A woman turned to Reddit for advice after a heated family dispute broke out over her Steam gaming library.
In her post, the 30-year-old explained that she owns “around 2k games in my gaming library on steam, 3.5 if counting steam family sharing.” Steam Family Sharing, she clarified, “allows [a user] to create a family up to 6 people including yourself and share games with them.”
She noted that once someone leaves or is removed, “they can not join another family for a year and the slot they had can not be fulfilled for a year,” though she admitted she might not be entirely certain about the last detail.
The conflict began when her in-laws asked if she could give her 11-year-old nephew-in-law access to her library. But she explained that all six slots were already filled — by herself, her partner, “2 of my best friends and 2 of family members who can not afford games as where they live most games are either not sold or extremely expensive.” Each spot, she emphasized, had been carefully chosen for people she trusted and wanted to support.
When the request came, she said no. “Not only do I not have space, but I’m not kicking anyone out,” she explained. She also admitted she doesn’t even know the child personally. “My partner doesn’t really know him and they don’t get along, so why would I be giving someone like that access?” she asked. The additional responsibility of restricting which games he could or couldn’t play was another reason she declined.
She told readers, “I am not spending hours filtering out the games the nephew can and cant play.” To her, the expectation was unreasonable, especially given the commitments she had already made to others.
Her refusal didn’t sit well with everyone. While her mother-in-law supported her decision, her father-in-law “caused a scene and called me an a—— for not helping.” She added that the situation was more complicated since “nephew is on FIL side and not really related to my partner if we go to the specifics.”
The matter soon spilled over to social media, where she claimed “both FIL and nephew are being super dramatic about it… with comments calling me an a—— too for refusing to help a child.”
On Reddit, however, many sympathized with her stance. One commenter told her, “NTA… You don’t have to share with anyone, especially a complete stranger. Relatives who feel differently are free to share their own resources.”
Another pointed out that her explanation should have been enough on its own: “You’re already at the limit for sharing, and that should be enough of a reason on its own.” They added that the fact she doesn’t know the child, plus the hassle of filtering games, “is plenty” to justify saying no.
Despite the backlash, she remains firm in her decision.
