Home Gaming Steam wants you to have a family meeting

Steam wants you to have a family meeting

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South park computer

Steam has become synonymous with PC gaming. Sure, you can get plenty of DRM-free games through GoG or Humble Bundle, but Steam has that strange appeal of putting all your games in one place, adding achievements and friends. Now you can share Steam with your family, but you should talk about it first.

Steam has officially announced that Family Options are out of Beta. However, this doesn’t mean that you necessarily want to expose you children to the vile gamer scum that lurk in the shadows. Steam recommends a family meeting:

We understand every family has its own approach to establishing rules and setting limits when it comes to media, entertainment, and games. We hope most families talk through these issues together and find ways to agree on what’s realistic and fair. It sometimes seems there are as many family policies as there are families. So with Family Options, we’re introducing a new way for parents and families to establish their own rules together, using Steam.

An account with Family Options enabled will be set to Family View by default. In this view, content and features that you have restricted will be unavailable. To access additional Steam features, click on the Family View button on the main Steam view and enter your Family Options PIN. This will switch your account out of Family View, remaining this way until you return to Family View (via that same button) or log out.

This means all your worst nightmares can finally come true – your children can also get addicted to Steam, but without the fear of them seeing trolling messages or playing 18+ games. Seems like a cool system; you can even put restrictions on purchasing games with a credit card. Maybe we should all put parental restrictions on ourselves to prevent over spending. At least you can save your children from this experience ala Dorkly comic:

After the steam sale

Last Updated: January 9, 2014

126 Comments

  1. Admiral Chief in Vegas

    January 9, 2014 at 14:20

    I love it. Gonna build my daughter’s PC ASAP!

    Reply

  2. Devourer of Small Bunnies

    January 9, 2014 at 14:24

    Brilliant toon 😀

    Reply

  3. TiMsTeR1033

    January 9, 2014 at 14:27

    I hope you steam buying addicts take note of that cartoon! Instead of buying more and more games which to be honest you probably wont even play, rather finish the games you bought first and then get new ones or get rid of the ones you know you wont ever play… be honest with yourselves there just isn’t enough time to play them all.

    Reply

    • Unavengedavo

      January 9, 2014 at 14:28

      But… But… It’s like Pokemon!… Totally ridiculous and pointless 😛

      Reply

      • TiMsTeR1033

        January 9, 2014 at 14:29

        If only it was like pokemon if only it was… hmmmm Jessie and Misty

        Reply

      • RinceThis2014

        January 9, 2014 at 14:31

        Well said. It’s the whole ‘Gotta catch em all’ mentality. So those PC Master Race plods who have rigs that cost in excess of R15k use it purely to view an iTunes looking interface! HAHAHAHAAH

        Reply

    • Admiral Chief in Vegas

      January 9, 2014 at 14:34

      Sounds like you are jealous!

      Reply

    • RockMossel2014

      January 9, 2014 at 14:37

      But what if I miss the sale and then have to pay full price!? With prices like $14.99 for BioShock, Bioshock 2 and BioShock Infinite…how does one say no? HOW?!

      Reply

      • VampyricSquirrel Monk

        January 9, 2014 at 14:38

        Can’t skip the sales dude… I proved that this morning LOL

        Edit: I see you gave in for Brothers too

        Reply

        • RockMossel2014

          January 9, 2014 at 14:42

          lol I seriously think I suffer from fomo. Wait till you get you first official steam sale (like winter sale), I still rermember mine. Made a serious dent in my wallet.

          Reply

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 14:44

            LoL! I’ll be killed if I REALLY attack Steam.

          • TiMsTeR1033

            January 9, 2014 at 14:45

            GOOD!

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 14:47

            Pfffft! You’re just jealous!

          • TiMsTeR1033

            January 9, 2014 at 14:49

            Of what becoming an addict! I like to see my games thank you!

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            January 9, 2014 at 14:50

            I breached the 100 games mark a few days ago (thats only for steam)

            Trev is much more of an addict. Think he has like 280

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 14:51

            Trev has soooo many games he hasn’t touched… AT ALL

          • TiMsTeR1033

            January 9, 2014 at 14:51

            Gameception

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            January 9, 2014 at 14:51

            Like the women in his life?

            😉

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 14:52

            Women in his life?

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            January 9, 2014 at 14:52

            Those he has his eyes on

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 14:54

            Oh the one’s he’s stalking

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            January 9, 2014 at 14:54

            Aye

          • TiMsTeR1033

            January 9, 2014 at 14:53

            normal folk call them tannies or was that trannies… tomatoe tamatoe

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 14:53

            Normal folk from the Eastern or Western suburbs maybe

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            January 9, 2014 at 16:17

            Thankfully I’m from the Northern suburbs 😉 Ah! Smell the boerewors in the air!

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 10, 2014 at 08:18

            Yeah… northern suburbs of cape town… i’m in the northern suburbs of jo’burg… Tim’s in the western suburbs of jo’burg… one word: DODGY! *runs*

          • TiMsTeR1033

            January 9, 2014 at 14:52

            oh snap!

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            January 9, 2014 at 16:16

            Hey hey, I’ve hugged my mom!

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 14:57

            Trev’s Steam account reports 471 games. I don’t know if that includes DLC’s or not.

          • TiMsTeR1033

            January 9, 2014 at 15:00

            YOH! I CALL INTERVENTION!!

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 15:02

            agreed

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 15:03

            Steam only shows that he’s put at least 0.1 hours into the first 102 on the list LMAO

            Hot damn @disqus_DoEH3TsffU:disqus you got a serious backlog issue there.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            January 9, 2014 at 15:05

            Tell me about it lol

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            January 9, 2014 at 15:22

            There’s over 100 hours on the first 20 (alphabetically) alone. You’re making me worried here lol.

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 15:27

            Sort them by time played and then scroll through to the last one with any time on it…

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 15:57

            *waits for @disqus_DoEH3TsffU:disqus to see just how bad his backlog is*

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            January 9, 2014 at 16:14

            Oh I know, I see it every time I go to my games list. I think it’s around half I’ve never touched lol. I’m doing solid work on it now though, knocked off 6 over the holidays 😀

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 15:37

            In your defense there’s almost over 1000 hours in your top 5 played games.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            January 9, 2014 at 15:05

            lol I’ve already acknowledged the problem. I’ve actually been really good in 2013. In my defense you get a lot of games when you buy indie bundles & I was buying games I’d pirated over the years. :/

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            January 9, 2014 at 15:09

            Agreed, bought a lot of pre-pirated games, and wanted to correct that past mistake!

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 15:10

            I’d be in some very VERY serious financial trouble if I did that… or it would just take me a damn long time

          • TiMsTeR1033

            January 9, 2014 at 15:11

            admitting the crime is the 1st step, next do the time..

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            January 9, 2014 at 15:11

            lol

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 15:14

            Also I’d have a bunch of crap titles on my hands.

            I used to buy all the games I enjoyed from being a pirate… and the ones I could afford 😛

          • TiMsTeR1033

            January 9, 2014 at 15:15

            Pirates are everywhere!

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 15:15

            Yeah… you’re one too 😛

          • TiMsTeR1033

            January 9, 2014 at 15:17

            I AM NOT!

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 15:41

            How much of that Grey’s Anatomy your wife watches have you bought? 😛

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            January 9, 2014 at 15:02

            I don’t think it does count them separately. It’s scary how quickly they add up though, especially when you buy packs. The various indie bundles I bought over the last year or two have given me over 100 games.

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 15:39

            Damn, that’s nuts! I’m up to 4 games… and I haven’t checked my possible steam enabled games in my box yet.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            January 9, 2014 at 14:57

            lol. Not even close. A friend gifted me another game just on Monday too.

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      January 9, 2014 at 14:48

      Silence! You have no idea of the unearthly pleasures Steam can bestow upon you.

      Reply

      • TiMsTeR1033

        January 9, 2014 at 14:49

        I do, empty my bank accounts

        Reply

  4. VampyricSquirrel Monk

    January 9, 2014 at 14:32

    That’s a pretty cool function, and the options are really cool… you can lock down Steam pretty much to the extent that they can only play specific games that you’ve selected and that’s all they’ll be able to get to.

    Reply

  5. Matthew Holliday

    January 9, 2014 at 14:32

    Just built my sisters PC, guess i should look into this

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief in Vegas

      January 9, 2014 at 14:33

      Nice. Whatchoo put in?

      Reply

      • RockMossel2014

        January 9, 2014 at 14:43

        That’s what she said!

        Reply

        • Her Highness the Hipster

          January 9, 2014 at 14:44

          sies man! that’s his sister!

          Reply

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 14:47

            But… it’s a game the whole family can play… The steam games I mean….

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            January 9, 2014 at 14:53

            Exactly. It’s even called family sharing, how could that be wrong?

          • RockMossel2014

            January 9, 2014 at 14:49

            Hey I’m not judging, just pointing out what she said!

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 14:59

            Where’s your mind?

        • VampyricSquirrel Monk

          January 9, 2014 at 14:45

          Hopefully that wasn’t said by his sister to him… lol

          Reply

          • RockMossel2014

            January 9, 2014 at 14:49

            haha omw, I’m laughing so much at my own joke right now it’s actually embarassing.

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            January 9, 2014 at 14:51

            Ja, you scared him off, I was actually curious of the PC specs 🙁

        • Admiral Chief in Vegas

          January 9, 2014 at 14:45

          The confusednessness would overwhelm me if she said that

          Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          January 9, 2014 at 14:45

          lolllllll I sense relative humidity increasing :/

          Reply

          • RockMossel2014

            January 9, 2014 at 14:50

            “relative” 😉

        • VampyricSquirrel Monk

          January 9, 2014 at 14:46

          Now he won’t be able to answer her with a straight face if she does ask that question.

          Reply

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 14:46

            What I wouldn’t give to see that awkward moment

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            January 9, 2014 at 14:47

            So you want to watch him and his sister???

            Ag nee man LC

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 14:48

            Nee man. When she asks him what he put in it. Sheesh you people are in the gutter today

          • RockMossel2014

            January 9, 2014 at 14:55

            lol I dont think it will be awkward anymore once it reaches that stage!

          • RockMossel2014

            January 9, 2014 at 14:51

            Left nuts will be offered in return for the viewing pleasure.

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            January 9, 2014 at 14:54

            So you want to give your left nuts (MOAR THAN ONE???) to watch Matt and his sister???

            Ag nee man!

          • RockMossel2014

            January 9, 2014 at 14:57

            lol no man, for the awkward moment when she actually asks him in real life what he put into her..computer. xD

        • Matthew Holliday

          January 9, 2014 at 14:51

          ugh =/

          Reply

          • RockMossel2014

            January 9, 2014 at 14:54

            Jokes dude. 🙂 You have to understand I couldn’t let that golden oppertunity slip away.

          • Matthew Holliday

            January 9, 2014 at 14:58

            all in good fun, lol

          • VampyricSquirrel Monk

            January 9, 2014 at 14:59

            I can imagine your first thought was “What the fuck?”

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 14:59

            No. I’m pretty sure it was “Gross!!!!!!”

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            January 9, 2014 at 14:55

            I hope they haven’t scarred you dude. I actually am interested in knowing the specs

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 14:57

            Yeah I’m actually also waiting to hear the specs and hopefully cost.

            @matthewholliday:disqus

      • Matthew Holliday

        January 9, 2014 at 14:57

        PC on a budget:
        AMD A8 5600k 3.6ghz
        with my old AMD 5770500gb HDD
        4gb RAM

        with the spare parts i had lying around from upgrading etc, the whole thing only cost like R2500, and it still manages to play the Ghosts and BF4 etc

        Reply

        • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

          January 9, 2014 at 14:59

          WIN!

          Reply

          • Matthew Holliday

            January 9, 2014 at 15:00

            these AMD cores are amazing for doing budget builds, 3.6ghz quad for R1300, R650 for a budget FM2 motherboard, compared to an intel build in the same price range, just doesnt compare.

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 15:02

            Gotta give AMD that. In budget builds they are perfect.

            It’s only in the higher levels (i5 and comparative) where intel is better bang for buck in my opinion

          • Matthew Holliday

            January 9, 2014 at 15:12

            oh ya, in a perfect world Id definitely be running an i5 in my own rig, but i cant justify spending R2500 on a CPU alone.
            graphics card, maybe, but i still find myself thinking if going for that AMD 7850 was a good idea, but not CPU

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            January 9, 2014 at 15:13

            My 7870 OC was the best thing money could buy (won iPad, sold iPad, bought 7870)

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 15:16

            That 7870 is awesome

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            January 9, 2014 at 15:24

            Can’t wait to see how it will run when I do the old Mobo-CPU upgradezors

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 15:39

            I’m sure you will see a rather large performance boost

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 15:18

            I hear you hey. I spent the money when I upgraded on an i7-2600. Decided if I was going to upgrade I better future proof my CPU in the process. Haven’t been disappointed I must say.

            Haven’t had to upgrade a thing in 3 1/2 years and won’t need to for a while to come I’m sure.

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            January 9, 2014 at 15:03

            AMD ftw

        • Admiral Chief in Vegas

          January 9, 2014 at 15:02

          NICE

          Reply

        • VampyricSquirrel Monk

          January 9, 2014 at 15:05

          Nice going!

          Reply

        • Admiral Chief in Vegas

          January 9, 2014 at 15:10

          I had to go help a friend of mine’s with his girlfriend’s dad’s gaming PC (for CoD Ghosts), they recently “upgraded” with the help (read scumbaggery) of Computer Corporation. Not only did they OVERPAY for a GPU, the rest of the PC was left as is, so now the GPU can run ghosts, but not the memory, OS, or even CPU.

          Sheesh

          Reply

          • TiMsTeR1033

            January 9, 2014 at 15:13

            Hectic! talk about being robbed!

          • Matthew Holliday

            January 9, 2014 at 15:13

            I get paranoid about that everytime aswell, got myself a 7850, but now im wondering if the rest of my pc is holding it back, was tempted to just give my sister my PC as is and start fresh

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 15:16

            What are your specs?

          • Matthew Holliday

            January 9, 2014 at 15:20

            AMD A10 5800 3.8ghz quad
            AMD 7850
            8gb RAM
            etc

            I know technically that CPU still has atleast a year left befor it starts bottle necking me, but thers always doubt.
            TBH I think just formatting this bitch and starting fresh(except for a few choice steam games) would solve all my problems.

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 15:24

            wait a minute… isn’t that an APU chip? With built in graphics?

          • Matthew Holliday

            January 9, 2014 at 15:27

            most new AMD CPUs are nowdays

            its got a 7660d, which i only discovered fairly recently actually, i checked the benchmarks, and it was almost on par with my nvidia 550ti, but not quite

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 15:34

            That’s why I was asking. The AMD FX4170 Black edition is the same price and has better performance.

            But it’s not really a huge difference. I just know that the “discrete” FX chips are better when using a dedicated graphics card in conjunction compared to the integrated graphics CPU’s

          • Matthew Holliday

            January 9, 2014 at 15:36

            yeah, i looked at them both, but decided the newer model A10 was the better choice, wishing i had gone for the fx4170 instead.
            didnt know you could use them in conjunction though, should probably look up how or if it just does it passively or something

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 15:38

            As far I know you can enable CrossFire multi-GPU mode in your Catalyst control center (Not sure if you need a bios tweak as well)

          • Matthew Holliday

            January 9, 2014 at 15:41

            Ah wait, i didnt take the fx4170 because AM3 socket motherboards are hard to come by

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 15:44

            makes sense

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            January 9, 2014 at 15:25

            My AMD CPU is still behaving well after 5 years tbh

          • Matthew Holliday

            January 9, 2014 at 15:34

            i would have said the same thing about my AMD phenom x4, except as it is with computers, it just decided to not work one day a few months ago.
            the techs couldnt even tell me if it was my motherboard or CPU that was the problem, cus they dont stock AM3 sockets or CPUs anymore.

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 15:35

            a CPU can last about 8 years before seriously needing an upgrade. As long as you purchase a decent one every 8 or so years that is.

          • Admiral Chief in Vegas

            January 9, 2014 at 15:36

            That sucks.

            I’m still rollin’ with a AM2+ TriCore AMD, no overclocking, and still kicking ass

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 15:15

            I would go ballistic dude!

            It’s why I refuse to let places like that even try sell me anything. I chose exactly what I want. End of story

  6. Alien Emperor Trevor

    January 9, 2014 at 14:44

    I have 40 of those… :/

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief in Vegas

      January 9, 2014 at 14:46

      40 unplayed?

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        January 9, 2014 at 14:51

        9.5 completed & 2 started not finished heh. The 0.5 is from Fallout New Vegas, haven’t played the DLCs 😉

        Reply

        • TiMsTeR1033

          January 9, 2014 at 14:52

          what about the other 2oo odd games?

          Reply

    • TiMsTeR1033

      January 9, 2014 at 14:50

      Its okay soon it will be more..

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        January 9, 2014 at 14:52

        The list is growing much slower than it used to, I’m controlling my addiction.

        Reply

  7. Alien Emperor Trevor

    January 9, 2014 at 14:45

    This seems like a pretty cool system. Well done Valve!

    Reply

  8. Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

    January 9, 2014 at 14:45

    This is an awesome idea.

    Now, can one, for example, log one machine in online in to the “Grown up” mode and another machine online in to the “Child Mode” and have both online at the same time or will this still not allow you to have steam logged on with 2 concurrent connections?

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief in Vegas

      January 9, 2014 at 14:46

      Concurrent I think. But not to the same game

      Reply

      • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

        January 9, 2014 at 14:48

        Because I know currently one can’t do this. Can’t have 2 machines online with the same steam profile. Very irritating when I want to download content overnight at work AND want to play at home 🙁

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief in Vegas

          January 9, 2014 at 14:49

          I think there will be a section where you can select the family pool of games, maybe a different menu. The main account will grant access to said account, and then will be able to browse and or access those games?

          Something like that

          Reply

          • Sir Rants A Lot Llew. Jelly!!!

            January 9, 2014 at 14:50

            I hope so because then I can finally DL on a seperate connection to the one I want to play games on

          • SlasherZA

            January 10, 2014 at 08:09

            Just do a family sharing – create a free steam account, share your main accounts games with it (join the beta and the family sharing group), then download the games you want on the free account at work, play on the main account at home….

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