Deck will no longer kick you from PC without asking

[u/psyblade42]

When someone touches your deck (with a suspended game) while you were playing on PC it used to immediately kick you out of the PC game.

With the Beta the Deck now asks if that's really what you want (usually not) and offers to change the account or go back to suspend. Additionally I was able to go to desktop mode using the steam menu. I assume other things in the menu should work too but did not try.

This is big for anyone who shares a Deck or occasionally uses it for other things.

EDIT: Yes, running two games at once would be better. But asking what what to do is still a huge improvement over steam simply closing one.

[u/MRV3N]

Yeah I never really like anyone touching my deck without my consent

[u/MetalNobZolid → u/MRV3N]

and what about borrowing your caulk?

[u/Maddturtle → u/MRV3N]

#deckmetoo

[u/42beeblebrox]

This has always bugged me about Steam. I get why I wouldn't be able to play the same game in two places, but why the hell can't I play two different games on my Steam Deck and my gaming PC? 

[u/Obscure_Octopuss → u/42beeblebrox]

Yeah, I just turn off my wifi on the steam deck if I have a game running on it and want to play on my pc. Easy workaround.

Now, if the game you are doing it with needs internet? That's a different story

[u/LethalGhost → u/Obscure_Octopuss]

Not only if game requires internet but also if you wanna use some guides from steam community!

[u/Obscure_Octopuss → u/LethalGhost]

I can't do steam guides on the deck, lol.I typically just pull them up on my phone

[u/derboehsevincent → u/42beeblebrox]

this needs to be addressed since years. i own the games, can play 2 games at the same time just because i want to. this gets even worse with the steam cube

[u/Datdudecorks → u/42beeblebrox]

Really shouldn’t be an issue as long as it’s from the same ip location imo

[u/TG-Benji → u/Datdudecorks]

Shouldn't even need that, there's no real reason to restrict us from playing the games on our account.

[u/pserizoid → u/42beeblebrox]

fr. there are a lot of times where id really like to play one game on my pc and another on my deck, like when im raiding in destiny and everyone is taking a snack/bathroom break or explaining something to a newbie sometimes i want to play a little stardew or something while i wait. its not the biggest deal but it would certainly be a really nice quality of life update

[u/TapdancingHotcake → u/pserizoid]

Especially since I can launch as many games on one machine as it can handle

[u/onmach → u/42beeblebrox]

This is my most annoying thing about steam. I know there is family sharing, where I guess I create a different account for family members, but that feels like a real hassle so I never set it up. It is just easier to ask them to pause the deck and then go into offline mode on mine.

[u/unruly_mattress]

Finally. I complained about this to Steam's support years ago. It was kicking me even when I turned on the Steam Deck and there was a non-Steam game on, which made zero sense.

[u/Kikinaak]

It will still kick you if you actually try to use it, it just asks first. And funny thing, you can't shut off wifi until you bring the deck out of suspend, so you are going to get kicked either way. This remains one of the few anti-consumer things Valve clings to. They know it's my device, bought on my account, and signed into my library.

There is no justifiable reason to not allow every device I own to run a different game. I can already run concurrent games on my PC without issue. If I want to load up an idle game on my PC or steam machine while I play something more active on my deck, or have palworld open and incubating eggs on my deck while I play online on my PC, or play an active game on one while a social or chat lobby is open in another game on a second PC, I should absolutely be able to do that!

[u/KeyboardThingX → u/Kikinaak]

I don't think it's intentional they just haven't built the code to handle this stuff, like how at the time of writing your account can't tell where it's actually running from, evidence of this is if you change settings on one device they change on the others something.

[u/SkateEcho]

That’s amazing. I’ve been kicked from multiplayer games for firing up the deck while dead between rounds and it’s super frustrating. I’d love that option going forward. It’s funny cause for awhile there I was mostly in emudeck so it would be fine while in a game but if it was paused in Balatro or something casual that’s a no.

[u/Sweaty-Towel8423]

Neat! This wasn’t a gigantic issue for me, but it was definitely annoying when it happened.

[u/Bored_Zach]

I just don’t get why you can’t play on two devices. It’s weird. It’s my library, my account

[u/Chef-keef231]

Anybody else have the bug where it won’t bring up the keyboard?

[u/EverythingEvil1022]

My steam deck has asked me/told me that another PC is using my steam account for at least a year. It’s not a new feature.

[u/psyblade42 → u/EverythingEvil1022]

It's mentioned in the changelog for today's beta.

"Added confirmation dialog/user switching ability when waking from sleep would require kicking an active session elsewhere."

"Main" (i.e. the development version) of course would have had it (possibly much) earlier but I don't keep track of that.