Introducing Steam Families

Comments

• Dagnet@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Wait, now someone can play a game from my library while Im playing another? That’s huge

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  • Contramuffin@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Same thoughts. Mainly because it’s such a pain to explain how the library access system works in the previous family share.

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    • Dagnet@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Now just need to be able to ‘hide’ some games from sharing and we are good to go!

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  • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Also no need authorize each machine, and games are shared in both directions.

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  • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It also allows you to own multiple copies of the same game, which is another huge step in regards to parental controls. If you and both of your kids enjoy a game, you can buy three copies for your account and set restrictions on when/how long they can use it.

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    • DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Does it? I assumed it works like this but I could be wrong.

      Three out of five members in the family has the same game. That means three people in the family can play that game at the same time.

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    • dev_null@lemmy.ml ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I don’t think it does. It allows 3 members to play if there are 3 copies in the family, but each account can still only have 1 copy. You can’t buy 3 copies for your account.

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  • Drusas@kbin.run ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    If your family library has multiple copies of a game, multiple members of the family can play that game at the same time.

    Sounds to me like no, only if you're playing the same game which you both have copies of (which seems kind of pointless).

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    • Losboy@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Think we can play separate games and not lock others accounts while playing.

      Family Sharing enables you to play games from other family members’ libraries, even if they are online playing another game.

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    • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      If you’re playing the same game and both have copies, then that wouldn’t even be library sharing yet. That’s just normal use.

      They’re pointing out that for multiple users to play the same game at the same time, you need multiple copies. With just one license for each game, different members can play at the same time, but they can’t start up a game that someone else is already playing, if there’s only one copy to go around.

      Now if more than one member has a game, the number of copies in the family becomes the limit for how many can play that game at the same time. So if two people have a game, but the family has five members, any two members can play the game at the same time, not just the owners.

      And at the same time the remaining three members could also play whatever else, still at the same time.

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    • blue_struct@feddit.de ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      No, basically all licenses in the family are pooled together. You own game A and B, you can play game A, someone else game B. There are 2 licenses of game A in the family, two people can play it at the same time.

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  • Basil@lemmings.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    WOOHOO

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• Chewy7324@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Being able to play game from a single library simultaneously is awesome and how it should’ve been from a usability perspective.

  Sadly this change will make it impossible to simply share games with someone specifically, since it’s now required to be in the same Family Share, which is a strong commitment. For sharing games in a single friend group, this change won’t change much (unless someone still wants to share with their family). The changes make game sharing work more like intended, in other words family share.

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  • DarkThoughts@fedia.io ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It was never really meant to be used like that though. They might've tolerated it but in the end they can get rid of it while adding further functionality for actual family sharing.

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    • Chewy7324@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Agreed. The new restrictions are similar to what Spotify is doing with their family plan and is way more useful for it’s intended purpose.

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• AliasWyvernspur@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  What happens if my brother gets banned for cheating while playing my game?
  If a family member gets banned for cheating while playing your copy of a game, you (the game owner) will also be banned in that game. Other family members are not impacted.

  Fuck that shit.

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  • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    That’s probably to avoid someone buying a game, and then cheating on a child account to avoid bans.

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    • LeroyJenkins@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      yeah necessary rule fsure

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  • JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    That’s actually nothing new, it’s been like that with family sharing for ages. If the family share account gets banned, the owner of the game gets banned as well so that they can’t keep making alt accounts to bypass the ban. Others in your family not being impacted by the ban would actually be an improvement - it used to be that if the owner is banned, anyone family sharing the game would be as well.

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    • AliasWyvernspur@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I understand why, and it makes sense to me. But I wouldn’t want to take that chance.

      It’s not so much that I know a family member would knowingly cheat, but who knows if a friend might convince them to try a mod or something, and not know it could potentially get them banned, ya know?

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  • NewNewAccount@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Is there a non-zero chance you’d add a potential cheater to your Steam family?

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    • prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I could imagine someone’s kid doing it

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  • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Not for me.

    My kiddo is kinda an butthead and I know he will absolutely figure out how to get banned.

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  • dev_null@lemmy.ml ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    If you have a Steam family with 4 members each owning a copy of a game, and the 5th member that doesn’t gets banned. Which of the 4 accounts gets banned?

    Since the game copies are “pooled” in the family, you are not sharing from anyone in particular, you have all games in the family available. So who gets banned?

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• warm@kbin.earth ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Being able to play game simultaenously is insane news!

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  • Crackhappy@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Yeah. Not being able to play a shared game because the other person is playing something else has been sooooo fucking annoying.

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  • chillhelm@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Only 1 concurrent player per copy in the family library. So to play together you’d still have to both buy the game.

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    • warm@kbin.earth ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Yea, fair enough trade off though!

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• cron@feddit.de ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  This looks great! It would be even better if they improve the handling of multiple accounts on the steam deck.

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• EvilCartyen@feddit.dk ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  This is incredible news, I’ve been using the deck as a console, and when the kids were playing something I’d be logged out, so this really is a game changer.

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• Scio@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  With cooldowns for abuse prevention now on the table, I wish Valve will consider adding something like a “day pass” for Steam friends where they can share their libraries—or perhaps specific games—for a short duration to someone they know without having to adopt them.

  With cooldowns they would find appropriate, of course. And I hope that isn’t a whole year…

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• Localhorst86@feddit.de ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Family Sharing enables you to play games from other family members’ libraries, even if they are online playing another game

  That’s a great first step, but I would also like to be able to play another game from my own library on another device (e.g. steam deck and pc) at the same time

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  • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    You could make a second account, add it to your family, and use one account for your PC and one for your deck.

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    • Localhorst86@feddit.de ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      That’s one possible workaround, but that will, obviously, break stuff like cloud saving and achievement progress. So, not ideal, but probably viable for some situations.

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  • systemglitch@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I 100% agree. I sometimes have a game going downstairs and then start a game on my steam deck upstairs and have to put it I to offline mode first. It works, but it’s a slight hassle that need not be.

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• doggle@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I could’ve sworn this was already a feature

  I’m I getting the Mandela effect?

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  • Bougie_Birdie@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    The previous ‘family sharing’ feature allowed for you to share your games with someone else, provided you were not playing any games at the moment.

    This new family sharing seems to allow you to share your library even if you’re playing another game.

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• manastorm@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Amazing!! My kid is going to love this.

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• figaro@lemdro.id ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I’m curious how aggressive it will be at limiting families who live in different houses from sharing games.

  The article specifically states that it is meant for “same household” families. But will it actively prevent that?

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  • Midnitte@beehaw.org ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Hopefully, they’re not as aggressive as Netflix - can’t even share a login with the in-laws across the street…

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  • ashok36@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Time to install tailscale.

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  • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I don’t think so, at least not yet. They might try to prevent it later if it starts getting widely abused.

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    • nrezcm@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Narrator: “It did get widely abused.”

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• Guy_Fieris_Hair@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I set family sharing up a while ago. It’s been great. Only issue is I made my own account a child account and don’t mnow how to undo that. Not a huge deal since I know the pin, just sucks to have to put it in to look at the library or appear online to play with friends. Probably not a steam problem, just user error, and if I put enough effort into fixing it as I did writing this comment I probably would have already fixed it. The answer just doesn’t seem apparent…

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  • growsomethinggood@reddthat.com ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I would say the answer is typically a-parent haha

    Not very helpful but I hope a dumb joke makes you smile!

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    • Guy_Fieris_Hair@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I… honestly did not intend to make that pun. Your dumb joke very much made me smile. Thank you.

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  • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It’s definitely possible, I recently turned off child mode for my kid now that he’s older. Unfortunately I don’t remember the process well enough to accurately tell you what to do.

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• SpiceDealer@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Nice! Now, all I need to do is make the babies.

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  • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    For sure, all of us who have been waiting to fall in love, get married, and have kids, are now free to do so now that we have better steam library sharing. I know it was the main thing most people have been waiting for.

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• hordenduopol@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Too bad that if my kid cheats I will be banned too. :(

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  • dukatos@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    If your kid cheats, you failed as a parent :)

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    • Andrenikous@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      It is possible to commit no mistakes in raising a child and they still be little shits. That is not a weakness; that is life.

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• Midnitte@beehaw.org ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Really awesome news!

  The previous system was rather arcane - this bodes much better for the father in law that doesn’t know how texting works but does know how RTSes work…

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• pmmeyourtits@ani.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Maybe now I’ll finally be able to share my library with my partner

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  • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    You could before, but any games with steam DRM (which is most of them) would lock your library if your spouse was using it.

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    • ashok36@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      It would not lock your library if someone was playing one of your games. You could start any game in your library and the family member would be given a 15 minute period to wrap up their session before being booted. It had nothing to do with steam drm either.

      Source: I actually used family sharing a few times.

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    • pmmeyourtits@ani.social ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      *Most people could. My library has some kind of fucked issue. Had to reach out to steam support who were absolutely useless.

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• dukatos@lemm.ee ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I hope it will work better than current family. There is so much friction to share one game with your kid that I almost gave up.

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• kugmo@sh.itjust.works ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Apparently you need to be in the same country to do family sharing now, and the 5 minute get off my game bro button doesn’t replace the play button anymore. It’s simply just greyed out.

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  • Kyouki@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    No more sharing with your loved partner abroad… This sucks. Cannot always afford two copies in this state of the world. Let alone a roof to live together.

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• cory_lowry@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Anybody know if I set that up and decide to buy the game myself if my played time, achievements, and saved games will transfer over?

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  • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I would assume it will.

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    • cory_lowry@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I would assume so too, jw. Cause I know if you buy a game and play it and refund it, if you buy it again the saved data and achievements and stuff is still there.

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• ABCDE@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Image

  I was so hopeful… pretty much useless for me as I live in a different country to my family.

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• KJ118@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Only complaint is that it makes it harder to share with siblings that occasionally play games while also sharing with friends that more regularly do. Makes it less a venn diagram and more segregated boxes.

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