Steam's beta version includes expanded parental controls, the ability to create family groups, and a "Request to buy games from children" option

Valve, as expected, has added new functionality to the test version of Steam.

Here's What We Know

A number of important features will appear in the game service:

1. Theability to join family groups of up to 6 people. Users will have access to each other's games that are suitable for borrowing, but for now their catalogue is limited. By launching games from the family library, everyone can create their own saves, get their own achievements in Steam, have access to workshop jobs and more.
   When logging into Steam, the family library will appear on the left side as a subsection in the list of purchased and installed games.
   
2. Parental controls: users will be able to restrict children's access to both specific games and a certain category of games, as well as limit the amount of time that can be spent playing games. Parent can recover children's accounts if they forget or lose their password.
3. Request purchases from children - game purchases will only be made with the parent's involvement. This will most likely apply to microtransactions as well.

All these features can be used not only in the Steam client, but also on a mobile device or via email.

If the innovations successfully pass testing, they will soon be added to the full version of Steam.

Source: Steam