Multiplayer notifications when players (or friends) are on a server

[metalcored1234]

So many games seem to be dead in regards to multiplayer but a player base still exists that wants to play with other people. The problem is no one knows when other people are playing unless they are polling or refreshing the status for multiplayer servers constantly.

This idea is for Steam to setup a simple notification system where a user can opt-in to be notified when other users are playing on a server for a game of their choice. There would need to be filters set up for: game of choice, real human players (not counting bots), ping, region, and minimum number of players active on the server. The notification could ideally send the game name, number of real human players, any friends playing, server name, current map, and game mode (if applicable). It seems that all of the plumbing is in place with Steam's Master Server Query Protocol, there just needs to be something to package it together and send notifications. I assume any developer that builds out multiplayer with Steam's framework wouldn't really have to do anything on their end or it would be minimal. It would be ideal if these notifications could be sent through the steam client, SMS, and email, giving the user their choose of what to enable.

Something like this may help revive older games while also keeping newer games active much longer before the player base starts to decline. Maybe I'm wrong, but this seems like it should be easy for Steam to enable and it would be a win/win for everyone involved. Steam gets more users on their platform longer, players get a better multiplayer experience, developers get better multiplayer adoption of their game.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

This sounds like the Rich Presence feature only with the added suggestion to notify friends when they are doing something in the game.

[metalcored1234]

I looked at the Rich Presence feature and it didn't seem to be what this idea is looking to accomplish. Maybe parts of it could be added to show more details, but fundamentally this idea is to trigger notifications when there are others actively playing a game you are interested in. Steam's Master Server Query Protocol seems to have all the pieces in place for everything to get the info from the servers, a subscription and notification system just needs to be tacked on or integrated. it would be cool to have a "Join" and "Spectate" button to quickly launch the game and connect to the server.

[V3LTA]

I would rather have them to know less than more