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Steam Announces Family Sharing

ultron87

Member
To all the leeches in this thread: I suspect that anyone you know with a large number of games is instantly going to get bombarded with sharing requests, and it's going to make them resent those people and also feel like they're only being talked to because they have cool toys. Unless you want to alienate people, don't ask them to share their library with you.

Yeah, and even if you do get on their list you're potentially splitting it with 10 other people.

I feel like it gets better the fewer people in a sharing ring there are. And on that note, this will be great for me and my brother since we have somewhat different tastes and aren't always playing PC so sharing conflicts won't be that big a deal.
 

Gangxxter

Member
So, basically

You (the lender) can authorize up to 10 devices of other people to play with your library.
Up to 10 people can access the entire library, and have their achievements and all.
If the lender wants to play, the other player has two options: saving the game and exiting in a few minutes / buying the game.
Co-op is not possible: only one player can access the library, and the lender can access it every time.

Did I get everything right?
Yes.
 

morningbus

Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
So only 1 person at a time per library. That kinda limits this because if you're playing in a shared library, and the original owner starts up any other game, you're done.

It's almost like they still want you to buy games, or something.
 

Grief.exe

Member
The first 1000 Users (who joined the group first i think) get the Beta next week.

Damn, just missed it then. I was like 1,100 when I signed up.

Getting the thread ready.

To all the leeches in this thread: I suspect that anyone you know with a large number of games is instantly going to get bombarded with sharing requests, and it's going to make them resent those people and also feel like they're only being talked to because they have cool toys. Unless you want to alienate people, don't ask them to share their library with you.

The running joke in the Steam thread will continue.

I love when people post their chat logs from beggers.

Stump, wanna share your library with me? ;)

Stump is gonna be the leech!
 

H3xum

Member
I unfortunately doddled when joining the group, however, I was the 3000 member and I find that satisfying

Whole numbers woo
 
To all the leeches in this thread: I suspect that anyone you know with a large number of games is instantly going to get bombarded with sharing requests, and it's going to make them resent those people and also feel like they're only being talked to because they have cool toys. Unless you want to alienate people, don't ask them to share their library with you.
Hey Stump Chan, can I share your library?
 

JesseZao

Member
Great news! Now other people can ease the tension of sitting on such a huge backlog! It's now somebody else's fault for not playing my games too!
 

Finalizer

Member
Hey Microsoft...

rF9kPEr.jpg


But seriously, I lack an appropriate reaction image to convey what I'm feeling overall right now. This is kind of amazing.
 

Chojin

Member
This is awesome, there's so many games my brother doesn't get to play because he's a poor bastard. He also lives 3000 miles away. He can finally play off my scraps :)
 

Geedorah

Member
Would like more clarification on the two policies 1) Libraries are shared and borrowed in their entirety. and 2) "No, a shared library may only be accessed by one user at a time."

It would seem that the two would make it so the original lender couldn't play ANYTHING anytime someone on the friend plan is playing. Seems like there should be a way for the lender to have a "Personal Library" and a "Shared Library" with the ability to move a title from one to the other at their convenience.

Hopefully this gets addressed soon, or this service seems kinda "meh".
 
This is great for someone in my situation. My girlfriend and I both have laptops, in addition to a gaming PC connected to our home theater. Previously we would often buy the same game so that we could each play it, earn our own achievements, etc. Seemed like a bit of a waste, but the games were so cheap that we didn't care much.

Exact same for me. It gets contentious deciding who's Steam account a new $60 game should go on cause then we have to deal with achievements and logging onto the other person's friends list, etc.
 

hupla

Member
Joined the beta when there was like 1,100 people in it so i hope I get in decently soon, it seems really cool and a good way to get my friends not living in the city anymore to try out games I like/their games
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
Yeah, single player only games can be severly damaged by initiatives like this Family Sharing; probably, the fact you share your entire library and so, if another person play any of the library's games, he/she's kicked out/obliged to buy it is how Valve will try to implement Family Sharing without damaging massively single player games.
 

Interfectum

Member
No, it's still supercool. I have like 300 something games I'm not currently playing on Steam anyway.

But you can't play the same library at the same time. So if someone is playing a game off your library you can't play anything off your library. Number of games is irrelevant.

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

Grief.exe

Member
Can you tell me how to make one (if its legal)?

You can install Steam on any computer, download games you want, then go offline.

Both accounts can still play, with the main one being online.

Offline mode is indefinite, unless Steam is shutdown incorrectly which is still a common issue.
 

ultron87

Member
Would like more clarification on the two policies 1) Libraries are shared and borrowed in their entirety. and 2) "No, a shared library may only be accessed by one user at a time."

It would seem that the two would make it so the original lender couldn't play ANYTHING anytime someone on the friend plan is playing. Seems like there should be a way for the lender to have a "Personal Library" and a "Shared Library" with the ability to move a title from one to the other at their convenience.

Hopefully this gets addressed soon, or this service seems kinda "meh".

The person who owns the game never gets locked out. They can start playing immediately and anyone sharing at the moment gets booted after a couple minutes.
 

Tobor

Member
I totally get the lender and borrower not being able to play the same game, that makes sense.

Booting the borrower off by playing any other game at the same time? That's extremely limiting.
 

morningbus

Serious Sam is a wicked gahbidge series for chowdaheads.
Yeah if only one person can access the entire library at once, this is not so good and basically pointless. Not really any different than giving someone else your account credentials. I'm sure it's per game.

That's basically it, though: you're authorizing another user without handing over your credentials, protecting you against them buying stuff with your account or other mischief.

You people will still have to buy games, unless you find a friend who lives in an opposite timezone, so they're asleep while you normally game.
 

sflufan

Banned
Guys, they REALLY did intend this to mean FAMILY -- as in people living in a single home.

The "one person can access the shared library at a time" pretty much assures that.
 

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
Can you tell me how to make one (if its legal)?

You give somebody (your brother or whatever) your account login details. He logs in on his computer, you'll get a Steam Guard email, give him that code and bam, he has your library.

This just seems like a way to automate that step.
 

hwy_61

Banned
Wow, what a difference getting your plan together and delivering it in a simple message can make.

This could've been Microsoft if they had gotten their shit together.
 
This is actually worse than the Xbox One policy. There you could always play your own games. Essentially on Xbox One you got two copies for every purchase (including DLC) one for you to always play and another for your shared library that one friend at a time had full access too.

If I'm reading this correctly: if the original purchaser starts playing the shared game on Steam it kicks the borrower.
 
Wow, what a difference getting your plan together and delivering it in a simple message can make.

This could've been Microsoft if they had gotten their shit together.
It still would've had a backlash since the original plan of blocking used games would've still been there.
 

Corto

Member
Yeah, single player only games can be severly damaged by initiatives like this Family Sharing; probably, the fact you share your entire library and so, if another person play any of the library's games, he/she's kicked out/obliged to buy it is how Valve will try to implement Family Sharing without damaging massively single player games.

Offline single player games will be niche going forward. But I hope they'll find an audience big enough to survive though.
 
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