Option to disable Rich Presence

[Darth]

Could there be an option to disable Rich Presence? I want friends to see what games I'm playing, I don't want them to see what I'm doing in those games.

[Shitlegs]

Got spoilers sent to me while I was playing Doom Eternal because the bugger saw what level I was on. This option would be nice.

[SleepyKitti ❤]

Some games have the option to turn it off. Don't you think it depends on the game(s)?

[Crashed]

Originally posted by Cap'n Stitches:

Got spoilers sent to me while I was playing Doom Eternal because the bugger saw what level I was on. This option would be nice.

Is there an option within DOOM Eternal to disable the feature? I personally abandoned the game for now on level 9, at a checkpoint right before a hoard of Super Heavy demons.

[Darth]

Originally posted by SleepyCat ❤:

Some games have the option to turn it off. Don't you think it depends on the game(s)?

I haven't seen any games give an option. Steam could have an option that lets you turn it off on a game-by-game basis, that way it wouldn't matter if a game had the option in the game or not.

[Crashed]

Regarding DOOM Eternal, I could not seem to find an option to turn it off.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

I like this suggestion.

[SleepyKitti ❤]

Originally posted by Crashed:

Regarding DOOM Eternal, I could not seem to find an option to turn it off.

Because the developers of that game might not have implemented such an option. Say that in the game's Discussions if you want them to do so. I've never played DOOM personally.

@Darth: I don't even understand why you might want to mask/hide your (detailed) activity in games (you mentioned games, in general). I don't know what kind of game DOOM is, so I can only say my personal opinion: The more information I have about what my friends are exactly doing in a game, the easier it is to catch the bad people and wipe them off my list.

If you want to hide your activity, you can still go offline/invisible, or just temporarily set your profile and game details to private. It's so simple and I'm trying to be constructive here. You can even stay online on chat, you won't be shown as "In game" (I tested this 5 minutes ago).

Steam has a lot of options regarding chat/presence these days. Unfortunately, too much freedom of using such options can be a double-edged sword, that's why people can hide so efficiently, and possibly cheat/hack/do illegal/nasty activities in games without being noticed.

Personally, I've always liked the Rich Text Presence, if it is correctly implemented (e.g. not changing in every 5 seconds).

[Shitlegs]

Originally posted by SleepyCat ❤:

Originally posted by Crashed:

Regarding DOOM Eternal, I could not seem to find an option to turn it off.

Because the developers of that game might not have implemented such an option. Tell that in the game's Discussions if you want them to do so. I've never played DOOM personally.

@Darth: I don't even understand why you might want to mask/hide your (detailed) activity in games (you mentioned games, in general). I don't know what kind of game DOOM is, so I can only say my personal opinion: The more information I see about what my friends are exactly doing in a game, the easier it is to catch the bad people and wipe them off my list.

If you want to hide your activity, you can still go offline/invisible, or just temporarily set your profile and game details to private. It's so simple and I'm trying to be constructive here. You can even stay online on chat, you won't be shown as "In game" (I tested this 5 minutes ago).

Steam has a lot of options regarding chat/presence these days. Unfortunately, too much freedom of using such options can be a double-edged sword, that's why people can hide so efficiently, and possibly cheat/hack/do illegal/nasty activities in games without being noticed.

Personally, I've always liked the Rich Text Presence, if it is correctly implemented (e.g. not changing in every 5 seconds).

You use rich presence to catch "bad people" in your friends list? That's a new one. Not sure what you're trying to contribute there besides "I wouldn't use this option".

[Darth]

@SleepyCat: There are a lot of reasons why people might not want to share what they are doing in the game (Rich Presence) but want friends to see the game, that aren't related to hacking or illegal activity. I'm sure you'd understand if you were made aware of some.

I'll give one example: Beat Saber recently added Rich Presence which shows what song and difficulty level you are playing. Songs can be custom and perhaps you don't want to broadcast that you like a particular artist or genre or meme. You might not also want everyone to see you're playing on a low difficulty. As a VR game you also might not know anyone can see this (because you can't read that small text in your friends list in VR unless you intentionally look closer at it).

One solution is setting the profile to full private, yes. But then your friends can't see what game you're playing or that you're even in a game at all. That isn't what I'm looking for here.

[Darth]

Originally posted by Darth:

I haven't seen any games give an option. Steam could have an option that lets you turn it off on a game-by-game basis, that way it wouldn't matter if a game had the option in the game or not.

I made a suggestion for a developer to add this option to their game and they did. But the setting is broken. Instead of every developer having to add an option it would be a lot easier if Steam just had it.

[Piet]

Steam offers the feature Rich Presence, so it would be nice if Steam also offers the possibility to disable it. I asked Steam support about it and they suggested to share it here. Well, here I am. Seems I'm not alone in this.

[Darth]

Glad to see others are interested too :D
This is just a very logical option that makes no sense to not be available. You shouldn't have to choose between showing rich presence and hiding that you're playing a game at all.

[Crazy Tiger]

I've never noticed that. Though personally I'm usually not logged in on the Friends & Chat, and when I am I'm on invisible.

It should have a toggle, I agree.

Though if people mock someone else for playing on a low difficulty level, they're not worthy of a presence in the friends list. People simply want to enjoy their games and should be able to do so at their own leisure.
Is it also visible to people outside the friends list, so for example when I visit a random profile that is in-game? Cause I certainly can envision mocking happening and it then certainly needs a toggle.

[Radene]

Yeah. And leave it off by default. Spoilers abound.

[RedLightning]

I had no idea this was a thing..... seems Valve loves to 'leave it up to the developers'

They change the graphic orientation and leave the transition up to the developers.. and now this..

Nice.

I think I might just enter offline mode and stay there.

This is getting WAY too facebook-like for my tastes.