After 14 years, Steam finally gets some decent privacy settings
Hardcore gamers won't have to worry anymore about people finding out they've played The Sims for 200 hours over the past two weeks.
Valve announced new privacy settings for Steam users Tuesday, allowing people to change how much information others can see in their profiles and who is allowed to see it. Valve also said that in the future, an "invisible" feature will be added that will allow you to appear offline but still use the service's online features.
You can find the new privacy settings pretty easily: Go to your profile page, click the Edit Profile button in the top right, then select My Privacy Settings on the right side of the page. Here's what the privacy settings look like now:
As you can see, you can set your profile to be viewable by the public, only your friends, or set it to private. The settings get more detailed below, so you can keep certain information to yourself or to your friends if you'd like.
One of the most helpful changes is the option to limit who can post comments on your profile, a welcome option for anyone who has received hateful comments in the past.
In the Game details section, you can make it so people can't see your total playtimes for games even if you allow them to see your game details. Now strangers (or friends) won't have to see you've played Dota 2 for 5,000 hours yet still can't get a matchmaking rating higher than 1500.
Valve did not say exactly when the "invisible" option will be available for users.
Topics Cybersecurity Gaming Privacy
