how is steam saying that my friend is playing minecraft is it non steam game short cuts

[luke]

also I cant add minecraft as a non steam shortcut on steam

[Razgriz2099]

Your friend is most likely running 32bit java which allows him to use it with steam. If you're using 64bit java then steam wont allow minecraft to run through it. I dont know the technical reasons behind why but i do know that 64bit java makes minecraft much more stable because it has access to more memory.