Privacy - Time Played.

[Dethstarr]

I work in a company of keen gamer's where even the other partners and I are keen gamer's.

Recently, my colleagues realized that we could track game time per week as part of our overall understanding of an individuals commitment and productivity. Not as a sole source of data, but when used in conjunction with other sources, being able to see the amount of time played by an employee each week could help us understand why someone is far more productive than others and much more besides.

I wont go into how that information would manifest in terms of career but I do not like it and have resisted this sort of initiative in the past. I do know that, many companies will use all the data they can get however they can get it and pay a lot to companies that compile such reports.

I realized the fundamental privacy issues surrounding this and how we could potentially use it sometime ago and have resisted enormous pressure as one of the business leaders to ''friend'' anyone I work with in steam. This has always been a bit of an anomaly as it is also seen as team building and something I could do as a leader. We do organise gaming event and evenings together and so on.

However, I realised the danger that I can actually see when and how often people are playing simply by tracking their time played in the games I know the are most into at the time. I believe many other companies will be quietly using this data and wondered if there is any way to stop time played in games from showing. I certainly wouldn't want my own game time in games used against me in this way and feel it is pretty appalling but inevitable that it is and will be more and more.

I wonder how long this sort of reporting will become part of employee DD in the same way as Social Media background checks etc are already.

Is there a way to ensure that this is never visible or is reset?

[Crazy Tiger]

Go to your privacy options and check the "Always keep my total playtime private even if users can see my game details." option. That way your played hours aren't visible.

Or set your whole profile to private (not friends only, if you have them as Steam friends).

[B✪✪tsy]

According to my profile page I have played around 120 hours last 2 weeks. Those are misleading numbers though as the clock keeps counting when games are minimized and when I am AFK (which was like half of those hours). In other words, those play hours doesn't mean anything. It only shows how long you had games launched.

[Rens Agatha ⁧【レンス】]

You can go to here https://steamcommunity.com/my/edit/settings and check that checkboxes "Always keep my total playtime private even if users can see my game details" or just make your Game details to Private if ts set to friends

whoaaaat just because you play a game alot its mean you are not productive... ?? what kind of company that doesnt allowed their employe playing a game after they finish their work and wanna relaxing and remove stress at home with playing games. lol

I mean if you play the game at work its the problem but just because your playtime more than another and saying you are not productive is a diffrend things....

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

[Dethstarr]

Originally posted by Rens Agatha:

You can go to here https://steamcommunity.com/my/edit/settings and check that checkboxes "Always keep my total playtime private even if users can see my game details" or just make your Game details to Private if ts set to friends

whoaaaat just because you play a game alot its mean you are not productive... ?? what kind of company that doesnt allowed their employe playing a game after they finish their work and wanna relaxing and remove stress at home with playing games. lol

I mean if you play the game at work its the problem but just because your playtime more than another and saying you are not productive is a diffrend things....

:ClockwiseBook:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀:OL2bar:

I believe that the data is aggregated with other sources but forms part of the overall picture.

[Dethstarr]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Go to your privacy options and check the "Always keep my total playtime private even if users can see my game details." option. That way your played hours aren't visible.

Or set your whole profile to private (not friends only, if you have them as Steam friends).

Perfect. I don't think people realise this is possible. I certainly missed it when I was looking.
Many thanks indeed. Much appreciated.

[Niall]

Deactivate social media and only add friends you can trust. Resist the big brother system.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by Dethstarr:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Go to your privacy options and check the "Always keep my total playtime private even if users can see my game details." option. That way your played hours aren't visible.

Or set your whole profile to private (not friends only, if you have them as Steam friends).

Perfect. I don't think people realise this is possible. I certainly missed it when I was looking.
Many thanks indeed. Much appreciated.

If you skim through the privacy options, I can imagine you miss it.

Glad I could help.