> Community-based media sharing is great. I wish it was possible for me to lend all of my Steam games when I'm not using them.

You can do that, actually. It has some pretty big caveats, but if you are not actively playing anything on Steam then your library can be lent out to others... all you have to do is sign into their computer using your Steam credentials.

You can also just share your library with another account.

done this, the whole account gets locked iirc, and not just specific games

Wait, Steam offers you a "share library" feature but then locks your account when you use it?!

Not as in an account ban, it just only lets one copy of the game in question (or one game total? Haven't used it much) run at any given time. No different to lending your friend a Nintendo cartridge, except that it requires less running around. :)

Only one person can play from your library at once. So you are essentially lending the whole nintendo.

The frustrating thing is just that I cannot play free games on my steam account (hi dotas) whilst lending a paid game to ma famile.

They've fixed that. I had the same problem a few years ago and now if you properly add the game to both libraries it works fine.

I have no interest in doing all that work to share. I do have an interest in paying hundreds of dollars to guarantee access to any game, any time, any place I want, but apparently that is not a product they want to sell.

For example, I would pay $200+ to watch Tennis Opens, but I need it to be a simple transaction and 1 click to watch the game from the schedule page on the tennis association website.

Tennis is better than most sports with the glaring exception of watching the grand slams (which are the 4 biggest tournaments!). Otherwise TennisTV does a pretty good job of letting you watch all other tournaments live/on-demand. So, not as good as the F1, but sounds better than the EPL, NHL, etc.

> I wish it was possible for me to lend all of my Steam games when I'm not using them.

I suspect there are so many great deals on Steam specifically because it's not possible.

> If you're sufficiently tech savvy, each person can run a VPN from their home so it doesn't look suspicious from the streaming service's end.

If I'm going to the trouble of exposing a VPN service over the internet for my friends, it's not so I can also pay for a streaming service.

I think for polycules it makes sense to have such practices, as a filter for people who don't want to contribute/share even something as simple as a subscription, and to make sure that they are on the same page with the membership of the other partners: if they don't agree with sharing the password, they might not be a good fit. People in polycules share partners, which is something so intimate, most people wouldn't be ready to do it (me included). It takes a lot of work and communication to maintain not just one relationship to one person, but multiple ones to multiple people. Paying for a subscription that you share with others is comparatively easy. And obviously, for existing members, having additional people means more subscription services you can attend.