YAST: Steam would be great if...

[SunnyD]

1.) Do you mean requiring like a password to play Mature games on a single account, or just limit a separate account from downloading anything like that entirely? Either way should be easy for them to add. I wonder why they haven't.

2.) This will never ever happen. It's against all licensing rules as they're currently set up. Back in the day you had one "play" disc, and unless you copied that disc you could only play on one machine at a time. Steam works exactly the same way. Whoever has the "play disc" (or steam account now) has the ability to play the game. Steam works very similarly to how PC games have worked for quite a while unless you were doing something illegal (no-cd crack, copy disc, etc).

3.) Rumors are that they're thinking about trying this with Valve games. Obviously the other devs would have to make their own call if they want to join in. The recently added marketplace to trade/sell TF2 stuff some believe to be a trial for doing that with games themselves.

4.) Subaccounts would make #1 easier for sure. I could see them maybe allowing multiple profiles under one master account, but I think they'd still limit you to only being logged in to one machine at a time. Even the consoles don't allow you to log in with your account in more than one spot.

Re #1 - Ideally, I'd like to see parental controls set up as subaccounts where I, as the parent, can create the accounts of my children and set things like their ESRB level, specific game whitelists, or filter by game criteria (such as disallow games that have online chat components for example).

Re #2 - Again, with subaccounts, there's a viable and feasible solution right there. If any subaccount within a master account's umbrella is currently utilizing a given title, then no other subaccount within that realm can also use that title. Obviously there are some technical ramifications that would need to be resolved (such as what does this do to "offline mode"; what other caveats are there, etc.). The only technical limitation is that nobody has had the balls to try to innovate this sector for the benefit of the consumer because - well, why bother? It only serves to diminish a potential revenue stream.

Re #3 - That rumor has been around since forever and a day. Until it happens, I put no faith in it ever happening. Even when it does happen I simply don't see publishers ever jumping on board.

Re #4 - Again, there are plenty of elegant technical solutions to make this work, but just like consoles, the mantra is "sell sell sell", so I doubt it would ever happen. After all, why is the console industry so angry with the used game market, for example? It's all about revenue streams. Despite what some others have tried to subtly claim, not a single concept I'm pitching even remotely constitutes any form of piracy and is well within a consumer's typical legal rights. It's simply that we've gotten to a digital age where technology has managed to prevent us from fulfilling those rights - for the sake of profits.

 

[Barfo]

Steam is great already, though I'd really like if offline mode worked like it should all the time, for everyone.

 

[KaOTiK]

I honestly want ability to remove games completely from library. I'm embarrassed that I have black ops game in it along with lame other $5 games i got from sales.

You can. Email Steam support with this link and quote this from it.
http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/

B. Termination by You.
You may cancel your Account at any time. You may cease use of a Subscription at any time or, if you choose, you may request that we terminate your access to a Subscription. However, Subscriptions are not transferable,...

 

[SMOGZINN]

Re #1 - Ideally, I'd like to see parental controls set up as subaccounts where I, as the parent, can create the accounts of my children and set things like their ESRB level, specific game whitelists, or filter by game criteria (such as disallow games that have online chat components for example).

I too think that would be great, it does come with some technical issues though. Like they would have to have a setup that allowed you to own more then one copy of a game so that multiple subaccounts could play at once. Then they would have to deal with the problem of what happens when you have two different versions of the same game, or different sets of DLC for the game. They would need to upgrade the way that game information is stored and controlled.

Despite what some others have tried to subtly claim, not a single concept I'm pitching even remotely constitutes any form of piracy and is well within a consumer's typical legal rights. It's simply that we've gotten to a digital age where technology has managed to prevent us from fulfilling those rights - for the sake of profits.

Of course what you are suggesting would be piracy. Consumers typical rights are no longer typical, we give them all away in every TOA. It is not technology preventing us so much as a court system that no longer cares to protect the consumer. We have gotten to a age where coping the program to another computer is piracy, no matter if you ever run the program or not.

 

[Martimus]

I also want to keep Steam from adding demos to my daughters account for entirely inappropriate games. There was a free weekend the other day where she asked me why I bought her some killing game, since they automatically add those games to your account during free weekends.

 

[darkewaffle]

I wish it would let me limit the download speed.

 

[Red Storm]

I also want to keep Steam from adding demos to my daughters account for entirely inappropriate games. There was a free weekend the other day where she asked me why I bought her some killing game, since they automatically add those games to your account during free weekends.

That's a valid reason to have parental controls.