I use family sharing and want to use a different family members account on my Steam Machine in general, but when i use it would like my own account, how is the experience for user switching?

Does the same game need to be installed twice? Is it quick to switch or do you need to authenticate each time?

Anyone using their Steam Machine or Steam Deck like this? Family sharing or not.

  • Creat@discuss.tchncs.de
    7·
    2 days ago

    One serious downside of mirror accounts is that the installed games in the library aren’t filtered to the current account (at least they weren’t last I checked). So if the accounts have different levels of purchasing activity, it’ll be a sea of not-your-games with some of yours sprinkled in between.

    You can somewhat mitigate that with different sorting options, but afaik there is no option at all to hide games unavailable or unowned on the current account.

    Functionally it works very well though.

      • Creat@discuss.tchncs.de
        2·
        2 days ago

        Possibly, but if it isn’t enabled (like in my case) is a sea of useless, unplayable games with the playable ones hard to find in between. Truly annoying.

          • Creat@discuss.tchncs.de
            1·
            11 hours ago

            Yes, it is. But it doesn’t change anything in practice: we don’t play the same games. One has far more than the other (and more recent purchases). Enabling it just allows each of us to play the games we’re not interested in anyway, so what’s the point. It still leaves the ones we are is interested just sprinkled in between.

            Is not about not being able to play these games, but having no interest in them either. If they are playable or not makes zero difference. They are still in the way and just clutter.