Playing multiple Games on Steam at the same time, different PCs.

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Shinigami Jan 20 @ 2:30am

I feel like this must have been brought up before but I did a search and I can't find this exact issue.

Played Steam for years on my laptop running multiple games at the same time. Mostly playing saucy 18+ style games so fairly small, not too resource hungry, easily play 3 or 4 at a time and switch screen while waiting for timers on others.

Then I bought a gaming PC so I could experience the wonder of where AAA gaming is at now. Logically in my mind, seeing as I can run many different games at the same time on the same PC, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to play my AAA games on the gaming PC while playing my clicky, wait an hour for the next thing to unlock, adult games on the laptop...DENIED.

According to my steam client, I can only run games on one PC at a time, if I want to check my saucy games on the laptop, I have to quit whatever premium game I'm playing on my new PC. The kicker is, this is actually hurting Steam's sales with me at least. I rarely spend and just bought Cyberpunk on Steam, now that I realise I can't play it unless I close the games on my laptop, I kinda wish I'd bought Cyberpunk from the alternative competitor who shall not be named and now that I know this, I will make purchase decisions based on trying to put AAA purchase through the other platform so I can play them without interuption.

I feel like this is a mistake on Steam's part, I can understand why that wouldn't want it to be limitless but I think it's fair to assume crazy people like me in this modern age may have multiple PCs and want to play different games on the different machines at the same time.

I can't see the harm in allowing 2 or even 3 devices to be used at the same time on the same account. Just to be clear, I'm not talking multiple instances of the same games, I'm talking different games, one instance only for each game, different PCs (same Steam account).

I did try Family Sharing my Steam account with myself using an alternative account I created for the sole purpose of doing this, doesn't work cos my progress won't carry over to the "other me" so unless I want to lose years of progress in thirsty gatcha games that deliberately gear against F2P, I'm stuck planning my evening around which games I can play simultaneously via different platforms.

Please consider allowing a couple of devices to be used simultaneously per account so I can support the Steam platform with more purchases.

Thank you!

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Showing 1-4 of 4 comments

Knee Jan 20 @ 3:11am

I’d be interested in seeing Valve’s solution if this was ever implemented. You could try disconnecting one of the PCs from the internet, assuming the game you want to play does not require internet access either.

BJWyler Jan 20 @ 3:28am

Originally posted by Shinigami:
I feel like this must have been brought up before but I did a search and I can't find this exact issue.

Then you didn't really try all that hard as this is a topic is brought up in the forums at least a couple times a month, if not more. In fact, here's what my first search brought up:
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?gidforum=882959061469928464&include_deleted=1&q=play+more+than+one+game+on+an+account
And doing a couple more searches with variations on the theme bring up more similar results.

Originally posted by Shinigami:
Played Steam for years on my laptop running multiple games at the same time. Mostly playing saucy 18+ style games so fairly small, not too resource hungry, easily play 3 or 4 at a time and switch screen while waiting for timers on others.

Nobody cares what you are playing. It's irrelevant to the topic.

Originally posted by Shinigami:
Then I bought a gaming PC so I could experience the wonder of where AAA gaming is at now. Logically in my mind, seeing as I can run many different games at the same time on the same PC, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to play my AAA games on the gaming PC while playing my clicky, wait an hour for the next thing to unlock, adult games on the laptop...DENIED.

There are reasons why one account can't play multiple games at the same time on different devices. It's even addressed in an FAQ on the support site:
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/71EA-CDCE-FB5C-82B3

Originally posted by Steam Support:
Can multiple users play simultaneously on one Steam account?
Steam does not support multiple players using one Steam account simultaneously - games associated with a Steam account are licensed for the sole use of the account holder.

If multiple users attempt to log in and play simultaneously with one Steam account, the user who logged in first will eventually receive an "Invalid Steam UserID Ticket" error message and be forced to log back in to continue playing (if the first user logs back in, the second user will receive this error message).

Originally posted by Shinigami:
According to my steam client, I can only run games on one PC at a time, if I want to check my saucy games on the laptop, I have to quit whatever premium game I'm playing on my new PC. The kicker is, this is actually hurting Steam's sales with me at least. I rarely spend and just bought Cyberpunk on Steam, now that I realise I can't play it unless I close the games on my laptop, I kinda wish I'd bought Cyberpunk from the alternative competitor who shall not be named and now that I know this, I will make purchase decisions based on trying to put AAA purchase through the other platform so I can play them without interuption.

Yeah, Steam don't care where you buy your games from. Guess what - EGS has the same account restrictions, buckaroo.

Originally posted by Shinigami:
I feel like this is a mistake on Steam's part, I can understand why that wouldn't want it to be limitless but I think it's fair to assume crazy people like me in this modern age may have multiple PCs and want to play different games on the different machines at the same time.

Oh, you can bet your butt there are. There are plenty of people who would love to make an extra buck renting out their library to other people who can play on their account on a different device all at the same time. Quite lucrative, I imagine, which is why Family Sharing was changed.

Speaking of which, that is the solution Valve and the developers of the games (who would like to be paid for their work so they can put food on the table and a keep a roof over the heads) came up with. If you want to play more than one game at the same time, create another account and a Family sharing group and add that account to it. You can then play one game on one device with one account, and play another game on another device with the other account.

Alternatively, you can keep playing multiple games on the same brand spanking new PC on your one account as you have already been doing. I do that quite often on my aging mid-range PC I bought six years ago. I've often had three or four games running at the same time on it, depending on their resource requirements. Never had an issue running a more powerful game with one or two other less powerful games on it.

Originally posted by Shinigami:
I can't see the harm in allowing 2 or even 3 devices to be used at the same time on the same account. Just to be clear, I'm not talking multiple instances of the same games, I'm talking different games, one instance only for each game, different PCs (same Steam account).

Of course you can't see the harm. Because when people make suggestions like this, they don't factor in the drawbacks to the people who would like to make money making games and running platforms like Steam. They only think of what benefits them personally and all else be darned.

Originally posted by Shinigami:
I did try Family Sharing my Steam account with myself using an alternative account I created for the sole purpose of doing this, doesn't work cos my progress won't carry over to the "other me" so unless I want to lose years of progress in thirsty gatcha games that deliberately gear against F2P, I'm stuck planning my evening around which games I can play simultaneously via different platforms.

Ahh, so you did try it. Tell me, how does the progress carry over to the games from those different platforms? Oh, so buying a game on a different platform doesn't carry progress over from the platform you were using previously, either. I see. So looks like you will still be buying games on Steam as well as on other platforms - pretty much like the rest of the entire gaming community in the world does.

Originally posted by Shinigami:
Please consider allowing a couple of devices to be used simultaneously per account so I can support the Steam platform with more purchases.

Thank you!

Yeah, scammers would love for them to be able to take full advantage of gaping wide exploitable features such as being able to rent out library and game time to other people.