How To Setup Parental Controls on Steam (PC)
Steam is the most popular gaming distributor on the most popular platform, the PC. The service had a bumpy start, but it has come into it’s own in recent years and is by far one of the most robust in it’s offerings. As a supplementary resource for our Tutorial For a Gamer’s Parent series we’ve put together a collection of mini resources for gamers and parents to use. This one covers the Parental controls on Steam.
Steam encourages parents/ guardians to create Steam accounts with their children. If there are features of Steam that you would like to exclude from the experience, you can restrict access using Family View. You may also choose to enable Family View on your own Steam account if you would rather they share your Steam Account.
To enable Family View:
First you’re going to need to download the Steam client from: https://store.steampowered.com/
Create/Log into the Steam account your child will use. Creating a steam account requires a valid email. If your child doesn’t have one then create it on either Gmail, or live/Hotmail.
When the account is created and logged in on the Steam client click the Steam menu in the top menu bar.
Open the Settings option.
Go to the “Family” tab on the left side of the window that opens.
Click “Family View” to start the Family View wizard.
Step through the wizard to select the content and features you’d like to be accessible while in PIN-protected Family View.
Select and confirm your new PIN.
If you’ve followed all the steps properly then you’ll find a new red icon in the top right corner of your steam client. By clicking on the icon it’ll turn green activating Family View. Once activated all content you excluded during setup will be excluded from the platform, and even new content registered to the account will be excluded unless allowed by you.
Anyone wishing to access games and features outside those permitted by family view will need to click the Family View icon in the top right corner of the client and enter the pin.
More Parental control resources will be added to the site periodically so be sure to follow our social media so you don’t miss them as soon as they become available.
Disclaimer: Remember no matter what type of Parental Control you use on your child’s consoles and PC, the best form of parental control will always be to play games with your child and to be informed on interests. No software will ever compare to being a good parent and teaching your child good values.
