How can I purchase multiple copies of any game.

[TasteMyFarthole]

I'm having some friends over from out of state for 10 days and they neither currently have steam accounts, nor will will have any need for one in the future. I was planning on having a LAN party and buying multiple copies of several games for me and my guests to play during their stay. Steam seems to make this extremely difficult and confusing. Can anyone explain in common sense terms how this works, because I'm finding steam really frustrating to work with.

[76561193857876471]

As far as I know, there is no means to buy multiple copies of the same game in the same transaction. I'm sorry. I guess Steam just assumes you only need one copy.

[TasteMyFarthole]

Originally posted by torvuseremita:

As far as I know, there is no means to buy multiple copies of the same game in the same transaction. I'm sorry. I guess Steam just assumes you only need one copy.

What if you have kids, and they don't have their own credit cards? Can one person (myself) own 3 or 4 steam accounts and essentially buy myself gifts by using one account to purchase games for the other accounts? Seems a little convoluted and stupid, but if that's how it's supposed to work, I guess I can manage it.

[Acey]

The only way would be to purchase the game one at the time as a gift, then place them in your inventory. There are some games that you can purchase in 2-4 packs.

[76561193857876471]

You can have as many Steam accounts as you like, though only one account can be used at any given time. That being said, for these purposes it might be better to convince your visitors to sign up themselves, as otherwise they cannot keep the games you buy; once a game is registered to you, it cannot be transferred, and you are not allowed to have others access your Steam account.

[TasteMyFarthole]

Originally posted by Dark Ace:

The only way would be to purchase the game one at the time as a gift, then place them in your inventory. There are some games that you can purchase in 2-4 packs.

Thanks, I'm just trying to figure out how this works because I don't want to buy a bunch of stuff and have several accounts that appear to be managed by the same credit card and have Steam say that I'm doing something that voilates their policy and they revoke my stuff. They don't seem to explain at all in their help how to buy games for your kids, friends, family, if those other people don't have steam accounts and the computers are all owned by one person in one household.

[TasteMyFarthole]

Originally posted by torvuseremita:

You can have as many Steam accounts as you like, though only one account can be used at any given time. That being said, for these purposes it might be better to convince your visitors to sign up themselves, as otherwise they cannot keep the games you buy; once a game is registered to you, it cannot be transferred, and you are not allowed to have others access your Steam account.

So if I have 3 computers in my house, and I'm the sole purchaser of the games, and I want each computer to have a copy of a game, can I create 3 steam accounts, use account 1 to purchase gifts for accounts 2, and 3, and then on each computer, sign in to each steam account and install the game? Otherwise i don't see how one would buy games for their kids who all live in the same house and there's only 1 credit card.

[TirithRR]

You can also setup Family Sharing and just buy one copy of the game, share it between your accounts. Only one person could play the games shared at any one time though.

Also, you are free to use the same credit card on any Steam account you want. So you can purchase games on any of the 3 accounts directly and just use the same credit card.

[TasteMyFarthole]

Originally posted by TirithRR:

You can also setup Family Sharing and just buy one copy of the game, share it between your accounts. Only one person could play the games shared at any one time though.

Also, you are free to use the same credit card on any Steam account you want. So you can purchase games on any of the 3 accounts directly and just use the same credit card.

I'm interested in getting a setup where we can all play the same game simultaneously, like a shooter, or driving game, etc. and play each other as opponents at the same time. So it sounds like I need to create a few steam accounts, then use the primary one to purchase gifts for the others, then each PC, log in to one of the steam accounts (one per machine) and install the game, then we can each play the same game simultaneously. Correct ?

[76561193857876471]

As TirithRR pointed out above, you don't need to gift the games, you can just buy them using the same card on each account. However I don't know how happy Valve would be with multiple accounts of the same user connecting at the same time. Technically speaking, the page linked above only limits you to one account in use per computer, but as all the accounts are in your name it would be difficult to explain how you are playing multiple copies of the same game on different computers at the same time. I tend to think it would raise a red flag, but that's just speculation.

[TirithRR]

You don't have to purchase gifts from the main account. And you don't have to log the account into the same computer, you can keep the account on which ever computer the people use.

Just create an account for yourself and each of your family members.

Log into each account on what ever computer they want to use.

Then buy the games you want on each account separately. No need to gift the game across accounts.

However I don't know how happy Valve would be with multiple accounts of the same user connecting at the same time. Technically speaking, the page linked above only limits you to one account in use per computer, but as all the accounts are in your name it would be difficult to explain how you are playing multiple copies of the same game on different computers at the same time. I tend to think it would raise a red flag, but that's just speculation.

This doesn't matter, Steam doesn't care. As long as the accounts are not violating the SSA, it doesn't matter what billing information is used. The billing info has to match the payment type, but no Steam rules say that the billing info HAS to be the account holders info.

My brother and I are both on the same local network, have purchased games for each other, and have played games together.

Edit:
The added bonus of buying the games on each account separetley is that each account will be able to trade and use the Community Market because they will have made purchases.

[Acey]

Originally posted by TirithRR:

You don't have to purchase gifts from the main account. And you don't have to log the account into the same computer, you can keep the account on which ever computer the people use.

Just create an account for yourself and each of your family members.

Log into each account on what ever computer they want to use.

Then buy the games you want on each account separately. No need to gift the game across accounts.

This^
Pretty much what TirithRR said. If you have multiple accounts that use the same credit card, just purchase the game you want on each account separately and your friends can use them and play.

[76561193857876471]

Originally posted by TirithRR:

[snip]As long as the accounts are not violating the SSA, it doesn't matter what billing information is used.[snip again]

Originally posted by Steam Subscriber Agreement:

You may not reveal, share or otherwise allow others to use your password or Account.

The person who registers the account is the only one allowed to use it. Now, maybe Steam won't notice, and maybe they will, but it is worth pointing out that if he creates multiple accounts and lets his friends use them, he is violating the Steam Subscriber Agreement.

[TirithRR]

Originally posted by torvuseremita:

The person who registers the account is the only one allowed to use it. Now, maybe Steam won't notice, and maybe they will, but it is worth pointing out that if he creates multiple accounts and lets his friends use them, he is violating the Steam Subscriber Agreement.

Or, his friends create the accounts, and he just buys them games. Honestly no difference.

That section of the SSA is just to give Steam an agreement based reason to ban or restrict accounts of people who do things like Sell their accounts.

[TasteMyFarthole]

Originally posted by torvuseremita:

As TirithRR pointed out above, you don't need to gift the games, you can just buy them using the same card on each account. However I don't know how happy Valve would be with multiple accounts of the same user connecting at the same time. Technically speaking, the page linked above only limits you to one account in use per computer, but as all the accounts are in your name it would be difficult to explain how you are playing multiple copies of the same game on different computers at the same time. I tend to think it would raise a red flag, but that's just speculation.

So how would you buy games for your kids then? If you have 3 kids, 4 computers, and you all want to play against each other on a game at the same time as opponents... how would you do that? There must be a way.

[TirithRR]

Originally posted by TasteMyFarthole:

Originally posted by torvuseremita:

As TirithRR pointed out above, you don't need to gift the games, you can just buy them using the same card on each account. However I don't know how happy Valve would be with multiple accounts of the same user connecting at the same time. Technically speaking, the page linked above only limits you to one account in use per computer, but as all the accounts are in your name it would be difficult to explain how you are playing multiple copies of the same game on different computers at the same time. I tend to think it would raise a red flag, but that's just speculation.

So how would you buy games for your kids then? If you have 3 kids, 4 computers, and you all want to play against each other on a game at the same time as opponents... how would you do that? There must be a way.

Really, just ignore all the naysayers.

You can use the same payment method on any account you want. Don't worry about it.

Have your friends create their accounts, let them use your payment method to buy the games on the account, and don't worry about it.