Steam question

[rivethead]

Hello!

I have a question on using Steam I'm hoping some of you can answer.

I took advantage of the free "Portal" offer and created an account, downloaded the game and had a good time playing it this weekend. Although Lab 15 is frustrating the hell out of me....but that's another story.

My question:

Can other users on the same computer play the games purchased from Steam?

For example, my 11 year old son would like to play Portal as well (which I'm thrilled about....a logic challenging game would be a good departure from just killing Nazi Zombies like he spends most of his gaming time doing). Can he play Portal through his own Windows 7 user account? Or does he have to create a Steam account (which he can't do because he's not 13) and download the game himself?

I cannot figure this out and the Steam help is silent on this issue (unless I just missed it). I'd like to purchase Pirates! from Steam, but if I'm the only one who can play it, it doesn't make sense - I'd be much better off purchasing a hard copy so that both myself and my son can play the game (again, all on the same desktop computer).

Thanks in advance for your responses!

 

[AstroManLuca]

Steam games are tied to your Steam account, not your computer's user account. So you should be able to install Steam on both accounts and have the same login credentials for both. Two problems arise, however:

1. How do you prevent having to download two copies of every game? Not sure. Steam would have to be installed for all users on the computer but I've never tried this so I don't know if it's possible or not. It might even be the default behavior, I just don't know.
2. If you switch users on the computer without logging out, you'll have to make sure to exit Steam first. Or just always log out when switching users.

Best way to figure it out is to just try it. Install Steam on your son's account and use your same login and password. Hopefully you can just play the games rather than having to download them a second time.

 

[Lonyo]

He can play Portal on your account by logging in to your account (or by having it auto-login).
Basically anyone anywhere on any computer can play any one single game in your Steam account by simply logging in and downloading the game.

If you only have one computer, you only need one Steam account with one copy of the game and either of you can log in and play it. Steam is completely account based, and everything is tied to the account, not a computer or a person.

 

[rivethead]

He can play Portal on your account by logging in to your account (or by having it auto-login).
Basically anyone anywhere on any computer can play any one single game in your Steam account by simply logging in and downloading the game.

If you only have one computer, you only need one Steam account with one copy of the game and either of you can log in and play it. Steam is completely account based, and everything is tied to the account, not a computer or a person.

That sucks. I don't want my kid (who has way more time to play computer games than I) to unlock all the acheivements on my account - I want to reach those achievements....at my own pace. Plus he'll blow through the games much quicker than I will. The Auto Saves will be a nightmare to sort through to figure out which one is mine and which ones are his.

I think this is a flaw in the Steam model. You are not purchasing video game software through Steam. You're essentailly renting a user account that allows you to play the games.

 

[AstroManLuca]

If you want multiple user accounts each with their own achievements, then set up a separate account for your son. You can probably fudge his age, I don't think they'll send the police after you.

 

[KaOTiK]

Yeah, just make a separate account for him, just call it your second account

 

[biostud]

That sucks. I don't want my kid (who has way more time to play computer games than I) to unlock all the acheivements on my account - I want to reach those achievements....at my own pace. Plus he'll blow through the games much quicker than I will. The Auto Saves will be a nightmare to sort through to figure out which one is mine and which ones are his.

I think this is a flaw in the Steam model. You are not purchasing video game software through Steam. You're essentailly renting a user account that allows you to play the games.

many games lets you make different profiles, which makes the problem go away.

 

[rivethead]

Ok, I'll give it a try. But if Steam wants me to pay $9.99 for my Pirates account and another $9.99 for my kid's account......well I'd just be better off paying $12 on Amazon for the hard copy.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Ok, I'll give it a try. But if Steam wants me to pay $9.99 for my Pirates account and another $9.99 for my kid's account......well I'd just be better off paying $12 on Amazon for the hard copy.

Um, yes, you do have to pay twice to get the same game on two different accounts. That's why it doesn't really make sense to set up two accounts. Are achievements really that important? It's not that hard to manage saved games, just save manually every once in a while and give your saves a different name.

 

[KaOTiK]

Yeah, sorry, I was talking about just for portal making a separate account since that is what you were talking about. Since the game is free currently there was no reason not too, but any other game yeah.

You'll either have to share your account for most games and hope that the game has a profile system, which most do at least nowadays. Or just manually save games and name their whatever to separate them from one another.

 

[Lonyo]

Um, yes, you do have to pay twice to get the same game on two different accounts. That's why it doesn't really make sense to set up two accounts. Are achievements really that important? It's not that hard to manage saved games, just save manually every once in a while and give your saves a different name.

Better for him to get hard copies where possible anyway, otherwise it's going to be great fun if his kid gets his own computer and wants to use games on that while dad uses games on another PC (with a different game).
Or you end up with 20 Steam accounts, one per game, which is a hassle.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Better for him to get hard copies where possible anyway, otherwise it's going to be great fun if his kid gets his own computer and wants to use games on that while dad uses games on another PC (with a different game).
Or you end up with 20 Steam accounts, one per game, which is a hassle.

Good point. Even if the game has a CD check, it's much easier to hand the CD over instead of having to log out of Steam on one computer and log in on another computer just to play.

Steam is great if you have one person or one computer. It's more of a hassle if you have a lot of potential users.

 

[Lonyo]

Good point. Even if the game has a CD check, it's much easier to hand the CD over instead of having to log out of Steam on one computer and log in on another computer just to play.

Steam is great if you have one person or one computer. It's more of a hassle if you have a lot of potential users.

Yeah, Steam is terrible if you have kids or siblings who might want to play games. Like I've said before, it's a totally different concept, and with the one login per account it's pretty terrible for a number of situations (although mostly ones which require not being a single loner, so gamers see it as great )