An exciting update for some has been utterly ruined by a strict policy against game cheating.
Valve has introduced Steam Families, a fresh addition providing users with enhanced parental controls, game sharing among family members, and additional features aimed at enhancing family interactions on its digital platform.
Valve has outlined the latest addition, now accessible in beta, in a blog post. Steam Families enables users to establish a “Steam Family,” inviting up to five family members.
Among its features, Steam Family grants members access to the shareable games owned, forming part of a shareable library. In the FAQ section below the blog, Valve clarifies that game developers retain full control over which games are eligible for sharing within Steam Families, a setting they can adjust in their developer settings.
The significant update in this latest version of Steam Families lies in the expanded sharing capabilities, allowing users to specify which games are suitable for others to access. This ensures that sensitive titles like the “Sex With Hitler” franchise can be kept private from family members.
One of the key highlights of the Beta version is the ability for multiple users to play games from a single library simultaneously. In contrast to the previous system where only one person could borrow a game from a specific account, now multiple individuals can access and play games concurrently.
This change eliminates the need for the account sharing the library to kick off one user before another can access their own games, marking a significant shift in functionality.
Additionally, features like restricting access to the Steam Store, Steam Community, and Friends Chat serve to prevent scenarios where “Little Timmy” can’t make purchases and run up your credit card changes or encounter inappropriate content via the Steam Community, thus safeguarding against potential risks such as online grooming by pathological pronouns.
The new parental controls within Steam Families allow you to access playtime reports, providing insight into your child’s gaming activity. This feature is particularly useful for parents who want to monitor the amount of time their child spends playing a specific game and consider implementing playtime limits based on this information.
This may appear promising for parents who may not effectively supervise their children’s online activities. However, it’s not until you delve into Valve’s FAQ section that certain concerns arise.
Cheating in online games remains a prevalent issue, especially in competitive titles such as Counter-Strike 2. While the Family Sharing feature has introduced some groundbreaking changes, there’s a significant downside that users need to be aware of.
If someone playing your copy of a game from your library gets banned, such as through Valve’s VAC system, your account will also face consequences, resulting in a ban from that game.
This drawback is a major concern, particularly for parents who may lack the time or inclination to closely monitor their children’s online activities. While you can supervise their actions on Valve’s Steam store, preventing them from seeking out game cheats and installing them is much more challenging. As a result, your account could be banned from the game in question as well.
Exploiting Valve’s Family Sharing across multiple accounts solely for causing chaos across various game services without repercussions is something I’ve done in the past and now it’s evident that Valve are making efforts to crack down on such malicious behavior by making game bans transferable through the Family Sharing option.
