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Steam Family Sharing

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Re: Steam Family Sharing

#91

Post by lsaferite »

Pxtl wrote: post #27
sliverstorm wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm hoping they will somehow figure out how to fix this soon, given this announcement. Obviously they can't let you have machines with your account all over the globe logged on at the same time, but if they let you have multiple machines logged on from the same IP address (thank you NAT) and still prevent you from playing a game on two machines at the same time, that should do it... Personally, I have a desktop and a…

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing - constrain it to a single IP and no sharing individual games. That would go a long way. Then again, you know some dedicated pirates will just VPN the damned thing. Or at the very least give us a way to avoid keying in the password over and over again - I already logged in here, you can lock the steam account for use-from-elsewhere without forcing me to key in a password to unlock…

Worse still, I use auto-generated PWs from my password safe and they are not memorable. Mix that with the fact that I have a Win8 desktop and Mac laptop AND the fact that the Mac steam client DOES NOT ALLOW PASTING. You get the idea.

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#92

Post by forrestthewoods »

robotresearcher wrote: post #89
forrestthewoods wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Loaning digital bits literally makes no sense. That's nt a thing. It's not something the laws of physics allow. Loaning digital goods is a gibberish statement. I obviously understand the appeal. Who doesn't like free shit? If you want to "borrow" a game from a friend just pirate it. That at least saves the platform holder some bandwidth costs.

You are being deliberately obtuse. Everyone understands how you might lend a game to a friend. Tokens have been around a long time [1]. Being able to lend your games to friends makes them more valuable as your token gets more play time per dollar. This is a good thing, and reduces the appeal of piracy a little bit. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_(railway_signalling)

I'm really not being obtuse.

When "loaning" digital bits the only thing that could possibly be loaned is a user license. Bits are copied, not loaned. If I "loan" you a digital game then your computer will make a copy of bits as sent by some arbitrary server possibly across the globe. You may even make a copy of different bits as your copy of the content may be for a different localization, quality setting, platform, or file format. My computer may or may not still have a copy of those bits.

It is not reasonable to expect licenses to digital bits to be infinitely transferable without limit. If licenses could be transfered without limit then there is no reason for more licenses to exist than the maximum number of concurrent users. Acquire a license when you launch a game and release the license when you shut it down. A 3rd party middle man could trivially run this exchange. Popular games sell millions of copies on Steam but only a small handful can crack even 100,000 concurrent users.

Assuming that you agree there should be a limit then it's just a matter of deciding where that line in the sand is drawn.

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#93

Post by peterarmstrong »

Well, I still need 2 copies of Civ 5 to play multiplayer with my son:

  > CAN A FRIEND AND I SHARE A LIBRARY AND BOTH PLAY AT THE SAME TIME?
  >
  > No, a shared library may only be accessed by one user at a time.
Now, I was (and still am) fine with that since it has provided so much entertainment, but for many games that would not be true...

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#94

Post by mynameisvlad »

anigbrowl wrote: post #88
sliverstorm wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it's baby steps. Publishers are terrified, and loaning is only one tiny step from what they fear second most, aside from pirates- a burgeoning used game market.

what they fear second most, aside from pirates- a burgeoning used game market I'm not sure how they fear that so much. On the rare occasions when I buy videogames they're usually used ones purchased at GameStop or on eBay.

Publishers and Developers are gaining absolutely no revenue from you doing that. And that's their issue. They want everyone to buy new games, because then they get a cut of it.

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#95

Post by mynameisvlad »

corresation wrote: post #30
hanifvirani wrote: post #17

If I am not wrong, this is what Xbox One wanted to do initially.

The Xbox One was originally to have applied digital distribution restrictions to physically distributed media. That is the problem that people had with it. Had Microsoft simply restricted their program to their digitally distributed games -- which they are likely to loop back on -- I doubt anyone would have taken issue with it.

... Except that's what a lot of Steam-distributed physical games do anyway. Quite a few games just come with a Steam Key and then you can install over the internet or use the disks as installation media into Steam.

... Which is exactly what the Xbox One proposed.

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#96

Post by jameshart »

corresation wrote: post #30
hanifvirani wrote: post #17

If I am not wrong, this is what Xbox One wanted to do initially.

The Xbox One was originally to have applied digital distribution restrictions to physically distributed media. That is the problem that people had with it. Had Microsoft simply restricted their program to their digitally distributed games -- which they are likely to loop back on -- I doubt anyone would have taken issue with it.

digital distribution restrictions and benefits. That's what's annoying about the walkback Micosoft did. They would have had you being able to electronically lend your friends games you owned on physical media. But then when they canned that feature, they seem to have canned the entire family sharing facility.

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#97

Post by jestar_jokin »

freehunter wrote: post #31
Pxtl wrote: post #6

... on closer inspection, it seems functionally equivalent to logging into steam on a friend's computer, except that you don't have to type in your password on their machine and you can kick them off easily. Considering how much trouble Steam has with phishing and accounts getting hacked, it's obviously a good idea to minimize any use-case where users are allowing others to get at their passwords. This kind of featur…

I just wish my SO could play The Sims 3 on the laptop in the living room while I'm playing Civ 5 on my desktop in my home office. I ended up having to buy her a copy on Origin so we could game at the same time.

Steam has an offline mode, you could have enabled it on the laptop.

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#99

Post by robotresearcher »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #92
robotresearcher wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are being deliberately obtuse. Everyone understands how you might lend a game to a friend. Tokens have been around a long time [1]. Being able to lend your games to friends makes them more valuable as your token gets more play time per dollar. This is a good thing, and reduces the appeal of piracy a little bit. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_(railway_signalling)

I'm really not being obtuse. When "loaning" digital bits the only thing that could possibly be loaned is a user license. Bits are copied, not loaned. If I "loan" you a digital game then your computer will make a copy of bits as sent by some arbitrary server possibly across the globe. You may even make a copy of different bits as your copy of the content may be for a different localization, quality setting, platform,…

You are not wrong, it's just that your point is pointless. We know bits can be copied at close to zero cost. But the value of the bits can't be realized without the token (if DRM pertains) or can't legally be realized (if a single-user license pertains). The bits without the token have almost zero value. You are loaning the ability to realize the value of the bits.

You said "Loaning digital goods is a gibberish statement." This is simply not true.

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#100

Post by runn1ng »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #92
robotresearcher wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are being deliberately obtuse. Everyone understands how you might lend a game to a friend. Tokens have been around a long time [1]. Being able to lend your games to friends makes them more valuable as your token gets more play time per dollar. This is a good thing, and reduces the appeal of piracy a little bit. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_(railway_signalling)

I'm really not being obtuse. When "loaning" digital bits the only thing that could possibly be loaned is a user license. Bits are copied, not loaned. If I "loan" you a digital game then your computer will make a copy of bits as sent by some arbitrary server possibly across the globe. You may even make a copy of different bits as your copy of the content may be for a different localization, quality setting, platform,…

Yes, you are never actually buying a game, you are buying a license to play it. Even with boxed versions.
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