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[shinobi602]

Ya, so Steam is worse, but gets praised.

If they didn't block used games and didn't require a 24hr online check, it would've been praised as well.

 

[mrklaw]

so currently, to let my son play some of my steam games on his laptop, I have to sign in as me and then go offline. with this beta, he'll be able to get his own account and then I just give him access to my library, and he can play online etc no problem - as long as I'm not playing? Sounds perfect.

Does steam have any restrictions on sign-up age? I've had nothing but problems when setting up minor accounts on PSN and Xbox live.

 

[Corto]

Ya, so Steam is worse, but gets praised.

For the current PC gaming landscape this is revolutionary and praiseworthy. Baby steps.

 

[YianGaruga]

You read it incorrectly.

When this launches, if you're my Steam Friend then you can send me a request to share my library. If I authorize it, then you can use my library (install games on your computer that I own) and use them as long as I'm not using my library.

Where does it say that?
Read this:

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.

 

[sflufan]

Nice, I just finished building my daughter a PC for Christmas, with this she can now access all the games on my account in her house.

Very happy.

Good luck co-ordinating with her when you want to play TF2 and she's playing L4D2.

 

[massoluk]

Yeah this is pretty limited. I'm surprised by all the positive comments thus far.

Gee, It's a bonus and it's not taking anything from the user. I'm not going to complain when someone handed a me a dollar instead of a twenty.

Ya, so Steam is worse, but gets praised.

I can still play my Steam games offline, that's why.

 

[ghst]

Yeah this is pretty limited. I'm surprised by all the positive comments thus far.

it's not really giving anyone anything they couldn't do before, just legitimising, streamlining and bringing added functionality to what people were doing anyway.

so, to summarise: neat.

 

[soul creator]

why do people keep thinking the owner loses access to their games if someone else is playing? The following paragraph from the FAQ directly address this

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.

obviously, it's not meant as some type of exploit to play co-op games, but this doesn't hurt the owner at all. The moocher is the only one that gets any restrictions (of course, they get the benefits of playing your games if you're not currently playing any of them)

 

[Jotamide]

Once again, Valve beats everyone to the punch.

 

[Finalizer]

Microsoft..Family share better be back by the end of 2014

If it's a real sharing plan, and not their 1-hour demo nonsense, then sure.

Also, Valve, please rip off Origin's return policy and you'll officially be perfect.

 

[MRORANGE]

Thread desperately needs more info in the OP, tons of conflicting information in the replies.

If this is really just one person in the library at a time, then this is a nice feature but hardly a big deal and not on the scale of what MS supposedly was going to provide.

Check Grief.exe post, it has the FAQ it's also on the main page of the site.

 

[alr1ght]

Shots fired.

Awesome, hopefully this comes to PS4 and XB1 now.

You can basically do this on PS3 now. It's just giving your account details to someone without worrying about them taking it over.

 

[LordBaztion]

God dammit, Steam needs to go 180 now.

Anyway, good news. Hope MS to make a return of the family sharin plan.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

I'm in the US, need friends from Asia and Australia stat! (Dramatically different time zones and all that)

Sorry but I'm on the phone, does it specify what happens if more than one lender tries to access the primary persons account at the same time? IE person A has authorized B and C access to his library and both B and C access A's library at the same time playing two different games. Is that kosher?

 

[ultron87]

Did you really expect the ability have 10 people play 10 random games wtihout restriction?

Not really. But it is important to note what this actually is and what it isn't. It is still certainly cool.

People just shouldn't expect to get much utility out of forming ten-person sharing rings with randoms from online.

 

[dorkimoe]

sweet mercy

 

[The_Hitcher89]

Yes.

Its called Family Sharing Beta, thread just posted on GAF. cool stuff.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=675373

And around we go


Guess I'll have to wait for the public roll-out then

 

[Artex]

Lol; that is priceless.

 

[Palladium Pen and Paper]

Anyone else think Major or Albert are going to jump in and just start posting incoherent swear paragraphs of pure Vegeta rage?

 

[Interfectum]

Gee, It's a bonus and it's not taking anything from the user. I'm not going to complain when someone handed a me a dollar instead of a twenty.

It's not bad, it's just a little too limiting to be useful IMO.

 

[derFeef]

it's not really giving anyone anything they couldn't do before, just legitimising and bringing added functionality to what people were doing anyway.

Yup. Instead of logging out and the other person in evey time, you just have to do it once now and approve.

 

[28 Posts Later]

So if my brother has XCOM and I have Skyrim and I want to play XCOM while he plays Skyrim, it's all good since they're on different shared libraries? If so, this is pretty cool.

Only one of you would be able to play a game.

 

[jediyoshi]

Ya, so Steam is worse, but gets praised.

Things getting enacted is pretty praiseworthy.

 

[The Flash]

The thing is MS tried to do this while mixing retail games in the balance. If they did not try to mess with retail and only had this plan for digital games their message would have been received with a lot more enthusiasm I think.

This. They knew people still wanted to buy discs but didn't resolve how to have a normal retail ecosystem and a digital sharing ecosystem. It can be done, they just chose the wrong way to do it.

 

[TheFightingFish]

Yeah this is pretty limited. I'm surprised by all the positive comments thus far.

Personally I think it's pretty cool. You pretty much just need one friend in a different timezone who has a pretty big Steam library. Then for free you basically get access to your entire library and their entire library if you are not both playing at the same time (which could be pretty often in different timezone), seems nice to me.

 

[satori]

This is huge for me...All these steams sales, all of these games I have. Now my nephew don't have to crash my house to play my games on steam, he can play from his own damn house!

*love you brat*

 

[Tobor]

Ya, so Steam is worse, but gets praised.

This is adding new functionality only, we aren't losing anything. It's the subtraction of existing functionality that cost MS.

 

[Dmented]

I'm a little annoyed I couldn't let a friend/family member play a game I own and myself play ANOTHER game I own/they own. It seems if someone is playing any game I own from my account, I cannot play anything while they are. I hope they fix that or it's kinda lame.

 

[PeskyToaster]

So basically this is Microsoft's plan that they got shat on for, but Valve is "leading the charge". Okay. Pretty sure the exact same restrictions will exist as well. At least Microsoft has said they will be bringing Family Sharing back.

 

[uncledonnie]

If they didn't block used games and didn't require a 24hr online check, it would've been praised as well.

Ha it was getting praised even with all that. No one was bashing MS for proposing it, rather they doubted it was legitimate because supposedly publishers would never go for it.

Given that the Steam plan is considerably more restrictive than MS family sharing was, I guess the jury is still out on whether the MS approach is feasible with publishers or not.

 

[Steve Youngblood]

Ya, so Steam is worse, but gets praised.

Well, there is one difference I've noticed: it seems that Steam's plan is actually going to be implemented.

 

[Palladium Pen and Paper]

This. They knew people still wanted to buy discs but didn't resolve how to have a normal retail ecosystem and a digital sharing ecosystem. It can be done, they just chose the wrong way to do it.

They could have just fixed the original with disc-in-drive override of check ins

 

[Glass Rebel]

It didn't take long for people to try to spin this into something negative :x

 

[TheSoviet]

HA!

So Microsoft suggestion some concept that no one want and then Steam implements it properly.

LOL.

 

[Marty Chinn]

I can still play my Steam games offline, that's why.

Will you with this though? They're going to need a method to determine who is using the library at any given time.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Ya, so Steam is worse, but gets praised.

if you're a 4 and you improve to a 5, that's a good thing

if you're an 8 and you publicly float reducing to a 6*, that's a bad thing (* could be any score since no one ever needed to substantiate any details about the policy or ever even implement it)

Will you with this though? They're going to need a method to determine who is using the library at any given time.

game = borrowed: You can't play offline
game = yours that you bought: You can play offline
Seems like a good place to start

I'm sure we'll know the actual details a week from now

 

[marrec]

Where does it say that?
Read this:

You're still misreading. When it says 'Your' in that quote it means the sharer, not the sharee.

 

[soul creator]

If it's a real sharing plan, and not their 1-hour demo nonsense.

Also, Valve, please rip off Origin's return policy and you'll officially be perfect.

The "1-hour demo" could easily be the same thing as Valve's approach to the moocher in this scenario. When the owner starts playing their library, the moocher has a certain amount of time before they're kicked off. Wouldn't surprise me if that's what those old 1-hour demo rumors refer to.

 

[sflufan]

why do people keep thinking the owner loses access to their games if someone else is playing? The following paragraph from the FAQ directly address this

No one suggested that the owner loses the ability to play any games. But what does occur is that owner and borrower CANNOT access the shared library simultaneously even if they're playing different games.

 

[uncledonnie]

Well, there is one difference I've noticed: it seems that Steam's plan is actually going to be implemented.

That's the only difference you see? Steam plan is one user in the library at a time. Nowhere near as useful as what MS proposed.

 

[Stallion Free]

Yeah this is pretty limited. I'm surprised by all the positive comments thus far.

Yeah, how strange that people are able to use basic reasoning to figure out why rules are the way they are.

 

[cyberheater]

Well frankly that's amazing. I can't wait to try this.

 

[Palladium Pen and Paper]

The "1-hour demo" could easily be the same thing as Valve's approach to the moocher in this scenario. When the owner starts playing their library, the moocher has a certain amount of time before they're kicked off. Wouldn't surprise me if that's what those old 1-hour demo rumors refer to.

You just broke my brain. Explains it perfectly.

 

[kuYuri]

Best news I've heard in a long time.

 

[massoluk]

Will you with this though? They're going to need a method to determine who is using the library at any given time.

I'm guessing if you want to share, you'll have to go online. I think it's fair.

 

[Timeaisis]

Where does it say that?
Read this:

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.

Yeah, this pretty much means you have to already be sharing the device. As in, you have to have your steam account set up on that device already. You either go to that device, login to steam and enable it, or you do it remotely through e-mail as long as the game is already installed (as you) on the device.

That's how I'm interpreting this. I love Valve, but this is terrible messaging.

 

[The Flash]

They could have just fixed the original with disc-in-drive override of check ins

We need to ask Albert or Major Nelson if this was one of the ways that was discussed early on but they chose not to do it for some reason. Maybe because you had to install the game to the hard drive but that doesn't sound right.

 

[Finalizer]

So basically this is Microsoft's plan that they got shat on for, but Valve is "leading the charge". Okay. Pretty sure the exact same restrictions will exist as well. At least Microsoft has said they will be bringing Family Sharing back.

Last I checked, MS never had a fully detailed explanation and FAQ for their plan. It's easier to shit on their effort when we know almost nothing about it, other than it involving 10 people and CBOAT's claim of a 60 minute time limit.

The "1-hour demo" could easily be the same thing as Valve's approach to the moocher in this scenario. When the owner starts playing their library, the moocher has a certain amount of time before they're kicked off. Wouldn't surprise me if that's what those old 1-hour demo rumors refer to.

Yeah, right there, that' the key word. Could. Might have been. We don't actually know. Had MS had a nice explanation for it all like this, had it out there exactly when they announced it, hell had it back when they did the original Xbone reveal, things would've gone so much better for them.

 

[jet1911]

If it's a real sharing plan, and not their 1-hour demo nonsense, then sure.

Also, Valve, please rip off Origin's return policy and you'll officially be perfect.

If only Valve released games more than once every two years.

 

[enzo_gt]

Microsoft offices right now: