7 ms·

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

by zalzane 13y ago

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 what other kinds of convenience measures they'll be able to implement in the future - especially with hardware control via steambox on the horizon.

darkchasma 13y ago
It seems like baby steps though. We really should have a way to loan games at the very least, and this still isn't really scratching that itch.
- james4k 13y ago
  How? Isn't this better than loaning? Or do you mean trading?
  - hayksaakian 13y ago
    because you can't play other games from your library while someone else is using your account on, say another computer
  - commandar 13y ago
    It sounds like this essentially loans out your entire library. If you want to play a different game in your library, the person you loaned to would get bounced out of the game.
  - mcpherrinm 13y ago
    You can't play Game A when you've loaned your library to Friend so they can play Game B. This is a way to avoid telling people your steam password to "borrow" your account, not borrow a single game. This would have been very useful to me when, in University, my roommates and all played our games on the living room gaming PC. I can imagine this being useful for siblings to share a game library mostly bought by parents, or a spouse playing a partner's library. So certainly not useless, but it isn't loaning a game to a friend for a week, unless you're not going to play games at the same time as the friend.
    - jsmeaton 13y ago
      Hmm, you're right. I misunderstood this part: > WHEN I AUTHORIZE A DEVICE TO LEND MY LIBRARY TO OTHERS, DO I LIMIT MY OWN ABILITY TO ACCESS AND PLAY MY GAMES? As the lender, you may always access and play your games at any time. If you decide to start playing when a friend is already playing one of your games, he/she will be given a few minutes to either purchase the game or quit playing. But I missed the implications in the FAQ directly above that: > 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.
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  Of course it's baby steps. Publishers are terrified, and loaning is only one tiny step from what they fear second most, aside from pirates- a burgeoning used game market.
  - anigbrowl 13y ago
    what they fear second most, aside from pirates- a burgeoning used game market I'm not sure how they fear that so much. On the rare occasions when I buy videogames they're usually used ones purchased at GameStop or on eBay.
    - mynameisvlad 13y ago
      Publishers and Developers are gaining absolutely no revenue from you doing that. And that's their issue. They want everyone to buy new games, because then they get a cut of it.
      - asifsignupfor 13y ago
        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?
        sliverstorm 13y ago
        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.
        aviraldg 13y ago
        Parent makes the same point as you.
      - anigbrowl 13y ago
- forrestthewoods 13y ago
  Why? Loaning digital bits literally makes no sense. That's nt a thing. It's not something the laws of physics allow. Loaning digital goods is a gibberish statement. I obviously understand the appeal. Who doesn't like free shit? If you want to "borrow" a game from a friend just pirate it. That at least saves the platform holder some bandwidth costs.
  - aw3c2 13y ago
    With DRM, you can "lend".
    - Deestan 13y ago
      So basically, this is how DRM is useful in partially alleviating the problems introduced by DRM.
      - mathattack 13y ago
        Am I going to have to write a flowchart for this similar to Inflection?
  - jiggy2011 13y ago
    You can lend a license to use those bits in a specific way.
    - criley2 13y ago
      That's a new thing, a specific new thing defined by a license and is only synonymous to the concept of loaning a physical good, and only synonymous because the definition in the license intends to make it that way. The fact is, lending requires scarcity. I would never in my life lend goods to a friend if I could provide an identical duplicate for basically zero cost. Why would I? I'm not bound by scarcity by choice. Steam invents scarcity by limiting the number of "friends" to 10, and by enforcing a policy that will boot off friends ~five minutes after the owner logs in. Real life doesn't need such machinations for the system of lending to work, which is why lending physical goods can never be the same thing as lending digital goods IMO.
flexd 13y ago
When it comes to that I like how it is with xbox 360 games. I can just lend my friend the disk and he can play the game. A PC game is not that easy, why is pirating a bigger problem on computers than consoles? Or is it so? I'm not entirely familiar with the numbers but since you can still swap used console games I'd imagine it's like that. I am glad Valve is doing something to improve this.
- jiggy2011 13y ago
  I think it's mainly because a console has the DRM mechanisms integrated on a hardware and OS level. Also consoles are designed to run only programs that have been approved by the platform owner which makes it significantly easier as a general purpose OS can't tell the difference between a pirate program and a program that is legitimately DRM-free.
d0m 13y ago
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.
- jon-wood 13y ago
  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.
brownbat 13y ago
> trying to provide a service that is more convenient than pirating Huh, I know the other content industries have to play that game, but here I thought the killer feature of legitimate software was "not a virus." Oh, maybe not piracy so much as... resellers? GameStop?

by zalzane 13y ago

darkchasma 13y ago

It seems like baby steps though. We really should have a way to loan games at the very least, and this still isn't really scratching that itch.

james4k 13y ago
How? Isn't this better than loaning? Or do you mean trading?
- hayksaakian 13y ago
  because you can't play other games from your library while someone else is using your account on, say another computer
- commandar 13y ago
  It sounds like this essentially loans out your entire library. If you want to play a different game in your library, the person you loaned to would get bounced out of the game.
- mcpherrinm 13y ago
  You can't play Game A when you've loaned your library to Friend so they can play Game B. This is a way to avoid telling people your steam password to "borrow" your account, not borrow a single game. This would have been very useful to me when, in University, my roommates and all played our games on the living room gaming PC. I can imagine this being useful for siblings to share a game library mostly bought by parents, or a spouse playing a partner's library. So certainly not useless, but it isn't loaning a game to a friend for a week, unless you're not going to play games at the same time as the friend.
  - jsmeaton 13y ago
    Hmm, you're right. I misunderstood this part: > WHEN I AUTHORIZE A DEVICE TO LEND MY LIBRARY TO OTHERS, DO I LIMIT MY OWN ABILITY TO ACCESS AND PLAY MY GAMES? As the lender, you may always access and play your games at any time. If you decide to start playing when a friend is already playing one of your games, he/she will be given a few minutes to either purchase the game or quit playing. But I missed the implications in the FAQ directly above that: > 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.
sliverstorm 13y ago
Of course it's baby steps. Publishers are terrified, and loaning is only one tiny step from what they fear second most, aside from pirates- a burgeoning used game market.
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  what they fear second most, aside from pirates- a burgeoning used game market I'm not sure how they fear that so much. On the rare occasions when I buy videogames they're usually used ones purchased at GameStop or on eBay.
  - mynameisvlad 13y ago
    Publishers and Developers are gaining absolutely no revenue from you doing that. And that's their issue. They want everyone to buy new games, because then they get a cut of it.
    - asifsignupfor 13y ago
      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?
      - sliverstorm 13y ago
        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.
        aviraldg 13y ago
        Parent makes the same point as you.
    - anigbrowl 13y ago
forrestthewoods 13y ago
Why? Loaning digital bits literally makes no sense. That's nt a thing. It's not something the laws of physics allow. Loaning digital goods is a gibberish statement. I obviously understand the appeal. Who doesn't like free shit? If you want to "borrow" a game from a friend just pirate it. That at least saves the platform holder some bandwidth costs.
- aw3c2 13y ago
  With DRM, you can "lend".
  - Deestan 13y ago
    So basically, this is how DRM is useful in partially alleviating the problems introduced by DRM.
    - mathattack 13y ago
      Am I going to have to write a flowchart for this similar to Inflection?
- jiggy2011 13y ago
  You can lend a license to use those bits in a specific way.
  - criley2 13y ago
    That's a new thing, a specific new thing defined by a license and is only synonymous to the concept of loaning a physical good, and only synonymous because the definition in the license intends to make it that way. The fact is, lending requires scarcity. I would never in my life lend goods to a friend if I could provide an identical duplicate for basically zero cost. Why would I? I'm not bound by scarcity by choice. Steam invents scarcity by limiting the number of "friends" to 10, and by enforcing a policy that will boot off friends ~five minutes after the owner logs in. Real life doesn't need such machinations for the system of lending to work, which is why lending physical goods can never be the same thing as lending digital goods IMO.

flexd 13y ago

When it comes to that I like how it is with xbox 360 games. I can just lend my friend the disk and he can play the game. A PC game is not that easy, why is pirating a bigger problem on computers than consoles? Or is it so? I'm not entirely familiar with the numbers but since you can still swap used console games I'd imagine it's like that. I am glad Valve is doing something to improve this.

jiggy2011 13y ago
I think it's mainly because a console has the DRM mechanisms integrated on a hardware and OS level. Also consoles are designed to run only programs that have been approved by the platform owner which makes it significantly easier as a general purpose OS can't tell the difference between a pirate program and a program that is legitimately DRM-free.

d0m 13y ago

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.

jon-wood 13y ago
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.

brownbat 13y ago

> trying to provide a service that is more convenient than pirating Huh, I know the other content industries have to play that game, but here I thought the killer feature of legitimate software was "not a virus." Oh, maybe not piracy so much as... resellers? GameStop?