Steam Friends: Friend mute button

[Elucidator]

This may sound like a silly feature request, but you know... I think it maybe a wanted one.

Sometimes your contacts are constant downers for example and you get bothered by their negativity, but you don't want to unfriend them entirely since that leaves a bad message. Maybe you just want to appear selectively online or be notified of their words a bit later than immediately. In these cases all you can do currently is 'log off steam friends' which instantly means avoiding everyone else just because one person stressed you out too much.

This is why I want to see an option to selectvely avoid contact momentarily with a specific person, a sort of temporarily block or mute. Maybe delay or block notifications for new messages as well. (keep a count with new messages, but don't make it stand out and don't make it eye appealing to click on, like this soft grayed out number for example.) You can keep these friends in a seperate category at the bottom whist they are 'muted'. That's basically how I imagine it.

If you implement this feature, you'd be a step ahead of a lot of chat programs, such as discord, who even if you block them still make you aware of their cries and distract you with popups, blinking in the task bar, sound effects, etc. (Even though the point is simply to get a stress timeout and take a moment to reflect, which often the offender doesn't understand.)

[4K_240hz_MLED]

There already exists a mute feature for friends.

[Anfia /s]

Block all communication: Gentlemen?

[4K_240hz_MLED]

Originally posted by Anfia:

Block all communication: Gentlemen?

no i mean there actually is a mute option for Steam friends in addition to blocking that exists for both friends and random strangers.

[Elucidator]

If you block someone (block all communication), what happens is that they are removed from your friendslist. You are then at the same time also removed from their friendslist.
The user then gets added to your official 'blocked users' list.

The mute button you describe I assume is the 'stop notifications' thing. ('display a new message notification') to access that you need to right click, manage, notification options.

What I rather would like to see is kinda like a button that makes you appear offline only for the user you selected. You know like, with a click distance. Right click, mute. Kinda like how discord and such do it.
You're not completely blocking them, I mean you can just unmute them or automatically unmute them (after a few hours) in there.

The problem is that the notification settings are in a bit of a distance using a menu that takes time to load, since its an indirect onmouseover menu, etc. This also keeps you online for them, inviting them to chat with you. Since you're usually instable and impatient, you might want to read/react immediately even if you block the notifications like that. So you just want to let them know (for real that) you don't want to talk with them for a moment. (and you want to do this as soon as possible, since impatience. xd)

Never mind that you might forget you turned the notifications off and then wonder why he or she hasn't spoken to you after ward. It would be handy if you have mute options like "mute for two hours"
idk, maybe you just want to watch a movie... or anime on Steam and not get popups and you just want a global mute (for an hour)
meh-

[4K_240hz_MLED]

There actually is a global mute button for Steam friends though lol. But I get your point now though I doubt Valve be that accommodating.

[lami]

i need the 'mute notifs' option for some people from my friend list so i dont see them in the activity feed :[

[♫MusicMen225♫]

All we need is a normal ass mute button for anyone who is or isn't their friends on a profile page. So many sites and services have this, Steam does not. Someone who supposedly "blocks all communication" with another Steam user per what Steam describes the option as might not always be interested in still seeing their activity in games, contributing a post to a forum thread or responding to your comment in their review. It never made sense to me why we can't have that individually, but even then, Valve sadly probably will never deem this worth their time - Just like they don't see moderating their platform anything worth their time I guess..

[♫MusicMen225♫]

Originally posted by Elucidator:

If you block someone (block all communication), what happens is that they are removed from your friendslist. You are then at the same time also removed from their friendslist.
The user then gets added to your official 'blocked users' list.

The mute button you describe I assume is the 'stop notifications' thing. ('display a new message notification') to access that you need to right click, manage, notification options.

What I rather would like to see is kinda like a button that makes you appear offline only for the user you selected. You know like, with a click distance. Right click, mute. Kinda like how discord and such do it.
You're not completely blocking them, I mean you can just unmute them or automatically unmute them (after a few hours) in there.

The problem is that the notification settings are in a bit of a distance using a menu that takes time to load, since its an indirect onmouseover menu, etc. This also keeps you online for them, inviting them to chat with you. Since you're usually instable and impatient, you might want to read/react immediately even if you block the notifications like that. So you just want to let them know (for real that) you don't want to talk with them for a moment. (and you want to do this as soon as possible, since impatience. xd)

Never mind that you might forget you turned the notifications off and then wonder why he or she hasn't spoken to you after ward. It would be handy if you have mute options like "mute for two hours"
idk, maybe you just want to watch a movie... or anime on Steam and not get popups and you just want a global mute (for an hour)
meh-

If this exists, the whole "stop notifications" thing, then where is it? Someone's profile, notification center? Because everywhere I go, the functionality you describe was never there, nor was there anything remotely similar to that. All that exists is the block all communications option. I say this as someone who uses Steam on both PC and mobile so that's saying something.

[Elucidator]

Originally posted by ♫MusicMen225♫:

If this exists, the whole "stop notifications" thing, then where is it? Someone's profile, notification center? Because everywhere I go, the functionality you describe was never there, nor was there anything remotely similar to that. All that exists is the block all communications option. I say this as someone who uses Steam on both PC and mobile so that's saying something.

My thread was a feature request essentially.
No that feature doesn't exist on Steam. In 2021 it didn't exist and it still doesn't exist (2024).
On discord you can mute conversations (thereby muting people you talk with), so you don't get notifications, etc. On Steam you cannot. You can only completely block them, which removes them from your steam friends and chat list. (as they are also removed from your friendslist).

The other option you have is Show Offline (which still gives you notifications and popups)
as well as Log Off (which means you cannot chat at all with other people).

[♫MusicMen225♫]

Originally posted by Elucidator:

My thread was a feature request essentially.
No that feature doesn't exist on Steam. In 2021 it didn't exist and it still doesn't exist (2024).
On discord you can mute conversations (thereby muting people you talk with), so you don't get notifications, etc. On Steam you cannot. You can only completely block them, which removes them from your steam friends and chat list. (as they are also removed from your friendslist).

The other option you have is Show Offline (which still gives you notifications and popups)
as well as Log Off (which means you cannot chat at all with other people).

Works for me. But you are entirerly right with that feature request one way or the other, though like I said in one proper response I made to this, somehow I just don't believe Valve cares enough. They hardly care for moderating their platform, so they probably care even less for basic functionality that every platform should have. It's similar thing with sites that don't offer hiding individual notifications - Someone looked at it and thought limiting your users is a good idea, even though it never actually is.

[4K_240hz_MLED]

Originally posted by Elucidator:

On discord you can mute conversations (thereby muting people you talk with), so you don't get notifications, etc. On Steam you cannot. You can only completely block them, which removes them from your steam friends and chat list. (as they are also removed from your friendslist).

The other option you have is Show Offline (which still gives you notifications and popups)
as well as Log Off (which means you cannot chat at all with other people).

There is global muting of notification from Steam friends, and also blocking someone on Steam doesn't remove them from your friendlist like on Discord. Although I do agree with you that Valve should've allowed for individual muting long time ago.