Steam’s family sharing feature Steam Families is now available to everyone on the platform, letting up to six total people share games from a single library, with each individual having access to their own saved games, achievements, and workshop files.
Adults can manage parental controls, set hourly or daily playtime limits, approve purchase requests, and control store access.
Valve appear very proud of making it easier for parents to spend money, streamlining the “time-consuming” task of buying games for their kids.
At any time, any one member can play Portal 2 and another can play Half-Life.
If two of you would like to play Portal 2 at the same time, someone else in the family will need to purchase a copy of the game.
Whether a game is eligible for family sharing or not, however, is up to the developer: A game’s developer controls whether a game is eligible for sharing with Steam Families.
All developer settings for the previous Steam Family Sharing feature are being brought forward to Steam Families.
So, if a game is currently eligible for Family Sharing, it will remain so in the new system unless the developer chooses to opt-out later.
This one stood out to me: 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.
Now that Steam Families is live, anyone using the platform can share games from a single library with up to six other users, each of whom can access their own saved games, achievements, and workshop files.
That means that when you all get together for dinner in the evening, you can eat a hearty meal as a family knowing that you collectively own six copies of the Cities Skylines Big Butt Skinner Balloon.
Either an adult or a child will be assigned to each user on the account. Adults have the ability to approve purchase requests, manage parental controls, set playtime limits (either hourly or daily), and manage store access. Streamlining the “time-consuming” task of purchasing games for their children, Valve seems immensely proud of having made it easier for parents to spend money.
The primary upgrade from the platform’s prior family sharing feature is game sharing, which functions as follows:.
Assume you live with your four family members and that you have copies of Half-Life and Portal 2. Members can play Half-Life and Portal 2 simultaneously at any given moment. Someone else in the family will need to buy a copy of the game if the two of you want to play Portal 2 simultaneously. Following that purchase, the family now has two copies of Portal 2, and any two members can play simultaneously.
Give it a moment, Valve. I see what you’ve done here. Those are both Valve games. They couldn’t possibly choose favorites, I guess.
However, it is up to the developer whether or not a game is suitable for family sharing.
Steam Family sharing of a game is at the discretion of the game’s developer. Coming forward to Steam Families are all developer settings from the previous version of the Steam Family Sharing feature. For that reason, unless the developer decides to opt out later, games that are currently eligible for Family Sharing will stay that way under the new system.
The accompanying blog post has a few more details. This one caught my attention:.
Forging cheats while playing my game, what would happen if my brother was banned?
When a family member is banned for cheating while using your copy of a game, you, the owner of the game, will also be banned. It has no effect on other family members.
