Any way to pause play time?

[Nightmre -_-]

What the title says, for certain games I would rather pause my play time counter, mainly so I don't feel like I am competing between games to have the most amount of play time. I find it kind of addicting to increase that hour amount. It's okay if there is no way to do this, but It would be a nice feature.

[Ogami]

As long as you are online while playing, no.
You can switch to Steam Offline mode to play, that will count your time but only for the session and it wont be added to your total when going online again.
But you may have problems with some achievements registering correctly when going back online and of course it only works if you play games that dont need a online connection.

[Hennix]

Originally posted by Ogami:

As long as you are online while playing, no.
You can switch to Steam Offline mode to play, that will count your time but only for the session and it wont be added to your total when going online again.
But you may have problems with some achievements registering correctly when going back online and of course it only works if you play games that dont need a online connection.

not correct
if so it could be used to abuse the refund system

[Nightmre -_-]

Originally posted by Ogami:

As long as you are online while playing, no.
You can switch to Steam Offline mode to play, that will count your time but only for the session and it wont be added to your total when going online again.
But you may have problems with some achievements registering correctly when going back online and of course it only works if you play games that dont need a online connection.

yeah thanks i never even thought of offline mode!

[Mouse]

Originally posted by Hennix:

Originally posted by Ogami:

As long as you are online while playing, no.
You can switch to Steam Offline mode to play, that will count your time but only for the session and it wont be added to your total when going online again.
But you may have problems with some achievements registering correctly when going back online and of course it only works if you play games that dont need a online connection.

not correct
if so it could be used to abuse the refund system

You CAN do this... in fact if you delete your userdata folder then when steam goes back online again they have no record of how long you actually played.

There are also several games on steam that don't require the steam client, steam just waits for the game to close to record how long you played.

Don't know if it still works, but killing the steam process while the game is running will prevent steam from recording playtime.

[Nightmre -_-]

Originally posted by Mouse:

Don't know if it still works, but killing the steam process while the game is running will prevent steam from recording playtime.

good suggestion

[Ogami]

Originally posted by Hennix:

not correct
if so it could be used to abuse the refund system

Steam can still see how long you played, even in offline mode.
But it wont be counted for your playtime display for the game.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by Hennix:

Originally posted by Ogami:

As long as you are online while playing, no.
You can switch to Steam Offline mode to play, that will count your time but only for the session and it wont be added to your total when going online again.
But you may have problems with some achievements registering correctly when going back online and of course it only works if you play games that dont need a online connection.

not correct
if so it could be used to abuse the refund system

It's correct. Offline mode still counts playtime, Steam support takes ALL playtime into account when refund requests come.

People can't abuse it to play a game for 40 hours and then claim a refund, don't worry. There are two playtime trackers, so to speak.

It's just that the playtime indicator in your library/profile doesn't get updated, that's all.

[The Giving One]

You cannot bypass Steam recording playtime for games. Just because it's not correctly displayed or updated, that does not mean it is not kept track of.

Playtime will update the next time Steam is in on line mode.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Playtime will update the next time Steam is in on line mode.

Not on your profile/library, otherwise I'd have more playtime on various games.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Not on your profile/library, otherwise I'd have more playtime on various games.

Oh is that right ? Sorry, I should have said at some point in the future then, when Steam is on line. Thanks for the clarification.

Or are you saying it has never updated so far for some of your games ?

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Not on your profile/library, otherwise I'd have more playtime on various games.

Oh is that right ? Sorry, I should have said at some point in the future then, when Steam is on line. Thanks for the clarification.

Or are you saying it has never updated so far for some of your games ?

That's what I'm saying, yeah. For example Gem Rush has 4 hours of playtime on it. I have at least triple that in offline hours.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

That's what I'm saying, yeah. For example Gem Rush has 4 hours of playtime on it. I have at least triple that in offline hours.

I had no idea. That seems like some of the problem with people not understanding their refund denials for too much playtime. Thanks.

[Nightmre -_-]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

You cannot bypass Steam recording playtime for games. Just because it's not correctly displayed or updated, that does not mean it is not kept track of.

Playtime will update the next time Steam is in on line mode.

i don't really care about my progress being seen by steam, i just PERSONALLY do not want to see it be updated, I couldn't care less what steam sees.

after using offline mode and playing a game, then going back online, the progress didn't update for me, so i am not sure why you are saying it does.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Nightmre -_-:

i don't really care about my progress being seen by steam, i just PERSONALLY do not want to see it be updated, I couldn't care less what steam sees.

That's fine if that is what you intended, but that is not what the OP says :

Originally posted by Nightmre -_-:

What the title says, for certain games I would rather pause my play time counter, mainly so I don't feel like I am competing between games to have the most amount of play time. I find it kind of addicting to increase that hour amount. It's okay if there is no way to do this, but It would be a nice feature.

You literally state the word "pause" not "hide".

That might be what you meant, but that is not how I read it originally, so just explaining why I originally said that which you quoted.

EDIT........................

Originally posted by Nightmre -_-:

after using offline mode and playing a game, then going back online, the progress didn't update for me, so i am not sure why you are saying it does.

I accepted that later on, so I guess you missed that. Read my later comments, please, between me and the good Crazy Tiger.

[Mouse]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Originally posted by Hennix:

not correct
if so it could be used to abuse the refund system

It's correct. Offline mode still counts playtime, Steam support takes ALL playtime into account when refund requests come.

People can't abuse it to play a game for 40 hours and then claim a refund, don't worry. There are two playtime trackers, so to speak.

It's just that the playtime indicator in your library/profile doesn't get updated, that's all.

Offline is offline, there is magical way for steam to know you're playing a game you no longer have in your account unless you allow them to communicate with their servers. Or rather bring the client online with all userdata intact. So yes, you can request a refund, put steam in offline mode and continue playing the game... Valve has no way of knowing that you're still playing.

This seems to be more of a "it cannot be that easy, thus it isn't that easy" Similar to how people have extended the free game period by doing obvious things (like just never shutting down the game). Steam refunds are really trust based... especially since there are steam games that don't require steam client.