After a beta period lasting several months, Valve has decided to make Steam’s Family Sharing feature available to all users.
Many PC gamers have purchased massive digital game catalogs on Steam over the years, and with this feature you’ll be able to let your friends play what you’ve spent your hard earned money on.
As awesome as that might sound to some, the policy does come with its share of limitations.
You must be connected to the internet to use the program. Additionally, only five different accounts can access your library through sharing at one time between a maximum of ten devices. Family Share also doesn’t apply to DLC.
The account holder must be allowed to access their library at all times as well. That means if you’re playing a shared game and the original buyer logs into Steam, you’ll be forced to either pay for complete title, or quit within a matter of minutes.
Should those restrictions not bother you, you can enable Family Sharing by going to Settings > Family in Steam. Steam Guard may also have to be turned on at Steam > Settings > Account if it’s not already active.
This interesting sharing initiative comes as a result of intense consumer backlash against the service’s former DRM policy.
Will you be sharing Steam games with your friends, or are these caveats still too restrictive?
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