Internet Gaming Question

[David M]

I have two gaming computers in the same room. I would like to be able to play Left 4 Dead and other online games with my son, one on each computer.

I downloaded Left 4 Dead from Steam onto my computer. On the computer my son would be using, I logged into my account in Steam and went to buy a second copy of Left 4 Dead to install onto my son's computer. Steam would not let me do this, it said I already have a copy of the game and the box to buy a second copy was grayed out. I also tried setting up a second Steam account to buy the software on that account, Steam would not let me download the software to set up a second account.

Ok that's fine, so what I am thinking of doing is going and buying the boxed DVD version of the game and installing it on my sons computer (actually my wife's computer).

Would this then enable my son and I to play the game online?...each as two different characters in the game? My concern is buying the game and then not being able to do this....wasting 50 bucks.

If so, how does this work? How would the server recognize two different players using the same internet address? Can this be done, or all the signals from the game server assigned to just one IP address?

I know I could set up a LAN and play just against him, rather than online, but that does not interest me since being able to play with four people as a team is much more fun.

BTW, Steam has Left 4 Dead on sale for 25 bucks through Feb 17.

Thanks

[pam123]

I think you're going to have to set up a separate account for your son .

I know it's possible to have several different accounts on one computer :

Can I use multiple Steam accounts on one computer? Yes, you can access different Steam accounts from one computer. However, you may only access one account at a time. The accounts will share the core files for any games the accounts have in common, but each account will maintain its own custom content and configuration files.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_...8963-EIKC-3767

so your son having the same internet address shouldn't be a problem.

[Masaki 7-11]

You'll have to set up a second account and buy the game by logging into the second account. You can have multiple accounts log in to the same computer, however it won't let you buy two copies of a game for an account since each game is tied to the account making it redundant to have an extra copy when you won't be able to use it. I have Counter-Strike set up on both my and my brother's account (I set up both accounts and bought the games that way), we share an internet connection through a router and have no problems playing on the same server.

[Force Flow]

Game licenses are tied to each individual account. An individual account can only be logged in at one place at a time (although installed in many).

So...to have the both of you playing online at the same time, you'd need seperate accounts.

[Kasturi]

Originally Posted by David M I also tried setting up a second Steam account to buy the software on that account, Steam would not let me download the software to set up a second account.

He said that he already tried to buy the game on another account. Any other suggestions?

[pam123]

The account for his son must be separate from his, he cannot set it up from within his own account.

[Masaki 7-11]

To create a new account all you need to do is have steam installed and click on the create a new account button in the Steam Login. It doesn't matter if you have another account that is used for that particular Steam app; it will still let you create a new account.

[David M]

Thanks everyone, much appreciated.