have turned to be purely for profit across the board.