Valve has redesigned Steam Families

Steam Families, a simplified and improved version of existing household game sharing tools, has received a complete redesign by Valve, and is available for testing in public beta form.

Steam Families consolidates and replaces features previously available through Valve's Steam Family Sharing and Steam Family View tools. It allows up to six family members to share combined game libraries, containing purchased titles, including DLCs from each individual family member's library. This sharing allows access to the games anytime, but with a few conditions.

An important warning is that games are only suitable for sharing if their developers have not decided to exclude them from the Steam Families system. Once that is overcome, the only other major limitation is that one copy of the game can only be played by one person at a time. If multiple people want to play the same game at the same time, multiple copies of that game must be purchased and available in a shared library.

However, Steam Families brings the new ability to play games from a shared library even when you're not connected to the Internet, which previously required an Internet connection. Also, Steam will no longer block access to a family member's entire game library if that member is online and playing another game. Valve further emphasizes that individual accounts within Steam Families will now maintain their own saved games, earn distinct Steam Achievements, and enjoy personal access to Steam Workshop files.

Steam Families also offers a new set of parental control tools, accessible via the Steam client, mobile devices or web browsers. These tools allow "adult" members to monitor and manage game access for accounts registered as "child". Adults now have the ability to limit children's entry to the Steam Store, community functions, and chat, and can review playtime summaries, establish playtime restrictions, authorize children's petitions for extra playtime or access to features, reclaim children's accounts, and authorize payments for children's purchases.