Valve gives all Steam users access to family options

Steam family options are now out of beta, so all Steam users now have access to settings that can limit their children's use of the service, Valve announced today.

The company encourages families to sit down together and establish ground rules for gaming, then enact them through the family options, which were included in the Jan. 7 update to the Steam client.

Steam family options allow adults to limit kids' access to games, content and features. For example, parents can mark certain games in their library as off-limits, block children from making purchases in the store, keep them from interacting with the Steam community and prevent them from using user-generated content.

Once family options are set, the owner of the account sets a PIN that must be entered in order to exit the "family view" and access the full breadth of content and features available on Steam.