Steam game sharing code found in clients beta update.

[Minjon]

Source:

 http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/06/19/steam-game-sharing-code-found-in-clients-beta-update/

 

As the furore over the game sharing policies of the new consoles continues, it’s easy as a PC user to look on bewildered. You can’t share games; they’re not even real! They’re an intangible entity pushed through magic underground tubes, like some non-corporeal spirit of entertainment haunting your hard-drive. But if some lines of code found in the latest Steam beta program are to be believed, Valve may be looking at the possibility of taming that spirit – bringing a game sharing infrastructure to the client.

The discovery was made by NeoGAF, who found reference to shared license lending in Steam’s steamui_english file. The three lines prompt Steam on the messages to display in certain situations regarding license sharing. For instance, informing a license owner when a game is in use by someone else.

 

Here are the references:

 

“SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicense_Title” “Shared game library”

“SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicenseLocked_OwnerText” “Just so you know, your games are currently in use by %borrower%. Playing now will send %borrower% a notice that it’s time to quit.”

“SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicenseLocked_BorrowerText” “This shared game is currently unavailable. Please try again later or buy this game for your own library.”

 

To see the code for yourself, you’ll need to opt in to the latest Steam Beta, then head to Public/steamui_english.txt in your Steam folder. Beyond looking at it and saying “oh yeah, that’s neat,” there really isn’t much to do at this point. And, of course, this could all be part of a test with no real plan for release. Hopefully we’ll hear something official soon.

 

 

Is this the answer to "xbox one" online sharing of games?

[joelthezombie15]

Oooooo Interesting, what do you have up your sleeve gabe?

[Bleedman0xx]

Already been posted.

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/27576-steam-might-be-implementing-shared-games/

[Vitalius]

Hey, PC is progressive. We couldn't share games, and we may be on our way to doing so now. :D

Opposite of consoles which is/was "share your games anytime with anyone all the time" to "once each per game with hourly checks for piracy". 

[Minjon]

Already been posted.

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/27576-steam-might-be-implementing-shared-games/

Thought this topic is about PC Gaming and didn't find any topics about it here.... next time il look into tech news.

[Snickerzz]

Already been posted.

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/27576-steam-might-be-implementing-shared-games/

but that was the news section :P

[Snickerzz]

Thought this topic is about PC Gaming and didn't find any topics about it here.... next time il look into tech new.

its fine i think, not everyone reads the news section and it is a pc topic

[Bleedman0xx]

but that was the news section :P

[Keystone Nyan Cat]

If sharing games has taught us anything it is that it leads to a higher prices, generally for the devs whose game won't sell as much as it did before. I just hope that if Valve decides to go for this, it will not affect any prices. As a lonewolf PC gamer in my community, this really concerns me rather than makes me happy.

[Irontheater]

I think I'm on to what they are doing.

 

It's wouldn't be sharing per se, rather "see a friend playing a game that you haven't bought, you get 2 free chances to join him without paying".

 

I remember someone talking about this, though i have completely forgotten who and when it was...

If this was the case, games' prices should go down if anything, since we would have the chance to try more games >> buy them later.

[rashdanml]

Feels like almost a direct response to a Microsoft guy asking "Does Steam allow game sharing? I thought not" in an Angry Joe interview. Well played, Valve. 

[Minjon]

Feels like almost a direct response to a Microsoft guy asking "Does Steam allow game sharing? I thought not" in an Angry Joe interview. Well played, Valve. 

Yep.

[Kvin18]

Game-Sharing? Like the one in PSP? Well... it would be good if they also allow you to play online (doubtful though since it will hurt their market.). If that would be possible, it would be limited like... 24hours. But like any other people monitoring Valve releases, there's always a twist. Maybe they allow players to rent the game like $1 per hour. lol.

[Bleedman0xx]

Maybe they allow players to rent the game like $1 per hour. lol.

Great for games like BioShock but horrible for games like Skyrim. :/