PC Gamers Can Now Loan Games Via Steam Family Sharing

Gamers will be able to share their Steam digital libraries with friends and family so they can try out games, Valve Software announced on Wednesday.

Valve's Steam Family Sharing program will allow Steam users to authorize a trusted family member or friend's computer, and that person will then be able to view the gamer's entire Steam library. The friend can then download and play any of those games, earning her own achievements and storing it all on her own save file. A user can share his library with up to 10 other Steam accounts.

There is a catch: if the lender logs on to Steam and wants to play any game, even if it's not the one being borrowed, the borrower will be given a notification that she either needs to purchase the game for herself or quit the game. In this sense, the lender is sending the entire Steam account to his friend, but the two can't share the account concurrently. Additionally, items earned or purchased in-game are restricted to the Steam account they were earned on. Read more...