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[FunkyMunkey]

The people comparing this to sharing 1 console game and simultaneously being unable to play the rest that you own, are being inaccurate. In this case you're sharing your library/account, not the games. It'd be the same as lending your xbox live account to someone so that they could play some of your DD games.

Letting both people play on the same account at the same time would abused to shit. Nonetheless, this is awesome.

 

[Cse]

Is this machine restricted? For example, it appears I can authorize someone else to log in to their steam account on my computer and access my library of games.

However, could my friend who's 300 miles away play games in my library when I'm away?

 

[Moral Panic]

Love all the people jumping to conclusions that you have to share your entire library and thus boot all your friends off whenever you want to play any game. If it actually works that way I'll eat my hat.

That's pretty much exactly what it says.

 

[YianGaruga]

To put an end to all the account sharing hype:

Question:

I was excited when i frist read that this feature was announced but after reading the FAQ from what i understand i cant remotely authorise a device can anyone confirm im correct?

If so im a bit dissapointed that i cant do this, i have a cousin who lives a couple hours away from me and we were just talking about steam adding a feature like this the other day becous we both own a couple games we want each other to try out but neither him nor i can drive halfway across out state to visit one another.

Answer from Valve:

No, Family Sharing is designed for users who share computers. If you visit your cousin, you'll be able to log in and authorize his computer directly.

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/familysharing/discussions/0/846964363936308178/

 

[Dragon]

Is this machine restricted? For example, it appears I can authorize someone else to log in to their steam account on my computer and access my library of games.

However, could my friend who's 300 miles away play games in my library when I'm away?

It's not machine restricted, only one person can access your library at a time and as the owner of the account when you login you kick anyone accessing your library off.

 

[Willy Wanka]

Love all the people jumping to conclusions that you have to share your entire library and thus boot all your friends off whenever you want to play any game. If it actually works that way I'll eat my hat.

That is what it says it does.

 

[Steve Youngblood]

Love all the people jumping to conclusions that you have to share your entire library and thus boot all your friends off whenever you want to play any game. If it actually works that way I'll eat my hat.

Jumping to what conclusions? That's exactly how it's described:

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.

 

[polychron]

Love all the people jumping to conclusions that you have to share your entire library and thus boot all your friends off whenever you want to play any game. If it actually works that way I'll eat my hat.

Again, from the FAQ at the bottom of this page:

Can I share specific games, or do I have to share my whole library?
Libraries are shared and borrowed in their entirety.

Sometimes the games I’ve borrowed are unavailable for me to play. Why?
Borrowed games are only available on devices that have been authorized by the lender. Borrowed games will be unavailable on even an authorized device when the lender’s library is currently in use on another computer.

 

[The Cowboy]

Love all the people jumping to conclusions that you have to share your entire library and thus boot all your friends off whenever you want to play any game. If it actually works that way I'll eat my hat.

Valve have already confirmed its exactly like this - it'll just grab the posts.

Posts 36 and 37.
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/familysharing/discussions/0/846964363934331891/#p3

Christen - Valve.
That's right. Only one user may play an account's games at a given time. There's a grace period if you're playing when the lender kicks you.

 

[zerokoolpsx]

Well, Steam pretty much implemented Microsoft's family sharing. Just can't be logged on the same account at the same time. No biggie. I can share my games.

Haha, flawless.

 

[lowhighkang_LHK]

Love all the people jumping to conclusions that you have to share your entire library and thus boot all your friends off whenever you want to play any game. If it actually works that way I'll eat my hat.

No....

This is coming directly from valve.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

It's a nice start, although it's a little useless to me because any family members or friends I'd want to give access to my library to try stuff out would be online playing games around the same time as me. Kind of a bummer that not even two people can be accessing the library at once. I understand why they're going it, but still.

Baby steps!

 

[Miker]

To put an end to all the account sharing hype:

Question:


Answer from Valve:


http://steamcommunity.com/groups/familysharing/discussions/0/846964363936308178/

Well, this puts a hamper on things. It still has its benefits, but I guess the security bonuses (not giving away your password) are gone.

 

[Detox]

They should at least allow an account to play F2P games on their library while still sharing it.

 

[beast786]

Sounds very fair, will use this to merge my accounts

 

[Cymbal Head]

Damn, I was hoping this would allow the wife to boot up Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 while I'm busy playing Just Cause 2 on my account. Maybe we'll get there eventually.

 

[Zombie James]

I like this idea a lot. It would be nice if we could return games we don't want, but having them available for a friend to try and maybe like more than I do is as close as we'll get, I think.

 

[Htown]

They should at least allow an account to play F2P games on their library while still sharing it.

If the game is F2P, why don't they just download it themselves?

 

[NullPointer]

Love all the people jumping to conclusions that you have to share your entire library and thus boot all your friends off whenever you want to play any game. If it actually works that way I'll eat my hat.

I hope its a nacho hat.

 

[walltowall]

Well, Steam pretty much implemented Microsoft's family sharing. Just can't be logged on the same account at the same time. No biggie. I can share my games.

Haha, flawless.

And it's always online too!
Did Microsoft allow for a family member to play another game in your library while you were playing a separate title as well?
Gabe must walk on water is they pull this off.

 

[Htown]

Baby step towards digital reselling?

Second baby step.

Trading cards were the first.

 

[sangreal]

It's not about always online when you share it's about requiring always online even when you're not sharing. Valve offers a fully working offline mode, Microsoft wasn't going to. THAT is the difference.

MS had a fully working offline mode, it was just limited to 24 hours. Yes, it is different from and worse than Steam's offline mode but to say they didn't have one is simply false

 

[Geedorah]

Fingers REALLY crossed for them to implement a "split" library feature.

Personal Library vs Shared Library-- with the "Lender' given the ability to move titles back and forth between the Libraries.

The policy as it stands is just, lackluster.

 

[sangreal]

I'd bet good money that disconnecting while playing a shared game will have the same effect as when the owner starts playing it. You get a few minutes warning then get booted.

What if the owner goes into offline mode though?

 

[Artanisix]

Holy shit, game changer.

 

[Amneisac]

Fingers REALLY crossed for them to implement a "split" library feature.

Personal Library vs Shared Library-- with the "Lender' given the ability to move titles back and forth between the Libraries.

The policy as it stands is just, lackluster.

Well, I don't think their plan is to take away game sales from developers/publishers. Which is what everyone seems to want. And while that makes sense, it's not really realistic.

 

[Orayn]

Again, from the FAQ at the bottom of this page:

If I'm reading this correctly, it sounds like the lender's account has to log in and install at least one game on a computer before that computer's owner can request to become a lendee.

 

[DryvBy]

No, you're not reading this right. If you're not currently using your library, users that you have authorized for game sharing will be able to play/install a game that you own. So, they neither need access to your machine nor your credentials. But the limitation is that the entire library can only be used by one person at a time, with the owner having priority.

Okay, that's cool then. I thought I was reading that wrong. I didn't understand the excitement at first.

 

[FauX]

This is amazing, steam does it right what MS don't.

 

[YianGaruga]

If I'm reading this correctly, it sounds like the lender's account has to log in and install at least one game on a computer before that computer's owner can request to become a lendee.

This is correct, people just choose to ignore it.

 

[Orayn]

This is correct, people just choose to ignore it.

To be fair, the wording is much more ambiguous in the announcement and main FAQ. The question you linked is the first time that stipulation was explained clearly.

 

[kinggroin]

Ok so my sister is playing my games on her PC I authorize.


Can I go offline on mine and keep playing?

 

[walltowall]

This is amazing, steam does it right what MS don't.

How is this right when your entire library is locked by one user and would require always online?

Even current consoles have a consoles have a hardware license and a software license that don't cancel each other out.

 

[Atrophis]

Wish it just locked out the game and not the entire account but it's a step in the right direction.

 

[ridethepiggy]

MS had a fully working offline mode, it was just limited to 24 hours. Yes, it is different from and worse than Steam's offline mode but to say they didn't have one is simply false

24 hours isn't a fully working offline mode. Sorry.

 

[Teppic]

This feature sounds pretty useless actually. If you could share separate games it would be a different matter.

 

[Moral Panic]

I laugh if the grace period is 60 minutes.

 

[dave is ok]

Ok so my sister is playing my games on her PC I authorize.


Can I go offline on mine and keep playing?

You can already do this.

 

[Thoraxes]

This is incredible.

 

[Cels]

Love all the people jumping to conclusions that you have to share your entire library and thus boot all your friends off whenever you want to play any game. If it actually works that way I'll eat my hat.

you should eat your hat then go fix your illiteracy problem.

 

[derFeef]

This is incredible.

It's a first step, but it's far from incredible.

 

[aeolist]

To be fair, the wording is much more ambiguous in the announcement and main FAQ. The question you linked is the first time that stipulation was explained clearly.

i dunno, it doesn't seem ambiguous in the faq:

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.

but yeah i saw the post by christen basically contradicting this so who knows

 

[Thoraxes]

It's a first step, but it's far from incredible.

The amount of games i'll now have access to thanks to my friends says otherwise. For me and my personal situation, it's definitely up there. I can see for others how it would not be, though.

 

[Belgorim]

Sounds completely useless.

I just want my kids to be able to access some of my games on another computer (same IP though) when I'm playing dota/civilization/whatever. The only reason it semi-works for me at the moment is because I have non-steam games I play most of the time.

 

[Cels]

It's a first step, but it's far from incredible.

i agree, it's not incredible at all, just a neat quality of life feature. not sure what the second step would be though, without drawng publisher ire.

 

[ashecitism]

To put an end to all the account sharing hype:

Question:


Answer from Valve:


http://steamcommunity.com/groups/familysharing/discussions/0/846964363936308178/

If I'm reading this correctly, it sounds like the lender's account has to log in and install at least one game on a computer before that computer's owner can request to become a lendee.

so, couldn't people just use a remote desktop client prior to that?

 

[heyf00L]

It's a first step, but it's far from incredible.

I dunno, man. Thousands of free games with a few limits that I can work around sounds pretty incredible to me.

 

[kinggroin]

You can already do this.

Without being banned if caught?

 

[Gav47]

Sounds completely useless.

I just want my kids to be able to access some of my games on another computer (same IP though) when I'm playing dota/civilization/whatever. The only reason it semi-works for me at the moment is because I have non-steam games I play most of the time.

Can't you just keep the other computers Steam in offline mode if you want that.

 

[heyf00L]

so, couldn't people just use a remote desktop client prior to that?

Absolutely you can.