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Steam Family Sharing
http://store.steampowered.com/sharing/
Eat your heart out, Microsoft. September 11, 2013 - Steam Family Sharing, a new service feature that allows close friends and family members to share their libraries of Steam games, is coming to Steam, a leading platform for the delivery and management of PC, Mac, and Linux games and software. The feature will become available next week, in limited beta on Steam. Steam Family Sharing is designed for close friends and family members to play one another's Steam games while each earning their own Steam achievements and storing their own saves and application data to the Steam cloud. It's all enabled by authorizing a shared computer. "Our customers have expressed a desire to share their digital games among friends and family members, just as current retail games, books, DVDs, and other physical media can be shared," explained Anna Sweet of Valve. "Family Sharing was created in direct response to these user requests." Once a device is authorized, the lender's library of Steam games becomes available for others on the machine to access, download, and play. Though simultaneous usage of an account's library is not allowed, the lender may always access and play his games at any time. If he decides to start playing when a friend is borrowing one of his games, the friend will be given a few minutes to either purchase the game or quit playing. How do I enable Family Sharing on my computer? Family Sharing is enabled in one of two ways: You can either locally enable sharing in Account Settings, with Family Sharing & Devices, or remotely respond to a user’s Steam request to share your previously installed games via email. Is there a limit to the number of devices I can authorize to share my Library? Yes. A Steam account may authorize Family Sharing on up to 10 devices at a given time. Can I share specific games, or do I have to share my whole library? Libraries are shared and borrowed in their entirety. Can all Steam games be shared with friends and family? No, due to technical limitations, some Steam games may be unavailable for sharing. For example, titles that require an additional third-party key, account, or subscription in order to play cannot be shared between accounts. Can a friend and I share a library and both play at the same time? No, a shared library may only be accessed by one user at a time. When I authorize a device to lend my library to others, do I limit my own ability to access and play my games? As the lender, you may always access and play your games at any time. If you decide to start playing when a friend is already playing one of your games, he/she will be given a few minutes to either purchase the game or quit playing. |
Re: Steam Family Sharing
Good stuff, Valve!
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Cool. I'll need to enable this in our house. Seems preferable to constantly logging each other out of Steam.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
So similar to the Family Sharing that was discussed for MS. Interesting.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Originally Posted by Music
(Post 11830294)
So similar to the Family Sharing that was discussed for MS. Interesting.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Sweet, now I can also not play any of the hundreds of games my friends have in their libraries.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
This will probably be on game consoles by the end of 2014. Surprised Nintendo, MS or Sony didn't think of it first. wink/grin emoticon.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Originally Posted by RichC2
(Post 11830316)
Surprised Nintendo, MS or Sony didn't think of it first.
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There is a DVD talk group in Steam, in case anyone wants to start sharing.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
But this will never happen! Microsoft would never be so stupid to let people play their digital games for free.
Lol, people are so stupid sometimes. Hopefully the Xbox One adds this feature back in early next year. Still a shame they caved in an changed all their policies, but at least things like this should speed up their process of reimplementation. |
Re: Steam Family Sharing
Originally Posted by chuckd21
(Post 11830313)
Sweet, now I can also not play any of the hundreds of games my friends have in their libraries.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Originally Posted by Raul3
(Post 11830324)
There is a DVD talk group in Steam, in case anyone wants to start sharing.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Originally Posted by discostu1337
(Post 11830326)
Lol, people are so stupid sometimes. |
Re: Steam Family Sharing
Originally Posted by Canis Firebrand
(Post 11830345)
I can't recall if I joined this group or not. I'll have to check when I get home later on today.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Originally Posted by Music
(Post 11830355)
I sent you an invite.
:lol: |
Re: Steam Family Sharing
I KEEL U!!!!!!!! !!@2122112@!!@@!@@!@!@!@die die die~!!!!!!!!!
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Just joined. Give me shared DVD Talk games.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Can I be an admin for the Steam group? I'd love to help add people too :)
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
You don't need to be an admin to invite people.... :lol:
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
You don't? Must have just been the other group I'm a part of is locked down, I guess.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Yeah, the only Admin is Joe Molotov... does he even post around here anymore? :)
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Originally Posted by discostu1337
(Post 11830326)
But this will never happen! Microsoft would never be so stupid to let people play their digital games for free.
Lol, people are so stupid sometimes. So yeah, if the X1 plan was just the same than MS gets all the blame for fucking up the messaging. No need getting pissy at gamers who just wanted clear answers from the beginning. If the family sharing was all that and a bag of chips, MS should have been championing it as the #1 feature instead of Kinect and TV. The blame for its removal falls squarely on MS for it's messaging not gamers for wanting clear answers. *that's assuming they'd put together a real announcement instead of kinda maybe saying, "yeah you can share games. Goodnight!" |
Re: Steam Family Sharing
Just joined the DVDTalk group on Steam.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
I agree with Corvin.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Yup. Corvin is right. MS left us to speculate, and that obviously didn't work in their favor. I bet Steam saw what they were trying to do, and said, "Yeah, we can do that too."
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Damn that Corbin.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Originally Posted by fumanstan
(Post 11830823)
Damn that Corbin.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Originally Posted by Dan
(Post 11830829)
Multipass.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
While this is nice, this still doesn't get Steam to the way physical discs work for a family. With discs, if I had a child and wanted her to be able to play a game I purchased, I can let her borrow it. But then, I could still play any other game I have on a different machine, at the same time. In this case, I'm locked out until she's done.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
It seems like you could almost replicate this on X1 and PS4 with their current policies.
Both have a "home" console, and you can sign into any console and access your digital content. You'd have to give your login info to people you trust, but they would be able to play your stuff as long as you aren't online. The obvious difference is that they could only play the content under your profile. My point, I guess, is that this policy would be really easy to implement for either MS or Sony and is only one very small step from where they are now. |
Re: Steam Family Sharing
Just joined the DVDT Steam group as well. Can't wait to share my 5 games. :P
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Originally Posted by Drexl
(Post 11830850)
While this is nice, this still doesn't get Steam to the way physical discs work for a family. With discs, if I had a child and wanted her to be able to play a game I purchased, I can let her borrow it. But then, I could still play any other game I have on a different machine, at the same time. In this case, I'm locked out until she's done.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Originally Posted by Dan
(Post 11830829)
Multipass.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Originally Posted by Groucho
(Post 11831341)
No, this is not correct. With Steam Family Sharing the owner of the library can play any of his or her games at any time. It's only other people who are sharing who are locked out.
Can a friend and I share a library and both play at the same time? No, a shared library may only be accessed by one user at a time. When I authorize a device to lend my library to others, do I limit my own ability to access and play my games? As the lender, you may always access and play your games at any time. If you decide to start playing when a friend is already playing one of your games, he/she will be given a few minutes to either purchase the game or quit playing. -- To me, these answers are saying two different things. I think the second one is more accurate, sure, but the wording of the first one causes confusion. |
Re: Steam Family Sharing
How would you answer that first question? It seems pretty definitive to me -- you two can't both play the same game at the same time. The second question confirms you as the owner gets priority over a shared guest.
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
They both seem to say the same thing to me, but maybe I am just understanding the 2nd based on the first.
You can always access and play your games at any time, if someone is already accessing your library they will be booted after a few minutes. :shrug: |
Re: Steam Family Sharing
It's very clear, no matter how you read it.
I can play anything I own at any time. One other person can access anything in my "library" at any given time - as long as I'm not playing anything at all. So if I share with Music and Decker: If I'm playing anything of mine, neither can start one of my games, regardless of what I'm playing. If Decker is playing anything of mine, Music can't play any of my games. If Decker is playing anything of mine and I decide to start something, Decker will get a notice that he's in a grace period to save and gracefully exit (or buy his own license) before he's booted. |
Re: Steam Family Sharing
re-reading it, I see what you all are saying.
YOU, the owner, have priority. Your friend, the lendee, can play any game they want, but as soon as you start playing ANY game (not just the one they're playing), they have a few minutes to quit or buy it. Both answers, together, seem to confirm this. My initial interpretation was that YOU, the owner, and ONE lendee can play any games at any time, as long as they're not the same game. So, I thought that meant if you want to play the game the lendee is playing, then they'd have a few minutes to buy or quit. For shits and giggles, the original MS policy stated: You can always play your games, and any one of your family members can be playing from your shared library at a given time. So, I thought Steam would have mirrored that. |
Re: Steam Family Sharing
You guys are dicks man,, I wanna play!
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Re: Steam Family Sharing
Originally Posted by Music
(Post 11831438)
You guys are dicks man,, I wanna play!
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