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Steam Announces Family Sharing
- Thread starter MRORANGE
- Start date
soul creator
Member
CaptainTiptop
Member
Did we ever learn the full details on Xbone family sharing? Microsoft were never exactly clear on it.
The moment this was announced i got quite a few texts from friends lol.
No, if you are using your library then they will not be able to use your library.
shysaursoft
Member
Only one person can play something from the library at at time. If you start playing something, the borrower is told to save and quit. Even if you're playing different games.
Valve does it and its amazing. Microsoft try's to do it.... Pitchforks and 180's
uncledonnie
Banned
I hear you and honestly I don't look at the MS plan as anything but vapor either. I thought it was interesting to discuss just within the context of the fact that most people doubted publishers would ever agree to it, even though MS said they had agreements with publishers already in place. Initially it looked like the Steam plan might lend some credence to the idea that publishers actually would agree to something like the MS plan.
Upon further examination though, with the Steam plan only allowing one user in the library at a time I don't see publishers having anywhere near as much to lose as with the Microsoft plan. So I go back to my theory that the MS plan, if real, was only viable because they were effectively castrating the used game industry, and the plan as originally described has little chance of being brought back.
Yeah... I mean I guess it's a nice convenience feature for those who share accounts regularly.
vikingvessel
Member
Unless it was reversed and I missed it, PSN content purchased prior to November 18, 2011 still allows for up to five different devices.
Garrett 2U
Member
I guess there is a fine line between "baby steps" and "anti-consumer"
I've been logging into steam on different friends' computers for years now with the intention of letting them play my steam games whenever I'm not playing them.
I guess the cool thing about this is that your friends will now get to use their own set of saves/achievements, and won't have to kick you off steam if they want to play something on your account, but other than that, what's so special about this?
I guess the cool thing about this is that your friends will now get to use their own set of saves/achievements, and won't have to kick you off steam if they want to play something on your account, but other than that, what's so special about this?
Because Valve actually did it, while Microsoft's was both cancelled and heavily rumored as being an hour trial by Cboat (I'll trust Cboat over Major Nelson and the mouthpiece of the week at MS).
I am sorry I want this to work the way lending physical games work.
Steve Youngblood
Member
I don't think that anyone was actually overtly critical of the idea of Microsoft's Family Share plan, though some were skeptical about how it would work (for good reason if you ask me as it was never clearly fleshed out). I think many actually regarded Family Share as a decent olive branch in the endeavor to sell the all digital future, but that in and of itself wasn't enough to overcome the overwhelming negativity concerning DRM on the Xbox One.
But that shouldn't be confused with negativity for Family Sharing itself. I think many argued that they should continue down that route at least with games purchased digitally.
ridethepiggy
Banned
Because MS required you to be online even when you weren't sharing accounts... what do you not understand about that? Valve offers full offline mode while MS didn't.
And when exactly did Microsoft say, back then, than the 10 people sharing one library would be allowed to play one game at the same time?
The Cowboy
Member
Funny thing is, the version Valve is doing (so far) isn't anywhere as good as what MS was going to do.
All Valve have done is make it so its just like console game sharing now but worse, in that on 360/PS3 etc a family member/friend can play any disk based game on their console, and digital game can be played on the same console over numerous accounts - except in Valves case not only would you have to give a family member/friend the disk for the game you'd have to give them every game you own.
Then that poor bastard who shared it can't play games for a while. At least that's my understanding.
Then Steam should make it to where you have to print out a physical code, and take that code physically to someone elses house so that they can scan it into their computer with a Webcam. Once the code is scanned then they can access the game but you lose access to it until they print out the code and give it back to you physically.
I don't know if I trust one over the other, but I do know that Microsoft was never forthright about their sharing plan, and that's why I never bought into it as a feature.
They sold it as something that I know publishers wouldn't have agreed to, and I'm confident that when the final details were released, it wouldn't have been nearly as useful as the Microsoft fanboys claimed it would.
Rodney McKay
Member
It's not exactly the perfect Utopia where all games can be accessed by everyone at anytime for any length of time, but it's decent for what it is.
Think of it like you're letting your friend borrow your console (Steam account) and games without the hassle of carting a physical system and a thousand physical games around.
I can see people working around these limitations pretty easily if they just throttle their game playing time. Just trade off every other day or call your friend to see if they'll let you finish a game or something.
I definitely understand why they don't let you play the same game at the same time at least. Having that would require developers to chose whether or not their games support it (like Origin's game trade-ins) and odds are that very few games would support it.
Oh really? So you and your friend can both play your physical copy of a game, at the same time, on different systems?
Dance Inferno
Unconfirmed Member
I like how when Microsoft announced this everyone was whining about how terrible it is, but now that Valve announces it everyone cheers them for being amazing.
Either way it's a great feature. It would have made the Xbox One a lot more appealing to me if this feature was included.
Either way it's a great feature. It would have made the Xbox One a lot more appealing to me if this feature was included.
Haunted
Member
The way they were messaging the Family Share Plan pre-180 still makes it seem really seem really unlikely to that it would actually be a one hour trial. Their executives and PR said too many things that would be total lies and would just lead to even more negative PR down the road for very little benefit.
Yeah it's basically just a really simple and secure way to share usernames and passwords. Basically like a lending discs (can use your own account with a disc etc). Which is nice and the way all digital content should work at a minimum, but not the crazy awesome scenario it seemed like Microsoft might do. I look forward to escalation though.
Nealand Liquor
Member
Hahaha holy fuck this is awesome. I wonder what MS will say, if they even address this.
shinobi602
Member
People didn't have a problem with it. They had a problem with blocking used games and 24hr online DRM checks.
SEGAvangelist
Member
10 people. 10 different games. Pretty sure.
Joe Shlabotnik
Banned
Mi backlog es su backlog.
Not trying to back seat mod or anything, but did you even read the post a few posts above by Steve?
No, the owner can play any game at any time. The takers are the only ones that can get kicked, the giver can always play their games.
C00kie M0nster
Member
This is the same thing as there being one console in the house. Some games have local play, others don't. Only one person can play a single-player game at any one time.
It's obviously a bit more than that but on the basic level, it is a much needed feature.
It's obviously a bit more than that but on the basic level, it is a much needed feature.
Ricerocket
Member
Why are people coming up with MS having a better plan when they gave no information on how it works and canned it saying "too bad."
I think he means he wants it to work like 'sharing' does on computers right now.
How you can 'share' with other users on BitTorrent.
Nightengale
Member
Valve actually had a FAQ from the get-go that laid out the devil in their details. You know, the stuff that lowered the initial hype, due to the reality of the restrictions.
Microsoft was throwing marketing buzzwords of family sharing, and refused to tell us the devil in the details no matter how hard they were pressed. Because let's be real, these kind of things are filled with devils in the detail that they simply refuse to share.
Very big difference.
Microsoft was throwing marketing buzzwords of family sharing, and refused to tell us the devil in the details no matter how hard they were pressed. Because let's be real, these kind of things are filled with devils in the detail that they simply refuse to share.
Very big difference.
CambriaRising
Member
Why are people still spreading misinformation about what the ms plan was? It wasn't some paragon of digital ownership that allowed 10 people to play halo together all at once and it required you to sacrifice physical ownership and sustain a constant, unbreakable connection to broadband Internet.
CaptainTiptop
Member
There was a little bit more to MS' policies than the family sharing. Everything else is what people took issue with...
Fuck. Can I go offline and then my library is still shared?
jim-jam bongs
Member
I think that people comparing this with the Xbone sharing plan are ignoring that the biggest complaints made about it were around the fact that it eliminated used games and was proffered as the reason for requiring that the console be online permanently. Used games disappeared in PC land a long, long time ago; and nobody has suggested that this proposal will require that a user be always online, though it would make sense if they wanted access to shared libraries or games.
They are not really the same thing, so comparing them is pretty dumb.
They are not really the same thing, so comparing them is pretty dumb.