Whats the purpose of private profiles?

[Sawmp monster]

I've always had the question why people use the private profile option? My friend told me it was to prevent people from stalking you on steam, but you could always just block them. So why exactly do people flock towards the option?

[mimizukari]

no clue. i don't understand wanting privacy from people wanting to know your games/friends/etc

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

It is fun when playing multiplayer games, they can't see how many hours I've played and complian about me cheating.

Also, to prevent users from knowing me on a more personal level. You have my post history for that.

[Zero]

It's also to avoid scammers, spammers and harassment. People might start stalking and harassing/scamming your friends if you leave your profile open, so they opt not to.

[Sawmp monster]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

It is fun when playing multiplayer games, they can't see how many hours I've played and complian about me cheating.

Also, to prevent users from knowing me on a more personal level.

:qr:

but couldn't you just cut the personal stuff out of your profile? Also, you shouldn't exactly be cheating if you are.

[Wolf Knight]

My question to you is why do you want to see my profile? are you looking to see if I have anything of value to try and scam me out of?

its a choice, if someone doesnt want to share they dont have to. Also keep in mind that there are 3 settings. Public, private, and friends only (which shows as private to everyone unless they are on your friends list)

[Mikasa Ackerman]

some people just dont like having a Profile others can see , and its kinda understandable , if someone begs for games , having a Public Profile can lead to people calling them a beggar on it ( which is understandable) EDIT : or telling him how many games they have already

or some people just use steam as a way to play games , on consoles they would be the kind to just pick a pregenerated xbox360 avatar with a standard icon, its up to them

[cinedine]

Originally posted by Yuiko:

no clue. i don't understand wanting privacy from people wanting to know your games/friends/etc

I don't understand why other people are interest in wanting to know my games/friends/etc. Especially my friends are none of your business.

[Mikasa Ackerman]

Originally posted by cinedine:

Originally posted by Yuiko:

no clue. i don't understand wanting privacy from people wanting to know your games/friends/etc

I don't understand why other people are interest in wanting to know my games/friends/etc. Especially my friends are none of your business.

i often like talking about games with friends , if you have a private profile i might have to ask you what you have a few times (simply because i have tons of friends and dont remember everyones games )

i also cant recommend games to you if i dont know what you have , like i could recommend the Batman Arkham Games to you , but maybe you already have played them 1000 Hours

[Sawmp monster]

Originally posted by cinedine:

Originally posted by Yuiko:

no clue. i don't understand wanting privacy from people wanting to know your games/friends/etc

I don't understand why other people are interest in wanting to know my games/friends/etc. Especially my friends are none of your business.

It's kind of like writing a book, your putting something out there, giving away your ideas and plastering your name on the front cover, but if you want to say "Hey, I want my thoughts and name to be private" then why even make the book? Why make a steam account to play games if you don't want people to be able see what games you like, and they could eventually become friends with you.

[[415]BlazeMcNight]

Originally posted by Glorifed Toaster with Legs:

Originally posted by cinedine:

I don't understand why other people are interest in wanting to know my games/friends/etc. Especially my friends are none of your business.

It's kind of like writing a book, your putting something out there, giving away your ideas and plastering your name on the front cover, but if you want to say "Hey, I want my thoughts and name to be private" then why even make the book? Why make a steam account to play games if you don't want people to be able see what games you like, and they could eventually become friends with you.

What a terrible analogy, mate.

The only information available on my profile of 11 years is what games I own and what I've recently played. My Steam friends can see that, but I keep it private to the public because I was tired of the constant "yo bro want sum CSGO skinz?".

[mimizukari]

Originally posted by BlazeMcNight:

Originally posted by Glorifed Toaster with Legs:

It's kind of like writing a book, your putting something out there, giving away your ideas and plastering your name on the front cover, but if you want to say "Hey, I want my thoughts and name to be private" then why even make the book? Why make a steam account to play games if you don't want people to be able see what games you like, and they could eventually become friends with you.

What a terrible analogy, mate.

The only information available on my profile of 11 years is what games I own and what I've recently played. My Steam friends can see that, but I keep it private to the public because I was tired of the constant "yo bro want sum CSGO skinz?".

seems like a sound analogy to me. especially if you play multiplayer games like csgo where you need to attempt to conscript people to make the best rated team possible.

[[415]BlazeMcNight]

Originally posted by Yuiko:

Originally posted by BlazeMcNight:

What a terrible analogy, mate.

The only information available on my profile of 11 years is what games I own and what I've recently played. My Steam friends can see that, but I keep it private to the public because I was tired of the constant "yo bro want sum CSGO skinz?".

seems like a sound analogy to me. especially if you play multiplayer games like csgo where you need to attempt to conscript people to make the best rated team possible.

It's a flawed analogy. Not everyone on Steam is using it to make friends or publish details about themselves to the public.

The friends I do have on Steam aren't due to similar games or playing habits, rather discussions on various forums. I don't want random people contacting me because we played a game on the same team for 20 minutes and I'm sure a huge amount of people on Steam feel similar.

As far as your suggestion goes; what you're talking about is exactly why my profile is private.


Just my two cents. :)

[Start_Running]

Same reason houses have doors OP. Though I'm honestly curiousabout the mind set of people that seem , 'disturbed' by the idea of the existence of someeone who doesn't ahve any interest in sharing anything with you..

There aren't even as many private profiles as you think. Most that you assume to be private are really just 'friends only'

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by Glorifed Toaster with Legs:

I've always had the question why people use the private profile option? My friend told me it was to prevent people from stalking you on steam, but you could always just block them. So why exactly do people flock towards the option?

As the name implies, it is for Privacy.

Blocking, they still have access to your profile and all that information. Some people don't want that or just want to share it with friends (most use the friends only option, not the private one).

Reasone for it? Becasue they want to. They really do not need more of a reason then that.

[cinedine]

Originally posted by Yuiko:

Originally posted by BlazeMcNight:

What a terrible analogy, mate.

The only information available on my profile of 11 years is what games I own and what I've recently played. My Steam friends can see that, but I keep it private to the public because I was tired of the constant "yo bro want sum CSGO skinz?".

seems like a sound analogy to me. especially if you play multiplayer games like csgo where you need to attempt to conscript people to make the best rated team possible.

You are pretty much forced into having profile and have no control over what is shown there. So no, it's not anything like making your thoughts public. And writing a book does not expose my friends to stalkers or shows what else I've done unless I specifically wish to.

Me playing CS for example does not mean you need to know that I also play VNs or anything like this. The amount of toxicity in certain communities even make it undesirable to offer any more information than the display name.

And not everyone plays multiplayer games, nor does everyone who does wants to be bothered by randoms.

Originally posted by Andrea-Chan:

Originally posted by cinedine:

I don't understand why other people are interest in wanting to know my games/friends/etc. Especially my friends are none of your business.

i often like talking about games with friends , if you have a private profile i might have to ask you what you have a few times (simply because i have tons of friends and dont remember everyones games )

i also cant recommend games to you if i dont know what you have , like i could recommend the Batman Arkham Games to you , but maybe you already have played them 1000 Hours

You could still talk to me about games I don't have on Steam. For example I have played Arkham Asylum before I had a Stem account and Arkham City on console. My Steam list draws a very incomplete picture of my gaming in general, so that's not a reason. Also, why would you unsolicitely recommend games to someone? If so, wouldn't it be to friends you know they might like them?