Game licensing across multiple pcs for a non-commercial setup, using Steam

In Steam, what options are there for installing the same game for simultaneous use, across several computers?

Ease of management is the bigger concern, over game licensing costs. This is a non-commercial environment (an after hours LAN party at the office), so would prefer not paying a lot for internet cafe management software.

steam

Best Answer

The easiest solution I've seen to this is maintaining network share of steam game backups. Only once device needs to download the whole of each game via the Internet. Each person/computer then has their own credentials, but installs happen using the "restore from backup" option at LAN speeds, instead of having 20 users all trying to download the same game at once over a congested Internet connection.

It takes a bit of upfront work to maintain the backups, but does make the process quite painless once you've got all the accounts created and all the players well drilled in the process.

I did email Gabe a long while back asking for a "LAN party mirroring mode" feature that could have worked seamlessly via mDNS on the local LAN segment. Never heard anything back unfortunately.

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Can you play Steam games on multiple PCS?

you can use your Steam account and games on any computer - just not on more than one PC at a time. When you log into your account on one computer you will automatically log out on any other PC where you are logged into Steam.

Does Steam have game licenses?

According to the agreement that you agree to every single time you buy a game on Steam, "the Content and Services are licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Content and Services." You're not buying the games, you're buying the license to use them.

Use one hard drive for Steam libraries on multiple PCs

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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