Steam Web API and Invisible Status

[Trainmaster2]

It would be nice if GetPlayerSummaries could "see through" the Invisible status if the requested account matches the key's account. I'd just like to have one of my scripts see if I'm playing a game even if I'm set to Invisible.

[Mikoto]

No? If someone wants to appear offline, then it would be a breach of their privacy to allow anything to bypass it.

[Mad Scientist]

That would invade the users privacy and essentially create a backdoor override, which could easily be used to stalk and harass people. If they went to use your API anyway. Without going into details, I could also see this being used for scammers/hijackers...

So that's a really big "No." from me, and likely Valve would say the same.

[Reggaejunkiedrew]

Originally posted by Trainmaster2:

if the requested account matches the key's account.

He said If the requested API key matches the requested account, meaning it could only be used to access the account the API key belongs to, meaning your own account.

[my new friend]

Originally posted by Reggaejunkiedrew:

Originally posted by Trainmaster2:

if the requested account matches the key's account.

He said If the requested API key matches the requested account, meaning it could only be used to access the account the API belongs to, meaning your own account.

That's is what the API hijack is.

[Reggaejunkiedrew]

Originally posted by my new friend:

Originally posted by Reggaejunkiedrew:

He said If the requested API key matches the requested account, meaning it could only be used to access the account the API belongs to, meaning your own account.

That's is what the API hijack is.

What? Hijackers will create an api key yes but the feature exists for a real purpose, to access information about your own account through an API, as the OP is doing.

[my new friend]

Originally posted by Reggaejunkiedrew:

Originally posted by my new friend:

That's is what the API hijack is.

What? Hijackers will create an api key yes but the feature exists for a real purpose, to access information about your own account through an API, as the owner is doing.

If the account is compromised, they can create a new key and do as they wish.

[Reggaejunkiedrew]

Originally posted by my new friend:

Originally posted by Reggaejunkiedrew:

What? Hijackers will create an api key yes but the feature exists for a real purpose, to access information about your own account through an API, as the owner is doing.

If the account is compromised, they can create a new key and do as they wish.

The api hijack uses the Api to cancel reject trades, why would the scammer give a crap about what game you're playing? What OP is asking for is a pretty minor addition, and sounds in line with what the ability to create an api key exists for begin with, for legitimate developers to get information about their own account.

[[N]ebsun]

Doesn't this already happen ?
When using a key from your account it should show all data as if you were logged in - eg: if you lookup a friends account that is 'friends only' privacy, using the key from your account, it will show the full detail of that friend's profile (because it is showing data via your personal key)

For the OP request, it doesn't make sense, since 'appear offline' is a valid status to have, when you lookup your own profile through Steam (whether through the api or the client), it will show that status to you as well

[Trainmaster2]

Originally posted by Nebsun:

Doesn't this already happen ?
When using a key from your account it should show all data as if you were logged in - eg: if you lookup a friends account that is 'friends only' privacy, using the key from your account, it will show the full detail of that friend's profile (because it is showing data via your personal key)

For the OP request, it doesn't make sense, since 'appear offline' is a valid status to have, when you lookup your own profile through Steam (whether through the api or the client), it will show that status to you as well

If I set my status to Invisible, launch a game, then call GetPlayerSummaries on myself with my own key, I show up in the response as Offline and not playing a game. My suggestion is that I (or whoever owns the key being used) shows up in the response as Invisible and all the other information you would get if Online.

[MalikQayum]

you made yourself clear the first time, the ones that did not understand you should ignore as it is evident they have no clue on what you were asking for and hence only made a post in hopes they appeared as if they knew what they were talking about.

there are examples of where some of the apis have this behavior, so i don't see why valve wouldn't allow the developer to fetch data from the associated steam account.

i am just curious but when you say you have a script to do it, i presumed you are implying it is a server side script (php) but if it is a client side script (userscript) you could get this using the browser.

maybe specify what you are doing and how and i could come up with an alternative way for you to achieve what you want.

[Trainmaster2]

It's a personal script that runs on my own computer. All I'm looking for is the ability to see if I'm playing a game on Steam. The only alternative I've found is to check if there are any running processes matching a whitelist.

[Mikoto]

Originally posted by Trainmaster2:

It's a personal script that runs on my own computer. All I'm looking for is the ability to see if I'm playing a game on Steam. The only alternative I've found is to check if there are any running processes matching a whitelist.

Except your idea is easily exploitable and serves zero purpose as you already know if you are playing a game.

Your idea is flawed because you are arguing for the bypass of privacy settings. Nothing more, nothing less. Until you actually give a reason why this is a requirement for anything related to better the user experience for everyone, that is all this looks like.

[Reggaejunkiedrew]

Originally posted by Trainmaster2:

It's a personal script that runs on my own computer. All I'm looking for is the ability to see if I'm playing a game on Steam. The only alternative I've found is to check if there are any running processes matching a whitelist.

I wouldn't waste too much time arguing with people here, if a dev sees this thread they'll know what you're talking about and that's all that matters, like Malik said you explained this fine, it's a super trivial thing really.

Originally posted by Kai:

Originally posted by Trainmaster2:

It's a personal script that runs on my own computer. All I'm looking for is the ability to see if I'm playing a game on Steam. The only alternative I've found is to check if there are any running processes matching a whitelist.

Except your idea is easily exploitable and serves zero purpose as you already know if you are playing a game.

Your idea is flawed because you are arguing for the bypass of privacy settings. Nothing more, nothing less. Until you actually give a reason why this is a requirement for anything related to better the user experience for everyone, that is all this looks like.

I'll try and explain this one last time. Hes asking to see through invisible status on his OWN account, via the unique API key he generates for himself to use.

In the event a scammer gains access to this account, the fact they could see which game hes playing (which I'm assuming they could do anyway seeing as they have already phished their username, password and Steam guard code and generated their own API key) is a trivial and completely useless piece of information and the least of his worries.

[MalikQayum]

if you could paste your current script i could possibly write something that does it for you.
it is a bit hard to write a solution when i don't know what your script looks like atm.