Invisible Status in Friends List

[Pebr]

Can we have a status that shows us offline but allows us to stay signed in to our friend list? Sometimes i just don't want my friends to know that i'm online or know what game i'm playing.

EDIT: In a unique case, in Team Fortress 2, players must be signed in to friends to be able to find items through steam cloud. An "invisible" status option would be very nice in this situation.

Originally Posted by Pebr

Steam is the equivalent of going to the cinema with every one of your friends and family every time you go to see a movie without an option of going alone or with a select person.

This isn't about skulking around and it's not about having issues with certain people on your list. Family issues, fake friends etc. isn't relevant to this.

A "Privacy Groups" option would be a better idea where you can sign into a "Location" where you are visible to only a select group. Say you wanted to play only with your work colleagues or just your family members etc...

EDIT: At this point i can only imagine this is about money. Reducing the amount of the steam community that appears online also reduces the amount of sharing, communication, and visibility among community members.

My guess is that Valve wants everyone to see everyone else as much as possible to maximize the the above.

I support this idea, or at least the ability to hide your In-game status.

I don't really understand the necessity to have that since your time will be logged on your community page (unless that mode would prevent it), and I don't get why you would hide from your friends if they are your friends. However, this is not the question here.

I support this idea too, more status options (maybe a custom message?) and especially an invisible mode would be good.

[Plasma]

I'd also like this, an Invisible mode (where you can't even talk to friends) would be great.

Originally Posted by Plasma

I'd also like this, an Invisible mode (where you can't even talk to friends) would be great.

How would that be any different from "Offline", other than the ability to see your friends?

I support an invisible mode where you can message friends, and they can message you only after you initially have messaged them during an "invisible" session (Otherwise you would appear offline)

[Pebr]

Originally Posted by Geister

I don't really understand the necessity to have that since your time will be logged on your community page (unless that mode would prevent it), and I don't get why you would hide from your friends if they are your friends. However, this is not the question here.

I support this idea too, more status options (maybe a custom message?) and especially an invisible mode would be good.

This is just an option like most instant messaging programs offer. There are times, on occasion, where people just like to have privacy. What if i want to play my game of TF2 alone for a change without any of my friends? I'm not going to tell each one of them to please leave me alone for the next 30 mins and i'm not going to ask them to leave the server if they join.

Sure, i can just sign out of my friends but like i said, TF2 requires players to be signed into friends for steam cloud stuff to work. Or perhaps there are a few people i'd like to know are online that i want to play with. I'd like to follow those particular people to a game if wanted but not have others join.

[Plasma]

Originally Posted by SuicideBomber

How would that be any different from "Offline", other than the ability to see your friends?

I support an invisible mode where you can message friends, and they can message you only after you initially have messaged them during an "invisible" session (Otherwise you would appear offline)

Yeah good point, I like your way better (which is like MSN Messenger and others).

Originally Posted by Pebr

This is just an option like most instant messaging programs offer. There are times, on occasion, where people just like to have privacy. What if i want to play my game of TF2 alone for a change without any of my friends? I'm not going to tell each one of them to please leave me alone for the next 30 mins and i'm not going to ask them to leave the server if they join.

Sure, i can just sign out of my friends but like i said, TF2 requires players to be signed into friends for steam cloud stuff to work. Or perhaps there are a few people i'd like to know are online that i want to play with. I'd like to follow those particular people to a game if wanted but not have others join.

And if a friend joins your server even though you were offline, what are you going to do? Change your nickname?

However, I never said I was against the idea.

You can just set your status as offline, then go to the community tab and then "View My Profile" and you'll see which of your friends are online. I'd personally like to see an option to hide which which game I'm playing.

Facebook has this option with their chat as well. I support this. Just be the cause that one feature is not "necessary" for your computer to work, that does not then mean that it is not "good" and not "better" for one person (assuming it is not "worse" for an other person).

[RelientTU]

Originally Posted by SuicideBomber

How would that be any different from "Offline", other than the ability to see your friends?

I support an invisible mode where you can message friends, and they can message you only after you initially have messaged them during an "invisible" session (Otherwise you would appear offline)

I love this idea. There are times I just want to play L4D without getting fifteen invites just because I'm in game. This would be awesome.

[Tannekr]

I support this suggestion.

[Limp0r]

I support it too Sometimes you only want to play a little bit and dont want to chat with 10 people wich message u :P

[AntiFritz]

Yeah its stupid that you cant play l4d at all if your offline due to matchmaking.

[no1knowz]

i think its good, soundz stypid, but some timez u want 2 hide from some one ;D