Steam Charts inaccurate?

[Krugg]

First of all, when steam charts says something like "2522 playing 5 min ago", does that mean that here were 2522 who were actually running that game's exe 5 minutes ago?

Because the other day it said that something like 720 players were on Modern Warfare 3, I logged in and found about 6 instead (yes my version is purchased through steam). Likewise, GameTracker's numbers are always not congruent with Steam Charts, and it actually matches what I see in-game.

http://steamcharts.com/app/42690


https://www.gametracker.com/search/mw3/?sort=3&order=DESC

I also noticed that on Advanced Warfare's community hub, for example, there are people saying the multiplayer's dead, people saying they have to wait x amount of time to find a game etc, and there's actually threads attempting to organize players due to "low numbers", but then I look at Steam Charts' page for Advanced Warfare, and the numbers are really not congruent with the accounts I see on the community hub, which might go something like 'I logged in last night and there was LITERALLY NO ONE online'.


What gives here?

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Total amount of accounts running the game. Not just playing.