Valve announces Steam 'Family Sharing'
Steam announced a "Family Sharing" feature today, which will let you share your library with up to 10 users. A beta is set to begin soon.
Steam announced a new "Family Sharing" feature today, and is accepting beta applications to test it. When it launches fully, close friends and family will be able to play one another's games, while still earning their own achievements and saving their individual progress through the cloud.
According to Valve's announcement, you'll be able to browse a family member's library and request authorization to download and play the game for yourself. You'll be able to share on up to 10 devices at a time, and sharing access means your partners will be able to look at your entire library. The FAQs do note that technical limitations like a third-party key might not allow for universal sharing, and a shared library can only be accessed by one user at a time.
You can signal your interest by joining the Family Sharing group. The beta will begin in mid-September.
The FAQs also address some nuts and bolts of how it will all work. As the lender, you'll always have access to your games. Playing when a borrower is already playing will give them a few minutes to either purchase it themselves, or quit for the time being. Borrowers will also have access to all of the lender's DLC, but they won't be able to purchase DLC for a game they don't own if the lender doesn't already have it. Region restrictions will remain in place as well, and Valve recommends you only lend to trusted family and friends, since your sharing could be revoked if one of your borrowers cheats with your games.
The feature is especially notable in light of the upcoming Xbox One launch. Family Sharing was one of Microsoft's planned features, but the reversal of its always-online policy meant the sharing feature was lost as well.
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Steve Watts posted a new article, Valve announces Steam 'Family Sharing'.
Steam announced a "Family Sharing" feature today, which will let you share your library with up to 10 users. A beta is set to begin soon.-
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She can maintain her own achievements, save games, etc.
The speculation is that this is a precursor for a Steam Box that allows multiple profiles, similar to a traditional console. You'll still only have 1 license of a game, and that game can only be played by one individual at a time, but you can keep your own progress.
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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.
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/familysharing/discussions/0/846964363934331891/
Maybe I was wrong on that, but the second answer makes it sound like you will only kick them off if it is the same game. -
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Yeah, having the cap at 10 is high for it to be like that. I was hoping for something along the lines of what you can do with some kindle books where you lend them out to others some period of time, during which you don't have access to them. As it is this is just a safer alternative to sharing your steam username/password with other people, which I don't find particularly useful.
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According to this, you can: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2424315,00.asp
A shared library can only be accessed by one user as a time. As the lender, however, you will always be able to access and play your games.
"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," according to Valve's FAQs about the new feature.
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I don't know. It's by no means an easy problem. I'm not really criticizing them.
Maybe there could be a timer, like you can only lend out so many specific games within a certain period of time while still allowing access to the library on the master account. 'course the more you introduce obvious artifice on the user end, the more people will call bullshit on it and try to circumvent it.
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