Getting into Steam

I couldn't think of where to post this, so if this is the wrong location, feel free to move it.

I had a Steam account for a long time, and purchased maybe a dozen games there. Then I wasn't active for a few years, and I think they de-activated my account. I am trying to sign back on, but now they have this series of verification "eye tests" you must pass to prove you are not a robot. I can't seem to get the hang of it. It doesn't help that many of the images are deliberately blurry, to confuse any bots that might be nibbling. I have tried more times than I can count, and each attempt takes quite a while, but ultimately it blows me off.

Maybe I don't understand how literally to take their images? Also, I am over 70, and my eyes aren't as sharp as a 20-year-old's. Maybe that enters in, too? The Catch-22 is that, since I can't get onto the site, I can't send a query to them about how the "eye exam" thing is meant to work.

I've looked on the web for help, but all I find is people complaining about "what a b*itch the verification process is." No one offers any advice on how to get through it successfully.

Hi Reenie, since this is a technical problem rather than an adventure game discussion, I have moved your post over to Glitches.

I hope that someone will be able to give you some advice and come to the rescue here. This sounds like a very frustrating problem.

So, by "eye exam" do you mean the Captcha they want you to type in? I absolutely hate those things... I'm also over 70, but it isn't my eyes. It's how complicated they make these stupid things. I have figured out they are sensitive to capital letters or not etc. Sometimes they will give you an option for a sound, but I've never found those useful either. Steam has has had a real issue with people accounts being hacked, so they increased their security requirements. If all else fails, maybe some time when we are both on line at the same time, you could grab a screenshot of the Captcha and I could try to make sense out of it for you!

Wow. I didn't know Steam uses that. I haven't run across it yet myself. I don't care much for them either. I hope you can get it figured out!

Captchas are not an "eye test."
For example, what qualifies as a "road sign?" Yes I can see things that might be "road signs" in their little squares, but they might be something else -- some other type of sign or not a sign at all. It can take over half an hour of futzing around trying to solve this garbage. If you mess up you have to start over and do a whole new series of them.

The only possible future solution I found from internet searches are sites like the following, which propose browser extentions for auto-solving and bypassing captchas, but these are not ready yet.
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/bypass-captcha-firefox-auto-solving-captcha-monster/
I haven't really found a browser extension for this like I'd want at addons.mozilla.org

Captchas are worthless and easier to solve for bots than for humans
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-...ts-artificial-intelligence-a8029401.html

Thanks, all. Yes, I read a lot of complaints about Captchas! I know I am not alone. The thing is, if they want you to identify a traffic signal, do they mean just the box part with the three lights or the whole thing, all the way across its extension and down the pole to the ground? The same with a crosswalk ~ do I include the square that has that tiny corner of the end of the crosswalks? This craziness is what I think is the most problematic for me.

Jenny, I thought the same thing as you: a robot would be better at this than a human!

Maybe I'll just stay clear of Steam for now.

If you do, be sure to write to them and tell them why they're losing business.
They should already know, but it doesn't hurt to tell them.

I found this on the Steam site:


https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/4420805388061084925/