I have a daughter so it's not because of shame I go offline. Like some of the other people here my friends play CS:GO , RL , DOTA .. So i get spammed if i don't go offline mode sometimes.
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You don't have to be in offline mode for that. If you are set offline on the friend list/community, they cannot see if you play a game. Only in your last played list that it was played sometimes.
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I proudly play all my games online, even ones that I wouldn't normally play... like Barbie's Dreamhouse Adventure :-D
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Bump because I had some questions about offline mode and this thread answered them. Here's a short summary:
- Chat doesn't work when offline. This seems to be the main reason people play offline (to avoid interruptions and be more immersed by the game)
- Cards do drop when offline. Some people even prefer to do their farming in this mode.
- Achievements gained while playing offline are synced when going online.
- Playtimes don't increase when offline and are not synced when going online.
- Leaderboards work when offline (this wasn't actually mentioned in this thread, but I noticed it the other day)
Edit: The above is inaccurate, at least according to this post and to the comments below by d3m4n. Now I'm even more confused :-(
Also, here's a Free Game Bump™
| Game | Free Key |
|---|---|
| Fly O'Clock |
- If you took the key, please (1) activate it on your account, and (2) reply to let me know so that I can remove the link (otherwise your email address will remain visible).
- Please don't take the key if you already own the game or are not interested in it.
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Sorry, I accidentally took the key and then found out I already have it. I will send the key the first person who will write me on steam chat.
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No worries. I updated the link. Let me know if there are any takers.
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BTW, the table is ReChart-enabled, so if you have it installed you should see the game listed in green, marking that you already have it.
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Yes I use it, but I may clicked on it before it colored the table. Fear of ninjas or fast takers... Sorry. :(
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partial clarification on parts of it. there is 2x different offline modes. the offline from just friends chat, and the full logging out of steam into offline mode.
the logging out one doesn't update achievements or time played.
but you can log out of steam friends chat and even disconnecting the internet via wifi, pulling the lan cord, or disable nic. then play it a while and gain achievements. then reconnect to the internet and all that stuff syncs as if you were on the internet still.
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Not sure what you mean by "logging out"... if you log out of the Steam client you can't launch games, and if you launch a game and then log out it also shuts down the game. Do you mean disconnected from the network with the client still logged in?
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Picture #1 is me logging out of steam friends
Picture #2 is me logging out of steam into offline mode
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sorry, spent time on the gifs i was just in a rush to get those sent off.
yes, disconnecting from the network with the client still logged in will sync the achievements and playtime to the best of its ability upon reconnection of the network (sometimes it can miss some, but mostly accurate on sync). but no sync of achievements or playtime will occur in the full offline mode in picture 2.
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This is very helpful. Thanks for sharing! I somehow never noticed the second option...
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yeah I started to realize that, so that's why I went the gif route. It was easier to just show you it then try and explain it. 🙂
additionally semi relatable but offtopic: family sharing has the playtime and achievements linked to the person that played it instead of the game owners account. so in theory, you could play a game off of family share, decide to buy it, and already be above the 2hour playtime to be eligible for a refund.
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This seems to be the main reason people play offline (to avoid interruptions and be more immersed by the game)
I doubt it, since you can just choose to set your community status to offline when you log into the client, and that disables chat alerts as well. You don't need to disconnect Steam itself from the internet to not get interrupted by Steam friends.
(Also, only some games will track Steam achievements when in offline mode, then sync them when going online. Many will just not unlock achievements.)
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that's just the thing, those times you set your community chat in offline mode, then steam network goes down and comes back up. it commonly reverts you to online mode, then you get group announcements and people can message you as well as if settings are default, you get tons of "xyz has logged on" notifications while in the middle of your gameplay. the actual offline mode won't care how wonky steam network is.
i learned to just deal with and ignore group announcements and friends messaging me until i'm ready to reply. so i quit going in offline mode for the most part.
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I deal with it by having Steam not log into Community by default. It never attempts to log on to those servers.
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honestly, that's something I didn't know about. lol. we're all learning today. just saw it in the settings though. ^^
but for those with mostly or entirely default settings it's easier to just go in full offline mode if they don't even care about gameplay time or achievements.
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It's my fault. My "summary" is a mish-mash of wrong conclusions based on confusing the two offline modes d3m4n described. I need to strikethrough this comment.
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Never... i don't think steam has any games that i would be embarassed to be seen playing.
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No.
But,. since my network right now is,. erratic, i'm having to skip on the always online games T_T
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For myself, Steam is a gaming platform and not a chat app so I am not logged in to my friends list 96% of the time.
Steam, however, is always online.
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not really. my friends can see what i am playing :)
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what game would you not want your friends to..... oh, those games.
nope never xd, played offline to family share a game trough :P
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Do you ever play offline on steam because you're playing a game you don't want your friends to see?
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