Commonly asked Steam Family questions

This guide is for the new Steam Family system and not reflective on the old Family Share system.

This will go over commonly asked questions I see asked a lot on the new system.

How do I create or join a Steam family?

If you want to create a Steam family, it's as easy as navigating to the steam family page on your account which you can do by going to your "account details" page by clicking your name in the upper right hand side of Steam. And then select Account details.



Next, you'll find the Family Management section and select that and select invite member. The person you select needs to already be on your friends list. If not send them an invite first. You can select up to 5 other people in total to bring the total in the group to 6 including yourself.

You can set the person as an adult or child. If set as an adult there are no restrictions for that person. But as a child you can set limitations for them.

But how do I join?

If you are the person joining and the owner has already sent you a Steam family request check your notifications bell up top, and you will see the request.



Click on the request and you will next see a page with instructions. Read it carefully! If you're okay with joining just click accept, and then you will need to confirm it through your e-mail by clicking the big blue "Join Family" button.

If for some reason the "Join Family" button does not work in the e-mail there is a link you can also click in the same e-mail as an alternative. After that you should be good to go.

I have kids in my house. What does Steam Families allow me to do with them?

You can always set up your family members as children if you wish to set limitations on them. They need to be added as a child for this to work. If they are added as an adult, you cannot restrict them from anything.

As a child click on their name in the manage section of Family Management and turn on the Enable parental controls for this user toggle.



This will set up a host of new options for your child including features such as:

• Allowing access to all games or only certain ones
  
• Allowing or restricting access to the Steam store
  
• Allowing access to community generated content
  
• Allowing access to their online profile, screenshots and achievements
  
• Allowing access to friends, chat and groups
  
• Setting playtime limits

You also have the ability to recover their account in case it is hijacked.

While adults are able to leave the group at any time members set as a child cannot leave a Steam Family group unless the owner authorizes it.

How do I select which games my kids can play?

If you decide to allow them access to only certain titles, select Available library content and choose "Only games I choose".



This will then populate a list of games available to choose from for the child. Click on games you will allow them to play, and a blue box will appear around them. Games that do not have the blue box will not be accessible by the child.



For large libraries you can also search for games by name, and also use the filter option which is the icon to the right of the search box.

How do I restrict their playtime?

go down to set playtime limits and toggle it on. this will populate a weekly playtime schedule that you can set up. Clicking on the blue links for each day will allow you to set the limits within, even allowing you to select which specific hours of the day.

Can we play games at the same time?

Yes. Unlike the old Steam Family Share system, you are in fact allowed to play games at the same time.

You can play any eligible game in the family shared library that is not already being played by someone else. If multiple copies are in the library, then multiple people up to the amount owned can also play that same game together.

This means for example if there are 6 people in the family, and 3 copies of Borderlands 2, then any 3 members can play a copy of Borderlands 2. But only up to 3 members.
 
As an example:


Alternatively, though this has nothing to do with Steam Families directly if you only own 1 copy of a game and wish to play together you can also check to see if the game supports remote play together. This allows you both to play certain games together in a "couch co-op" type of settings. Whoever launches the game would then stream it to the other person who can join in and play as if you were playing together on the same device. Most games would need use of a controller for the 2nd player for this to function though. Keep that in mind.

What about DLC?

If say for example you own only the base copy of a game without DLC, and your family member owns all of the DLC, you can actually change the preferred copy to play. This is done in the library if there are differences in copies in the family library:



Next you will be given the option to switch your preferred copy allowing you to play with that copy's DLC:




Keep in mind this does not allow you to combine DLC between multiple copies.

How do I see what games I can now play in the shared library that others own?

In your library go underneath "What's new" and you will see "Add shelf". Click on that.



Next you will click on "Choose a shelf"



In the popup list of available shelves, you will look for "Steam family" and select that.



Now you should see a new shelf specifically for shared games that is populated by games not in your own library.

Someone is playing MY game, and now I can't. What do I do?

Any game being played under the Steam Family model will be given priority to the person playing it, regardless of ownership.

I see this more or less as a courtesy thing. Anyone who remembers the age of dial up will probably remember heated arguments that came from people picking up the phone to kick someone else off the internet. Most of the time this was accidental, but it still made people angry. I'm sure the same thing could be said under the old Steam Family Share model where you could just kick someone off of a game by launching your own game if they happened to be the person added to your Steam Family. Kind of annoying.

Well as long as you are not misusing or abusing Steam Families the simple solution is just to get up and walk over to the person and talk to them. Ask them how much longer they will be on, or yell at them to get off! Up to you. But it at least gives them a chance to save or finish a match and hop off.

I can't join someone's Steam Family group. Why?

Well in most cases it's because you need to actually be living in the same household. I say most cases because things are still getting ironed out and some people may slip through Valve's intended repurposing of Steam Families as opposed to the old system.

Your activity as well as the activity of others in the household also needs to reflect this. Using things like VPNs for, or family members who just moved in for example may cause issues even in the same household.

as it stands though if you want it work as intended it's simply intended for the same household:

But they are my actual family! They just live elsewhere.

I know this part sucks. But thanks to the misuse and abuse of people in the old system it looks like this is no longer going to be a viable option for most people.

In closing

If you have any questions you would like to see be addressed please leave a comment below the guide asking. If it's something that fits, I'll add it.

You can also get more information on the new Steam Family here

[samsful]

Amazing guide!