Cannot play a game if another family member is playing it (Even though it's from my library)

[Menphues]

Hey Valve,

So this is pretty simple!

Sharing your library with friends, if a friend was playing a game, I can still press play and they would have a timer counting down before it closed, which is cool but then it locks the entire library to anyone else.

Now, my family can play any game within my library at the same time (Different games) amazing feature BUT the ball has been dropped with the games playing and owned on the purchased account.

I bought the game on my account, they are playing the game via family on their account and I cannot press play on my own game, because it is greyed out... Surely because I bought the game, I should have full rights to play when I want so could you at least add the ability to maybe kick them off the game so I can play my game or add back the original feature so I can press play and they get a timer until it closes and they have to purchase?

Thank you.

[Ogami]

In the new system there is no ownership priority anymore. Every user in the family has the exact same rights for every license in the sharing pool.
If the license is in use then you have to wait till that user stops playing.
Or tell them to stop. Thats where the whole " close family, same household" stipulation comes into play.
Its easy to tell someone in the next room to get of your game.

Also if its a game you are currently play a lot you can set it to "private" in your library, that will remove it from the family sharing for as long as its marked that way.

Also the most likey reason why the whole " give the other user a countdown and then kick them " does not work is that you no longer share libraries, but game licenses.
The "kick" in the old system was never for a specfic license but the library being in use by the owner of the library.
But in this new system there is only ONE shared library for the whole family and that trigger can no longer work and apparently cant be made to work with individual game licenses since all family members have to be registered as owners of the license for the shared play to work.
People asked about this "owner can kick" feature since the BETA started in March and Steam has been completely quiet about it which leads me to suspect its something they cant do with how the Steam Family license authorization now works.

[Menphues]

Thank you for letting me know, it would be good to have the ability to kick off the kids though from your game. Kids can be troublesome as people with kids we know and obviously parent control is good, but we cannot press kick which would be helpful...

I am pretty sure the smart people at Valve could figure it out and add a kick feature, otherwise I'll just remove the family member from my library and then wait a year to re-invite them, problem solved in a long way around it you know.

[Ogami]

Originally posted by Menphues:

I am pretty sure the smart people at Valve could figure it out and add a kick feature, otherwise I'll just remove the family member from my library and then wait a year to re-invite them, problem solved in a long way around it you know.

Reinviting the same family member that you kicked previously does not have a cooldown.

[Menphues]

Originally posted by Ogami:

Originally posted by Menphues:

I am pretty sure the smart people at Valve could figure it out and add a kick feature, otherwise I'll just remove the family member from my library and then wait a year to re-invite them, problem solved in a long way around it you know.

Reinviting the same family member that you kicked previously does not have a cooldown.

I thought it did? I swear I read it somewhere that you cannot invite for a year or something. Either way, it's a way around it to get them off your game that you bought :)

[Ogami]

Originally posted by Menphues:

I thought it did? I swear I read it somewhere that you cannot invite for a year or something. Either way, it's a way around it to get them off your game that you bought :)

Only for inviting someone else to that slot or them joining another family/starting their own.
For getting back into the same slot/family there is no cooldown.

[Samsone700]

Or, listen to this, you could TELL them to get off your game?? You have to look at this new system as a shared game-shelf with physical discs. If someone else is using a game or borrowed it, you would logically have to ask them to have it back.

If you don't feel comfortable telling them to get off your game, you are clearly not close enough with them to be sharing libraries.

[Meowish]

Why kick them if you can just mark the game as private in your library and be done with it? Also, as Samsone says, if you can't just ask them to get off your game, maybe you shouldn't be sharing library with them to begin with...

[CNX]

these people dont understand that telling someone to get off, makes them get off. For someone who has kids, or someone who has brothers, thats kinda nearly impossible