Family Sharing is not family friendly, don't be fooled by it's naming

[Wentbackward]

So I've just finally set up family sharing and have lot of games in my library that my kids are now old enough to play. "Family" sharing does nothing to help me manage my kids titles and also I have to SHARE THE WHOLE LIBRARY, not just a single game.

- There are no Family friendly controls
- You cannot share games based on their rating
- There are no family friendly features
- Clearly Steam has the capabilities to do it, but have not implemented one game, one license, one instance played at a time.

Not only that, in the past when I have asked Steam for support in sharing games, the defacto answer was family sharing. The responses are carefully crafted to make you think this is a viable solution but it is not the solution to allowing different people to play different titles simultaneously, which seems like fair usage under any decent consumer regime.

Can someone please point me to the legal wording that allows steam to control game licenses like this?

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Also enable Family View for your children.

FAQ states libraries as a whole. That's how it was made and will be for the foreseeable future.

[Wentbackward]

share - have a portion of (something) with another or others
Clearly they didn't review the definition of the language they have used.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Wentbackward eredeti hozzászólása:

share - have a portion of (something) with another or others
Clearly they didn't review the definition of the language they have used.

I suggest reviewing the definition of "share".

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/share

transitive verb
1a : to partake of, use, experience, occupy, or enjoy with others
b : to have in common they share a passion for opera
c(1) : to distribute on the Internet … anyone you share a link with can share that link with someone else if they choose.— Jeremy Scott
(2) : to post (something) on a social media platform Fans were also quick to screenshot and share the photo.— Yasmin Quaid The collective mind-set feels akin to that old adage about a tree falling in the forest: If you don't share it on Instagram, did it even happen?— Emily Farra It pulls in words and pictures from news and blog feeds as well as from links that your pals share on Facebook and Twitter.— Harry McCracken
2 : to grant or give a share in —often used with withshared the last of her water with us
3 : to tell (thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc.) to others —often used with with
4 : to divide and distribute in shares : apportion —usually used with outshared out the land among his heirs

intransitive verb
1 : to have a share —used with inwe all shared in the fruits of our labor
2 : to apportion and take shares of something
3 : to talk about one's thoughts, feelings, or experiences with others

-----

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sharing

noun

the full or proper portion or part allotted or belonging to or contributed or owed by an individual or group.

one of the equal fractional parts into which the capital stock of a joint-stock company or a corporation is divided.


verb (used with object), shared, shar·ing.

to divide and distribute in shares; apportion.

to use, participate in, enjoy, receive, etc., jointly: The two chemists shared the Nobel prize.


verb (used without object), shared, shar·ing.

to have a share or part; take part (often followed by in).

to divide, apportion, or receive equally.

cSg|mc-Hotsauce eredeti hozzászólása:

Also enable Family View for your children.

FAQ states libraries as a whole. That's how it was made and will be for the foreseeable future.

:qr:

That is what I do with my 10/yo. It allows me to restrict parts of Steam as well as limit the games he can play, even from my shared library.

[MancSoulja]

Wentbackward eredeti hozzászólása:

share - have a portion of (something) with another or others
Clearly they didn't review the definition of the language they have used.

I mean, before you criticise others, you should first evaluate your ability to comprehend language. Words can have various meanings, the definition you posted isn't even for the type of sharing you're taking about, it refers to the act splitting up a whole into portions and sharing it with others, like shares in a company for example. surely you're trolling and you realise that, right?


The definition for the type of sharing which you are referring to is as follows; 'Use, occupy, or enjoy (something) jointly with another or others'.

[wuddih]

https://store.steampowered.com/promotion/familysharing

Can two users share a library and both play at the same time?

No, a shared library may only be accessed by one user at a time.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3784-QLBM-5731#simultaneous

Can two users share a library and both play at the same time?

No, a shared library may only be played by one user at a time including the owner and even if they want to play different games.

it is quite clear on that.

- "family view" is the parental control function for Steam. the family sharing function has nothing to with parental stuff.

- the rating? you mean the esrb, usk, pegi, whatever rating?
first of all these ratings can quite heftily differ between agencies.
secondly, those are parental guidance for the purchase, they are not legally binding until a certain point and at that point, moral age gates are placed on store pages. after purchase these rating become widely irrelevant as it is the parents job to be the control instance of what their kids do.

also Steam doesn't know if these is really your family playing or fat dave from next door that gives you $10 bucks a week to play your games. so this function is highly restricted to limit commercialization.
and they could simply remove it, you do not pay for this.

Wentbackward eredeti hozzászólása:

share - have a portion of (something) with another or others
Clearly they didn't review the definition of the language they have used.

great.
share a donut
... and the donut is gone a few bites later.

does the same happen with a video game?
no, you could share it with the entire population of the planet and it is still there.

so obviously ... this needs to be handled differently.

[RoseReaper]

Honestly I find it so dumb that when you do library share when the owner of the library plays the game it means that everything in their library is no longer accessible for the time they are on steam.

[nullable]

Wentbackward eredeti hozzászólása:

share - have a portion of (something) with another or others
Clearly they didn't review the definition of the language they have used.

My favotrite posts are when someone pretends like they're the only ones who understands language.

[Zekiran]

Oh look, this thread again.

[76561198407601200]

Wentbackward eredeti hozzászólása:

So I've just finally set up family sharing and have lot of games in my library that my kids are now old enough to play. "Family" sharing does nothing to help me manage my kids titles and also I have to SHARE THE WHOLE LIBRARY, not just a single game.

- There are no Family friendly controls
- You cannot share games based on their rating
- There are no family friendly features
- Clearly Steam has the capabilities to do it, but have not implemented one game, one license, one instance played at a time.

Not only that, in the past when I have asked Steam for support in sharing games, the defacto answer was family sharing. The responses are carefully crafted to make you think this is a viable solution but it is not the solution to allowing different people to play different titles simultaneously, which seems like fair usage under any decent consumer regime.

Can someone please point me to the legal wording that allows steam to control game licenses like this?

I was never fooled by the name, I understood it pretty much off bat and works pretty much as expected.

[ReBoot]

I share between my GF and my sister. So yeah, it totally works within the gamily.

[endrsgm]

I found famy share to have problems but not all the ones you are citing are 'problems'

family view is a good step because you can use it to block out elements you don't want the little ones to access. steam is pretty much turning your equation around and saying if you don't want your kids playing games then it's not their business to decide which games they play or don't, it's yours as a parent. family view is your control element and you need to set it all yourself.

but you did hit the biggest failing of family share. you can't play when the 'master account' is online. that sucks.
there is a little work around that can help... sometimes. if you are playing OFFLINE then family sharing is active.
but in all honesty my family considers familyshare to be 'broken' and generally we look elsewhere than steam due to this idiotic limitation.

steam remote play is something to look into. it is something we use a lot. invite someone to play a game with you. they don't even need to own it, the game doesn't even always have to normally allow co-op or multiplayer. this is a great program.

if you want something where you can get a game 1x and the family can play together or even access at the same time and play individually or merely just access the same library at the same time like the system SHOULD function then look into windows games.

Windows games can be via family shared used by up to 10 computers at once. you can even play them on an xbox 1. and co-op many of the games cross platform. they even have a beta pc subscription of about 100 games for a pretty reasonable fee.
the stuff that can be done here is mind boggling. using our home console my wife and 3 friends can play a game, my daughter can join in her pc, I can join in my pc, my son can goto a friends xbox and sign in and via family share he and 3 more friends join in. or we can all log on and do our own stuff...

if multiple people in my family have an interest in the same game our default goto now is Microsoft, precisely because steams familyshare is terrible.

apple has a familyshare too that is limited to 5 devices. it has less 'real' games than either steam or Microsoft but it also offers music, books, shows, etc as well as games.