Steam Yellow Name – What Is It And How Do I Get it?

Steam is a great platform that gives you access to the majority of the best PC games. It’s also a great hub where you can connect with your friends to play games.

If you looked at some of your friends’ profiles recently, you might have seen their names appear yellow.

Why would someone have a yellow name on Steam? Read on to learn what a yellow name on Steam means and how you can get it. 

And no, it has nothing to do with writing your Steam name in the snow. Though fun, this isn’t what this article is about.

Also, check out how to hide your games from friends on Steam.

Yellow or Gold Names Are Tied to a Special Event

Steam’s yellow (or gold) names are tied to a special event. During the Lunar New Year sale, it became possible for Steam players to purchase the right to have their profile appear yellow.

This gives players a profile with a yellow outline, and their Steam names appear yellow. Note that this is purely cosmetic and indicates that someone paid to have their profile look different. 

To purchase the special yellow name privilege, it’s going to cost you a certain number of tokens. If you’ve been using Steam for a while, you’ll know that you get tokens for the money you spend purchasing games.

You earn 100 tokens/points for every $1.00 you spend on Steam. The ability to change your name to yellow costs 1,000 tokens per month.

So you don’t have to spend money on changing the name. You spend the money on buying games that you want to play.

The tokens you have can then be spent on changing your name and profile border to a satisfying yellow or gold color.

To purchase cool stuff for your Steam profile, go to Store > Points Shop.

Check out how to share your Steam games library with family and friends.

Does the Yellow Steam Name Mean Anything? 

The Steam yellow name isn’t indicative of any special status aside from noting that you paid Steam points to make your profile look different. It’s only something you should do if you want your Steam profile outline to look cooler.

If you thought your friends’ names turned yellow because they did some special action in a game, that’s not correct. It’s only a cosmetic option. 

There Are Other Ways to Spend Points/Tokens

If you don’t want to wait for the Lunar New Year sale or other special events, you can always spend your tokens in other ways. There are cosmetic transactions available on Steam right now.

You can pay 5,000 points/tokens to get a special seasonal profile. This allows you to get a frame, background, and custom color theme. You can also purchase animated profile backgrounds, avatar frames, and animations. 

You’ll likely get many Steam points over time if you play games on PC regularly. Those using the Steam platform to purchase all their PC games will rack up many points.

Eventually, you’ll have thousands even if you only buy games on sale. Spending your points on cosmetic items isn’t bad since they might collect dust otherwise.

See how to get a blank name in Among Us and turn invisible… almost!

How to customize your Steam profile in other ways

I love changing the avatar and background on my Steam profile from time to time.

I spend tokens, so I get access to special avatars and backgrounds related to the games I play. Or just avatars and backgrounds, which I think are fun or cool looking

To customize your Steam profile, follow these steps:

1. Click on your Steam profile name on the big top menu
2. Click “Edit Profil”
3. Go to ‘Avatar’ to select the avatar in your library. You can even upload your own if you want.
4. Go to ‘Profile Background’ and select the profile background you like.
5. Go to ‘Theme’ to change the overall color scheme in Steam
6. Go to ‘Special Profile’ if you want to change everything in Steam to have a theme from a certain game.
7. Go to ‘Featured Badge’ to choose from several badges available based on the number of games you’ve purchased, how long you’ve had a Steam profile, and more.
8. Go to ‘Featured Showcase’ to choose what you want to be featured in your profile (fx, your rarest achievements, or a video showcase of something).

Can You Get the Yellow Steam Name for Free?

You aren’t supposed to be able to get the yellow Steam name and profile border for free. It’s meant to be a paid privilege that you spend your points or tokens on.

There is some information about shady ways to give yourself a yellow name, but actions like this could get you banned from Steam.

It’s against the rules to cheat in online games, and it’s against the rules to use nefarious methods to alter your Steam profile. So please don’t do it!