Family Library Sharing need to relax their rules

[Neo LeDragon]

I am disappointed to learn that I cannot share one of my games with my roommate while I wanted to play a different game. For example, my roommate wanted to play Shadow of War from my library while I wanted to play Factorio. As soon as I click play on Factorio. My roommate had to log off from Shadow of War within five minutes.

In the old times, we share our games in CD or in a device and in that sense my roommate could still play Shadow of War CD on her computer while I play Factorio CD on my computer. See what I mean... I wonder if we need to sign petition or something to ask for them to review the policy. I am grateful to see Steam have many good policies like refunding the game within 2 hours of play and/or within 2 weeks from purchase. *Not sure the exact rule, but you get the idea. I would love to see Steam have a strong set of policies that make us, the game players, have a positive experience with their purchases on games.

[Gambit-3k]

endrsgm eredeti hozzászólása:

1. To run something into the ground is to manage it so badly that it is ruined and fails; to ruin or destroy something, usually a business or organization.
3. When an effort, plan, or activity runs into the ground, it fails.
read again. think before you post.

I read it, I think you used it totally wrong, but whatever. Agree to disagree.

Can you please find me the faq/info on Mircosoft Family Sharing that works like you described, being able share with 10 devices and anyone can play at the same time.

I'm not saying it's not true, but I just can't find that info anywhere, all I'm getting is faqs and articles from 2018 early 2019 and they say something very different.

edit: BTW GoG being DRM free means you have the ability to share it with hundreds of people; not legally of course. They are trusting you to do the right thing, they obviously don't want you to just give copies to 5-10 of your friends to use whenever they want. That's taking advantage of the devs that are actually treating customers the best.

[endrsgm]

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/xbox/forum/all/how-to-share-games-on-windows-10/a72fedfc-3431-4b5a-9da2-ade3533441c1
this is pretty down and dirty and works

https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/how-to-gameshare-on-xbox-one/
anything shared on an xbox can be shared to microsoft store which can then be used for pc.

so i bought ark survival on the xbox one.
my wife plays it on the xbox.
my daughter plays on her pc
my son plays on his laptop
i play on my pc.
all with the same copy of the game. all at the same time. with or without each other (meaning we can each be doing different stuff on different worlds or servers or even be in the same game together)

biggest risk is that we ALL have access to the store and can buy stuff so ... better really be family that you can trust!

gog specifically asks you NOT to share the games with friends and says its not legal. however, gog also specifically says it is indeed ok to share games with people who are in your family that you do live with.


EDIT
https://www.usgamer.net/articles/09-07-2018-how-to-game-share-on-xbox-one-and-xbox-one-x-share-games-with-a-friend-share-xbox-live-gold does a good job of explaining it too.

the key to the game sharing is to remember that the same exact log on for xbox and the accounts are also the same accounts for windows 10 microsoft store.
https://www.xbox.com/en-IN/games/xbox-play-anywhere
explains how the concept of owning the game in one system digitally means you can cross play it on others. that includes sharing it

https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoft/comments/c0eswn/xbox_game_pass_pc_family_share/ how to share the xbox gold and xbox live accounts between family

[Gambit-3k]

endrsgm eredeti hozzászólása:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/xbox/forum/all/how-to-share-games-on-windows-10/a72fedfc-3431-4b5a-9da2-ade3533441c1
this is pretty down and dirty and works

https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/how-to-gameshare-on-xbox-one/
anything shared on an xbox can be shared to microsoft store which can then be used for pc.

so i bought ark survival on the xbox one.
my wife plays it on the xbox.
my daughter plays on her pc
my son plays on his laptop
i play on my pc.
all with the same copy of the game. all at the same time. with or without each other (meaning we can each be doing different stuff on different worlds or servers or even be in the same game together)

gog specifically asks you NOT to share the games with friends and says its not legal. however, gog also specifically says it is indeed ok to share games with people who are in your family that you do live with.

The first article doesn't talk about any restrictions, so it's not very informative.

The second article basically says you have to make the device you want to share access with be your home console, and they have to make your console their home console, confusing wording sorry. Basically tricking the system so they can play your games as a guest on their console, and you can log into your console as a guest to play their games. The risks says if you don't have internet access you can't play any of your games (on your console), it also says they have access to purchase games on your account; ok for actual family members. The method in the second link also only seems to work for one other person (console).

------------

I read this in another article I tried to find on the subject, I'm not sure if it's still true.
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/share-xbox-one-games-with-family-with-multiple-consoles

Drawbacks:

However here is a bit of warning. Any purchase you make should be on your Kids console using your account. If you purchase from your secondary console, they cannot use it.

Secondly, when one of your friends signs with his account in your console, which is not primary, he will not able to play the games installed on this console unless he owns it. Instead, they’ll be prompted to insert the disc or purchase a digital copy.

That said, if you want someone to experience a game, except for multiplayer, there are two ways to do it. First is let the person use your account or you can use Guest account feature on Xbox. This lets you create a temporary account and still let the person play games and experience it. We will come up with more details on it soon.

---------

So I'm sadly still unable to find any concrete info describing the scenario you did with ARK Survival as the example and your entire family playing at once. This is actually similar to how I thought it worked at one time, but now I can't find that info anywhere online.

[endrsgm]

we bought ark for the xbox one. it is under my account. i can play ark by signing into windows microsoft store xbox app on my pc.

i am signed into the xbox but my wife is signed in as player 1. that lets her play on the xbox.

my daughter and son can play via the family sharing plan on the xbox app in windows 10.

all 4 of us play(ed) ark together for many, many hours. tho we eventually quit because the tether system is a nightmare unless you have a dedicated server.

but we play together like this pretty regularly with many different games.

[Gambit-3k]

endrsgm eredeti hozzászólása:

we bought ark for the xbox one. it is under my account. i can play ark by signing into windows microsoft store xbox app on my pc.

i am signed into the xbox but my wife is signed in as player 1. that lets her play on the xbox.

my daughter and son can play via the family sharing plan on the xbox app in windows 10.

all 4 of us play(ed) ark together for many, many hours. tho we eventually quit because the tether system is a nightmare unless you have a dedicated server.

but we play together like this pretty regularly with many different games.

So all using the same main account with guest accounts? I see how the PC part works because that's the whole play anywhere thing, but I don't see it possible to share your games with other accounts on other devices without the main account being logged in at the same time in combination with guest accounts.

Or like that second link which is more of an exploit.

edit:
I would agree when it comes to actual legit family sharing (same household), the Xbox method works very well using the Guest account feature, I always play games with my nephew at his house that way. But it doesn't work well for devices not in the same household. Steam is better for sharing with family members that don't live with you.

[endrsgm]

no.
i am using my account on the pc

my account is signed into the store on the xbox one (allowing for gold and game pass play)
but
my wife is signed in on HER controller as a player
this lets her play "my games" on the xbox because its set as the "home console" (it must be set this way or it doesnt work)

my son and daughter are both "family members" which means they are allowed to access the games as well. they just need to go to the xbox app on a windows 10 pc and click it, sign in with their gamer tags or emails (same as done when signing into xbox one) and this gives them access to the same game library.

the ONLY real caveats to this are
1) limit of 10 people/devices max
2) they can get into your store and buy stuff in your name
3) the game MUST be digitally owned and bought (not a disk or whatever, but bought from the microsoft store)

its not that difficult.
if you have an xbox one and use a windows 10 pc click start. look where your apps are. there is probably an xbox one app. click it. sign in.

if you are in a family that is family sharing you can use any games that are tied to the main account. if that account is signed into the xbox one currently you can even use gold or pass.

none of hte four of us are signed in as "guest". we all have legit accounts that are family tied together.

i do know the one was an exploit. i included it because you asked how to do it. there are different ways. i covered several different ways.ù

to play with your nephew then you need to link with family sharing....

[Gambit-3k]

endrsgm eredeti hozzászólása:

the ONLY real caveats to this are
1) limit of 10 people/devices max
2) they can get into your store and buy stuff in your name
3) the game MUST be digitally owned and bought (not a disk or whatever, but bought from the microsoft store)

its not that difficult.
if you have an xbox one and use a windows 10 pc click start. look where your apps are. there is probably an xbox one app. click it. sign in.

What's happening is you are signed in as the Home account on your Xbox and your wife as a Guest (player), The kids are playing on the PC, but the game is tied to your actual Microsoft account, but the kids can log in as their gamer tag (guest account's) on top of the main Windows/Xbox live account.

Pretty sure the Console is limited to 2 devices, one Home device, and you can log into another device with your account for access to your games. The PC seems to be a little different since you can have multiple devices tied to your main Microsoft account. I still don't have solid info on this from anywhere on the Internet.

A big difference I see is that MS allows guest accounts where Steam does not. This is good for people in the same house (unless you actually want people outside your home logged into Windows 10 as you), but if you didn't have a PC and had 4 Xbox's, I don't think what you are doing would work.

edit:
Steam allows you to share your games with people without sharing your actual account and credentials with them.

[endrsgm]

sort of it will.
system link is what you are looking for. you can connect up to 16 xbox into one huge daisy chain playing the same game.
we have 2 xbox one and two tv and we set it up so when we play halo we have 2 player on tv 1 with split screen and the other 2 player on tv 2 with split screen. that way a screen is only cut in half vs 1/4.
we also play some games two player where we do the same but each person gets their own tv.

never tried more than 4 people.

edit
https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/forums/f9237adeaf1742c09de144d7bf3f7507/topics/xbox-one-system-link-and-lab-clarification/77cd9524-9e8a-4d1d-ab48-db8b5156511b/posts


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_G7AvBW_Vs maybe seeing it on video helps....

[Gambit-3k]

endrsgm eredeti hozzászólása:

sort of it will.
system link is what you are looking for. you can connect up to 16 xbox into one huge daisy chain playing the same game.
we have 2 xbox one and two tv and we set it up so when we play halo we have 2 player on tv 1 with split screen and the other 2 player on tv 2 with split screen. that way a screen is only cut in half vs 1/4.
we also play some games two player where we do the same but each person gets their own tv.

never tried more than 4 people.

Does that work for online multiplayer too? I used to do that on the original Xbox, but didn't know that was still a thing. Does that work for all games, or does it have to be supported by the developer?

edit:
from your link:
And now for my final point: What does the Xbox One do wrong in this area compared to its predecessors? First things first, Microsoft ditched System Link as a native feature for the Xbox One.

edit2:
that video you linked in the last post is again for "2" Xbox's, no more.

[endrsgm]

Gambit-3 eredeti hozzászólása:

endrsgm eredeti hozzászólása:

sort of it will.
system link is what you are looking for. you can connect up to 16 xbox into one huge daisy chain playing the same game.
we have 2 xbox one and two tv and we set it up so when we play halo we have 2 player on tv 1 with split screen and the other 2 player on tv 2 with split screen. that way a screen is only cut in half vs 1/4.
we also play some games two player where we do the same but each person gets their own tv.

never tried more than 4 people.

Does that work for online multiplayer too? I used to do that on the original Xbox, but didn't know that was still a thing. Does that work for all games, or does it have to be supported by the developer?

it doesnt work on ALL games but its pretty rare it doesnt. i cant think of a single game it hasnt worked on but i know ive read in the past that not all games can do this.

[endrsgm]

Gambit-3 eredeti hozzászólása:

edit:
from your link:
And now for my final point: What does the Xbox One do wrong in this area compared to its predecessors? First things first, Microsoft ditched System Link as a native feature for the Xbox One.

"LAN is still TECHNICALLY possible because, as I stated before, the Xbox One has an Ethernet port. And there are even games out there that use LAN, but it's not exactly the same thing as System Link was. Secondly, the Xbox One requires all profiles to have an Xbox LIVE account attached to them... No offline profiles, which is detrimental to the System Link/LAN experience. Furthermore, you are still required to use LIVE when LAN gaming on Xbox One, as LIVE still handles the multiplayer and matchmaking aspects of the game."

same article.

ok....
xbox360 you could hook them up OFFLINE and create "guest" accounts and use those.
xbox one you have to be online and everyone has to use their accounts but you still link them together.
big difference is xbox 360 could be offline with guest accounts and xbox one must be online and use real accounts. plugs still go in the same holes and is still done exactly the same tho....

aka...
no one is using a guest account which is what i told you earlier. and we are using the game from live or game pass too so that requires internet.....

[Gambit-3k]

endrsgm eredeti hozzászólása:

Gambit-3 eredeti hozzászólása:

Does that work for online multiplayer too? I used to do that on the original Xbox, but didn't know that was still a thing. Does that work for all games, or does it have to be supported by the developer?

it doesnt work on ALL games but its pretty rare it doesnt. i cant think of a single game it hasnt worked on but i know ive read in the past that not all games can do this.

The article you linked says XboxOne removed "System Link" (which was for offline lan). Some games do have some form of Lan support still (according to the article).

But I just remembered, System Link still requires each console to have access to a copy of the game, and Xbox Consoles are limited to 2 consoles playing the same accounts game. One on the Home device as a guest, and the other console singed into the account that owns the game.

[Gambit-3k]

endrsgm eredeti hozzászólása:

Gambit-3 eredeti hozzászólása:

edit:
from your link:
And now for my final point: What does the Xbox One do wrong in this area compared to its predecessors? First things first, Microsoft ditched System Link as a native feature for the Xbox One.

"LAN is still TECHNICALLY possible because, as I stated before, the Xbox One has an Ethernet port. And there are even games out there that use LAN, but it's not exactly the same thing as System Link was. Secondly, the Xbox One requires all profiles to have an Xbox LIVE account attached to them... No offline profiles, which is detrimental to the System Link/LAN experience. Furthermore, you are still required to use LIVE when LAN gaming on Xbox One, as LIVE still handles the multiplayer and matchmaking aspects of the game."

same article.

ok....
xbox360 you could hook them up OFFLINE and create "guest" accounts and use those.
xbox one you have to be online and everyone has to use their accounts

aka...
no one is using a guest account which is what i told you earlier. and we are using the game from live or game pass too so that requires internet.....

Dude, you can't play the same account's game on more than 2 Xbox's at once, I said that like 4 posts ago now. You said you could do more through System link, but you can't.

edit:
You could do lan on some games, but they each need access to the game, and you can't get access to a single purchase on more than 2 Xbox's at a time. You could do 4 Xbox's with 2 copies though. You only don't need guest accounts if every account owns the game.

[endrsgm]

yes console is limited to two for using xbox one off of same games. since we have 4 people in family and use 2 tv and 2 xbox one is perfect for us.

i dont know how it would work for "more". maybe not so well. how big is YOUR family?

is also perfect for us because we use ONE console and 3 computers
is also perfect for us because we use two console and 2 computers

we have one copy of ark survival and 4 of us play it. either on 2 tv using 2 xbox one or one xbox one and up to 3 other computers.

point is that this system works, covers my family. lets us all play TOGETHER.

the steam system is great ... until you try to use it as a FAMILY. at which point i need to be off so someone else can play. we cant play together. its not very family friendly at all.

the xbox system isnt perfect either. its a pain in the a__ to have to crawl back there to fix cables the cat played with. the one on the console ... well ... they are on a console... . there are other drawbacks as well but in all honesty it works.

we also have 2 xbox 360 (well 3 but only 2 are hooked together, the 3rd is packed up in a box in the cellar) and use those too. we only have two and they are connected as well but offline. we rarely use them tho. i know we can hook up to 16 of them together. never tried tho.

[Gambit-3k]

endrsgm eredeti hozzászólása:

yes console is limited to two for using xbox one off of same games. since we have 4 people in family and use 2 tv and 2 xbox one is perfect for us.

i dont know how it would work for "more". maybe not so well. how big is YOUR family?

is also perfect for us because we use ONE console and 3 computers
is also perfect for us because we use two console and 2 computers

we have one copy of ark survival and 4 of us play it. either on 2 tv using 2 xbox one or one xbox one and up to 3 other computers.

point is that this system works, covers my family. lets us all play TOGETHER.

the steam system is great ... until you try to use it as a FAMILY. at which point i need to be off so someone else can play. we cant play together. its not very family friendly at all.

the xbox system isnt perfect either. its a pain in the a__ to have to crawl back there to fix cables the cat played with. the one on the console ... well ... they are on a console... . there are other drawbacks as well but in all honesty it works.

I agree it works well for families that live together, with some limitations. Since you can trust family with your actual account credentials, on PC (MS Store) it seems pretty generous with the number of devices. The Xbox is limited to 2 devices at once which is indeed fine for most people and is how my family does it when I visit my brother and play games with my nephew.

I don't live with any family members, so for me it's not very useful outside of visiting, but with Steam I can share my library with my other brother across the Country. I couldn't do that with Microsoft without giving access to all my credentials and a lot of trust and other potential issues (like me losing access to all my games if my internet goes out).

I think both methods have their pros and cons, MS seems better for the family household, where Steam is better for sharing outside the home without the need to share credentials.

edit: I remember being able to play different games off the same Steam account, If I was logged into the same account on two machines that were on the same local network. Do people ever try that? I can't really test that sort of thing anymore.

edit 2: This back and forth became a bit confusing and chaotic. So I apologize to anyone trying to read it, I'm willing to take some blame since I was in a rush to try and figure things out before I have to leave this morning. I'm also sure I got some things wrong.