Mr. Edo Dec 4, 2022 @ 11:22pm
Steam Family Sharing with friends abroad
Hello Steam community,

Is using Family Sharing to lend your games library to a friend (not family) in another country considered allowed within the context of the Terms of Use?

I've been trying to look into it, but all I can find are nebulous explanations like "share games with family and 'guests'". How are "guests" defined here?

Specifically, I want to know if this is explicitly permitted, so to speak. Whether doing it is something Steam definitely accounts for, or if it's just a "Don't worry, everyone does it and the chances of getting caught are basically zero" situation. Like, does this constitute an offense that warrants suspension or other account-related consequences if discovered?

Does anyone know if there's an official statement on this issue?
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cSg|mc-Hotsauce Dec 4, 2022 @ 11:24pm 
Guests are considered people staying with you.

It is not recommended but there is nothing stopping it.

You may also run the risk of having bans share across the accounts.

:qr:
ReBoot Dec 4, 2022 @ 11:27pm 
It's fine. There's absolutely nothing in the SSA about this, that means there's nothing against this. Same goes for the sharing support article.

There's limits in place, like that limit of different PCs with access to your library as well as limits on accounts. Those are explicit, attempting to bypass those may result in trouble for your account. But sharing with abroad buddies is fine.

Speaking of limits in place, the same rules apply to abroad as well as domestic sharing, of course. Those include "if someone cheats using your library, your account will get the hit". It is assumed that people can trust family so this shared risk would be less of a problem within family than visitors but that's just the general assumption. I personally, to name an example, wouldn't trust the vast majority of my family with anything at all.
Last edited by ReBoot; Dec 4, 2022 @ 11:32pm
Mr. Edo Dec 5, 2022 @ 11:39pm 
Thank you for your responses. I appreciate the information.
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Date Posted: Dec 4, 2022 @ 11:22pm
Posts: 3