News - Steam Family Sharing released for all users

[HEXUS]

You may authorise sharing on up to 10 devices at a time.

Read more.

[Jowsey]

I think this is a great feature. My brother is putting together a small gaming computer today to get into PC gaming , coming from a console, and he said his main problem was that he wasn't going to have his library of games any more. And while this is just in essence 'lending' games it was the pivotal feature for my brothers swap. All Hail Gabe!

[Jonj1611]

This is not a good idea in my opinion, you will be quite disappointed when you log on to play a game just to find out you have to stop the other people playing who are sharing your library, hows that good?

This could have been a great idea if anyone you are sharing your library with could play games at the same time, the games you paid money for!

Now before anyone jumps in, I am not talking about playing the same game, I understand the restrictions there but for instance, if my daughter wants to play Lego Batman and I wanted to play Civ 5, we can't, because that is not allowed, and they are saying sharing with up to 5 accounts!

My god, why, when no one can play at the same time, family arguments begin here!

From the FAQ :-

Can two users share a library and both play at the same time?

No, a shared library may only be accessed by one user at a time.

[crossy]

I think this is a great feature. My brother is putting together a small gaming computer today to get into PC gaming , coming from a console, and he said his main problem was that he wasn't going to have his library of games any more. And while this is just in essence 'lending' games it was the pivotal feature for my brothers swap. All Hail Gabe!

I'm going to agree with Jonj611 - yes, it is a great idea ... in theory.

But being able to have one person per library? Dumb. Like having a public library that only allows you and the librarian. I'll raise a glass to Gabe/Valve when I can "lend" an individual title rather than the whole library. Still, kudos for having the guts to do what they have so far - hopefully they take that next step to make the idea totally usable.

[GeorgeStorm]

To me it's better than it was before, a direct upgrade, maybe small but still an upgrade, so I'm happy

[azrael-]

Have to agree. Only being able to lend out the entire library or not at all is bad form. Still, it's a first step. Hopefully soon followed by a second step that will bring true usefulness.

EDIT: (from the article) "Two people can't play the same game at the same time" is pretty much a given considering you can only share the entire library.

[cheesyboy]

I would assume that this is just a beginning

For families, it would be useful to specify which games your kids can access (age restricted products, for example).

It's not in Steam's style, and may be a slope we don't want to start slipping down, but an upgrade fee or subscription to have more than one user would be acceptable to me.

[shaithis]

For families, it would be useful to specify which games your kids can access (age restricted products, for example).

They put that in place a while ago.

But to echo others, this is almost useless in it's current incarnation and what people want is probably never going to happen thanks to the way DRM and licensing has moved in recent years.

[Jonj1611]

EDIT: (from the article) "Two people can't play the same game at the same time" is pretty much a given considering you can only share the entire library.

It's more than just that though and something I don't think some people are seeing maybe, you can share it with 5 accounts/10 computers but only one person can play at a time, so even if you wanted to play a different game than someone else, you can't.

I can see situations where it could be handy where maybe my daughter for instance could get her own achievements etc or as cheesyboy said you could restrict what games they have access to. However while its useful in "certain" situations it could have been fantastic rather than just mediocre.

Really there should be no reason why I cannot play a game I paid for at the same time as a separate game I paid for, something I have long argued with Steam about.

[StaticFX]

Playing with this, I am not seeing how to add someone to share with? I can share on my home network... but I dont see any option to add a user to the list.

[Jonj1611]

I think you need to install steam on the computer you want to share and then go to the "Authorize This Computer" option under Settings > Family

[azrael-]

EDIT: (from the article) "Two people can't play the same game at the same time" is pretty much a given considering you can only share the entire library.

It's more than just that though and something I don't think some people are seeing maybe, you can share it with 5 accounts/10 computers but only one person can play at a time, so even if you wanted to play a different game than someone else, you can't.

I can see situations where it could be handy where maybe my daughter for instance could get her own achievements etc or as cheesyboy said you could restrict what games they have access to. However while its useful in "certain" situations it could have been fantastic rather than just mediocre.

Really there should be no reason why I cannot play a game I paid for at the same time as a separate game I paid for, something I have long argued with Steam about.

That was sort of what I was getting at. The statement in the article seems superfluous, since only one person can play any game in the library at any one time. So not only can two people not play the same game, but only one person can play a game at all, with the owner getting preferred treatment. However, it's a start, albeit a lackluster one.

[addz17]

So if i buy a steam machine for the living room and the girfriend wants to play assassins creed 4 and i want to play far cry 3 on the PC we cant? I own both the games yet steam expects me to buy the game twice just because im playing a completely different game at the same time?
What is the point of this i can just let her log into my steam account and achieve the exact same useless scenario anyway.... Steambox=useless

[Lord Midas]

There is a tick box that says "Show notifications when a shared library becomes available again". This I guess is the bit where you can't play the games in that library when someone else is playing a game in that library. Thing is, you can share individual games, not necessarily the 'entire' library. e.g.:
Family View
What would you like your protected account to be able to access while in Family View?

• Only games I choose
• All games

So, for @Jonj1611, perhaps you want to allow your daughter access to only Lego Batman, then that is the only game you choose to share. My understanding is that you can then happily play Civ 5 without your entire library being locked out.
Unless, of course, you have already tried this and proved that sharing an individual game does indeed lock out your library.

[crossy]

So if i buy a steam machine for the living room and the girfriend wants to play assassins creed 4 and i want to play far cry 3 on the PC we cant? I own both the games yet steam expects me to buy the game twice just because im playing a completely different game at the same time?
What is the point of this i can just let her log into my steam account and achieve the exact same useless scenario anyway.... Steambox=useless

To say that "Steambox=useless" because Valve got this bit wrong is a bit unfair. Ignoring that neither of those games will play on the SteamBox (Linux based), there's also the scenario where the main PC is being used for something else - Office type apps come to mind. And you can still Steam Stream (may I should trademark that?) from the PC to the SB, which might be nice if the SB is hooked up to a large TV.

On the other hand, I'm going to agree with your general point - IF Valve had implemented SFS properly then it would have been a definite plus point for SteamOS/Box, assuming that Steam doesn't differentiate between the Windows version of a title and a Linux variant (so if you buy a title you get single-concurrent play use on any platform it's supported on).

There is a tick box that says "Show notifications when a shared library becomes available again". This I guess is the bit where you can't play the games in that library when someone else is playing a game in that library. Thing is, you can share individual games, not necessarily the 'entire' library. e.g.:

So, for @Jonj1611, perhaps you want to allow your daughter access to only Lego Batman, then that is the only game you choose to share. My understanding is that you can then happily play Civ 5 without your entire library being locked out.
Unless, of course, you have already tried this and proved that sharing an individual game does indeed lock out your library.

Not tried it myself, but I remember seeing a posting from someone bitching (with justification imho) that they'd tried this "workaround" and it didn't work. Steam sees that a part of your library is being used elsewhere and slaps on that Stalinist lockout on the whole library. Case of "one out, all out" perhaps?

If I'm aware of the general (and vocal?) dissatisfaction about the way that this has been done, then surely Valve are too? In which case, (naive mode on), surely there will be some incentive to go back to the drawing board and "do it right"? Here's hoping.

[Jonj1611]

So, for @Jonj1611, perhaps you want to allow your daughter access to only Lego Batman, then that is the only game you choose to share. My understanding is that you can then happily play Civ 5 without your entire library being locked out.
Unless, of course, you have already tried this and proved that sharing an individual game does indeed lock out your library.

Thanks for the suggestion but no it doesn't work like that, as soon as the account owner starts playing any game at all, the other game on the other users account will stop working :/