Unlock the Ultimate Gaming Secret: Letting Your Friends Watch You Play on Steam - Here’s How!
Gaming is a release from the stresses of the world, but sometimes it’s not just about playing, it’s about sharing the gaming experience with your friends. With Steam, you can now let your friends watch you play, something that was previously not possible easily. This is an ultimate feature that not only lets you bond with your friends but who knows - you might end up having an audience for your gaming endeavors! So, how do you get started?
- Update Your Steam Client
The first step is to ensure that you have the latest version of the Steam client installed. To check whether you have the latest version, head to the Steam menu and then to ‘About Steam’. Here, you’ll be able to see the version number, and if this doesn’t match the latest version, update the client.
- Set Your Privacy Options
Now, head to the settings section and click on ‘Broadcasting’. This is where you decide if you want your broadcast to be publicly available, only accessible to friends, or keep it limited to just a few selected individuals. Decide on your privacy settings according to your audience.
- Select the Game You Want to Share
Steam has made it easy for you to start sharing your gaming experience. When you have selected the game, you’ll see a ‘Broadcast’ button right below the game’s picture. Click on that button to start broadcasting, and select the person you want to share the game with, and voila - you’re live!
- Manage your Broadcast
During your broadcast, you have the option to either chat with your friends or choose not to, and to leave your mic on or mute it altogether. You can also choose to show your webcam, or not. The controls and options are simply laid out, and it’s easy for you to manage.
- End the Broadcast
Once you’ve done sharing the game, it’s straightforward to end the broadcast, with all the options to save or delete the recording. You can also end the broadcast by going back to the Steam overlay and clicking ‘Stop Broadcasting.’’
Conclusion
Sharing your gaming experience with your friends is easy and fun with Steam. The platform has made broadcasting seamless and allows you to choose your audience, making your gaming experience a fun and personalized one. Plus, with the option to save or delete your recording, and the ability to control your privacy settings, you can tailor your gaming experience to your liking.
So what are you waiting for? Start broadcasting today and have an amazing gaming experience with your friends!
A lot of us are going through a lonely time right now: self-isolating for our own safety and in many cases being confronted with a lot of downtime that we’d rather spend with friends. While the Internet may not quite make up for having friends with you in real life, there are many good solutions that let you share experiences together. One of these is Steam, which lets you broadcast your game sessions to your friends so they can watch you play, leave comments, even voice chat!
This article walks you through how to let your friends watch you play your games over Steam.
First, open Steam, then click Steam at the top-left corner -> Settings -> Broadcasting.
Click the Privacy setting drop-down and select either “Friends can request to watch my games” or “Friends can watch my games.” (The latter means your friends can jump in to watch any time without needing express consent.)
You can make other changes here, such as adjusting the video dimensions (lower the resolution if your experience latency or quality problems), maximum bitrate, and encoding optimization – either for quality or performance.
When you’re done making changes, click OK.
Next, start the game you want to play. Your friend will be able to see the game you’re playing in the Friends list. Get them to right-click your name in their friends list, then click “Watch Game.”
If you’ve set your privacy settings to your friends being allowed to “request” to watch your game, accept the watch request when it shows up. If you’re openly letting your friends watch, then they’ll start watching right away.
You can press Shift + Tab while playing to see the broadcast window and chat with your friends in it. You can of course voice-chat with your friends, too, by right-clicking their name in your friends list and clicking “Start Voice Chat.”
Looking for different ways to socialize with friends during self-isolation? Here’s how to share your screen over Skype, or if you’re looking for Skype alternatives then we have you covered as well.
Content Manager at Make Tech Easier. Enjoys Android, Windows, and tinkering with retro console emulation to breaking point.
Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox
