Offer users the ability to block the activity feed completely

[RiO]

• Put black bars over spoiler-tagged images in the activity feed and community.
  
• Hidden achievements will no longer be shown on an game's activity feed if you have not already unlocked that achievement

These options are NOT . GOOD . ENOUGH

Many games do not mark their achievements as hidden, even if they are spoiler-heavy.
And people on your friends list can not be relied upon to tag screenshots as spoilers.


With the old UI there was a perfect solution:
don't look at the achievement details; and
don't look at the activity feed.

Actually; I personally don't care about the activity feed at all. For me it's just a colossal space-waster and now: a source of spoilers, ruining 60 EUR purchases.

And I will make one thing very clear:
If I end up having one of my single-player purchases spoiled because of this trashware update; because of Valve's outright incompetence in thinking this thing through properly, then I will seek financial compensation. And I will do so for each and every title; again and again. And if Valve fails on that front, then I will report them to the relevant authorities for gross misconduct and devaluation of the product they sold me.

GET . WITH . THE . PROGRAM

[Mizufluffy]

AtumPT made a good instructions here: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/3/1642052612841185412/
on how to customize your Library.
Some of the things it can do include hiding What's New from the Home view, hiding the Home button above the left side list and, the most importantly, hiding Activity Feed and Community Content from the game's page and it does a few other things.

It's probably gonna be the best workaround for the problem until Valve lets us customize our Library more and for some reason I wouldn't place high hopes on that.

[RiO]

As far as hold-overs go, that's not bad. But it involves modding the client itself and you have to re-apply changes after updates, etc.

I'm contemplating to just launch Steam with --no-browser and use Playnite instead.
(Which is pretty much what Steam's library should have been.)

[Vandread]

Considering this has actually happened to me... I have had a single player RPG (80+ hours normally on first playthrough) potentially ruined because of a friend's screenshot... I can only agree.

Take note as well that said screenshot was uploaded as a spoiler. I asked the friend in question and he was more than sure that he uploaded it as a spoiler. Given we actually go back 16 years or so, I'm more than willing to believe that to be the case. Even more-so considering he's actually uploaded spoiler-marked screenshots in the past, and has done so with care (on more platforms than just Steam either).

In my case, it was "only" 20 bucks for Tales of Vesperia, yet it's still aggravating enough to have come face-to-face with such a spoiler without my choosing to. I have done my fair part in avoiding spoilers by avoiding Youtube, avoiding gaming news sites, etc etc. In this case, I merely had it slammed into my face by Steam's UI update.

Unacceptable behaviour.



Yesterday I've read the beta branch's Nov 1st update notes - exactly the two lines the OP has quoted here too. I'm still angered by it, especially because - just like OP - I know for a fact this isn't good enough, as I can already name a game on my list that my friends also play that has story-related achievements that actually have the potential to be a spoiler: Tales of Berseria.

None of those are set as hidden either. And I'm actually certain that if I start digging through my relatively small library, I will encounter more games that have similar achievements.

I do not want to be confronted by this again, and as such I can only support this.



Just like OP - I want at the very least an option to disable that friend activity section altogether. Just like the community section can be disabled. It's garbage and clutter I do not want nor need. Take the Twitter and Facebook-like crap out of my library page. It has no place there. It had and still has its own place on the Activity page.

Better yet - how about they do actually just let us fully customise the page's template anyway? If Valve is fully making this UI all about the user, then actually bring the user into control of that template. Give me, the user, the option to customise my library page the way I, the user, want it.

Do I want my achievements at the top?
Do I want my DLC right under it?
Do I want steam workshop near the top as well?
Do I not want any community section?
etc.

I understand that some pages should simply not be messed with - but the game information page could be considered so personal, so subjective, that it should be made custom to the user's taste. A fair amount of people complain about that page as well, so it seems there's at least some community-side backing on that part too.

Personally I'd probably even go so far as to say it should be an in-client thing - just like how you can customise the UI of say... Firefox?

[Mizufluffy]

Originally posted by Vandread:

I understand that some pages should simply not be messed with - but the game information page could be considered so personal, so subjective, that it should be made custom to the user's taste. A fair amount of people complain about that page as well, so it seems there's at least some community-side backing on that part too.

Well, the game page is actually quite configurable but not thanks to Valve.

This is how my game page currently looks:
https://i.imgur.com/pPbSFRn.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/cMruyQP.jpg

And this is how my Home view looks:
https://i.imgur.com/YQZMeZT.jpg

As I pointed out earlier in this thread, AtumPT has instructions on how to change these things and has a few custom skins already available on GitHub and using one doesn't require more than replacing one CSS file and adding a few flags for your Steam shortcut so Steam won't try to revert the change on start.

[Vandread]

Oh, I understand its quite configurable. I suppose that's one of the only few benefits of legitimately converting the entire application to just a web-page. I did see the stuff you've linked and hopefully it's exactly what some people are looking for. I'm not exactly fluent in the launch-flags for Steam though, so that was rather enlightening.

However, I personally do not believe we should rely on the community to fix problems that Valve themselves have introduced in the first place. That's the main reason why I brought up the customisation of Firefox's UI.

For now I guess that's not too bad, might end up using it.
Though my point still more or less stands - this shouldn't be the default.

[RiO]

Vandread beat me to it.

We shouldn't require Rube-Goldberg-esque third-party solutions to be tacked on to Steam to solve this problem. As much as I appreciate the work these people put into their mods -- lord knows; they're more dedicated to the craft than Valve is... -- I do not find that a proper solution.

[Mizufluffy]

Yeah, I understand. I also hope Valve will offer a proper solution in the future that doesn't have to rely on community workarounds or third-party solutions.
And as much as I like the new UI, I think Valve released it too soon. If they had added a few modes aside from the Home view (e. g. list view and small mode) and let users enable / disable What's New and configure the layout of a game page then I'm sure the backlash would have been much smaller.

[RiO]

Originally posted by Mizufluffy:

then I'm sure the backlash would have been much smaller.

I think you're right. There's just "too much" going wrong right now.

[Vandread]

I've been running some testing to see if the Friend Activity settings actually impact the library game pages' activity streams. So, in essence I'm trying to figure out if the 'official tools' can get the job done.

For some it does, for some it doesn't. The moment I unticked the box to show my friends' achievements on the activity stream, it did remove my buddy's achievements on Borderlands the Pre-sequel... only to have it pop back up a day later (today). Other games weren't really affected at the time, but it seems Code Vein has decided to wipe out friend achievements.

Of course, given what this thread described - I've tried the same with screenshots and videos. While I cannot speak for videos as none of my friends actually link to any, I can speak for screenshots: the same result as achievements, but even weirder. It decided to remove all the "old" (not even a month old) screenshots on Code Vein, except the most recent uploaded (yesterday - asked a friend to upload one just to test).

The screenshot that potentially ruined Tales of Vesperia for me never vanished.


So... I guess the activity stream is simply laden with (caching?) bugs, or you simply cannot edit the game pages' stream properly at all - leaving you at the mercy of... well whatever god you want to believe in, if any that is.


Kinda stumped.
It really feels like the only way to really fix it is editing the CSS files.

[Celendrin]

I'm on the same 'page' as most the people here,

I find it's insane they force the 'community content' garbage on you now,

they've got to be kidding if they think they can do that and not have people leaving in droves.

I myself find 'community content' to be unbelievable trash, and to think I can't simply 'shut it off' is beyond absurd.

I found the opening poster enlightening as to the 'spoiler' potential of it all as well,

I didn't think of that before but it's -well- worth pointing out, cause I too hate seeing videos, screenshots (even achieves) of games I'm interested in playing, due to the whole 'spoiler' issue thing.


Absolutely it's -Mandatory- to put in a 'toggle' for all the various parts of the library, AS WELL as a simple, basic 'offline' mode toggle just like --Friends Chat-- has now!!

If Friends chat can do it they can make the library do it, make it 'offline' toggle-able and also more to the point have an 'activity feed' toggle,

like the various posters have said.

Basically be able to 'shut off' real-time garbage that the steam library is trying to force on you now.

Anyone thinking this is a minor 'complaint' or isn't relevant doesn't realize this is all a first step (obviously) to leading to things like 'real-time ads',

constant 'suggestions' of 'similar games' you might want to play,

various possible 'agenda' pushing articles, that, you know, might need to be shown in case that 'barbarian game' with the huge muscular guy with the great-axe has too many hours of your game-time and you need to be reminded that women are equal to men and you should by some games with strong female role-models etc etc

the examples got 'absurd' to show where this can all lead,

stop it now while you can,

otherwise people will just have to leave Steam cause this type of trash behaviour is unacceptable..


(PERIOD)

[Celendrin]

I would also like to suggest (kindly and respectfully), that this thread does -NOT- promote the use of '3rd party work-arounds' (too much) as that is defeating the purpose of the thread,

it's important we all fully focus on making Valve/Steam realize there has to be solid REAL 'options' put in the actual Steam client for this stuff,

not something people have to use 'back-door' methods to get done by themselves.

Force (and try) to make Steam realize they have to fix this mess,

talking too much about 'workarounds' dilutes the thread and makes steam less likely to take people seriously about it.


(By all means start another thread with 'possible workarounds for the steam library'),

k thanks no offense intended to anyone in this thread of course

[Raiden_chino]

"And I will make one thing very clear:
If I end up having one of my single-player purchases spoiled because of this trashware update; because of Valve's outright incompetence in thinking this thing through properly, then I will seek financial compensation. And I will do so for each and every title; again and again. And if Valve fails on that front, then I will report them to the relevant authorities for gross misconduct and devaluation of the product they sold me."

X'DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

[Celendrin]

There seems to be settings you can set under ' Steam - settings - library ' etc,

to shut off real time updates etc, community content etc,

but it still leaves those 'things' in your game window (even though not active),

so I guess it's sort of a fix but none-the-less it doesn't seem like your library is very private anymore,

and that alone ruins the whole steam experience (compared to what it used to be),

kinda like having to use 'ad-block' while surfing the net, sure you temporarily stop the ads but at any given second that option will fail and return you to the fiasco..

bleh..

[Vandread]

Originally posted by Raiden_chino:

X'DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

I'll just assume that you aren't trolling even though it's pretty obvious you likely are.

See how funny you think it is if it happens to you. Tales of Vesperia was new for me, given I don't own an XBox. Neither do I understand Japanese enough to be able to play the Japanese PS3 version if I had that console.

Yeah, ToV was only 20 bucks, not the 60 bucks RiO was talking about - but a purchase is a purchase and the pricetag shouldn't have any impact. Fact remains that I do feel my blind run "stolen" from me due to incompetence on Valve's part. So in that sense, I definitely can understand the frustration that brings forth the thought of seeking out compensation.

Even more-so if it's a game purchased at the full premium price that someone was looking forward to since its announcement...

Originally posted by Celendrin:

There seems to be settings you can set under ' Steam - settings - library ' etc,

to shut off real time updates etc, community content etc,

but it still leaves those 'things' in your game window (even though not active)

The Friend Activity stream isn't subject to that setting, no. Only the community content is.

There really is no means implemented by Valve to prevent the aforementioned problems from arising. You can't hide the entire Friend Activity stream, nor can you block certain aspects of it from showing up - unless it's just suffering from some bugs or caching issues of some sort; either way, it needs to get fixed.

[Celendrin]

Dont' worry Vandread I'm totally with you on these things,

I'm glad there actually was some shut-off settings for some of the 'real-time' stuff (like the community content, which I hate most),

but yeah overall it's way too much junk going on at once,

and I agree with you I don't like a lot of the other things either, like 'activity feeds' from friends (including achievements etc).

It's like having thin curtains sure people can't see 'exactly' what you're doing but never-the-less they know when you turn on and off your lights and start 'judging' you on it,

"oh he stays up too late he's a weirdo" oh he's making noise this and that etc like do we really need our gaming habits 'televised' to the whole freakin world?

Or like-wise see everyone elses? (the constant 'achievement' updates etc)

I mean I'm seeing 'who favourited' games I only play solo (wow real useful), people's achievements (do I need to see those?), I'm sure people are seeing my achievements,

etc etc just nonsense overload..