Creating new Steam accounts for LAN-party purposes

[AkronSire]

Hello, I'm looking for any information regarding the act of creating new Steam accounts for the explicit purpose of using them in a LAN environment, ie. they will not belong to any one person and they will be used quite seldom for mostly tournament purposes. The plan would be for accounts to be created from scratch and most games bought almost exclusively from various bundles and Steam sales, is this possible or forbidden for some reason? Also from doing a quick search on the forums it appears many are trying to use the same accounts to play the same game(s), that is not the plan here as there will be one license per account.

I saw someone mentioning there might be issues with the Steam Subscriber Agreement with doing something like this, however it's a jungle to me so maybe someone here has an idea? :)

[TirithRR]

You can. Don't worry.

[Silicon Vampire]

Well, the SSA does have a prohibition of allowing others access to your account. I don't think it's a very good idea, myself.

[Laptop]

You cannot share accounts. You can share games by family sharing, but not actual Steam accounts.

[TirithRR]

I remember having a lengthy conversation about this with another user, or group of users, a few months back.

It really boils down to the intent of the SSA.

But in these cases, for all intents and purposes, the extra accounts would be "owned" by the player using them. And in reality, if they are only used from that one location, who would ever know?

The recent actions of Valve/Steam have undermined the strict interpretation of the non sharing sections of the SSA a bit. Family View, which specifically lets you restrict access to account settings and features so other users who have access to your account cannot modify things, being the biggest. And the Sharing ability, which lets you basically share your account, but without actually giving away your username and password. In the end, you can only play games from one login, shared or not.

The topic I remember was a user who wanted to create a few accounts in advance for some visiting friends, so they could all play together once they arrived while on vacation. I think the intent of the non sharing articles in the SSA were not meant to cover situation like that.

[MalikQayum]

well if your intend is to host some lan events you can contact valve directly and they might hook you up with some accounts that are meant for events :)

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5847-TIXB-5827

while it is a bit different i think from what you want it might be worth contacting them to see if they are willing to do other games.

[Silicon Vampire]

Originally posted by TirithRR:

... I think the intent of the non sharing articles in the SSA were not meant to cover situation like that.

Why would you put yourself in a position to have all the accounts nullified in the future? Not saying it would happen, it clearly could.

No, I think there is too much that could go wrong here.

[MalikQayum]

well an alternative idea would be using the family sharing feature but that would be limited to the games that can be shared via family sharing.
assuming you have 10 pcs, make 10 accounts buy bad rats on each account, family share the accounts on each 10 pcs not 10 accounts on 1 pc but 1 account per pc then make the user create his own account.

while this might be a bit complicated it will work for most games and it would be totally within the rules.

[TirithRR]

Originally posted by MaLeK87:

well an alternative idea would be using the family sharing feature but that would be limited to the games that can be shared via family sharing.
assuming you have 10 pcs, make 10 accounts buy bad rats on each account, family share the accounts on each 10 pcs not 10 accounts on 1 pc but 1 account per pc then make the user create his own account.

while this might be a bit complicated it will work for most games and it would be totally within the rules.

Make 10 accounts, for yourself.
Have your 10 friends make 10 accounts.
Buy 10 copies of the game, for yourself, for your 10 accounts.
Share one of each of your accounts with your friends accounts.

In the end, exact same thing. And you can have as many accounts as you want, right?

This is what I mean by Steam/Valves actions undermining the strictest interpretation of the no sharing articles of the SSA.

[AkronSire]

Based on the discussion so far I came up with a couple of potential alternate approaches which could be used either exclusively or in some cases by combination:

1) Registering a VPN account[torrentfreak.com] for each individual account with a semi-permanent IP address along with the added hassle of configuring them. Obviously not a very cost effective solution but it would provide mobility and a reduced risk of blanket banning if one were to use different providers.

2) Creating new accounts for each bundle and each game bought, meaning there will be an ever increasing amount of accounts to keep track of. If the logistics of keeping track of the accounts can be arranged the risk of losing all games in one fellow go should be reduced considerably, as long as they're not all originating from the same IP address and computer.

3) Buying the games to accounts as originally stated in the original post, but just let them sit there for the sake of licensing purposes and using the equivalent pirated versions of the games instead which would have no risk of getting shut down or getting impaired in other ways. To clarify for the sake of example the steam games would be installed here but not used. Obviously not an ideal solution as there would be issues, but depending on how strict Steam enforces their agreements it might be a preferable option to the original premise.

4) As suggested by MaLeK87 check with Valve to arrange a tournament license and see if its possible to extend the terms to non-Valve games as well with reasonable terms for doing so.

Seeing as this isn't really a discussion or problem that will go away magically by itself I'm personally thinking Steam should introduce new types of agreements to handle this specific type of scenario. Perhaps renting games for short periods of time or paying more for the same games for the sake of higher utilization?

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by AkronSire:

snip

A cafe account looks more suited for your purpose.

[Hi-Torque]

Originally posted by AkronSire:

Based on the discussion so far I came up with a couple of potential alternate approaches which could be used either exclusively or in some cases by combination:

1) Registering a VPN account[torrentfreak.com] for each individual account with a semi-permanent IP address along with the added hassle of configuring them. Obviously not a very cost effective solution but it would provide mobility and a reduced risk of blanket banning if one were to use different providers.

2) Creating new accounts for each bundle and each game bought, meaning there will be an ever increasing amount of accounts to keep track of. If the logistics of keeping track of the accounts can be arranged the risk of losing all games in one fellow go should be reduced considerably, as long as they're not all originating from the same IP address and computer.

3) Buying the games to accounts as originally stated in the original post, but just let them sit there for the sake of licensing purposes and using the equivalent pirated versions of the games instead which would have no risk of getting shut down or getting impaired in other ways. To clarify for the sake of example the steam games would be installed here but not used. Obviously not an ideal solution as there would be issues, but depending on how strict Steam enforces their agreements it might be a preferable option to the original premise.

4) As suggested by MaLeK87 check with Valve to arrange a tournament license and see if its possible to extend the terms to non-Valve games as well with reasonable terms for doing so.

Seeing as this isn't really a discussion or problem that will go away magically by itself I'm personally thinking Steam should introduce new types of agreements to handle this specific type of scenario. Perhaps renting games for short periods of time or paying more for the same games for the sake of higher utilization?

Edit #1 and 3. Discussion along those lines can lead to a ban.

I completely respect the conversation though. I spent a lot of weekends at LAN parties back in the old days. Its a shame that things have become so convoluted and frankly counter-intuitive just to stay on the up and up.

Curious to see what comes of the Cafe Account (if you look into it.) I would assume the cost and prerequisites (biz licence, etc) would be prohibitive for the consummer level user.

[76561193857876471]

From a purely legal and not practical standpoint, it's not just the SSA that causes problems. Many games make a point of putting in writing that the game is licensed only to you, solely for your own personal use. They will also frequently prohibit using the game in an environment exactly like you are describing, especially if there is a commercial element. On a final note, while I understand what Tirith is saying and can see the logic behind it, and with no disrespect intended towards them, I don't think anyone here (myself included) is qualified to say what Valve meant with the SSA but Valve.

So for what my two cents are worth (less than the actual two cents, which is sad now that the penny is gone) I would agree with Silicon Vampire. Just have everyone register their own account and gift them copies of the game. Or use family share.

[Tev]

Originally posted by torvuseremita:

From a purely legal and not practical standpoint, it's not just the SSA that causes problems. Many games make a point of putting in writing that the game is licensed only to you, solely for your own personal use. They will also frequently prohibit using the game in an environment exactly like you are describing, especially if there is a commercial element. On a final note, while I understand what Tirith is saying and can see the logic behind it, and with no disrespect intended towards them, I don't think anyone here (myself included) is qualified to say what Valve meant with the SSA but Valve.

So for what my two cents are worth (less than the actual two cents, which is sad now that the penny is gone) I would agree with Silicon Vampire. Just have everyone register their own account and gift them copies of the game. Or use family share.

Good post; I'll just have to point out that Family Sharing doesn't work in offline mode anymore; and since only one person can be on one library at a time - hosting a LAN party with one person's library is not an option.

Therefore, the games have to be bought separate, for their own separate use.

[AkronSire]

Originally posted by Hi-Torque:

Edit #1 and 3. Discussion along those lines can lead to a ban.

I completely respect the conversation though. I spent a lot of weekends at LAN parties back in the old days. Its a shame that things have become so convoluted and frankly counter-intuitive just to stay on the up and up.

Curious to see what comes of the Cafe Account (if you look into it.) I would assume the cost and prerequisites (biz licence, etc) would be prohibitive for the consummer level user.

While you might be right I don't see how they would ban based on hypotethical intentions alone, as I'm not going to do any of those things on this particular account. I'll refrain from discussing them further publicly though just in case.

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Originally posted by AkronSire:

snip

A cafe account looks more suited for your purpose.

So there's the official page with almost no information at all, however a quick google search puts a result from 2013 titled "Steam cybercafe program a waste?[forum.smartlaunch.net]" fairly high up. It details how Valve removed all third party games due to licensing issues without any notification whatsoever and only allow Valve-games from now on. Assuming nothing has changed up to today combined with the topic "Steam cybercafe program a waste?[forum.smartlaunch.net]" detailing how the price is likely to be around $10 a month for no non-valve games whatsoever and no possibility to acquire them either. It's theoretically possible this might be a viable option but to me it almost looks like more of a jungle than the Steam Subscriber Agreement.

Originally posted by torvuseremita:

So for what my two cents are worth (less than the actual two cents, which is sad now that the penny is gone) I would agree with Silicon Vampire. Just have everyone register their own account and gift them copies of the game. Or use family share.

Would this roughly mean buying a couple of spare games whenever a bundle/sale occurs and then just gift one copy per individual, per tournament, per event? Would I have to gift a new copy per event or only whenever there's new individuals signing up for the tournament per event? Or it could be they're simply prohibiting the use of tournament events without the permission from the game creators, if that's the case that's just ludicrous.

At least I'm starting to see why nothing like this has happened before, it seems the only question is Steam or the game developers to blame here or some other unseen party?

[eram]

As long as no money is being exchanged i think its ok. What you cant do is charge anyone an entrance fee to play or ask for donations or sell anything at the event. If you intend to do any of these things or anything like it then you need a cafe account or tourney licence.