Steam game sharing feature appears in client code

Steam owners Valve may be looking to allow game sharing in a future update, as suggested by a few lines of tell-tale code found in the store's client code.

Initially discovered by NeoGAF, the client code now contains the following lines:

• "SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicense_Title" "Shared game library"
• "SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicenseLocked_OwnerText" "Just so you know, your games are currently in use by %borrower%. Playing now will send %borrower% a notice that it's time to quit."
• "SteamUI_JoinDialog_SharedLicenseLocked_BorrowerText" "This shared game is currently unavailable. Please try again later or buy this game for your own library."

From the above code it seems that Valve intends to let users share games or their whole library with at least one friend, and that should you wish to play your game, the borrower will receive a message telling them to quit, suggesting that only one person can play each title at a time.

Presently, users can't share games, but given the recent hoopla over Xbox One restrictions - which was then cooled as Microsoft announced its own family sharing options - it seems that Valve wants to pioneer content-sharing online in this manner.

Do you think this is positive step? Let us know below.

Thanks Kotaku.