Hours played versus Pause Menu/Idle Game-time

[Bluman]

So right now, I have a large amount of "hours played" for a whole lot of my games. Most of those hours involve me in the Menu screen or having the game minimized when I Alt-tab out. So my suggestion/idea is for Steam to release a Steam update to make it so that steam knows when a player is idle in the pause menu. I'd really like to know just how long I have actual play time versus being idle or in the pause menu for hours at a time. It's hard to tell how long I've actually played in-game compared to being idle all the time.

Does this make sense? Can this be done? Anyone else feel the same or think this could be useful? I feel this should be a simple update, really.

EDIT: At the very least, the Steam Client should be able to know when the game is not in use, is idle, or is working in the background. So the Steam Client itself doesn't have to know if the game is in the menu, rather, let it know if the game is minimized, at the very least. And that can be a good start.

[Black Blade]

Well if these is to be done it not meaning only a Steam Update but all the games update as they will need to add something to tell steam you are in menu so will make some what of a mess
Also i am sure many will not want these as that means you really need to be in Game and playing to get Card drops... and cant just active the games and go to sleep

[Bluman]

Ok, so the idea is to get the Steam client to understand, at the very least, when a game is minimized or working in the background. Steam doesn't have to have it's hands or "eyes" in the game itself, rather, it needs to know when the game is not in use. Does that make sense?

So long as the Steam client can figure out that the game is just chilling in the background or is not being used, somehow-someway, I'm sure it can be done without getting an update for all steam games. So this is something the Steam client should be aware of about the game.

Likewise, if people like the idea of collecting how long the game itself is in use, idle or not, then let that be an option in the Settings for the Steam client. So I'm just suggesting this for the Steam Client by itself. I'm sure there's a way for this to be done. The Steam client just has to know when a game is idle, is all. So it doesn't have to be aware of the menu itself, rather, just if the game in question is in use or not. Get what I'm saying?

[Black Blade]

I do understand but i see it doming many problems... you know any way some games have a build in times to see how much..
But i cant see something like these working on all steam games
Like what you will do with Indie game: The movie?
Its a movie you don't move the mouse or nothing...
What they can do is maybe set a status (like online,away,busy,offline,looking to trade,looking to play) that will be something like nonactive.. and it will not add time then... or something..
But i cant see it auto