One of the many unsung features of the Steam desktop gaming client is that family members and friends can use it to simulate a shared gaming console. I’m not talking hardware here, but the ability for everyone to play the same games regardless of whether they plunked down $60 for the right to play it.
Steam Family Sharing Share your Steam library of games with family & guests. Their library of Steam games becomes available for you to access, download and play. MartinO's shared games are now available for you to play on this computer. Do I need to be online to play a shared game? You must be online to access and play games which.
The feature is called Steam Family Library Sharing, and when it’s set up it allows you to share games from your account library with family members and vice versa. Before you get started, every account that wants to use family sharing must first have Steam Guard enabled, which is Steam’s two-factor verification security feature.
Once you’ve met that prerequisite, click on Steam > Settings, and when the Settings window opens select Family from the left-hand navigation column. Under the sub-heading Family Library Sharing click the box next to Authorize Library Sharing on this computer.
If there are any other local Steam accounts on that computer, you’ll be able to authorize those users to play the games in your library. You can also send a request to other local players to have access to their libraries.
For those of you without other local accounts on your PC, try it with friends. When someone you want to share with comes over, log out of Steam and have them log in. They can then enable sharing on your PC and authorize your account to play their games.
While games can be shared, progress, achievements, and in-game purchases (excluding DLC) cannot. Any in-game activities are saved to the account playing the game, not the game owner’s account.
Steam limits users to share their libraries with up to five others and on a maximum of 10 devices at one time. Family sharing cannot be used to allow access to specific games—it’s the entire library or nothing.
Other people can only play your games when you aren’t using them. If you start to play one of your shared games at the same time as someone else, the other person will be given a few moments to save their progress and get out or to buy the game themselves.
Not all games are available for sharing due to technical limitations, regional restrictions, subscription requirements, and the like. Also keep in mind that you don’t want to share you library with anyone who’s got a fishy reputation. Valve is merciless when it comes to cheats. If someone uses your account to cheat at a game protected by the Valve Anti-Cheat system, and gets caught, your Family Library Sharing privileges could be revoked and you might get banned from playing that game altogether.
Even with all the caveats, Steam’s Family Sharing is a great way to expand your library without tapping your bank account.
Steam Family Sharing is now available to all users.
Steam Family Sharing, a feature that allows friends and family to share their libraries of Steam games, is now available to all users, Valve has announced.
A user can make his library of Steam games available for others to access, download, and play on approved authorized accounts and devices. You may authorize Family Library Sharing on up to 10 devices at a given time, and for up to five accounts. Though simultaneous usage of an account is prohibited, the lender is always able to play their games at any time. If the player decides to start playing while a friend is borrowing a game, the friend will be given a 'few minutes' to purchase the game or quit.
Individual members can earn their own achievements and keep their own saves and application data intact with Steam Cloud.
Lenders can’t access games that aren't available in their region or games that require a third-party key, account or subscription.
You should also be careful about who you share with. Family sharing privileges may be revoked and your account may be VAC (Valve’s anti-cheat system) banned if your library is used by others to cheat.
Steam Add Game To Family View
You can find out more about Family Sharing and instruction on how to use the feature on Steam’s website.
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