Steam Family Sharing is Now Avaliable

[Something Amyss]

I don't think you quite understand how it works. You can't lend out specific games. Once you authorize a computer +account (which is easily done via teamviewer) that person has full access to your steam game library. When you play any game, they can't play any game in youe library. If they are busy playing and you start playing, even if not the same game, they get booted out.

Dammit, I was hoping that it had changed.

I actually came to the comments section to clarify.

 

[Robert Marrs]

I love steam family share. I use it mainly at is was intended at home for my mom and younger brothers to access my steam library whenever they want. I also traded info with two very close friends and share with them as well. This one is the most beneficial because we can take turns buying single player games that we are all interested in. Saves a lot of money.

 

[Tactical Pause]

Yeesh, lots of negativity here. I mean, sure, this isn't perfect, but so far (having used it in beta) I have found it to be incredibly useful. Not everyone will get something out of it, but for me, it's great.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

Team Viewer can be used to enable it remotely rather easily, (having done it myself).

I think it's worth noting that using this workaround is still dangerous when sharing with people you don't trust, since it's entirely possible for someone to stop the remote program, change your email address and nick your account. Still, that's not something you need to worry about with friends and family.

Absolutely...but you shouldn't be trying to give access to people you don't trust to begin with, anyways.

Obviously, but since when did that stop stupid greedy people looking for their free lunch?

 

[Vrach]

I don't think you quite understand how it works. You can't lend out specific games. Once you authorize a computer +account (which is easily done via teamviewer) that person has full access to your steam game library. When you play any game, they can't play any game in youe library. If they are busy playing and you start playing, even if not the same game, they get booted out.

So it's a TOS-friendly alternative to just giving your account details to someone you trust. Meh. I'd understand not being able to play the SAME game, but the entire library being off-limits is entirely ridiculous.

There is absolutely no way for users to authorize an account remotely, meaning your buddy has to come over to your house and physically log into his Steam account from your machine in order to become a borrower.

Yeah, no way to do it remotely... a person's Steam account details are bound to their fingers...

 

[porous_shield]

I think this is a good start but I wish it were a little more robust. Why couldn't the some sharing be able to play their game for 10 days and allow you to keep using your Steam library and play any game but the one that other person is playing.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

I was really excited and slightly baffled that Valve had finally given PC gamers the convenience of lending games. Then I actually read how this abortion works. That will teach me to be optimistic about Steam features.

oh boy, the first digital distribution service to provide some sort of framework for lending games, how dare they!

 

[Arnoxthe1]

And to think, Microsoft was going to implement a system like this except 10 times better. But then, ON NOES DRM!!11

DISCLAIMER: I, like everyone else, actually did want Microsoft to remove the DRM in the end. It just doesn't change the fact though that Microsoft was also catching on to something really big.

 

[Darks63]

I was really excited and slightly baffled that Valve had finally given PC gamers the convenience of lending games. Then I actually read how this abortion works. That will teach me to be optimistic about Steam features.

oh boy, the first digital distribution service to provide some sort of framework for lending games, how dare they!

The implementation sounds pretty crap though. Say I shared with a friend who wanted to play Alan Wake and he was playing for a few hours he gets to the crow fight only to be booted in the middle of it because i wanted to play KOTOR or The Wolf Among us. That pretty lame system don't you think? I mean What if you do this to be cause you hoped to play MP matches using the system you'd be screwed.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

I was really excited and slightly baffled that Valve had finally given PC gamers the convenience of lending games. Then I actually read how this abortion works. That will teach me to be optimistic about Steam features.

oh boy, the first digital distribution service to provide some sort of framework for lending games, how dare they!

The implementation sounds pretty crap though. Say I shared with a friend who wanted to play Alan Wake and he was playing for a few hours he gets to the crow fight only to be booted in the middle of it because i wanted to play KOTOR or The Wolf Among us. That pretty lame system don't you think? I mean What if you do this to be cause you hoped to play MP matches using the system you'd be screwed.

im not saying it couldnt be done better, but its a step in the right direction, i have confidence we will see the feature evolve in the future, just like every other steam feature


i just think major chaos attitude is pretty dumb, valve is taking an important step when it comes to digital distribution, its the first service to directly support lending digital games, steam being the biggest DD platform is also worth nothing, this move will hopefully force other digital distribution platforms to support lending digital games, i think we should remain critical yet optimistic, or at the very least shouldnt complain about free stuff

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

This is undoubtedly something done to make Big Picture, Steam OS and Steambox more useful, the sharing of accounts on a single screen in a single house. Not to properly "lend" games like you would if they were cartridges or discs. On the one hand, a shame. On the other... makes sense, I guess. Back to the other, though, a shame.

 

[Bravo Company]

I was really excited and slightly baffled that Valve had finally given PC gamers the convenience of lending games. Then I actually read how this abortion works. That will teach me to be optimistic about Steam features.

oh boy, the first digital distribution service to provide some sort of framework for lending games, how dare they!

That's how I feel. This is the first time anything like this has ever been done and yet people are still bitching that it isn't perfect? You do know that when steam first released it wasn't even close to an optimal program and a ton of people hated it because it wouldn't work correctly most of the time.

I mean, this is pretty much the same thing as letting someone go on your account and play games, but instead they can't go into offline mode which would allow both people to play on the same library. However, this is still a huge step in the right direction. Who cares if it isn't optimal, it is still something. Hopefully valve will implement individual game sharing sometime, but until then I'm glad they're trying new things like this.

It baffles me how a company can do something that isn't anything except a good thing for the consumer yet the consumers still ***** and whine about it because its not exactly what they wanted.

 

[CJ Schappert]

It actually makes sense they way they did it, it's exactly like sharing your "insert console name" with ppl, you can't play it if they are and vice versa. They took the "you should be able share digital like physical copies" request literally, but like there was only 1 console in use.

 

[Sanunes]

I am disappointed in kicking out a person because you are going to play a game, its not an issue if its someone that uses your same computer, but with the amount of time that I am using Steam myself none of my friends will be able to share any of the games I own.

I was expecting something more of a lockout on the game so I couldn't play it until I reclaimed it from my friend, like how I would share a physical game.

 

[porous_shield]

It actually makes sense they way they did it, it's exactly like sharing your "insert console name" with ppl, you can't play it if they are and vice versa. They took the "you should be able share digital like physical copies" request literally, but like there was only 1 console in use.

But that's not the way it works. If you have a console you can lend a game to a friend and still play the rest of your games, with Steam, if someone is playing one of your games you boot them if you play any of your games not just the one your friend is playing.

 

[Something Amyss]

That's how I feel. This is the first time anything like this has ever been done and yet people are still bitching that it isn't perfect?

They're "bitching" that it's not particularly useful. Slight difference. And I mean, it's not unreasonable to expect functionality.

Well, except for the people who seem to have this weird Stockholm Syndrome with gaming companies.

I'm curious, though: how did you feel when the XBone was going to do their system? Also, how do you feel about Origin?

This is undoubtedly something done to make Big Picture, Steam OS and Steambox more useful, the sharing of accounts on a single screen in a single house.

Isn't part of the appeal of the whole setup there that you can play in multiple locales? This seems at odds with that.

Then again, that seems to be Steam Machines in a nutshell: even Valve doesn't seem to understand what they're going for.

It actually makes sense they way they did it, it's exactly like sharing your "insert console name" with ppl, you can't play it if they are and vice versa. They took the "you should be able share digital like physical copies" request literally, but like there was only 1 console in use.

So they took it literally except for a pretty big difference. You can share your games, as long as you share your entire console as well. That is nowhere near a literal version of sharing digital like physical.

I am disappointed in kicking out a person because you are going to play a game, its not an issue if its someone that uses your same computer, but with the amount of time that I am using Steam myself none of my friends will be able to share any of the games I own.

Yeah, this is also a problem as I've had Civ V running for most of the day. It's not like it's been sitting idle for hours, but I'm not playing it every single minute.

Then again, I can only think of one person I'd share games with and I don't think she would care much about my library.

On the other hand, I just set my girlfriend and brother up with access to my Ultraviolet account where they can access my library without any of this crap. I just find it disappointing that Valve is less progressive than the lumbering, draconian movie industry.

 

[CJ Schappert]

It actually makes sense they way they did it, it's exactly like sharing your "insert console name" with ppl, you can't play it if they are and vice versa. They took the "you should be able share digital like physical copies" request literally, but like there was only 1 console in use.

But that's not the way it works. If you have a console you can lend a game to a friend and still play the rest of your games, with Steam, if someone is playing one of your games you boot them if you play any of your games not just the one your friend is playing.

I was trying to point out that they are treating the digital sharing of games on an account, like sharing a console with someone. As an example and direct comparison,like my brother and I. We have an 360. But if one of us wants to play a game, the other has to get off the console. That is what Valves system is like. "Hey bro, here you can play Borderlands when I'm not. *2 hours later* Get off the 360 bro I wanna play now." But now it's steam accounts and on different machines. So the same principle. It's physical in the sense that it's like having a single console to share with the games.

 

[Bravo Company]

That's how I feel. This is the first time anything like this has ever been done and yet people are still bitching that it isn't perfect?

They're "bitching" that it's not particularly useful. Slight difference. And I mean, it's not unreasonable to expect functionality.

Well, except for the people who seem to have this weird Stockholm Syndrome with gaming companies.

I'm curious, though: how did you feel when the XBone was going to do their system? Also, how do you feel about Origin?

You do have a point, I just feel as if these are the baby steps to getting what a bunch of people want, which seems to be just individual game sharing. I'd love it if Valve would allow individual games from libraries to be played by one person at a time.

I didn't look into the XBone DRM stuff except that they wanted 24 hour check-ins or else your console was bricked. I didn't bother looking into how they had their "one loan per lifetime" or whatever they intended because I have absolutely no intention on owning an XBone.

Origin, does what it needs to do I suppose. I have games on there that can only be played from Origin. I'd rather them be on steam because Origin is just an extra program that I have to keep updated to play my games. I'd compare my feelings to Origin and Ubisoft's Uplay to be the same. Which is saying I use them because I have to. I don't consider them terrible, and I've even bought a game or two from the Origin store (is that what its called??) because they were on sale.

Do note that my time using Origin and uplay are drastically lower then my time using Steam. Therefor I haven't had nearly enough time for either programs to break. However, when playing FC3 my friend's uplay forgot that his game was installed and wanted him to redownload the whole thing over again. A program I've never encountered with Steam.

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

I don't think you quite understand how it works. You can't lend out specific games. Once you authorize a computer +account (which is easily done via teamviewer) that person has full access to your steam game library. When you play any game, they can't play any game in youe library. If they are busy playing and you start playing, even if not the same game, they get booted out.

So wait, do you need to be logged into steam for your friend to be able to play?

 

[Strazdas]

noticed the family share, now that thats done how about they allow me to connect to my steam account from both of my computers? Why does it boot one of them out when i connect with another? I can multitask perfectly fine, allow me to have both on. and its not like it cant be done, other programs do it just fine. Oh and both computers are authorized, thats not the problem.

I was really excited and slightly baffled that Valve had finally given PC gamers the convenience of lending games. Then I actually read how this abortion works. That will teach me to be optimistic about Steam features.

oh boy, the first digital distribution service to provide some sort of framework for lending games, how dare they!

granted the first pancake is usually a burnt one but the way they implemented it is quite horrible. still i guess its better than nothing.

It actually makes sense they way they did it, it's exactly like sharing your "insert console name" with ppl, you can't play it if they are and vice versa. They took the "you should be able share digital like physical copies" request literally, but like there was only 1 console in use.

Not really. In phyiscal i can give a game to a friend and he can play it on his console. here its WHOLE LIBRARY or nothing, and he cant play any of it if im playing anything, so no "lend your friend a game your not currently playing" either.