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Steam Family Sharing

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Re: Steam Family Sharing

#111

Post by jon-wood »

d0m wrote: post #72
zalzane wrote: post #34

Valve often talks about trying to provide a service that is more convenient than pirating, and this looks like another step in that direction. If I'm playing a pirated game and want to share it with a friend, it would involve getting them to torrent/crack it, or uploading it to a file sharing host. Using Valve's new program, sharing a purchased game is as simple as sharing it with them on steam. I'm curious as to wha…

Most old popular games come with a .exe that you can run without installing the game. Make for some real easy sharing in Lans. Valve making it almost as easy.

Sadly this won't work for LAN party because only one person can use a library at a time. Your comment does me wonder whether this could at some point be extended to allow you to lend the multiplayer component of a game to a friend so that you can play together.

I know back in the day half my friends ended up buying copies of Starcraft because they'd done a multiplayer install at a LAN party.

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#112

Post by kunil »

DrJokepu wrote: post #108
MartinCron wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is a pretty reasonable restriction. If you're going to both get the simultaneous value out of a game, you should probably both pay for it.

I don't think it is a reasonable restriction at all. Besides the most devoted fans, I don't believe many families would purchase multiple licenses to a lot of games just to be able to play them simultaneously. These kinds of terms don't really increase revenue but they unnecessarily damage the experience at the same time. This is exactly the sort of stuff that makes pirating more convenient. As I've mentioned in anot…

What do you suggest then, Valve should give you unlimited copies of the game when you purchase one?

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#113

Post by kunil »

michaelmior wrote: post #70
andrewmunsell wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, they essentially have to allow it-- especially in the case you disconnect from the internet entirely. There's always a way around it, and offline mode is likely going to be allowed.

You're probably right. I just have the sense that their engineers though this through far more than anyone here.

I am trying to imagine some Valve engineer hits his head to wall and saying "Damn, we forgot about the offline mode"

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#114

Post by chaostheory »

Sarien wrote: post #109

You could always share steam accounts by giving somebody your password! The only thing this does is allow you to gain your own achievements which is just Valve's way of getting you addicted to your steam account. Stop treating this like a good thing or even a service it only benefits Valve.

Yes, sharing your password is really secure; not to mention that you can only login to one Steam client with the same account. While it's not perfect, Steam Sharing is a step up.

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#115

Post by DrJokepu »

kunil wrote: post #112
DrJokepu wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it is a reasonable restriction at all. Besides the most devoted fans, I don't believe many families would purchase multiple licenses to a lot of games just to be able to play them simultaneously. These kinds of terms don't really increase revenue but they unnecessarily damage the experience at the same time. This is exactly the sort of stuff that makes pirating more convenient. As I've mentioned in anot…

What do you suggest then, Valve should give you unlimited copies of the game when you purchase one?

Valve are not giving away a single copy of anything, they are licensing intellectual property with specific terms. I'm advocating licensing terms that allow licensees to simultaneously install and use licensed items on all computers owned by them. The terms of the Mac App Store already allow this.

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#116

Post by atrus »

kunil wrote: post #112
DrJokepu wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it is a reasonable restriction at all. Besides the most devoted fans, I don't believe many families would purchase multiple licenses to a lot of games just to be able to play them simultaneously. These kinds of terms don't really increase revenue but they unnecessarily damage the experience at the same time. This is exactly the sort of stuff that makes pirating more convenient. As I've mentioned in anot…

What do you suggest then, Valve should give you unlimited copies of the game when you purchase one?

This isn't something that's on Valve, but games should bring back LAN play.

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#117

Post by mhaymo »

GhotiFish wrote: post #83
amelim wrote: post #47

A brilliant move would be to offer discounts on purchasing a game if the lender kicks you off while you are playing. "Sorry we have to kick you off while you are playing, it looks like the owner wants to play game X right now. Purchase the game for yourself at 10% off and keep playing immediately!"

That's really just a slimy marketing tactic with the slime pawned off on someone you know. Which, funnily enough, is no less slimy.

Define "slimy". Offering someone something which you have a very good reason to think they'd want seems like about the best that marketing can ever be.

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#118

Post by Stwerp »

DrJokepu wrote: post #107
peterarmstrong wrote: post #93

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...

Or (if you use Macs) you can just buy it on the Mac App Store which doesn't have such limitations so you would only need to pay for it once. The Mac App Store has other shortcomings but it proves that these very restrictive licensing terms are mostly unnecessary.

However, in the case of Borderlands at least, the app store version would limit you from playing multiplayer with anyone with the Steam version.

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#119

Post by aviraldg »

sliverstorm wrote: post #105
asifsignupfor wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buying second hand props up the $60US/$90AUD new cost though. Without second hand (ie. Steam at the moment) the prices plummet very quickly, $5 for Just Cause 2 for example, do you think GameStop etc. would allow you to buy it new for that price?

No, it's the other way around. Buying second hand denies profit to the publisher, which reduces units sold, which increases the price they have to charge to make any money.

Parent makes the same point as you.

Re: Steam Family Sharing

#120

Post by fooqux »

There's much lamenting about how people can't play the same game together on a shared account.

The much bigger issue to me is that a shared device can't play any of your games if you're playing a game. So if you're playing Borderlands 2, your brother can't play Borderlands 1. This seems nearly useless, if true.

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