No that’s how it works. You can’t have 2 people playing 1 persons library of games at the same time. Is stupid as fuck and I wish they changed it.
Linus815
Member
Oct 29, 201714,869
- Oct 16, 2021
- #3
i wouldnt call it useless, but yeah, thats how it works.
notusingthis
Member
May 31, 2019111
- Oct 16, 2021
- #4
i think you should both be able to play something from your library if you set your steam to offline mode
IDontBeatGames
ThreadMarksmanMember
Oct 29, 201710,384New York
- Oct 16, 2021
- #5
That's exactly how it works. You can play any game she owns as long as she's not playing a game at all and she can play any game you own as long as you're not playing a game at all. It's dumb as hell and it should be better by now but no, you're not doing anything wrong.
Lakeside
Member
Oct 25, 20178,525
- Oct 16, 2021
- #6
You are doing it right and it is useless in many cases. I thought it simply wouldn’t let 2 family members play the same game simultaneously but nope.
I just started gaming on PS5 instead so we could share more easily.
Cronen
Member
Oct 27, 20172,081
- Oct 16, 2021
- #7
You're loaning your library to the second user to use
Deleted member 15476
User requested account closureBanned
Oct 27, 20175,268
- Oct 16, 2021
- #8
The family share feature works well only in the case where both family members play on the same device. Otherwise it becomes clunky and requires scheduling from both parties.
Lakeside
Member
Oct 25, 20178,525
- Oct 16, 2021
- #9
Cronen said: You're loaning your library to the second user to use Click to expand... Click to shrink...
They could have easily allowed this at the game level. We have 3 PCs in the home and it is useless.
OP OP
starblue
Member
Oct 28, 20171,607
- Oct 16, 2021
- #10
I see :(
Welp I guess I will play games from Gamepass when she uses my steam library
Thank you !
aett
Member
Oct 27, 20171,813Northern California
- Oct 16, 2021
- #11
Is the Steam Deck going to work the same way? We preordered one for my wife and were going to use my account because of all the games I've bought over the years, but if it means I can't play something on PC while she's on the handheld...
Deleted member 15476
User requested account closureBanned
Oct 27, 20175,268
- Oct 16, 2021
- #12
aett said: Is the Steam Deck going to work the same way? We preordered one for my wife and were going to use my account because of all the games I've bought over the years, but if it means I can't play something on PC while she's on the handheld... Click to expand... Click to shrink...
It's more or less a PC running Steam, so yes.
Static
Avenger
Oct 25, 20175,769
- Oct 16, 2021
- #13
Better than useless, worse than perfect. I and my friends have gotten a tremendous amount of utility out of it over the years.It will naturally be a lot less useful to you if you and your fellow steam account sharer intend to game mostly in the same window of time.
aett
Member
Oct 27, 20171,813Northern California
- Oct 16, 2021
- #14
itsamiracle said: It's more or less a PC running Steam, so yes. Click to expand... Click to shrink...
Ah well, not a deal breaker.
Mifec
Member
Oct 25, 201715,828
- Oct 16, 2021
- #15
starblue said: The thing is...I can't play any steam games if she is playing any other game from my library...which makes this function useless..., is same is she was using my account... Click to expand... Click to shrink...
You can if you go offline.
Nooblet
Member
Oct 25, 201712,171
- Oct 16, 2021
- #16
The owner can play the games in offline mode. That said there's no reason why they shouldn't allow two people to play at the same time while online if they can allow for that if the owner is offline and the borrower is online.
But yes it's a bit of a clunky system, and losing access to the library despite not doing anything is a frequent annoyance.
reddragon220
Member
Sep 7, 2019116
- Oct 16, 2021
- #17
starblue said: I'm missing something or there is any way to play two different games from the same shared library ? Click to expand... Click to shrink...
Two people can access the library games of one account holder simultaneously if the original account holder plays offline. You can engage offline mode by clicking Steam -> Go Offline... in the top left hand corner of the window. Of course when playing offline that player will not have access to any online content in most games.
I do wish that steam library lending was on a per game basis, but it's the best that valve will allow at the moment.
spineduke
Moderator
Oct 25, 20178,213
- Oct 16, 2021
- #18
Problem is if they open it up any further, there will be a huge jump of publishers blocking family share (they have the discretion to do that).
XR.
Member
Nov 22, 20185,427
- Oct 16, 2021
- #19
Lakeside said: They could have easily allowed this at the game level. Click to expand... Click to shrink...
Of course they can but publishers would never be ok with that.
TheMadTitan
Member
Oct 27, 201721,118
- Oct 16, 2021
- #20
Linus815 said: i wouldnt call it useless, but yeah, thats how it works. Click to expand... Click to shrink...
If not useless, very close to it.
It should be at a per game basis and then developers should be able to flag their games individually so if they want, their titles can be played simultaneously by the owner and the person(s) it's being shared with. That would be great for fighting games and co-op titles.
Yeah, you can use remote play for that technically, but if Sally is using my stuff and I'm at work, and then I come home and want to kick Sally's ass in Tekken, I'm sure it's far less straight forward than me booting up the game while Sally's still playing and linking together in private matches.
Facism
Member
Oct 25, 20172,511
- Oct 16, 2021
- #21
yes it's a shame you can't be online at the same time, but at least you can go offline mode if you're playing singleplayer stuff.
Stoney Mason
Member
Oct 25, 20173,579
- Oct 16, 2021
- #22
I use to do it with a friend who lived on another continent so it was mildly useful in that case but it pales in comparison to how xbox handles it. And I assume playstation.
TheMadTitan
Member
Oct 27, 201721,118
- Oct 16, 2021
- #23
XR. said: Of course they can but publishers would never be ok with that. Click to expand... Click to shrink...
Why wouldn't they be okay with two people playing entirely different games on the same account?
And to go a step forward, you should be able to flag specific PCs -- it's not like Valve doesn't know the specs of our primary systems -- to have access to the library off-line too.
If I have two kids who also play PC games, buying the same game three times is stupid.
JustTeaThankYou
Member
Aug 31, 2019748
- Oct 16, 2021
- #24
Yeah it's terrible. I presume the millisecond epic has a similar feature Steam's will magically get better.
najaschade
Alt-AccountBanned
Oct 13, 2021123
- Oct 16, 2021
- #25
It's obviously not a technical reason, it's a business reason. Letting anyone just share games as much as they want is not something publishers want, if it was, we wouldn't have DRM and online activations for games.
It is already pretty generous that they added family sharing in the first place, expecting more is incredibly unrealistic.
XR.
Member
Nov 22, 20185,427
- Oct 16, 2021
- #26
TheMadTitan said: Why wouldn't they be okay with two people playing entirely different games on the same account? Click to expand... Click to shrink...
Because it may decrease sales if you allow people to borrow games without any restrictions. Sharing accounts has always been a thing and is a difficult thing to control, but sharing specific digital licenses within a service is rarely, if ever, a thing because that has completely different connotations.
FernandoRocker
Banned
Oct 25, 20177,987México
- Oct 16, 2021
- #27
Wow. Didn't know this.
Even Nintendo has a better system than Steam. WTF.
Lakeside
Member
Oct 25, 20178,525
- Oct 16, 2021
- #28
XR. said: Of course they can but publishers would never be ok with that. Click to expand... Click to shrink...
Make it like PS4 where you have a home PC and the family can share that. Maybe we are the minority but zero chance we buy the same game twice on PC so we just move to consoles more and more.
People in this thread saying it can’t be done and acting like it isn’t already being done in console ecosystems right now. I built a gaming PC for each of my kids and I bought thousands of Steam games. We should be able to easily share them. Hell, they could lock it to these devices or the same public IP.
AwakenedCloud
Member
Oct 27, 20171,618
- Oct 16, 2021
- #29
It's incredibly useful as long as you're not playing games on Steam at the exact same time. You can even share games with friends using it.
Cheesetriangles
Member
Dec 5, 20171,059
- Oct 16, 2021
- #30
Devs can also block games from being shared. Feel like it would happen a lot more if they broadened it's use.
XR.
Member
Nov 22, 20185,427
- Oct 16, 2021
- #31
Lakeside said: Make it like PS4 where you have a home PC and the family can share that. Maybe we are the minority but zero chance we buy the same game twice on PC so we just move to consoles more and more. Click to expand... Click to shrink...
I mean I could see that being a possibility, but it's a bit different when Sony has complete control of the device their customer is using vs. a versatile PC of any hardware configuration
People in this thread saying it can’t be done and acting like it isn’t already being done in console ecosystems right now.
Lakeside
Member
Oct 25, 20178,525
- Oct 16, 2021
- #32
XR. said: I mean I could see that being a possibility, but it's a bit different when Sony has complete control of the device their customer is using vs. a versatile PC of any hardware configuration Click to expand... Click to shrink...
I fail to see how it is different. Steam can flag an individual device with no issue. There are several approaches that would work.
Volgihn
Member
Oct 25, 201775
- Oct 16, 2021
- #33
I wish it worked the same way it works on xbox.
Pheace
Member
Aug 23, 20181,322
- Oct 16, 2021
- #34
Family Sharing came around at the same time they were doing the Steam Machine thing. I think it was largely intended to allow multiple people to easily use that device and let them use their own accounts for progress/savegames/achievements. They never really did much with it after the Steam Machines tanked.
Static
Avenger
Oct 25, 20175,769
- Oct 16, 2021
- #35
Lakeside said: Make it like PS4 where you have a home PC and the family can share that. Click to expand... Click to shrink...
The problem with that, if I recall correctly, is that your home PC then becomes the only place where you can play games offline. Fuck that. Not a worthwhile tradeoff. As a console gamer maybe that makes sense. As a PC gamer it absolutely doesn't.
ehhsobee
Banned
Nov 11, 201995United Kingdom
- Oct 16, 2021
- #36
Letting people share their library on a per-game basis sounds super exploitable. Key selling websites would sell sharing on accounts and could let out their entire library, which would affect indies and triple A games. They already did it with the PS4 and it was rampant until Sony took the sites down themselves. PSNGames.org redirects to Sony's website now. funnily enough. Family sharing as it is now is fine and I'm not sure what all the hate is about. If you have a friend with a huge library, you can play whatever you want as long as they aren't playing at the same time.
headspawn
Member
Oct 27, 201712,501
- Oct 16, 2021
- #37
When I set it up I assumed it was going to work like a cleaner version of Xbox game sharing and yeah, big disappointment there if that's what you were expecting.
Stoney Mason
Member
Oct 25, 20173,579
- Oct 16, 2021
- #38
nancsett said: If you have a friend with a huge library, you can play whatever you want as long as they aren't playing at the same time. Click to expand... Click to shrink...
I don’t really care as I don’t game on PC anymore but I personally would have found it useless if I didn’t share with somebody who was on a completely different continent than me and separated by 6 hours at the time. Otherwise it requires a level of coordination, I don’t find compatible with how I like to game. But to each his own. PC gaming certainly has other benefits like frequent sales and such. But the family sharing on steam wasn’t something that was especially useful for me outside of a very specific context. But if that’s how they wanted to handle it, that’s fine.
Lakeside
Member
Oct 25, 20178,525
- Oct 16, 2021
- #39
Static said: The problem with that, if I recall correctly, is that your home PC then becomes the only place where you can play games offline. Fuck that. Not a worthwhile tradeoff. As a console gamer maybe that makes sense. As a PC gamer it absolutely doesn't. Click to expand... Click to shrink...
You need to think outside the box a bit. There's no reason a brand new concept of a "home PC" or whatever for the family needs to be tied to offline mode.
Not sure I get the "console gamer" reference at all. Does the PS4 or some other console rely on an offline mode to share games? Not that I'm aware of.
XR.
Member
Nov 22, 20185,427
- Oct 16, 2021
- #40
Lakeside said: I fail to see how it is different. Steam can flag an individual device with no issue. There are several approaches that would work. Click to expand... Click to shrink...
There's a difference because Sony can ensure that you can't easily exploit the system by infinitely sharing their games, while Valve can't due to the nature of PC being open.
Last edited: Oct 16, 2021
Jaded Alyx
Member
Oct 25, 201731,093
- Oct 16, 2021
- #41
Stoney Mason said: I use to do it with a friend who lived on another continent so it was mildly useful in that case but it pales in comparison to how xbox handles it. And I assume playstation. Click to expand... Click to shrink...
And Nintendo for that matter.
Lakeside
Member
Oct 25, 20178,525
- Oct 16, 2021
- #42
XR. said: There's a difference because publishers can expect that Sony ensures that you can't exploit the system by infinitely sharing their games. Valve can't do that since it's much easier to spoof any form of ID for offline usage on PC. Click to expand... Click to shrink...
They could leave the bit that's in place now, but add the per-game by requiring:
-Owner of account must use Steam Guard and log into each PC that's to borrow games
-All PCs doing the sharing must be online and broadcasting from the same public IP
-Limit the family size to 3 or whatever, some small number
Can it be spoofed through some means that most people would never attempt? Maybe, but so can anything else.
Morrigan
Spear of the Metal ChurchMember
Oct 24, 201730,288
- Oct 16, 2021
- #43
It's not useless, my SO and I use it all the time. starblue said: I see :( Click to expand... Click to shrink... notusingthis said: i think you should both be able to play something from your library if you set your steam to offline mode Click to expand... Click to shrink...
You can still use it, just do this:
Welp I guess I will play games from Gamepass when she uses my steam library
Thank you !
I got to play Disco Elysium, Doom, and Doom Eternal all this year thanks to Family Sharing, and if my SO needed to play his games, he just opened Steam in offline mode so I could play at the same time. Voilà.
diablogg
Member
Oct 31, 20172,564
- Oct 16, 2021
- #44
I thought someone couldn't "borrow" your library if you were offline
Dragon1893
Member
Oct 25, 20174,898
- Oct 16, 2021
- #45
It has been very useful for me, I play games from my brother's account all the time and vice versa, our gaming time usually doesn't overlap.
TitanicFall
Member
Nov 12, 20176,754
- Oct 16, 2021
- #46
The assumption is that you share the same computer so you'd never be playing at the same time. That being said, you can both play if you play with Steam offline.
DonnieTC
Member
Apr 10, 20192,151
- Oct 16, 2021
- #47
Yep, that's how it works. I like the way Stadia does it much better. You can add up to 5 people to your family account and all of you can be on and playing at the same time (just not the same game unless that person owns it in their library as well). Granted it is a purely streaming service.
Last edited: Oct 16, 2021
Pellaidh
Member
Oct 26, 20172,479
- Oct 16, 2021
- #48
It's pretty bad in that regard, and also kind of broken when it comes to sharing DLC. At least it used to be, but I don't think it was ever fixed.
Basically, if your wife's account doesn't own the base game but you do, you share the game and all of the DLC. However, if she owns the base game, then you can't share the DLC at all - she'll have to buy it. This particularly sucks for base games that are free, since everyone owns those by default and this makes DLC sharing impossible.
Free DLC is also not supported. If you're playing a game from a shared library, there's no way to share free DLC content (because free stuff isn't shared). For example Warhammer Total War has a bunch of free stuff that's inaccessible with family sharing.
Unicorn
One Winged SlayerMember
Oct 29, 20177,815
- Oct 16, 2021
- #49
For me it's constantly de-linking and that's what makes it useless as I constantly have to pester folks to do the whole process again and againCan you hide what games you play on Steam from friends?
How do I turn off family sharing for certain games?
Can people see your hidden games on Steam?