Exploring STEAM with children in mind Accounts designed for young learners Engaging activities to spark curiosity
Exploring STEAM with children in mind Accounts designed for young learners Engaging activities to spark curiosity
He wanted to enjoy Plants Vs Zombies Battle for Neighborville. I bought it using my Steam account and let him play through my Steam and EA accounts about a year ago. We upgraded to a new computer that could run the game better, so I set up the Steam library together with my daughter, who also showed interest in games. I bought her a copy too. After some research, I found out the game only allows one player at a time, so I got each of them their own copies. I registered them under my account for EA, but they won’t let regular accounts. When I tried to start the game, it wouldn’t launch because the EA usernames weren’t valid. I tried entering keys, but those aren’t available anymore in Steam. Overall, sharing through Steam was frustrating, and the EA experience was disappointing. I’m now using the Microsoft Store or Xbox app with family accounts to manage games, monitor playtime, and control spending. Still can’t access Plants Vs Zombies Battle under my account, but I’ve got Minecraft Dungeon and regular Minecraft. They also have all the Halo titles. I was hoping Steam would support their own accounts better, but it’s been a lot of hassle troubleshooting and prefer games that work smoothly for kids or myself. I’ve reached out to EA without any response yet. I’m launching a new gaming device and hope they’ll fix the issues with kids’ accounts soon.
Never experienced problems when sharing with family members. Set up Steam on the system, sign in using my account, log out, then log in with a child’s account and that’s it. Shared library works well—both my daughters can access my large collection this way. They need their own Steam profiles, but I handle that easily and they can’t buy anything themselves, which is a win for me. EA’s experience is completely different; it’s really disappointing. No kids account options seem to be considered. GamePass would also gain from a family plan, though it isn’t available right now. For now, the Steam library sharing is about as effective as it can be.
Unless it’s updated in Steam as far as I’m aware, the "Family Share" option is limited to other users accessing your games via their accounts while you weren’t playing. Once you began using your own account, others were removed from your library. One suggestion I’ve heard is to run Steam offline, though it may not help with games needing a separate launcher like Ubisoft Connect or EA’s Origin. Setting up their Steam accounts with age restrictions could limit access. Instead of spending money, consider using your own Steam card for gift packs or giving them a $20 voucher.
Not really having kids, but if I did, I’d be curious about Kids’ accounts on Steam and media streaming platforms.