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I've accumulated quite a few steam games over the years (300+) and one thing that bugs me is how only one player can play any game in your library at a time. I
by test6554 3y ago
I've accumulated quite a few steam games over the years (300+) and one thing that bugs me is how only one player can play any game in your library at a time. I can't play one game while my son plays another even though I bought both.
I've tried setting up different accounts for each game I buy, but switching between accounts crashed my computer. Ideally there would be a steam launcher launcher where you pick the game and it launches steam into the correct account for you. It sets any settings/preferences as well. Each game would be installed in different locations on the file system.
If I have 10 games, I have 10 accounts. I play on one pc with one account and my son plays with another account on his pc. But then I can switch to a different game my son was just playing by using his account after he stops and he can play a different game on yet another account. All rightly and fairly paid for.
As it stands, I've bought a couple games from Steam competitors just so I could for sure play them when my son is gaming.
- pjc50 3y agoThat's odd, I thought the intention of Steam family sharing was precisely to enable that use case.
- fooqux 3y agoMaybe it should, but that's not how it currently works. You share at the account level, and only one user can be using (read: playing a game) an account at a time. Personally, I get around this by using Offline Mode, but I know that workaround doesn't work in all cases, such as playing an multiplayer game while you kid plays something else.
- parasti 3y agoI think this was the original idea that quickly mutated into "how do we stop the rampant account sharing enabled by this feature".
- LeifCarrotson 3y agoA feature that works at the intersection of actual parents who want to let their actual minor children in their actual household play games and random friend groups who are unrelated to each other except for shared Netflix passwords is really hard to locate.
- test6554 3y agoChanneling Johnnie Cochran: "If the IP addresses are the same you must let them game."
- Nemrod67 3y agoYou can play someone else's shared library if they're offline ;) And you can be offline and still play most singleplayer games, so enjoy!
- forward1 3y agoUnfortunately the Steam client is simply abysmal offline. Even basic functionality such as caching game title thumbnails and viewing screenshots appears to be nerfed on purpose. You can't view your own achivements. Some games simply won't launch on the Deck offline. Now I will always try to buy a game on GOG first if it's available to avoid this sort of DRM.
- literalAardvark 3y agoSo your plan is to stop using a client that is abysmal offline in order to avoid a problem that's only "better" on the other client because it doesn't implement it at all ?
- forward1 3y agoYes, on principle, against user-hostile software development practices.
- iamcreasy 3y agoRecently I was playing a game on my Steamdeck through family share for a week. I only used suspend and wake feature while in the game, and never closed the game process. I later found out the owner refunded the shortly after purchase, but Steam did not kick me out of the game. I finished the game, and I was online the whole time. On a separate occasion, I played a game for 10 hours through family share, and then decided to get a copy of my own. Wanted to return it after 15 min, but Steam won't let me because it is considering prior 10 hours play time makes me ineligible for 2 hour refund window.
- RHSeeger 3y agoI was under the impression you could lend games to another account. So you and your son each have your own account, you lend him one of your games, and he can play it while you are playing a different game.
- Semaphor 3y agoNot that I know, only family sharing. My wife and I have the same issue
- alt227 3y agoYes, however the 'leant' game to your friend can only be played whilst you yourself are not playing any games on your account. Basically the rule is you can share and lend your games, but only 1 game from your account can be played at any one time.
- DistractionRect 3y agoFor a lot of games you can simply copy out of Steamapps/common and run the exe and it'll run like a standalone copy. For games that use steam features, you can drop in a steam emulator[0] to shim the API calls. I use this for when I want to run multiple versions of the base game with different mods. Typically this works fine as long as there's no real Drm/anticheat (which is common in multi player games but rare for single player). So this should allow you to clone parts of your library for your son to play (as well as consolidate your many accounts). [0] https://gitlab.com/Mr_Goldberg/goldberg_emulator/blob/master/README.md https://gitlab.com/Mr_Goldberg/goldberg_emulator/blob/master...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- pixxel 3y agoI buy games via Steam and then grab a DRM-free backup elsewhere. Same with movies and music. I own my media just like the good old days.
- crtasm 3y agoGood to throw GOG some money too, to support selling games with offline installers and no DRM.
- ikekkdcjkfke 3y agoEpic Games store only has a 15% cut vs Steams 30%
- pixxel 3y agoI like Steam, including the work they’ve done with Linux/Proton and their hardware access. I wouldn’t give Tencent Epic Games a single penny.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- charrondev 3y agoA similar gripe I have with a lot of games is the lack of local multiplayer support in PC ports of games (even ones that have local multiplayer in their console versions). Nintendo is still King when it comes to local multiplayer but they unfortunately haven’t upgraded their hardware in quite a while and the switch was a little anemic even for its time. It has led to a weird situation where for most games it’s only really feasible for us to play together if we are hours apart and playing over a network. Back in the ps2 / Xbox 360 era it felt like almost every game had a local split screen mode.
- test6554 3y agoCompanies can earn more profit by differentiating themselves from their competitors rather than trying to be the same. Microsoft brings the broadest ecosystem combining Windows and Xbox and all their cloud chops. Sony tries to be cutting edge wihth VR and exclusive high fidelity AAA titles. Nintendo caters to people who play for fun rather than the best graphics, usability over cutting edge, casual gamers and families, etc. This is all just to say that Nintendo can't compete on hardware performance and graphics so it focuses on other things to be best at.