Steam now requires Australian users to have a credit card to purchase R18+ games, and no, a simple bank debit card won't work

Valve rolled out 18+ age verification for Australian Steam users yesterday, which was inevitable: both PlayStation and Xbox have already done so and it is, after all, illegal not to, with fines up to AU$50 million at stake. But unlike PlayStation and Xbox, which offer a small handful of ways to verify one's adulthood, Valve has only one: you must own a credit card.

And no, your debit card won't work, or at least, mine doesn't. You'll need an actual credit card: a card that uses money you don't have, versus a card that uses money you do. It makes a bit of sense, because Australians need to be 18 to qualify for a credit card, whereas teenagers can own a debit card.

But there are other complications: You may be an adult and not qualify for a credit card because you don't earn enough money. You may not meet a particular bank's credit assessment criteria, as per CommBank. You may have a poor credit history. Or, you may simply not want to have a credit card because the prospect of s...