While I was asleep Valve announced some new profile privacy settings which are good for users, but it seems Steam Spy is likely going to shut down as a result.
The new privacy options are actually quite good, as they were pretty limited before. Originally, if I wanted to keep my playtime private I had to essentially make my Steam profile completely private to everyone. That's all changed now, since there's a lot more settings you can tweak. Here's an example of how mine currently looks:
You can now have a public profile, but keep all details of games you own private for example. You could also make your game information public, but keep your playtime private. It's just so much better than what we had before, since privacy for users is important and putting them in control and having it as private should be the default. It should be up to users if they want it public, not public by default in my opinion.
Valve also said they're working on a new "Invisible" mode where you're shown as offline, but you will be able to actually see your friends list and message people. For me especially, that mode will be perfect and I'm very happy they're doing it. As someone with over 300 friends on my list due to running tournaments, co-op play sessions on Twitch and so on, it can end up quite overwhelming any time I decided to set myself as any form of online to message people.
This has had a side-effect that Valve has hidden the games you own by default to the public, which isn't noted in their announcement. This has caused the owner of the tracking website Steam Spy to say "Steam Spy relied on this information being visible by default and won't be able to operate anymore.".
Quite sad, since Steam Spy offered some interesting statistics that Valve didn't give out, but likely many developers and publishers would have preferred it to stay hidden. I've seen the other side of the coin too, with plenty of developers on both sides filling up our Twitter feed today, as some developers found it more useful than what Valve give them—that tells me Valve really need to improve how they report information to developers directly. It is odd, as people from Valve have even said Steam Spy was useful, so it will be interesting to see what happens.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: KimyrielleThe poor privacy controls were the reason why I didn't add friends to Steam at all. I don't want to broadcast all over the world which game I am playing when, and for how long. I wonder why people thought that's anyone's business?Huh? Maybe your idea of friends is different than mine, but I surely want my friends to see when I'm in a game and what that game is. I want them to see and join most of the time.
I'm glad for the additional control. My steam profile is private because I wanted a couple things hidden so I woudn't get spammed for trade offers, but then I couldn't connect other sites that have better dashboards for viewing your own data.
As long as we're talking about further improvements, I think Valve should look at how CCP implements API key permissions. It's wonderfully more granular with optional expiration times even.
Quoting: 14My idea of friends is quite specific and involves a small number of people I know offline. However, various online thingies such as Steam have appropriated the term, which makes things confusing. What Steam or Facebook call "friends", I would call "acquaintances" (or in some cases, "random dudes who cold-called me on the internet for some reason" ) and yes, what I'd want them to know is quite limited.Quoting: KimyrielleThe poor privacy controls were the reason why I didn't add friends to Steam at all. I don't want to broadcast all over the world which game I am playing when, and for how long. I wonder why people thought that's anyone's business?Huh? Maybe your idea of friends is different than mine, but I surely want my friends to see when I'm in a game and what that game is.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 11 April 2018 at 4:42 pm UTC
hardpenguin Apr 11, 2018
Last edited by hardpenguin on 11 April 2018 at 5:09 pm UTC
One thing that really bothers me is when people know when I am awake and playing games.
Really... If you want to talk to me, poke me. If I reply you are in luck.
qptain Nemo Apr 11, 2018
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoThis is bad...Quite opposite, GDPR is being enforced next month. The two-year transition period is finally over, May 25 is the date businesses are required to be compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation.
If some services made themselves dependent on harvesting user data without clearly asking the individual users for consent, it's their own fault if the skies are coming falling down on them. Dirty business practices deserves no sympathy and they've had their time to fix their problems.
Privacy isn't dead as some believe, it's just getting started, with GDPR we are starting to recovering from the plague of violations and fight for the rights citizens should have had from the very beginning.
GustyGhost Apr 11, 2018
In particular, see bullet point #4.
Either coincidence, or Valve pay very close attention to Steams public perception online.
Push Valve to do even more for privacy.
Quoting: GustyGhostInteresting that they announce these changes so soon after a certain community post was made calling out some issues.Which one? Only "Steam Surveillance" and "Steam Censorship" have 4 bullets (and more).
In particular, see bullet point #4.
Either coincidence, or Valve pay very close attention to Steams public perception online.
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