I really doubt they’ve got an IP lock in place; just set up a Family and invite your siblings and in-laws.
Edit: tried it with a buddy, and it is in fact IP locked; he was unable to join until I set up a VPN for him to connect through. After initial setup, you don’t need the same IP address.
They do point out that they will be monitoring how it’s used, and could adjust things later.
Sounds like corporate-speak for “if people abuse this, we’ll lock it down harder.”
Even if people are using it to share with actual family around the country, they may get caught up in future updates that remove that feature. Also note that any publisher can opt out of the sharing. If EA or Ubi or some other big company doesn’t like the lack of limits, they may be able to force Valve’s hand in changing the policy.
The idea is wonderful, but there are a ton sof ways this could end up worse than the old system.
This is technical but you could set up a wireguard vpn server and let your friends connect to your computer. Then you all look like you are sitting in your home network from the steam servers point of view.
Or just install Tailscale which makes it even easier and is free for like 3 computers.
Your friends will have a bit of lag though since all their connections have to go through your computer to the steam network. But I believe it may not be noticeable.
Or just install Tailscale which makes it even easier and is free for like 3 computers.
Free for 100 devices! You can legit install it on every device virtual and physical device in your home and maybe run out of devices for the free plan. Right now I use it to secure the connection between my VPS proxy and my Minecraft server, as duct tape fixing some network fuckery, and as my primary means of connecting to services inside and outside of my LAN
