I don't want Steam counting the launcher being open as play time

Glorious_Platypus · June 21

Does this annoy anyone else? And I know it's been like this for years because searches about it return results from like 10 years ago. I hate it because, for me, tracking time spent gaming is really important.

SeaGtGruff · June 22

I don't think Steam-- or any other external laumcher, such as the Epic Games Store-- is able to tell whether you're active in the game or just sitting "offline" in the ESO launcher. I mean, how do you think it should be able to know? You can launch the ESO launcher from Steam (or Epic), then actually launch the game, then close the ESO luncher while remaining in the game, and it seems to me like the only way Steam (or Epic) would be able to know that you're still in the game would be to track the fact that the ESO executable is running, and I don't think Steam (or Epic) actively monitors processes which are running "outside" of itself, nor am I sure that I want to give it that kind of permission. For instance, I've set up shortcuts in Steam for launching DOSBox and running Arena, Daggerfall, and other old "DOS" games which I've installed myself outside of Steam, but Steam is not actually running DOSBox itself, just launching some "batch" shortcuts I've set up to launch DOSBox and run those games, and Steam isn't able to track how much time I spend playing those games. And I don't think I want to have my ESO connection be "funneled" through Steam so it can monitor that I'm actually playing ESO, because that would just add another layer that ESO has to go through while I'm playing.

SeaGtGruff · June 22

Addendum: I think some players like to close the ESO launcher after they log into the game, since closing the launcher while the actual game is running can (from what I've read) help improve performance and stability in the game, presumably by not having the launcher competing with the game for bandwidth, given that the launcher seems to actively update its news and announcements feed while sitting there "idle."

And if Steam can't track and monitor the actual ESO game connection, only the fact that the ESO launcher has been launched from Steam and hasn't been closed yet, then if some players are closing the ESO launcher while playing ESO, it seems like that might call Steam's "SteamCharts" numbers into question..

SeaGtGruff · June 22

Update: Okay, so if I close the ESO launcher while playing, Steam still shows that ESO is running. Obviously, I don't know how it all works, but I'm not sure whether Steam is actually monitoring the connection or just knows that the ESO process hasn't shut down yet.

Glorious_Platypus · June 22

I ran an experiment also, just to confirm if just having the launcher open counts as play time. I recorded my current play time without the launcher open, for example 300 hours, launched the launcher but didn't launch the game, and waited an hour. My playtime on steam went up by 1 hour.

DoofusMax · June 22

Glorious_Platypus wrote: »

Does this annoy anyone else? And I know it's been like this for years because searches about it return results from like 10 years ago. I hate it because, for me, tracking time spent gaming is really important.

Annoy? Not really. It's what Steam does. If it truly bothered me, I could use anyone's launcher and rely on "/played" to get play time down to the second. But I'd have to track that per-character and I have several, so it's not worth the hassle. And then there is the time spent on PTS (also tracked by Steam) and the time spent playing on both the live servers and PTS using another vendor's launcher (not tracked by Steam), so total time played for me would be "somewhere in this range" with Steam's number being an absolute and laughably overstated top-end.

BTW, does time spent in menus, the various in-game storefronts, chat, being AFK (because real life interrupted my session), and general thumb-twiddling while waiting out a queue count as "gaming"? If not, then "/played" is also overstated, just not as much as Steam does.

Necrotech_Master · June 22

i dont run the game through steam, but i know adding the launcher as a non steam game will not count the time, but i dont know that once the game is actually launched it would track time for eso proper

i dont think you can change the launch file of a normal steam item though, unless theres some kind of launch parameters to be able to auto close the launcher after starting the game (not sure there is any available either for eso)

BretonMage · June 22

Glorious_Platypus wrote: »

I ran an experiment also, just to confirm if just having the launcher open counts as play time. I recorded my current play time without the launcher open, for example 300 hours, launched the launcher but didn't launch the game, and waited an hour. My playtime on steam went up by 1 hour.

Did it go back down after closing the launcher, then opening it up again? My playtime always goes up and down on the Steam count. Once I left the launcher open over a few days without playing, and the hours played shot up, but then went down again after closing and reopening the launcher.

It bothers me too because it's embarrassing (or horrifying, I don't know) to see so many hours spent on ESO.

SeaGtGruff · June 22

To clarify what I meant about Steam needing to actively monitor the connection, Steam shows ESO running as long as (1) the ESO launcher is running or (2) the executable (game) is running-- except it can't tell whether you're actually playing the game, nor which server (NA or EU) you're playing on, or are sitting idle on the server select screen, not actually logged in on either one. So unless Steam monitors whether or not you're logged in on one or the other server, it can't keep track of whether or not you're actually playing the game. And even if you do happen to be logged in on one of the servers, it can't tell whether you're playing the game or just sitting idle on the character selection screen.

Gabriel_H · June 22

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

And if Steam can't track and monitor the actual ESO game connection, only the fact that the ESO launcher has been launched from Steam and hasn't been closed yet, then if some players are closing the ESO launcher while playing ESO, it seems like that might call Steam's "SteamCharts" numbers into question..

Steam tracks game time if the Launcher is up or the game's actual exe is up, but for ESO the exe must be through the Launcher, as that's how it gets your sign in details for your ESO account.