Does steam count as time played if I'm afk while a game is openned?

[João]

And if not, anyone know how much is the to be considered afk and stop counting?

[fluxtorrent]

All time the game executable is open counts.

[rawWwRrr]

Every second the game is running is considered it being played. Steam cannot see into the games to see what someone is actually doing, so the assumption is that you are playing the game all of the time.

[Pscht]

Originally posted by rawWwRrr:

Every second the game is running is considered it being played. Steam cannot see into the games to see what someone is actually doing, so the assumption is that you are playing the game all of the time.

I would have said something like that last year. But then Steam Replay had a percentage of games I used a controller in...

[Tsubame ⭐]

The hours you see in your profile are just any time when the game is opened.

Some games keep tabs on actual play time, though.

[João]

Originally posted by rawWwRrr:

Every second the game is running is considered it being played. Steam cannot see into the games to see what someone is actually doing, so the assumption is that you are playing the game all of the time.

I don't think so because as you might see in your friend list, some friends have a sleeping icon (zzz) sometimes, even when they are "playing something", so how does steam detects that the given player is in "sleeping" state (afk) if he's playing something?

I just want to know if even in afk state the play time is counted.

[Pierce Dalton]

Originally posted by João:

Originally posted by rawWwRrr:

Every second the game is running is considered it being played. Steam cannot see into the games to see what someone is actually doing, so the assumption is that you are playing the game all of the time.

I don't think so because as you might see in your friend list, some friends have a sleeping icon (zzz) sometimes, even when they are "playing something", so how does steam detects that the given player is in "sleeping" state (afk) if he's playing something?

I just want to know if even in afk state the play time is counted.

Yes, it is. Even at menus.

[PocketYoda]

Yes if you click the game your time has started...

[Lithurge]

Originally posted by João:

I don't think so because as you might see in your friend list, some friends have a sleeping icon (zzz) sometimes, even when they are "playing something", so how does steam detects that the given player is in "sleeping" state (afk) if he's playing something?

.

Because Steam allows you to set your state that shows to friends, e.g. online, offline, away or invisible. Regardless of what you're actually doing.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by João:

I just want to know if even in afk state the play time is counted.

It counts. Play time on Steam is nothing else than the time the .exe has been opened. It doesn't matter if you are playing, AFK, alt-tabbed to a different program or just staring at the menu, it all is counted as playtime.

[AmsterdamHeavy]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Originally posted by João:

I just want to know if even in afk state the play time is counted.

It counts. Play time on Steam is nothing else than the time the .exe has been opened. It doesn't matter if you are playing, AFK, alt-tabbed to a different program or just staring at the menu, it all is counted as playtime.

In fact, you dont even need to launch the actual game or install it to rack up time.

Any idler program will also do the trick.

So yes, OP ALL time counts. ALL of it, every second.

[Kargor]

Look at it from another angle: if you're playing an MMO, and you go AFK, the game might consider you AFK and eventually drop you back to the login screen.

Steam dioesn't see any of this; from Steam's perspective, you are still playing the game, even if it shows the login screen.

In fact, if you launch a game, and it crashes right away with a Visual-C++ alert popping up, chances are that you re still "playing the game" until you actually close that alert. This is because Windows doesn't clean up the process while it's still displaying the alert... and Steam doesn't know what's going on anyway, it just sees an active program.

[Judgmental Amaterasu]

Yes. Steam isn't sending personnel to watch you in your home to determine if you're playing a game or are afk.

[Sneaky Larson]

That's why some games like Siege has their own statistic page on their own website with a playtime you've actually spent INGAME and not even counting main menu time.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by xXx JEUNE DARK xXx:

That's why some games like Siege has their own statistic page on their own website with a playtime you've actually spent INGAME and not even counting main menu time.

Which irrelevant to Steam itself.

[miakisfan]

Originally posted by João:

And if not, anyone know how much is the to be considered afk and stop counting?

This didn't work for me when I played Fallout 3 with MO2.

I may have modded it wrong but it wouldn't count my play time.

Other wise it has counted all my time playing ... even when paused.