Gamers Are Beating Age Checks With Video Game Characters
A Gamer's Viral Trick Bypasses Age Gates
When a UK-based Discord user named Siyan logged on one morning in July, he was blocked from his usual NSFW text chats. A new popup informed him that due to the UK's far-reaching child safety laws, the channel was now age-restricted. Discord now required users to prove they were over 18, either by providing a government ID or submitting to a face scan.
Siyan, who describes himself as “painfully over the age of needing to fake an ID,” was unwilling to upload a photo of his identification. The face scan feature wasn't working on his mobile device, and without a webcam, he had to get creative. He decided to give the platform someone else's face.
His first attempt with an emoji of an “old dude” failed, as face scans often require multiple poses, like an open mouth. That’s when Siyan turned to his video game library. Games like Stellar Blade and Death Stranding have detailed photo modes that allow players to pose characters. He chose Sam from Death Stranding, a character modeled after 56-year-old actor Norman Reedus, captured the required pose, and successfully bypassed the verification.
After sharing his success on Discord, a friend posted the screenshots to X, and Siyan’s method went viral. It inspired a wave of other users to try the same trick with characters from games like God of War, Cyberpunk 2077, and even The Sims 4.
The Widespread Problem of Flawed Verification
Age verification is rapidly becoming the new standard across the internet, driven by new laws in the UK and a global push for online safety. Major companies like Google are already implementing AI-driven age estimation for services like Search and YouTube, and gaming platforms like Roblox are making age checks a central part of their safety strategy. However, these systems, whether using IDs or biometrics, are proving to be imperfect.
As Siyan and many others have demonstrated, a determined user can find a way around them. The looming threat of generative AI, which can now create realistic video in real-time, could make these security measures obsolete before they are even fully implemented.
In theory, age verification is meant to protect children. On platforms like Roblox, where predators have been able to groom or even assault children, confirming a user's age can help limit their access to certain features. For adult sites like Pornhub, the goal is to prevent minors from accessing explicit content. But critics argue that the current systems are failing on both privacy and protection.
Ash, a 20-year-old from the UK, told WIRED he passed verification using a picture of Kratos from God of War. Another user, Antsy, used a character from Arma 3, noting that the models look “nowhere near realistic,” and still succeeded. For him and his friends, bypassing this technology is a “challenge.”
The list of games used to fool the system is long and varied. Users reported success with Days Gone, Baldur’s Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, The Sims 4, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, and even Garry's Mod, a game known for its cartoonishly distorted character models.
Are Any Verification Methods Truly Secure?
According to David Maimon, a criminology professor and head of fraud insights at SentiLink, the current methods are full of loopholes. People can bypass “liveness checks”—the security measures designed to ensure a user is a real, live person—with video game characters, AI, or even pre-recorded videos of other people.
“The process of age verification is complicated,” Maimon says, adding that criminals are often “7 to 12 months ahead of us” in finding and exploiting vulnerabilities. He warns against over-relying on single checkpoints like face scans or IDs.
Even physical IDs are no longer a foolproof method. “The quality of a [fake] driver license—it's just impeccable,” Maimon explains. Criminals now have access to the materials and technology to replicate all the security features of a legitimate ID, from watermarks to UV printing. “I’m hesitant to say that [photo ID] is a useful way to verify folks' age,” he concludes, “simply because we have so much evidence suggesting that it doesn't work.”
This creates a particular problem for verifying younger teens. Roblox previously acknowledged to WIRED that requiring a government ID is an issue for 13-year-olds—the minimum age for certain features—as most young teens in North America don't have one. Maimon suggests a more robust system would rely less on these easily forged checkpoints and more on historical evidence of an individual's existence, such as associated phone numbers and addresses.
The High Cost of Verification: User Privacy at Risk
Beyond the security flaws, many users are deeply concerned about their privacy. Handing over biometric data or a copy of a government ID to a third-party service feels like a significant risk. “I don't trust the third party services that are being used with my data, especially with how damaging data leaks can be,” says Ash. “There's no way for me to know for sure that they are telling the truth” about data deletion policies.
These fears are not unfounded. In July, Tea, an app for women, suffered a massive data breach that exposed thousands of photos used for verification. A second security issue exposed sensitive DMs and personal information, which was then posted on forums like 4chan to dox and harass the app's users.
For many, the trade-off isn't worth it. “Requiring people to give up facial information to access all the features of websites and apps...is a massive overreach of what governments should be allowed to ask for digitally,” Ash argues.
Antsy, who used Arma 3 to bypass the check, believes the responsibility is misplaced. “All you are doing by putting these laws into place is pushing young people towards corners of the internet the government can't police,” he says. “If someone believes this is protecting children more than an active parent already would, I refuse to believe they are well versed in the corners of the internet outside of the Google home page.”
