How Gamesharing/Trading REALLY works

[Freezing Alone]

Hey guys/girls, I've been looking through all the gamesharing/trading topics and it's beginning to drive me completely bonkers. Everyone's wondering why even though they've only shared the same game with 3/4 people, they suddenly don't have any trades left. Well, this is why:

It's not the games you get to share 5 times. It's the account you bought them on. Every account has a limit of 5 PS3's that can download from it, including the owner. So you and 4 other people/PS3's can download AS MUCH AS YOU WANT from your account, but as soon as 5 people/PS3's (including the owner) have downloaded from it THAT'S IT. That doesn't mean that you can't share anymore, you can, but it has to be with the original 5 PS3's (including the owner) that are now attached your account's memory.

Here's an example. I make an account, let's call it 'Superflakes'. I buy Loco Roco and Pixeljunk Monsters. I then share Loco Roco with 'Bob123', 'Gigantoballs', 'Notahomo' and 'magicpengel'. Then I go to share Pixeljunk monsters with 'Megamolly' and it says I have no shares. WTF, right? Well:

There's now 5 people/PS3's attached to your account. Superflakes, Bob123, Gigantoballs, Notahomo and magicpengel. That means that you can trade ANYTHING you want, ANYTIME you want, AS MUCH as you want with those 4 people/PS3's, but no one else.

So what do you do if you want to trade with someone other than that initial group? You make another PSN account (read the important edit 2 below for more information on that).

So there isn't a game share limit, there's an account share limit. That's why I regularly share games (more than 5 times too, we tested it) with 4 of my buddies and have a seperate account for random people that may have stuff I want.

I really hope this helped everyone and stops people from going WTF!? whenever they can't share with someone because their shares are magically gone. Take care CAGers!

------------------------------------- Important Edit - How to trade -------------------------------------


Okay, this is for people who don't know how to trade in the first place. Here's what you do:

1. Find someone trustworthy. You're giving them your account info so I can't stress this enough. I always get the MSN/AIM of someone I'm trading with so that we can trade account info at the exact same time and keep each other up to date on when each person is done.

2. Get rid of any credit card/billing info in your account. Otherwise, the person who signs into it could just use your card to download whatever the heck he/she wants.

3. Change your account's password, then change it back when you're done. You don't want the password to be the same before and after the trade because then the person you traded with could get into your account whenever he/she wants.

4. Make a new User/Profile on your PS3 using the PSN Name of the person you're trading with as the user/profile name. This is to help keep track of who you've traded with, and either way it's mandatory. DO NOT DELETE THIS USER/PROFILE AFTER THE TRADE! If you do, anything you've downloaded from that person will stop working!

5. Swap account info with the person you're trading with (Username & Pass), then take that info, go into the new profile you made and click 'Sign Up' under the 'Playstation Network' tab. From here, choose 'Use an existing account' and input the info they gave you. If he/she hasn't lied to you, it should accept it and you should now be connected to the Playstation Network. If it accepts it but doesn't connect you right away, just click 'Sign In' while at the XMB and everything should work.

6. Now that you're signed into their account, click on Playstation Store (the place you'd go to download demo's and whatnot). At the top right of the store is a button called 'Download List'. This is where everything that person has downloaded is stored. Go in there and just download whatever you want. It doesn't matter if you take anything you guys hadn't originally agreed on since you guys can now share as much as you want with each other anyway (read what I wrote above this edit).

7. Once you've taken everything you wanted and it's all downloading, sign out of the person's account and let him/her know you're done. Even if you sign out of their account the stuff will keep downloading so don't worry about it. I prefer to get in and out as quickly as possible so neither of us thinks the other person's doing anything they shouldn't.

8. That's it! Once everything's downloaded just install it and you've officially got a bunch of new goodies. Remember, DO NOT DELETE THE USER/PROFILE YOU MADE FOR THIS TRADE! I can't stress this enough as all this hard work is flushed down the toilet if you do.

So now that you've traded, this person/PS3 is attached to your account. That means you can trade as much as you want with this person again and again with no repercussions. Read my original post (before this edit) for more information on that. Have fun!

------------------------------- Important Edit 2 - Making a new PSN Account -------------------------------

Alright so some people are wondering how to make a new PSN Account to trade with more people and what exactly happens if you do. Here are the steps to making another one:

1. Make a new User/Profile on your PS3. Call it whatever you want, it doesn't matter, plus you can change it later.

2. Click the 'Sign Up' button under 'Playstation Network' and create a new 'Master Account'. I've never tried making a sub account and the way I see it if it ain't broke don't fix it.

3. Create the account using a different e-mail address than any other accounts you've made. Everything else can be the same, just make sure the e-mail is different (since that's how they send you account information).

4. After the account's been created, you're done!

It'll be a completely fresh PSN Account so the download history will be empty (meaning no one can download anything from it until you've downloaded something with it) and it won't affect anything else, meaning you can switch users/profiles and still do whatever you want on other accounts (which stay exactly the same as they were before).

------------------------------- Important Edit 3 - Frequently Asked Questions -------------------------------


Last but not least are some questions people may have (thanks to everyone who commented and brought these up, they'll help everyone else) and some answers that should help you guys/girls out.

Q: I deleted the User/Profile I made for someone I traded with by mistake, now all the stuff I downloaded from him/her show an error and won't work. What do I do?

A: There's two ways to fix this. First of all re-make the User/Profile with the exact same name as before and get in contact with the person you traded with.

First Method: Go into his/her download list and start the downloads of everything you downloaded before, then after they start and the 'Activating' message disappears, stop the downloads. This re-activates everything and gets them working again. It's quick, and saves bandwidth.

Second Method: Delete all the broken downloads off your drive, then go into his/her download list and re-download everything completely. This takes longer and uses up your internet bandwidth but is definitely useful for people who like to play it safe.

[MSUHitman]

Can one person share multiple games from you? For example, my current roommate is going into the military and when he comes back he wants to get a PS3/Wii. He currently has a PSN profile as I though, although I'm the one who has bought games.

Can I then share all the PSN games I've downloaded to him if he's the only one on my share list?

[Freezing Alone]

Yup, you can share as much as you want to him and 3 other people. Those 4 people can download as much as you let them, whenever you let them. If you want to share games with anyone that isn't part of that initial group though you'll have to make another account.

[rendil]

Thanks for the clarification - some of my friends may be picking up PS3s in the near future.

Do you happen to know how it works with master profiles? I currently have a master profile setup with 2 sub-accounts. I add money into the master account, and make purchases using that money with the all of the accounts on the system. If I want to share games, do I share the master account, or the actual account that downloaded the game?

[cheezhead430]

screwed over by this, this should be stickied or something, cuz i think a lot of people dont know about it

[Oktoberfest]

Are the names of the accounts that you're sharing with stored anywhere? Or are you just going to have to remember?

[JMEPO]

Well im glad i shared with someone i liked...

[Freezing Alone]

Whoa sorry guys, fell asleep early last night and didn't get a chance to reply to some of your questions.

To rendil, I'm pretty sure the account you share HAS to be the one you downloaded the games on. A way to check this is to go onto your master account, go into the playstation store and check the download list (since that's exactly what the other person is going to do when they download from you). If the games you've downloaded show up and are available for download, you're good to go. If not, you'll need to give them the account info for the sub accounts that actually downloaded the games. Sorry I can't be more accurate but I just make a new master account whenever I need to on another profile.

To Oktoberfest, unfortunately they aren't stored anywhere so you'll need to remember who you've traded with to know who the initial 4 other people connected to your account are. This is why whenever I download from someone I make them a profile on my PS3 first with their PSN name, then sign into their account from that to get any trades. I also friend whoever I trade with on the account I traded on, so that I can see when I've hit 4 people and who they are.

If anyone has any other questions just let me know. Trading is an awesome way to get games if it's done right.

[Bretts31344]

Thanks for explaining this so well. I was confused about how this worked. My brother is getting a PS3 soon. I will let him know we can do this.

[snowsquirrel]

I created an acount to buy the game. When I shared the game with my buddy, I just gave him all of the account info, and he logged in on that account at his house, and dl'd the games. Because this is just one account does this mean there are still four shares left? Or does it keep track of the fact that the login came from a different PS3 (i.e., mac address)?

How do I buy and download something as Bob, then download it as Sandy without paying for it? I didn't know you could do that?

~S

[Freezing Alone]

To snowsquirrel, there's only 3 shares left now. That's exactly what it does, keeps track of the different PS3's downloading from your account. Only 5 PS3's can download from one account (including the owner). I'm gonna write up how trades work at the top as an edit to my original post, but you basically just hit it right on the button.

[darken]

"So what do you do if you want to trade with someone other than those? You make another PSN account, which can again be shared with 4 other people.

So there isn't a game share limit, there's an account share limit. That's why I regularly share games (more than 5 times too, we tested it) with 4 of my buddies and have a seperate account for random people that may have stuff I want."


Thanks for the hard work. I do have a question about the making another account to share with more than 5.

So are you saying the if my original account is "Billy" then i share with 4 other friends, I'm done there. But then I should make another account "Jane" and I can share with another 4 more? Are you saying that Billy and Jane both have the same email address, or are you saying that they are different email addresses? Isn't the email address the key indicator of another account? If Billy and Jane are the same email address, then Jane would be the 6th user.

[Freezing Alone]

To darken, that's right. If "Billy" has 4 people/PS3's already download from it, then anyone else who wants to download from you has to use "Jane". As far as I know you can't have the same e-mail address for 2 accounts, so yeah "Jane" would have a different e-mail address and be a completely different account. For this reason any games you bought as "Billy" can't be shared as "Jane". If you want to send a game to someone using "Jane", you'll have to buy it again on the "Jane" account.

[darken]

thanks alot. You've been really helpful

[Snake2715]

Yup, you can share as much as you want to him and 3 other people. Those 4 people can download as much as you let them, whenever you let them. If you want to share games with anyone that isn't part of that initial group though you'll have to make another account.


So to clarify this... if you make another account would you then need to buy new things under that account to share? Or is the new account you made somehow tied into what you bought on your original account?

If you make another account it would seem to me that would be starting over in the sense of game purchases. Obviously your first account wouldnt go away, or lose its purchases.

Clarify this if you could.

[Snake2715]

Freezing,

So if I was to trade with darken here. You are saying I should go make a new user of darken, or is the profile something else?

Also you had wrote this:
DO NOT DELETE THIS PROFILE AFTER THE TRADE! If you do, anything you've downloaded from that person will stop working!


From my understanding on this as I have been reading it. The games will stop working, but they are still on your hard drive... What you need to do if this happens is get ahold of the person you got the games from. Have them gie you a password, log in and download the games and heres the trick STOP the download right away. That game will be reauthorized and you can play it again, as long as you dont delete the user name.

[Freezing Alone]

To Snake2715, you've almost got it. To make a new PSN account, all you have to do is first make a new profile on your PS3, then use the Sign Up option under Network. You don't lose anything at all and your first profile/account keeps everything it has. Your new profile will even show all the stuff from your other profiles (since all that stuff is still on the same PS3) but the new PSN ACCOUNT will be completely fresh, meaning it won't have anything in its download list. For that reason even if you downloaded a game in your first account, if you send someone to your second account, it'll look empty unless you've downloaded something with it.

It's made this way so that if say you and your brother are using the same PS3, you can each have your own account with your own billing info and own download history. We're just using it to get extra trades.

And just incase anyone's wondering, any new accounts you make can have the EXACT SAME information as any other accounts you've made. The only thing that has to change is the e-mail address. Billing info, names, addresses and all that can stay the same.

Also, when I say 'Profile', I'm talking about the User List on your PS3. So yeah, you'd be making a User called darken if you wanted to trade with darken (You can name it anything you want but it helps keep track of who you've shared with if you name it their PSN names).

As for deleting the user/profile accidently and having your stuff not work, you'll need to get in contact with that person and the safe way is to redownload everything you've downloaded from him/her all over again, all the way through. Just make sure you delete the non-working stuff beforehand, since yes it'll still be on your drive, it'll just give you an error if you try to run it.

[Snake2715]

As for deleting the profile accidently and having your stuff not work, you'll need to get in contact with that person and redownload everything you've downloaded from him/her all over again, all the way through. Just make sure you delete the non-working stuff beforehand to be safe, since yes it'll still be on your drive, it'll just give you an error if you try to run it.


Thanks I will check it out tonight.

As to this last part, you may want to double check it. I have read in multiple places that all you must do is start the download again and then cancel the download. it will have reauthorized the original download when you do that.

[Freezing Alone]

Thanks Snake2715, added that to the FAQ up top just incase anyone runs into that situation.

[smiggity]

So one thing I still dont understand. Is it necessary to create a second account? Couldnt you just use your main account?

[Freezing Alone]

To smiggity, it isn't necessary to make another account unless you want to trade games with more than 4 other people. Making a new PSN Account is just for people who've hit their account-sharing limit on one account but still want to trade with someone new. Most people start trading with their main account anyways unless they're paranoid about losing it (Since some a-holes can take your account info and change the pass, which is why I stressed the point of only trading with someone you know is trustworthy).

[smiggity]

Thanks for the quick reply Freezing... yeah I am a little paranoid so I just delete everything on my account before trading..It is safe, plus I hate having more than 1 account on my ps3. If anyone wants to trade, pm me...

[Freezing Alone]

Well hey I'm looking for PS1 Games, Folklore Add-Ons, Minna No Golf 5 Add-Ons, PAIN Add-Ons, flOw Expansion, Warhawk Expansion, Dark Mist and Loco Roco Cocoreccho. There's also games like Blast Factor, Piyotama, Pixeljunk Racers and stuff that I don't have, so list your games and maybe we can get some trades going.

I won't bother giving a list of stuff I have because if we trade it would be with a new account of mine, which doesn't have anything on it, but I'll gladly buy anything you guys may want from the PSN Store and trade with that. Everybody wins in the end so I don't really care. Take care everybody.

[jmillion]

interesting info. glad i read this 1st

[MSUHitman]

Does Warhawk work with this and does anyone know if GT5 Prologue or SOCOM will work for this when they're released?

[Freezing Alone]

To MSUHitman, Warhawk won't work if you get it in a trade. The game itself won't connect if anyone but the person who bought it tries to play it. We won't know about GT5 or Socom until they come out.

You can get the Warhawk Expansion in a trade though and that'll work.

[hone]

so online games don't work then I take it like warhawk. What about like Tekken: DR online, can you trade that?

[Freezing Alone]

To hone, some online games do work. Tekken DR for example will work if you get it in a trade. I traded Castlevania for a copy of Tekken DR and I've been playing it online for months with the guy that traded it to me. Works like a charm.

[imdjenk]

Hmm, I will be trying this although it does not seem morally responsible.

[metaly]

I thought this looked a lot like piracy when I first heard about it, but then I read an old article (http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2006/10/71982) where Sony flat-out encouraged it:

If a player logs into his PlayStation 3 account on a friend's system, he can download any game he has already purchased. "You can send that content to four other friends for that initial investment," said Tretton. "We want to get the game in as many hands as possible."
There have been a few games (the PixelJunk games, I think) where developers have come out and requested that you not gameshare, because yes, it does cut into their profits. But it's hard to argue with a Sony exec saying to go ahead with it. (Even if it's Jack Tretton.)

[imdjenk]

I thought this looked a lot like piracy when I first heard about it, but then I read an old article (http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2006/10/71982) where Sony flat-out encouraged it:

There have been a few games (the PixelJunk games, I think) where developers have come out and requested that you not gameshare, because yes, it does cut into their profits. But it's hard to argue with a Sony exec saying to go ahead with it. (Even if it's Jack Tretton.)

A load off my conscience, thanks!

[DefinedByClass13]

So can't you add your new account to your main account, losing one slot but allowing you to send your downloaded games from your main account over to the new one, so that the 4 people on the new account can have access to what you already have (from the main account), saving you the hassle from having to buy the same games over?

[smiggity]

So can't you add your new account to your main account, losing one slot but allowing you to send your downloaded games from your main account over to the new one, so that the 4 people on the new account can have access to what you already have (from the main account), saving you the hassle from having to buy new games?

I am wondering the same thing, just could not figure out how to word it...

[dallow]

Just buy the game.

[DefinedByClass13]

I am wondering the same thing, just could not figure out how to word it...

Reading mine over while I was typing it was giving me the impression of a run-on sentence, but at least someone understood what I meant.

[StrandedBrit]

So can't you add your new account to your main account, losing one slot but allowing you to send your downloaded games from your main account over to the new one, so that the 4 people on the new account can have access to what you already have (from the main account), saving you the hassle from having to buy the same games over?

BUMP!

I've been trying to do this for a while now, and I'll be honest and say I don't think it can be done.

... but please Freezing Alone, any definitive word?

[Freezing Alone]

Hmm so you guys mean trading from an account that does have stuff to a new account that doesn't, so that you can then trade from that account too?

Unfortunately that wouldn't work. Any games you've aquired from trading don't show up in your download list, so no matter what the only games/content you can trade are games/content that you've bought and downloaded yourself on that particular account.

I guess there has to be a limit to what you can do with this trading system, since if it were any better the world would probably explode.

EDIT: Just wanted to say sorry for being so late to answering back. I try to check this topic at least once a day, so rest assured any questions you guys have I'll get to within 24 hours.

[StrandedBrit]

Hmm so you guys mean trading from an account that does have stuff to a new account that doesn't, so that you can then trade from that account too?

Unfortunately that wouldn't work. Any games you've aquired from trading don't show up in your download list, so no matter what the only games/content you can trade are games/content that you've bought and downloaded yourself on that particular account.

I guess there has to be a limit to what you can do with this trading system, since if it were any better the world would probably explode.

EDIT: Just wanted to say sorry for being so late to answering back. I try to check this topic at least once a day, so rest assured any questions you guys have I'll get to within 24 hours.

Cool, thanks man. I figured that was the case.

[DefinedByClass13]

Lame, well it was a thought. Now i'm wondering if I should get in on this.

[Freezing Alone]

A small bump just incase people haven't seen this already since it fell off the first page. I hate to ask this but any chance this could get a sticky? I've had a lot of people PM me with no idea this is how trading worked, so I'm sure it would help.

[Freezing Alone]

Bump again, just got a message from someone who wasn't sure about this. (No offense at all to that person, but it's always good to spread the word).