Re: A (small) Step In The Right Direction

On Sat, 29 Mar 2025 11:40:37 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Sat, 29 Mar 2025 10:52:33 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

However, you can't -without a lot of work- only share specific games
between family members. You give them access to your entire library. I
don't think that's necessarily /bad/ but I do like Nintendo's 'virtual
card' method where you can share /specific/ games with people. It adds
a more personal touch.

Plus, do I really want my daughter to know that HuniePop is in my library
for undisclosed reasons? X^D

I know you're saying this as a jest, but as I said, there is an option
for blocking specific games in Steam Family Sharing: you have to make
the game as private (e.g., right-click game in your Steam library
list, select manage, select 'mark as private'). That game will no
longer show up in the shared library accessible by others in your
Family group.

(Also useful to ensure that other family members aren't going to start
playing a title and locking you out of your favorite game ;-)


Limitations:

    - you need to do this manually with every game you
      /don't/ want to share
      (That may be more of an issue for some people than
      others. You know, like those freaks who have to use
      4-digit numbers to count the games in their Steam
      library.)

    - you can't give access to some people and not others
      (so you can't prevent 4-year old Susie from playing
      'Left4Dead' and still allow 18-year old Timmy
      to play)

    - There's no real indication to mark which games are
      marked private versus which games don't show up in the
      list for other reasons, short of manually checking each
      game (e.g., right-click, manage, is it private?)

Again, this is a result of how Steam allows sharing (by library vs. by
games) and it isn't really a criticism of the method; I see advantages
and disadvantages to both how Valve and Nintendo do it. Technically,
you COULD share your entire Steam library, individually mark each game
'private' and then 'unprivate' just one game to share it, making it
the equivalent of 'trading the card' on the Switch ... but that's a
lot of work.

     (more for some of us than others ;-)
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Mostly, I just wanted to post it here so I'd have a record to remind
me in case I ever forget in the future. ;-)