Family sharing, one-game-at-a-time limit doesn't make sense

[gamegame44332211]

When the steam library is shared, only one game can be played at the same time.
So if A is play in PC-A then B on PC-B cannot play any other games at the same time.

That doesn't make sense.

If I owned a physical copies of all those games, I should be able to share those games freely with my friends and family. The only limit would be not able to play the same game at the same time.

What happen now is as if I lent one of my game-disc to my friend, then when he/she is playing that single game, all my other game-disc are mysteriously locked, wth?

[Kargor]

The reason it works like it does, and not like a box of CDs, is very simple: publishers and Steam have one business -- selling games. Their business is not handing out games for free.

Family sharing, in its current form, is basically account sharing with a bit of extra paint. You can't prevent people from just sharing their accounts anyway, so family sharing doesn't really hurt Steam all that much, and it's still an easy pitch to publishers.

Because, you know what's even worse than family sharing? A game not participating in it. Or a publisher leaving Steam altogether because they are too annoyed.

[crunchyfrog]

引用自 The Living Tribunal：

引用自 Daionor：

Okay all yall, they never said "Everyone can play the same game thereby causing licensing issues". They said "Why can't I play a completely different game if my family/friend is playing Game A?" Yall blew this way out of proportion. And it's a good point. Why am I locked out of even offline games while a friend is playing something from my library? You can't even go offline mode to solve the issue as being in offline mode counts your library as inaccessible to everyone (I know this from experience). So like, what honestly gives? Why is it so limiting? You allow multiple machines, so you obviously anticipated families with multiple gaming machines to be active at the same time, but then punish them for doing just that. I see no logic in this.

It works the same as a console would. You have 1 library of games, ie 1 copy of each game. You would not be able to play another game on that console while another person is already on that console.

Actually that's a bloody good point and I should have pointed that out.

It IS the norm. so it's unfair to single Valve and Steam out for this as they all do it.

I share my library on PS3 and PS4 with my eldest daughter and there's only one game we both have a copy of and can play at teh same time - Fat Princess.

Any other game if one is playing, the other cannot.

[Jhaeriao]

引用自 crunchyfrog：

引用自 The Living Tribunal：

It works the same as a console would. You have 1 library of games, ie 1 copy of each game. You would not be able to play another game on that console while another person is already on that console.

Actually that's a bloody good point and I should have pointed that out.

It IS the norm. so it's unfair to single Valve and Steam out for this as they all do it.

I share my library on PS3 and PS4 with my eldest daughter and there's only one game we both have a copy of and can play at teh same time - Fat Princess.

Any other game if one is playing, the other cannot.

But what about how they do it on Xbox? My friend has logged into my Xbox account, set it as his home Xbox, and then signed out and back into his and we can play all the games in my library together. For example, I have Call of Duty Vanguard and he never bought a copy, but we can play it at the same time and even be in the same party together. I think that's what everyone is trying to figure out as to why Steam hasn't done it that way, if they even can.

And it's not just Call of Duty. We were able to play MTX vs ATV, Gears of War 5 Multiplayer, Army of One, Fall Guys, etc and he doesn't own any of those titles. Hell, he doesn't even pay for Game Pass or anything because I do and my Xbox is considered his home Xbox, even though I can still log into it and play any game as normal.

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

引用自 Jhaeriao：

引用自 crunchyfrog：

Actually that's a bloody good point and I should have pointed that out.

It IS the norm. so it's unfair to single Valve and Steam out for this as they all do it.

I share my library on PS3 and PS4 with my eldest daughter and there's only one game we both have a copy of and can play at teh same time - Fat Princess.

Any other game if one is playing, the other cannot.

But what about how they do it on Xbox? My friend has logged into my Xbox account, set it as his home Xbox, and then signed out and back into his and we can play all the games in my library together. For example, I have Call of Duty Vanguard and he never bought a copy, but we can play it at the same time and even be in the same party together. I think that's what everyone is trying to figure out as to why Steam hasn't done it that way, if they even can.

And it's not just Call of Duty. We were able to play MTX vs ATV, Gears of War 5 Multiplayer, Army of One, Fall Guys, etc and he doesn't own any of those titles. Hell, he doesn't even pay for Game Pass or anything because I do and my Xbox is considered his home Xbox, even though I can still log into it and play any game as normal.

Then go play xbox. Family sharing doesn't exist for you to loan your games to whoever you want with 0 downside.

[Nx Machina]

引用自 Jhaeriao：

But what about how they do it on Xbox? My friend has logged into my Xbox account, set it as his home Xbox, and then signed out and back into his and we can play all the games in my library together. For example, I have Call of Duty Vanguard and he never bought a copy, but we can play it at the same time and even be in the same party together. I think that's what everyone is trying to figure out as to why Steam hasn't done it that way, if they even can.

And it's not just Call of Duty. We were able to play MTX vs ATV, Gears of War 5 Multiplayer, Army of One, Fall Guys, etc and he doesn't own any of those titles. Hell, he doesn't even pay for Game Pass or anything because I do and my Xbox is considered his home Xbox, even though I can still log into it and play any game as normal.

Why not ask why Epic, Origin, GOG Galaxy, Battlenet, Ubisoft Connect and Rockstar launcher DO NOT have family sharing.

Or maybe why they have the same policy as Steam. Only YOU can be logged into your account and you cannot share your account details.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

引用自 Nx Machina：

引用自 Jhaeriao：

But what about how they do it on Xbox? My friend has logged into my Xbox account, set it as his home Xbox, and then signed out and back into his and we can play all the games in my library together. For example, I have Call of Duty Vanguard and he never bought a copy, but we can play it at the same time and even be in the same party together. I think that's what everyone is trying to figure out as to why Steam hasn't done it that way, if they even can.

And it's not just Call of Duty. We were able to play MTX vs ATV, Gears of War 5 Multiplayer, Army of One, Fall Guys, etc and he doesn't own any of those titles. Hell, he doesn't even pay for Game Pass or anything because I do and my Xbox is considered his home Xbox, even though I can still log into it and play any game as normal.

Why not ask why Epic, Origin, GOG Galaxy, Battlenet, Ubisoft Connect and Rockstar launcher DO NOT have family sharing.

Or maybe why they have the same policy as Steam. Only YOU can be logged into your account and you cannot share your account details.

Your second line is incorrect because you don't need to be logged into your account to play your GOG games. Your first line is incorrect because GOG already presumes you to be able to have your games on as many computers as you want in your household. But most importantly, even if all your information is correct, "other people don't offer family sharing" does not explain why Steam has to keep on doing something that inconveniences customers.

[TheStoryteller01]

It should be different for co-op or multiplayer games.

I don't need 2 Mario Kart games on console for both of us to play against each other - and I shouldn't need 2 L4D games to do so.

But thats exactly why I love my DRM-free GOG games. If it's not an MMG, I generally stay away from games that need a launcher.

[Kargor]

引用自 TheStoryteller01：

I don't need 2 Mario Kart games on console for both of us to play against each other - and I shouldn't need 2 L4D games to do so.

Actually, you do -- if a game doesn't do shared-screen.

As an example, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed has split screen -- so you just need once license for everyone participating LOCALLY.

The Trine games do it too, and probably many others.

But when you need/want to play on two distinct boxes, you'll need licenses for each. That's going to be the same on consoles.

[nullable]

引用自 TheStoryteller01：

It should be different for co-op or multiplayer games.

I don't need 2 Mario Kart games on console for both of us to play against each other - and I shouldn't need 2 L4D games to do so.

Since you used a Nintendo console game as an example... Splatoon 2? Doesn't support split screen. And explicitly requires every player to have their own copy of the game (and thus their own switch).

Picking a convenient game for your argument is fine, but there's plenty of contrary examples and clearly there's not a one size fits all solution.

[H4D M4-TT0R]

It doesn't matter in the end. When you bought a game you agreed to the conditions as they are.

[TheStoryteller01]

引用自 Had Matter：

It doesn't matter in the end. When you bought a game you agreed to the conditions as they are.

You are right.

This is about not making the same mistake twice.

[Aedile]

Guys, as far as XBOX, Microsoft store are concerned, you can play different games on different machines in your household. The logic there is you are "lending" the whole machine.

So my kids can play two different games, and I can play another in the same time. But no two players of the same game in the same time, unless split screen.



EPIC also allows you to play different games on the same account in the same time (at least in same location).

For steam, you can play games on same account, but must be in offline mode. Which is sort of stupid limitation, but on the other hand you can play the same offline game - so...

[crunchyfrog]

引用自 Jhaeriao：

引用自 crunchyfrog：

Actually that's a bloody good point and I should have pointed that out.

It IS the norm. so it's unfair to single Valve and Steam out for this as they all do it.

I share my library on PS3 and PS4 with my eldest daughter and there's only one game we both have a copy of and can play at teh same time - Fat Princess.

Any other game if one is playing, the other cannot.

But what about how they do it on Xbox? My friend has logged into my Xbox account, set it as his home Xbox, and then signed out and back into his and we can play all the games in my library together. For example, I have Call of Duty Vanguard and he never bought a copy, but we can play it at the same time and even be in the same party together. I think that's what everyone is trying to figure out as to why Steam hasn't done it that way, if they even can.

And it's not just Call of Duty. We were able to play MTX vs ATV, Gears of War 5 Multiplayer, Army of One, Fall Guys, etc and he doesn't own any of those titles. Hell, he doesn't even pay for Game Pass or anything because I do and my Xbox is considered his home Xbox, even though I can still log into it and play any game as normal.

Different horses for different courses frankly.

For a start, different consoles and systems have different levels of security and authorization. On closed systems like consoles it's quite common for a bit more freedom like that because there's stricter security in place to stop the potential of abuse.

On top of that you have different contracts too.

So in otherw ords, it's irrelevant.

[Tito Shivan]

引用自 TheStoryteller01：

But thats exactly why I love my DRM-free GOG games. If it's not an MMG, I generally stay away from games that need a launcher.

Just because a game doesn't have DRM doesn't mean you're granted permission to do certain things.

And it's people taking those 'rights' for granted what keeps pushing devs to implement DRM and why many games cannot be bought on GOG.

[ReBoot]

You people really need to learn to take a "no" for an answer. This discussion has been going on since day 1 of Steam family sharing, the reasons why we won't get it haven't changed.

Common sense says: if reasons for an answer don't change, if they still apply, if the answer exists within the same external circumstances, there's literally no use in asking the same question.