If people forget their login name, that's their problem. Not a compelling reason for a change.

years ago it used to be email was account login. people wanted to be able to name their accounts not the same as their email.

Originally posted by eram:

years ago it used to be email was account login. people wanted to be able to name their accounts not the same as their email.

Also there's a big amount of people having their Steam accounts tied to an email address that no longer exists.

Originally posted by я проклят jelious:

If people forget their login name, that's their problem.

And there's ways to recover your account in such a situation.

Originally posted by McContax:

Account name is used to login steam account.It can not be changed once registration done.That's a big problem. Why not use email to login and stop using account name? Since many websites and apps using email and phone to log in. More and more users forget their steam account name. What's more, the steam account name is not able to re-use after the account deletion done. Steam ID is the unique identifier. Just let the steam account name go!!!!

No, it has to be a unique name for security reasons. only you know what that name is. There is a reason why it can no longer be email address or your online steam nickname...

Security....

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

If people forget their login name, that's their problem. Not a compelling reason for a change.

So the next question is why the login name can not be changed? Bro that's weird even a prisoner can change their name. Valve just need to keep the steam ID as the unique identifier. Why they have to lock your login name and u will never be able to change?

Originally posted by pckirk:

Originally posted by McContax:

Account name is used to login steam account.It can not be changed once registration done.That's a big problem. Why not use email to login and stop using account name? Since many websites and apps using email and phone to log in. More and more users forget their steam account name. What's more, the steam account name is not able to re-use after the account deletion done. Steam ID is the unique identifier. Just let the steam account name go!!!!

No, it has to be a unique name for security reasons. only you know what that name is. There is a reason why it can no longer be email address or your online steam nickname...

Security....

Security is not a good reason for this. Many modern websites and apps using email to login such as PSN, XBOX, Switch, Amazon. I dont think they have security problems. Only reason Valve dont do this is their database problems...

Originally posted by McContax:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

If people forget their login name, that's their problem. Not a compelling reason for a change.

So the next question is why the login name can not be changed? Bro that's weird even a prisoner can change their name. Valve just need to keep the steam ID as the unique identifier. Why they have to lock your login name and u will never be able to change?

because if it could be changed, the victim of an account hijack would lose all hope of recovering their account because there'd be no static identifier for the account to be recovered by.

Originally posted by McContax:

Account name is used to login steam account.It can not be changed once registration done.That's a big problem. Why not use email to login and stop using account name? Since many websites and apps using email and phone to log in. More and more users forget their steam account name. What's more, the steam account name is not able to re-use after the account deletion done. Steam ID is the unique identifier. Just let the steam account name go!!!!

Someone can know your email address, a login name would be different. More and more users should start writing down their usernames somewhere if they are forgetting it. In fact, since you know your email send one to yourself with your steam login name and problem solved, you can just reference that email each time.

Originally posted by McContax:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

If people forget their login name, that's their problem. Not a compelling reason for a change.

So the next question is why the login name can not be changed? Bro that's weird even a prisoner can change their name. Valve just need to keep the steam ID as the unique identifier. Why they have to lock your login name and u will never be able to change?

Database things are linked to that name, having worked with them I can tell you it likely is not in Valve's best interest to allow that to be changed.

Also stop cheating.

Originally posted by McContax:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

If people forget their login name, that's their problem. Not a compelling reason for a change.

So the next question is why the login name can not be changed? Bro that's weird even a prisoner can change their name. Valve just need to keep the steam ID as the unique identifier. Why they have to lock your login name and u will never be able to change?

It's not weird, it's how they designed the database and such. Which is fine.

Choosing which login you want and remembering it is your responsibility.

Originally posted by McContax:

Originally posted by pckirk:

No, it has to be a unique name for security reasons. only you know what that name is. There is a reason why it can no longer be email address or your online steam nickname...

Security....

Security is not a good reason for this. Many modern websites and apps using email to login such as PSN, XBOX, Switch, Amazon. I dont think they have security problems. Only reason Valve dont do this is their database problems...

In the early days of Steam, accounts did use the email address originally tied to the account as the login name. However, since the login name couldn't be changed, even if you updated the associated email, you'd still have to remember the old one to log in with.

This also limited each email to a single Steam account. This could be an issue if a family wanted to setup individual Steam accounts for each person, but have all emails going to a single email account.

The reason why other companies can use the email as the login name is that their systems didn't make the login the primary key in their user database, which is something not easily changed. That's why they can make the login name and associated email the same thing.

Originally posted by Ettanin:

Originally posted by McContax:

So the next question is why the login name can not be changed? Bro that's weird even a prisoner can change their name. Valve just need to keep the steam ID as the unique identifier. Why they have to lock your login name and u will never be able to change?

because if it could be changed, the victim of an account hijack would lose all hope of recovering their account because there'd be no static identifier for the account to be recovered by.

Even hackers change the login name. They still cant change the email address. The victims can still use email verification code to recover their accounts. Besides, those apps and webs using email to login got no problems on account hijack. They can still help victims recover their account.

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Originally posted by McContax:

So the next question is why the login name can not be changed? Bro that's weird even a prisoner can change their name. Valve just need to keep the steam ID as the unique identifier. Why they have to lock your login name and u will never be able to change?

It's not weird, it's how they designed the database and such. Which is fine.

Choosing which login you want and remembering it is your responsibility. :conwayshrug:

Since rights and obligations are inseparable. Its my obligations to remember my login name. And its my legitimate right to change my login name.

We have solved this issue a long time ago. It's called pen & paper.

Originally posted by McContax:

And its my legitimate right to change my login name.

It's not a "right", and its unlikely to be done, last i heard was a steam employee said they weren't going to change it for a variety of reasons, so its not hard to remember

Originally posted by McContax:

Originally posted by Ettanin:

because if it could be changed, the victim of an account hijack would lose all hope of recovering their account because there'd be no static identifier for the account to be recovered by.

Even hackers change the login name. They still cant change the email address. The victims can still use email verification code to recover their accounts. Besides, those apps and webs using email to login got no problems on account hijack. They can still help victims recover their account.

That you're aware of, which may not be as much as you think. You're kidding yourself if you think email as account name somehow makes phishing or hijacking impossible. After all many email providers use the email address as the login name, people still get their email account hijacked. And all the sites that use email as a login, well, even easier.

We're talking about a username, and it doesn't matter what the username is as long as you know it. And it's perfectly possible to keep track of all your accounts with a password manager. And no matter how you perceive flaws or have a preference for one over another, it doesn't really change that fundamental detail.

Email is a popular choice, it's not the only choice.