AFK Players - to falsely build up hours in their game

[classicgamelover85]

I have a HUGE issue... in fact LOTS OF PEOPLE DO. Seems games on Steam sometimes end up subject to what we like to call "AFK Playing" meaning having a game running endlessly, while the person is AFK (sleeping) just to rank up their hours to LIE about how many hours they played in the game. Basically LYING about their skill, when really they didn't play nearly as much of the game as they lead us on...

Is it possible to put an end to AFK playing? Meaning, if Steam knows they are not actually playing, then it won't count the hours they were not playing

Lets not forget the trick "Place a heavy object on a keyboard key to make it look like the player is moving" trick. Or auto-click mouse software.

There needs to be something done about this. So that people can get more of an accurate idea of how much the person ACTUALLY DID PLAY of a game.

Otherwise what is the point of having hours posted?

I like the hours cuz it shows devotion and skill and how often a person played.

But with AFK playing they can just have the game running forever and ever just to build up hours and this creates a false idea of how much a person actually played in the game.

I hope you consider my suggestion and feedback.

There is this one guy who claims to have spent 3,332 HOURS on South Park Stick Of Truth...........................

Think about this: The game is only 12 hours at most!!! But according to Steam he put in over 3,000 hours on record. This is an obvious lie.

AKA TROLLING and I'm sure you guys have no tolerance for false representations of a game played. Cuz then you would not be the game client everyone knows you for right now.

Please and Thank You.

[Count_Dandyman]

skill and hours aren't really linked tightly even if players don't AFK and people can spend 3000+ hours on games no matter how many hours you think there are to a game you aren't forced to delete a game and never touch it again once you finish it. Sometimes you actually choose to replay a game or you may spend extra time in a single playthrough trying to trigger that super rare event or chasing after a particular item.

[Drab]

So, private profiles...what about them?

You can't tell how many hours they played. That must keep you up at night.

[wuddih]

Steam doesn't know if they are actually playing or not, it just counts the time while the game process runs.

i also have 4k on a game ... an idle game, which runs for real. it is no biggy to reach those numbers.

and most importantly, who cares? there is no competition about this.

[Washell]

People like you, judging others on hours played rather than the actual skill and knowledge they display are the very reason others feel the need to inflate their count just to get rid off "gtfo noob" and similar comments.

There's no possible fix, other than to stop displaying it all together.

[The End]

Originally posted by classicgamelover85:

I have a HUGE issue... AFK (sleeping) just to rank up their hours to LIE about how many hours they played in the game.

Originally posted by classicgamelover85:

But with AFK playing they can just have the game running forever and ever just to build up hours and this creates a false idea of how much a person actually played in the game.

So what, really non of your business.

How is that a problem to you, played hours means nothing, and is only "important" for the owner of those hours.
Do not waste you time with other users accounts and their playtime, get a new hobby.

[Gwarsbane]

I know people who have a legit 2000+ hours in a game that they played and had very low skill.

BUT others who were new to a game had less then 10 hours and had a lot of skill in the game.

Hours played does not equal the amount of skill they have in a game.

Valve has no way of knowing if you are actually playing a game or just letting it sit there open for hours on end.

And so what? Someone having 3000 hours in a game that you claim only requires 20 hours or so to play doesn't mean anything. Maybe they played it over and over again. Maybe they let it sit on the title screen. What does it matter to you, it doesn't effect you at all.

[Snapjak]

So I guess my 1500+ hours in Fallout 4 must be fake and I was afking most of it, right?

[Drab]

Originally posted by classicgamelover85:

I have a HUGE issue... in fact LOTS OF PEOPLE DO. Seems games on Steam sometimes end up subject to what we like to call "AFK Playing" meaning having a game running endlessly, while the person is AFK (sleeping) just to rank up their hours to LIE about how many hours they played in the game. Basically LYING about their skill, when really they didn't play nearly as much of the game as they lead us on...

Is it possible to put an end to AFK playing? Meaning, if Steam knows they are not actually playing, then it won't count the hours they were not playing

Lets not forget the trick "Place a heavy object on a keyboard key to make it look like the player is moving" trick. Or auto-click mouse software.

There needs to be something done about this. So that people can get more of an accurate idea of how much the person ACTUALLY DID PLAY of a game.

Otherwise what is the point of having hours posted?

I like the hours cuz it shows devotion and skill and how often a person played.

But with AFK playing they can just have the game running forever and ever just to build up hours and this creates a false idea of how much a person actually played in the game.

I hope you consider my suggestion and feedback.

There is this one guy who claims to have spent 3,332 HOURS on South Park Stick Of Truth...........................

Think about this: The game is only 12 hours at most!!! But according to Steam he put in over 3,000 hours on record. This is an obvious lie.

AKA TROLLING and I'm sure you guys have no tolerance for false representations of a game played. Cuz then you would not be the game client everyone knows you for right now.

Please and Thank You.

You have 519 houirs on the game you are calling someone out for that only takes 12 hours you say.

Are you just trolling here?

[MrL0G1C]

Originally posted by Washell:

People like you, judging others on hours played rather than the actual skill and knowledge they display are the very reason others feel the need to inflate their count just to get rid off "gtfo noob" and similar comments.

There's no possible fix, other than to stop displaying it all together.

This. Why does anyone care? The reason you care is the reason they do it.

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by Gwarsbane:

I know people who have a legit 2000+ hours in a game that they played and had very low skill.

I have over a thousand hours on TF2 and I'm still a sitting duck and a w+m1 pyro...

[76561198001062896]

lemme correct you: its an issue to YOU

Not everything needs to be a bloody popularity contest /eepen wawing you know


OP, does it ruins your user experience that someone has more meaningless numbers next to a game compared to your meaningless digits?

[classicgamelover85]

well I see all the comments I see. Hours are important. Shows experience, skill, dedication to a game franchise, determination... then again, Idle Master is widly used to get those cards we need to build our steam levels. Then again, lazy is, nobody actually did the work. So how do we weed out the actual losers from the actual winners? And I'm guessing the complainers............. and belittlers here............ HAVE A TON TO HIDE!!! HEY! yeah I'm talking to you.

I worked for what I have. So I get bragging rights. Why waste time if not for that right to brag? Or just sit on your butts and let the computer do all the work just so you can look impressive to those noobs you claim are not worth impressing.

Its the deception that is the big deal, not so much what it is, but the lie of it....

and sorry for the caps in my description. I would have used bold text to emphesize but not sure how to do that.

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by classicgamelover85:

well I see all the comments I see. Hours are important. Shows experience, skill, dedication to a game franchise, determination... then again, Idle Master is widly used to get those cards we need to build our steam levels. Then again, lazy is, nobody actually did the work.

Hours are important to you. For me it has absolute no value.

You're projecting your values on others, which is a mistake to do. You can't expect other people to adhere the same values.

So how do we weed out the actual losers from the actual winners?

By first not using the words losers or winners. You look at the skill someone has. Hours do not show skill, even if it was a pure value. As a pure value, it would only show the amount of hours someone played, nothing else.

And I'm guessing the complainers............. and belittlers here............ HAVE A TON TO HIDE!!! HEY! yeah I'm talking to you.

People are not obliged to show you their stuff. It's not hiding, it's a simple matter of not being someone else's business.

I worked for what I have. So I get bragging rights. Why waste time if not for that right to brag? Or just sit on your butts and let the computer do all the work just so you can look impressive to those noobs you claim are not worth impressing.

Why brag? Why call someone a noob? Didn't you start out as a new player also? Besides, what's so ipressive about a large amount of hours?

Its the deception that is the big deal, not so much what it is, but the lie of it....

Only if you value it. As I said, I don't care about the amount of hours. So nobody is deceiving me when they idle their hours.

[Gwarsbane]

As has been mentioned already... maybe big letters will get it through to you....

VALVE HAS NO WAY OF KNOWING WHAT YOU ARE DOING IN THE GAME. THEY HAVE NO IDEA IF YOU ARE SITTING ON THE TITLE SCREEN FOR 2000 HOURS OR ACTUALLY PLAYING FOR 2000 HOURS.

Originally posted by classicgamelover85:

well I see all the comments I see. Hours are important. Shows experience, skill, dedication to a game franchise, determination...

As already mentioned number of hours played does not equal how skilled you are. It does not show experience and the not many people actually view it as important. Its only important if you think it is, but even then it isn't. Again I know people with lots of legit hours in a game who suck. I also know people who are new to a game and they are amazing.

Number of hours does not equal experience, skill or dedication to the game.

Originally posted by classicgamelover85:

then again, Idle Master is widly used to get those cards we need to build our steam levels.

You don't need idle master to get the cards, you can just let it sit on the menu, or even easily rename a copy of notepad, rename the launch exe of the game and put the renamed copy of notepad in the game folder and go. More work than just idling a game, but less resources taken if you want to idle more then one game at a time and still be able to do other things.

Originally posted by classicgamelover85:

Then again, lazy is, nobody actually did the work. So how do we weed out the actual losers from the actual winners? And I'm guessing the complainers............. and belittlers here............ HAVE A TON TO HIDE!!! HEY! yeah I'm talking to you.

You don't and as mentioned a number of times already.... VALVE HAS NO WAY OF KNOWING WHAT YOU ARE DOING IN THE GAME.

Just because people have made their profile private to you does not mean they are trying to hide something. They just want to remain private.

Me, I don't care who sees the number of hours I have played in a game. Some of them are well earned, some of them is because I just idled the game which I don't even play cause I can't stand it.

But yet again, number of hours played does not equal skill. I have many hours in some games that I suck at, why? Because I have fun in it.

Originally posted by classicgamelover85:

I worked for what I have. So I get bragging rights. Why waste time if not for that right to brag?

Because its their time to waste thats why. Also even if they suck in a game as long as they are having fun, what does it matter to you?

I've kicked the butt of many braggers in games over the years. "Oh you suck, you only have x number of hours in a game when I have xxxx number of hours." I would than concentrate on that bragger and annoy the heck out of them. It quickly shut them up and in many cases caused them to rage quit. Heck I have done that when I have 10 times the hours of some person who is bragging they are good because of the hours. I dislike braggers in games or people who harass others just because they don't have many hours. I like to annoy the braggers still they stop or leave, then I can get back to enjoying the game.

Again number of hours played does not mean how skilled or experienced they are.

Originally posted by classicgamelover85:

Or just sit on your butts and let the computer do all the work just so you can look impressive to those noobs you claim are not worth impressing.

Or they just want the free cards which are done dropping after about 6 to 9 hours anyway. Or they are trying to get items in the game to trade for other stuff. I know many who used to do this for CSGO and TF2.

Just because they have a lot of hours in a game doesn't mean they are trying to impress others.

Originally posted by classicgamelover85:

Its the deception that is the big deal, not so much what it is, but the lie of it....

and sorry for the caps in my description. I would have used bold text to emphesize but not sure how to do that.

Yet again.... the number of hours you have, does not equal the skill and experience you have in that game. You could have thousands of hours of actual playing in a game and still suck at the game. You could have 10 hours in a game of actual playing and be amazing.

Number of hours in a game does not equal how much skill and experience you have in the game.

Lets repeat that till you understand....

Number of hours in a game does not equal how much skill and experience you have in the game.
Number of hours in a game does not equal how much skill and experience you have in the game.
Number of hours in a game does not equal how much skill and experience you have in the game.
Number of hours in a game does not equal how much skill and experience you have in the game.

Getting it yet?

You can brag all you want, it just makes you look petty and means nothing. Again just because you have hundreds or thousands of actual play hours (no idling) in a game does not actually mean you are skilled in that game. It just means you play it a lot.

Again I have seen amazing players with only a few hours under their belt, I have seen crappy players with hundreds or thousands of ours under their belt.

[Ceruleana]

That shouldn't be an issue seeing as how you can see their in-game skill would be very different.