10 "Family" Share Feature

Xithryl

New member
Dec 18, 2012
16
0
0
Visit site
I doubt it will be as simple as choosing amy 10 friends.

Like the Family Plan that already exists, you'll likely have to have one Parent account and then several child accounts. The parent account would be the financially responsible account. So your friends better be people you really trust.

A friend of mine is also very skeptical, but now seeing as how Steam looks to be adopting this type of system, I can see them simply allowing 10 people to partake in this type of system. It's understandable that we are all skeptical of it, but I think it will pan out very nicely for all of us getting X1s
 

MerlotC

New member
Sep 19, 2011
168
0
0
Visit site
I doubt it will be as simple as choosing amy 10 friends.

Like the Family Plan that already exists, you'll likely have to have one Parent account and then several child accounts. The parent account would be the financially responsible account. So your friends better be people you really trust.

The family game share is not comparable to the old Gold family plan as it has nothing to do with Gold account sharing. That is a separate issue to which the new solution is now only one Gold needed at one household (don't need family plan).
 

Keith Wallace

New member
Nov 8, 2012
3,179
0
0
Visit site
Well, I think the best way to describe how this works now is: It doesn't. It could still work in this revised system, but Microsoft elected against making that happen, so here we are.
 

MerlotC

New member
Sep 19, 2011
168
0
0
Visit site
Well, I think the best way to describe how this works now is: It doesn't. It could still work in this revised system, but Microsoft elected against making that happen, so here we are.

They said no family share at launch with the new policy so that does sound like they are at least considering how to implement it. I expect it will be made available for digital copies only in the future as a way to entice users to make the switch. If that is confirmed by launch time as coming then I will definitely go download rather than disk (may download anyway as I very seldom sell any games and don't want to have to change disks).
 

Keith Wallace

New member
Nov 8, 2012
3,179
0
0
Visit site
They said no family share at launch with the new policy so that does sound like they are at least considering how to implement it. I expect it will be made available for digital copies only in the future as a way to entice users to make the switch. If that is confirmed by launch time as coming then I will definitely go download rather than disk (may download anyway as I very seldom sell any games and don't want to have to change disks).

I don't want that to be the solution. My Internet connection simply isn't fast enough to handle an all-digital solution, but I'd still like to take steps to make use of it.
 

Musicman247

New member
Aug 29, 2006
802
0
0
www.splashblog.com
You can't always get what you want. If your internet connection isn't good enough, then you won't be able to participate. Same thing with multiplayer. Should they figure out a way you can play multiplayer with people from around the world without a good internet connection?
 

Keith Wallace

New member
Nov 8, 2012
3,179
0
0
Visit site
You can't always get what you want. If your internet connection isn't good enough, then you won't be able to participate. Same thing with multiplayer. Should they figure out a way you can play multiplayer with people from around the world without a good internet connection?

Thank you. I was so unsure of whether or not I could without your stating the blatantly-obvious. As I mentioned in another thread, these are the worst kinds of posts, and they drive me crazy.
 

theeboredone

New member
Oct 7, 2012
325
0
0
Visit site
Here's apparently another MS "engineer" speaking about how Family Share would have worked.

Heartbroken Xbox One employee lets rip. | HeyUGuys GamingHeyUGuys Gaming

"First is family sharing, this feature is near and dear to me and I truly felt it would have helped the industry grow and make both gamers and developers happy. The premise is simple and elegant, when you buy your games for Xbox One, you can set any of them to be part of your shared library. Anyone who you deem to be family had access to these games regardless of where they are in the world. There was never any catch to that, they didn?t have to share the same billing address or physical address it could be anyone. When your family member accesses any of your games, they?re placed into a special demo mode. This demo mode in most cases would be the full game with a 15-45 minute timer and in some cases an hour. This allowed the person to play the game, get familiar with it then make a purchase if they wanted to. When the time limit was up they would automatically be prompted to the Marketplace so that they may order it if liked the game."

So according to him, it was "demo" based only.
 

ncxcstud

New member
Dec 16, 2010
1,147
0
0
Visit site
But, not a demo the way we experience them now. Today, demo means only a limited portion - and only that portion - Even in that post he talked about that people would be able to finish the whole game since it saves your position. Albeit, you just have a window of opportunity to play.

Would that restriction be annoying? Of course, but they'd have to put something in place to encourage people to buy the game.

Not as 'awesome' as we hoped it would be, but even then it didn't make financial sense to the industry to share an entire game with people with no incentive to purchase the game you're enjoying for free...
 

theeboredone

New member
Oct 7, 2012
325
0
0
Visit site
I'm just pointing this out, because people were touting Family Share to be some feature where you could share entire games. Needless to say, if what this guy says is true, there is some restriction. So for the people here who were like, "Oh, my friend from another state or out of country can play my games" well not exactly.
 

ncxcstud

New member
Dec 16, 2010
1,147
0
0
Visit site
I'm just pointing this out, because people were touting Family Share to be some feature where you could share entire games. Needless to say, if what this guy says is true, there is some restriction. So for the people here who were like, "Oh, my friend from another state or out of country can play my games" well not exactly.

Well, still the 'whole game' but apparently with a nag screen and timed parameters. He didn't say you could only play for an hour, but that you could only play for an hour at a time...

Which does make sense. So, not nearly as 'awesome' as we had hoped. But, if we look back it seemed kind of crazy to think they'd be able to play the entire game with no restrictions - unless microsoft was going to give a cut of the XBL proceeds to the pubs/devs.
 

Reflexx

New member
Dec 30, 2010
4,484
4
0
Visit site
I like how he said there's "no catch", but there was a catch.

But I can see why it's set up that way.

The idea is to encourage people to buy the product. The best way to get them interested is by letting them play it. I imagine the amount of time allowed would be up to developers. And it would be different for single player and multiplayer.

If I was making it for multiplayer, I'd let people play for hour a day, every day. I'm sure a certain percentage of those people would decide that they liked the game enough to buy their own copy.

Also, it would be cool if a "family member" bought the game, it would be discounted another $10 or something.

I suppose it's still worth talking about because you never know if they'll bring this back for digital games.
 

Coreldan

New member
Oct 2, 2012
2,514
0
0
Visit site
I like how he said there's "no catch", but there was a catch.

I seriously just like 30 seconds ago thought about the same thing, but then I realized that there might not have really been one. I feel the "there is no catch" specifically referred to who you can add as family, it's mentioned in the same sentence there. There was no catch to adding someone as a family member, 10 people whoever you choose, no strings attached such as billing address etc other than that these people are in a "family".

But yes, if we think about "no catch" in general, yes, there sort of was one. I'm pretty sure NOWHERE have they mentioned before this that the family share would've been "demo-like" limited in time you can play. They didn't exactly lie to us about it ever, they just left out part of the truth.

But I still think the catch-part referred to adding people as family members, rather than there being no catch at all in the family share-thing.
 

Keith Wallace

New member
Nov 8, 2012
3,179
0
0
Visit site
If that is how the sharing feature worked, then I am not concerned at all that it is gone. I personally think that most would just ask the owner if the game was worth getting and read a review or two. They wouldn't LIKELY use that demo to actually evaluate a purchase, but that's my opinion. I get why it would exist in that format and all, but in that format, I can't say it's a feature I'd care about, let alone one worth taking that check-in over.
 

theeboredone

New member
Oct 7, 2012
325
0
0
Visit site
The more I think about it, I think it would be awesome to have some sort of "referral" feature. If someone in your Family Share ends up buying the game, you get 5 dollars worth of MS points put into your account.
 

Mystictrust

New member
May 26, 2011
976
0
0
Visit site
Here's apparently another MS "engineer" speaking about how Family Share would have worked.
Heartbroken Xbox One employee lets rip. | HeyUGuys GamingHeyUGuys Gaming
Thank you very much for that link. My opinion now is based off of the assumption that this is true:

Playing a friend's game via their shared game library would have been awesome. Even playing X amount of times in increments of up to an hour would have been cool... my brother lives on the other side of the country, and he would have shared FIFA 14 with me. I haven't bought a FIFA game since FIFA 98 (I was able to play that one at an EB Games, and was sold), but my brother LOVES soccer and buys every game that comes out. I REALLY want to see this new IGNITE engine that EA Sports is using, and see how great this game is - for free. I would buy it if I liked it enough. This functionality currently doesn't exist for full retail games, as there are no demos whatsoever for full retail games.

15 minute demos you could only play once would be fairly weaksauce; it's what I imagine EA and Activision would require on their games.

That being said... if these demos were the reason for the prior DRM enforcement, then I think Microsoft made the RIGHT move in reversing course and stripping DRM. The 24 hour check-in was far too strict just to be able to share demos, play without a disc, and have a centralized library area where you could access your games from other consoles. Game sharing, as it was described by this engineer, just didn't offer enough to warrant a very strict 24 hour check-in. Maybe 24 hours won't be very strict in 10 years depending on world infrastructure, but it is now.

Speaking of DRM... Indie Games on Xbox 360 have a really good system set up. I know I'm not the only one in these forums who has played Indie Games. When you are playing a demo of an Indie game: You must be connected to Xbox Live the entire time, you have full access to the game (unless the dev decides to strip some features out), and there is a strict 30 minute time limit. No saves. Once you buy the game, you STILL must be connected to Xbox Live to play, but the game is fully unlocked and yours then. My point is that Microsoft already has a really good, working DRM system in place for Indie games - and it works real well. Perhaps game sharing can come back in the future, but with the Indie games DRM system on top for those that don't own the game. That's all they need to do... 24 hour checks aren't required for that.

Of course, the real reason for 24 hour checks was to give publishers/devs kickbacks on used games. We're clearly not ready for that in any capacity, and another approach should be attempted in some other way in the future - by all console manufacturers and the industry at large, working together to keep gaming alive and publishers well funded. I think family share was an afterthought. Somebody needs to look at the Indie Games model over there aat Microsoft and bring it back. I still want game demos of retail games, and this would be the best way to do so.
 

NaNoo123

New member
Jun 7, 2013
112
0
0
Visit site
That's not exactly sharing really, may as well just download a demo. I thought that the new discovery would take into account what your friends etc are playing anyway?
 

Mystictrust

New member
May 26, 2011
976
0
0
Visit site
Well yeah, that really is it... a demo with a unique feature name. Since full retail demos don't currently exist, any game you buy gives you the opportunity to "share" that game (albeit with time restrictions). Sounds to me like that's what they meant, anyhow. If you could download a demo for big games right now, then there would be no need for the feature to exist.

I would take that "Xbox One Employee" article with a grain of salt.

View attachment 36076
Hmm, thanks. Well, whatever the real deal is, hopefully they come up with some version of it in the future so I can actually try out games my friends have before purchasing.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
322,908
Messages
2,242,875
Members
428,004
Latest member
hetb