Steam Announces Family Sharing

[dylanjosh]

http://store.steampowered.com/news/11436/

 

The feature will become available next week, in limited beta on Steam.

 

Steam Family Sharing is designed for close friends and family members to play one another's Steam games while each earning their own Steam achievements and storing their own saves and application data to the Steam cloud. It's all enabled by authorizing a shared computer.

 

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 accounts 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.

 

Nicely detailed here: http://store.steampowered.com/sharing

[Zod]

Awesome.....

[dylanjosh]

I want to try this! How can I join the Family Sharing Beta?
To express interest in beta participation, join the Family Sharing Group on the Steam community. The Family Sharing beta will begin in mid-September, when a thousand Steam accounts from this group will be granted access to share their Steam libraries. You’ll know you’ve been selected when you receive an email from Steam inviting you to try out the new feature.

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.

Is there a limit to the number of devices I can authorize to share my Library?
Yes. A Steam account may authorize Family Sharing on up to 10 devices at a given time.

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

Can all Steam games be shared with friends and family?
No, due to technical limitations, some Steam games may be unavailable for sharing. For example, titles that require an additional third-party key, account, or subscription in order to play cannot be shared between accounts.

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.

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.

Who owns and can access the DLC and in-game content associated with a borrowed title?
A borrower will have access to the lender’s DLC, but borrowers may not purchase DLC for a base game they don't own. Any player may purchase, trade, earn, or otherwise acquire in-game content while playing a game, but in-game items cannot be shared between accounts. These items remain the property of the account that purchased or acquired them, whether borrowing or lending the base game.

Can region-restricted content be shared across regions?
No, any region restrictions will remain in place when lending or borrowing content.

Will I be punished for any cheating or fraud conducted by other users while playing my games?
Your Family Sharing privileges may be revoked if your library is used by borrowers to conduct cheating or fraud. We recommend you only authorize familiar computers you know to be secure.

[Heaven Angel]

Damm, you beat me

 

 

[dylanjosh]

Is there a limit to the number of devices I can authorize to share my Library?

Yes. A Steam account may authorize Family Sharing on up to 10 devices at a given time.

 

 

Does this mean that two people on different computers can share the library?

[Zod]

Joe

 

We both will share games.....

[Sach4life]

Apun bhi aajayega dec/jan mein steam pe. Mujhse bhi share karni hai games sabne

[Zod]

ok, par badley mein kaunse games dega ?

[Sapola]

I'm not impressed.

They should have allowed full access to owner and borrower simultaneously.

 

I think iOS has best way of Family Sharing, it's generous and practical.

[Heaven Angel]

Hmm, but that cannot work for multi-player games and 3rd party titles like Ubisoft (which require UPLAY).

 

There is one way to play games simultaneously but not 100% sure it'll work with this. Offline mode. That allows both users to play games simultaneously.

 

 

Also, cool way to mark a 10 year anniversary. <3

(tomorrow)

 

EDIT:

 

 

The basic idea is that it’ll soon be possible to authorize your library to be shared with up to 10 other people. You cannot just share a single game but the whole library. Let’s say you authorize your brother. If your brother wants to play Papers, Please through your shared account but you’re down for some Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 at the same time, he’s kicked off and told he has to purchase Papers, Please on his own account. If you’re not playing, though, he can keep going.

 

This takes some obvious idea off the table pretty quickly. You cannot purchase one copy of a co-op game and play through it with a friend.

 

The big question: does this require people to be playing on the same PC? The above example makes that seem obvious, but strangers things have happened. The FAQ for family sharing mentions that it’s possible to authorize “up to 10 devices at a given time,” which would suggest one PC could act as a host library for 10 other computers. I’ve asked Valve for clarification on this, since it has the broadest ramifications for this.

 

It’s also currently unclear how this would impact Steam’s offline mode, or if developers would have the option of opting-out of participation.

 

http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/steam-introduces-family-sharing/1100-4734/

[silv3rgunn3r]

Awesome news

forget multiplayer games........ but sp content from EA or UBI can't be played by a single user?

[Zod]

ya don't care about M.P I just want to play few S.P games...If iam interested in M.P then i will buy it....

[Heaven Angel]

Awesome news

forget multiplayer games........ but sp content from EA or UBI can't be played by a single user?

 

Ubisoft games - no way to play as it launches UPLAY and then it checks UPLAY account key. =\

 

EA games on Steam doesn't use Origin, so it should be fine.

[Sach4life]

ok, par badley mein kaunse games dega ?

 

Indies le liyo

[Somebody]

"It’s also currently unclear how this would impact Steam’s offline mode, or if developers would have the option of opting-out of participation."

http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/steam-introduces-family-sharing/1100-4734/

offline mode

[Zod]

I don't think this will work in offline mode...

[piper]

Reminds me of the initial X1 policies.

[KnackChap]

very similar to the old PSN game sharing policies without the 5 user cap. nice move.

[HundredProofSam]

Nice, but I wonder how much this will impact sales. And I can't imagin third-party publishers being too happy about this either.

[Zod]

ya no point if it only works with selected games....