Steam Updates Sharing

VALVE HAS COMBINED its Steam Family View and Family Sharing features into Steam Families. It lets you add up to five others to your Steam Family who have access to ‘shareable’ titles in your game library, and you to theirs. Each member gets their own saved games and set of Steam achievements, though not all games can be shared due to ‘technical or other reasons’. The biggest issue with the previous system has been fixed—if somebody was playing a game from your library, nothing else could be played from it. Now, all members can play games from any member’s library at once. There is also a new set of parental controls, including limiting playtime. To prevent hopping between multiple families, there is a one-year wait before you can join another family, or your place be taken by another. There is an exception if you leave and are invited back into the same family—then there’s no wait.

However, the owner of a game is still held responsible for the conduct of the other members. If one gets banned from a game for whatever reason, you get banned, too. This could be harsh, particularly when you get thrown out of your expensive new purchase because somebody else says something thoughtless in chat. Other members can still play the game, which seems odd, but the culprit and owner are out of luck. To be fair, the previous system had a similar problem. Valve says Steam Families is designed for close family members, and will monitor and adjust requirements to keep usage in line with intent. It is currently in beta, so you have to opt in for now. Just be careful who you let on board, even if they’re siblings.