Extra PC for Guests, Second Steam Account?

[New Improved Dave]

Hi, I'm building a new PC for myself and intend to reuse the old one as a machine for guests for gaming including multiplayer.

How does this work for steam accounts? Obviously I can't be logged into my account on both machines at the same time (and I'd want the guest options/saves to be separate from mine anyway). Should I have a second account in my name? Is that not against policy (might it trip cheating checks?). I appreciate that this will require two purchases of the games we intend to play together or otherwise at the same time.

To further complicate matters, my lodger may wish to use her Steam account on the same PC (under a different local user account) as it is more powerful than her usual device (a laptop with less GPU power and a noticably smaller screen).

Any tips on how to approach this? I'm a little warey as I don't want my main account to be accidentally locked because I do something that appears to automated checks to be an attempt at game cheating or, worse, account fraud.

Thanks in advance,
Dave.

[CriticalComposer]

You would definitely have to set up a secondary account. And yes, you will need to purchase second copies of games. Your flatmate can also use the guest computer and she will be able to log into her personal Steam account. Just make sure that Steam doesn't auto log you in so she won't have access to your secondary account.

[New Improved Dave]

So essentially running two accouts myself isn't a no-no like it is with some services?

[Kenny32673]

There's no problem with having multiple accounts no and neither is there a problem with anyone logging into their own accounts on any PC they like and playing their games on them.

However rather than buying second copies you may want to look into Steam Family Sharing which enables users to log into their own accounts (or one you specifically set up for that PC) and share the games from your main account, without needing to be logged into your account.

They can play the whole game including multiplayer as if they owned it themselves. They would have their own saves/profiles/achievements etc. without affecting yours.

You can also set up Family View to lock out certain features (such as the store so nobody can buy games on that account without the pin) and also games (handy for child accounts for example).

There is a drawback though, as they can't play games from your account if you are also playing any other game from your account at the same time - so if you intend on playing games together then you would need to buy a second copy on your guest account.

Also if they were to cheat and get VAC banned that could have consequences for your main account too (you may also get a VAC ban and in addition VAC banned games cannot be shared).