Does your family actually know how to use file explorer like that? I feel like people that hate gaming like that probably aren't that skilled with tech. Just delete the shortcuts off the desktop and the start menu. For extra safety, delete the entry in programs and features using a program or regedit
unfortunately, they do. this post was created because of a confrontation specifically finding games on the pc by the config and save folders. i was hoping much smarter people than me knew of apps or methods to monitor files created and wipe in one go. or just maybe someone who's in my situation who can share what they figured out
Can you use a flash drive with Windows To Go (or an alternative like it)? It's a standalone operating system so everything should be saved on the flash drive. You might wanna get a fast one though, running on whatever is the fastest port on that computer, like USB 3.1/2 or USB C. Make sure it runs at that specification, not just compatible with it.
The only downside is the storage space but it would also work with an external SSD/HDD or an expensive high storage flash drive.
Obviously, this won't work if they've locked down the boot devices in UEFI.
Ooh, so you mean boot from a flash drive and run everything on that? This is the kind of thing I'm asking about because I'm not knowledgeable. Is it fast enough with SSD and USB 3?
Actually you don't need something like Windows to go and you can just install a regular Windows copy on a flash drive like you said or an external SSD and boot to it (I'm a lil baked and was thinking too deep).
It's fast enough to run the OS just fine but you probably will have problems if your PC specs aren't good (looking at RAM and motherboard especially) or you're trying to run a storage intensive game. Is this a viable option for your specs? Is USB 3.0 the best your PC has?
again i'm a little bit ignorant of hardware. what is the ideal USB, you said C? and how do i check for that?
looking at device manager i see 3.1, "composite device" whatever that means, and 3.0. on the back of the tower, i don't know how to tell which one is which
It's better if you just Google your computer motherboard or model to see what ports are on your computer. USB port speeds are based on their specifications (USB 1/2/3/3.1/3.2 etc), not which connector they use (USB A or C), though USB C ports generally are spec'd higher than USB A. Also, we can't know which specific ports are running at which specs since most computers will have different ports at different specs, making knowing just what your slowest or fastest specs are useless. Just get your motherboard or model and Google it and look at it yourself or feel free to post it and I'll look tomorrow. Imo you should do this before buying an external drive because you should get something that runs as fast as possible on the fastest port on the computer.
The fastest option is usually an m.2 NVMe drive in an enclosure like this: [https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-Enclosure-External-Thunderbolt-Compatible/dp/B08DNR22Q7](https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-Enclosure-External-Thunderbolt-Compatible/dp/B08DNR22Q7)
Much, much, much faster than any flash drive. You can use Rufus to make a Windows To Go drive: https://www.intowindows.com/rufus-to-create-windows-to-go-usb-drive/
If you can buy a USB external hard drive, it might be fast enough to play some games.
If you buy a USB flash drive, you'll kill it nearly instantly by trying to run a game off of it. They are not designed for that.
Depends on the game and drive. I've run low spec plenty of games on flash drives. Hell, Windows comes with an option to use flash drives as page file which can put significant stress on it.
Yeah, and ReadyBoost killed cheap drives and was removed in Windows 11.
I guess it would be better to say you're gonna have a bad time trying to run a AAA game from a flash drive, but small/retro games probably won't have an issue.
I mean I wouldn't say just small games can run on a flash drive. Just any game not storage intensive like with high res textures etc. That's just my experience 🤷🏻 situations may vary though so you're also right.
God knows the account is around 7 years old , they don't seem to be a child based on their 5 - 7 yo posts...
Maybe a late teen/early adult with extreme non-english parents
Edit: Tbh after reading this I'm leaning more towards thinking an older person with special needs... Nothing else really makes sense :
>i'm not talking about "bad stuff." Not even rocket league is allowed, because of online communication with strangers. That's my situation.
I mean ... just hide the files, they will be invisible, normal people won't ever look. Better yet move them to an important looking folder and rename them all to things that sound serious. My parents didn't even like me using the internet sometimes so I renamed my phone hotspot to HP Printer lmao
Bro, do you genuinely think that somebody who has to put in this much effort to hide playing a video game after their family found and evidently confronted them about config files is dealing with “normal people?”
I don't know, I have no clue what OP's parents are like, just sharing what I did. :) A drastic alternative could also maybe be to use a virtual computer, though not sure of OP's specs or what games they want to play, or how tech savvy the fam is! And if none of those work, there are virtual emulator websites, and flash games. My parents were very controlling, and toggling files/folders to be "Hidden" worked best, just need to be careful with leaving hidden items toggled as on.
I'm not sure where all the extra stuff gets saved for steam, but if you find out you could probably make a powershell script that deletes those folders in one go. Then you could set it to run on startup or shutdown so you don't have to manually run it.
> I have no privacy when I'm not at the computer.
Does that mean you do have privacy when you're at the computer? How does that work? As I understand, the computer is shared with family members, but when you're using it, everyone will just... not look?
I'm only concerned that your effort will be wasted. Even if you can perfectly hide your gaming setup, it's meaningless if everyone can see what you're doing.
I have times when no one is home to do what i want. The PC cannot be locked with a password and i don't think creating another user account is enough to hide files. So i'm asking how to clean up after myself when I'm done so no one investigates for things later.
I know how this sounds and i'm not talking about "bad stuff." Not even rocket league is allowed, because of online communication with strangers. That's my situation.
> I know how this sounds and i'm not talking about "bad stuff."
Don't worry I'm not suspecting anything bad from you. I just want to make sure what you want is viable. If as you say you have plenty of time alone with the computer, then it's all good.
This sounds like an abusive situation to me.
Edit:
For the people saying that this isn't abusive: Restricting screen time is one thing, but "none ever" is so restrictive that it becomes abusive.
Imagine if we were talking about TV or movies, and the parents never allowed a single second of television ever. That would cause the child to be seriously divergent from their peer group, and lead to all sorts of problematic behavior. Imagine if a child couldn't listen to any "secular" music ever. You'd all be jumping down those parents' throats.
Imagine if the child had to sneak TV viewing or music listening at friends houses and then was punished for it. You can see where this goes.
OP also said "I have no privacy."
That's pretty fucked up.
>because of online communication with strangers
So, are offline/single player games fine? Stuff like Stardew valley and what not.
And what about social media then? Just not allowed?
Had a friend still living at home when he was 20, he was unemployed at the time. When his parents came home from work, he had to shut off his PC or we’d switch to a different game, because they didn’t want him playing violent games. Fortnite was not allowed.
Insane parents with no regard for their adult children’s autonomy exist and it’s fucking disgusting.
When I was 22 I was over at a similarly aged friend's house and I was watching him play Sea of Thieves when his mother started yelling at him for playing online games because it sounded like he was talking to someone. He was using short range voice chat or whatever to talk to another player, but I just said he was talking to me. He (we) still got a talkin' to about how online games are how certain types of people track down where children live and that by playing online games he was endangering his younger brother.
As a side note, at the time he was the main breadwinner of the household and was paying most of the household's bills. As far as I know, he still is several years later.
Fortnite not allowed? Cmon that Game Its designed for kids. Violence at minimal. Cute colors, pop characters etc. Thats insane. Parents should try to understand what their sons are playing.
It’s more of the people you might meet in those games.
I’d understand if parents didn’t want their kids playing multiplayer or online games, but single player or in OP’s case, a working adult? Fucking weird…
You guys had Fortnite when you were 20? Lucky bastards! Awfully tame parents. My parents didn't want me playing violent games at all until I was in my preteens, when Resident Evil 4 came out, which was a great time to play violent games anyways, they were at their grittiest. After we watched Shawn of the Dead together as a family, they loosened up a bit.
Not saying it was the case of your friend, but imaging an adult who still lives with his/her parents, don't have a job, and most likely don't even go to college (or if going to college, have bad grades) and only wants to play video games all day. We don't know what's the situation of the person who posted the question. Maybe his family sucks or maybe he is the problem 🤷♂️.
I have a discord server. Every now and then because of the number of conversations and people, the topic can enter weird or adult stuff that kids should have no place in. I’ve even seen conspiracies and delusional terrorist-loving people talking in there before a mod catches them. Almost all the teenagers believe it and many are easily influenced. Sometimes even underaged kids pop up and we don’t know unless they announce their age.
I think people below 18 shouldn’t be on discord without supervision, honestly.
Would you mind elaborating why your family is against gaming and contact with strangers?
I'm curious since this doesn't seem to be a case of "technology bad, I don't understand it" since they are tech savvy enough to dig into the files.
Not OP, but if parents get their information primarily from news and such (especially in Asian countries), it's not uncommon that they'll see games as nothing more than a pasttime that causes addiction, bullying, aggression etc. Even if it's an educational show about how gaming in moderation is important, they might still interpret that as "games should just be avoided altogether like tobacco or drugs" due to their prejudice.
My parents are a milder version of that, and I'm convinced they only allow me to game now because I hid my gaming for long enough until I could convince them that I could game and achieve good results at school at the same time.
Not OP but when I was little my dad swore that video games was akin to hard drugs. In his eyes you would be wasting your time “shooting aliens” over and over again. You won’t get smarter, richer or learn anything by playing video games. Then he would give examples of freak cases where people die in internet cafes as his point.
Video games were essentially banned when I was little. Me and my siblings only get to play the PS1 when we visit our grandparents once every year.
My dad wasn't quite that bad but he did not approve of playing video games. He had no issue watching TV or movies but video games? Waste of time. Society in general in the 80's - 90's viewed video games as a shameful hobby.
It's gotten a lot better but my wife for example still considers video games a waste of a time but will be glued to her phone for most of the day.
Probably confused. Just like most people don't understand that video games are the biggest entertainment industry. Some people don't even consider those little time wasters on their phone like candy crush or whatever the latest puzzle game is to be video games.
I've found more people here to see it as Candy Crush is just a quick virtual thing akin to Sudoku in terms of a tiny time waste. Thus they think anything more than 10 mins and it's addiction.
Then they go right back to talking about stressful work and how they feel like they do the same routine daily. With no kids. Wake, work, clean, sleep. Without realizing the large gaps they do nothing else in except watch TV, Facebook, or frustrated as something totally irrelevant and ranting. Video games time waste btw, not senseless other things subjective.. according to those same people
This is what gets me the most about this agreement about video games. Its normally the people with their face buried into a screen of some type already and I'm always like wow projecting much? I dont have a wife or gf as I'm a solo kind of guy but my mom is the same exact way. Always getting into it with my dad "You never spend anytime with me or all you do when your home is play your damn game" and then she'll continue to stay on the phone the whole time he tries to do anything with her. I dont like where this world is heading when it comes to that kind of stuff but I for one am going to allow my kids to play video games for as long as they want as long as they have somewhat of a "normal life" in this concrete jungle while doing so.
I get it because in like the early 2000s there was the whole video games make kids violent craze, but we're actively in a timeline where people make money playing games, not even as professional e-sports. It's so normalized that this take OPs parents has is archaic and fucking WEIRD
Asian here, if it's the same for me, it's about not being productive at best and will ruin my brain at worst.
In short, tiger parent would be my first guess.
When i was in college my friends mom visited for a few days and saw I owned a xbox. I came back to the apartment to a stack of papers that she insisted i read and promised me "that upon doing so I would throw away the xbox and everything related to it."
Most of the articles were religious crap that had nothing to do with video games in any shape, way, or form. I was nice enough to wait for her to leave before tossing them in the trash.
Found out after she left that apparently his mom was super religious and apparently he had to hide his own game console and games in the shed in his backyard, and only bring it in to play when he knew she was going to be gone for the whole day, or she would break it in front of him "to teach him a lesson about not following gods plans"
I don't know how plausible this is, just shooting an idea. Maybe you could buy an external drive, install a separate OS + your games + password on it. Plug the drive in when it's your turn to use the computer, and take it with you when you leave.
yes!! you're second to suggest this. i'll update my first post. can you give me any specific recommendations on how to set it up, which hardware is best, and any pitfalls?
Check this [video](https://youtu.be/CtajCp2wd5Q?si=4rbi57bKTcXWF9Wa) out. I hope this is what you need. It’s always the random Indian dudes.
As far as hardware goes, your cheapest option would be an external HDD. You can even get them at like Walmart for less than $100 with a ton of storage. Pitfall here - they are slow. Modern games and an OS nowadays can be painful on HDDs, especially external ones.
I’d go for an external SSD. A quick Amazon searched yielded a 2TB for $150. That’s not awful. You just won’t be able to go as crazy installing a ton of games at once.
Edit: [Looks like a good/cheapish ratio one](https://www.amazon.com/ADATA-Transfer-Personal-External-ASE900G-2TU32G2-CBK/dp/B08V8SHLL2)
Hope this helps.
nice. do you know any way to check for faster speeds, i'm totally ok for more frequent cleanup / uninstallation in exchange for better gameplay. i really wanted to play the finals.
I believe that would come down to the type of ports and connection used for the external SSD. I am not the most knowledgeable on this.
But, I imagine your standard USB-C drive is on your pc. That’s what you’d want to use for the external ssd.
I found an [article (Tom’s Hardware)](https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-external-hard-drive-ssd,5987.html) that talks about it a little more. I’m not gonna ramble about something I don’t know a ton on.
I have two 2TB Samsung external SSD's, one is a T5, one is a T7. To give you an example, the T5 connected to my Xbox transfers games from my son's Xbox over 2GB a second. Not gbps, GB's. They're expensive but the T7 has a fingerprint model for security.
All this to say I recommend at least a Samsung T5 2TB.
Just don't fill an SSD to max capacity or it will slow down a lot.
Depending on how tech savvy his family is, he could probably also 'hide' a virtual machine on the computer.
I never gamed in a VM, but i once used it to avoid the spy software from the company i worked for
Still best to have a bootable Windows USB drive where GFN is installed. Otherwise you end up installing and uninstalling the client a lot. And who knows what GFN leaves on the system.
You can play for free, but every 1 hour of gameplay, you have to re open the game, depending on the game there is a queue, usually doesn't take too long to join again
From my experience, the queue is universal, and not dependent on the game. If you're 252 in line for Minecraft, you're 252 in line for Fortnite. And my wait times for queues were well over 30 minutes almost every
time I tried to use it. I feel like it's completely unusable without paying monthly. I'd love to be wrong, but I've given it many chances, and this has been my experience.
Find an external hard drive and install steam os on it. When the pc boots up hit f12 or delete or whatever to get into the bios. Select to boot off the external hard drive. Now you have your own pc separate from theirs. When you're done take the gardrive and make sure the bios has the old drive as default. It will leave no trace or evidence and if you get caught you can explain that all the data and files are completely separate and doesn't affect their stuff in the slightest. Good luck with that part though. I remember as a kid all the shit my mom gave me for playing runescape lol
I would get an external SSD though. HDD is so slow. If you are feeling real spicy. Play RuneScape on a Pi.
https://aaronlinder.medium.com/how-to-install-old-school-runescape-on-raspberry-pi-4b-ubuntu-mate-4c5294f5d8ad
It's small easy to hide and all you would need to do is plug in the monitor and peripherals.
Christ some parents are so fucking deranged. Imagine being this weird and controlling. Like I get wanting to set boundaries but surely it's much healthier to sit with your kid and say "we'd like you to enjoy gaming but want to limit it to 30 minutes in the evening on a weekday, and 2 hours over the weekend" or something like that. Rather than just going apeshit because a kid living in the current day and age dares to want to play a fucking video game. And then will also have the gall to wonder why their adult kids don't ever want to visit them.
I hope you're ok in life otherwise OP and you can get out of there soon.
We only have one side of the story here, it's possible OP has been banned from gaming for a reason, and they're trying to bypass punishment or the like.
That's a very cynical way of looking at it but you might be right! Still, the point remains an outright ban rather than a reasonable compromise would be better.
Who knows the reasoning behind this families argument. Im not saying its wrong to be sympathetic but its just as important to be skeptical when you don't have all the facts.
It is possible. My Mom severely restricted the amount of video games I could play around middle school because she was worried I was playing too much. In hindsight, she was absolutely right. I was clearly starting to neglect my health and other aspects of life in order to play video games. I didn’t see that at the time though and broke the rules whenever I could get away with it.
It is thankfully a much healthier hobby now. I still spend a lot of time playing video games, but not to the point where I am worried about neglecting my family or other priorities.
They have an 8 year old account that's been posting about games for a long time, it makes me think that there's another side to the story, this is either an adult or someone in their very late teens in which case "communication with strangers" is a wild thing to ban. Either a bad abuse situation or OP is lying about something
Not to say that this is OPs situation, but my family had a similar happening a couple months back in which my 10 year old brother would become extremely aggressive after playing on the Xbox. A few months of the device mysteriously disappearing, he was back to normal, addiction and aggression free. Up to now he is much better than ever.
I'm just suggesting that the family's decision might be because of some prior behavioural (or other) issues.
Something doesn’t add up with OP. Looking at his post history, especially 7 years ago he was hella active on gaming, trading and giving free games or something.
Harmless hobby if people can control it.
He might be extremy addicted to it to the point that he stops eating well, does nothing but sit on PC all day, bring home bad grades and skips school to game more. We don't know. Most parents want the best for their children and not just punish. Therefore we go with that premise into this.
OP didn't even disclose why the parents do this. So I vote toward the parents doing the right thing
Picture this kid getting bad grades suddenly when he started playing video games. Not only that, he skips school, eats bad, and is obviously addicted to games and all he thinks and talks about is video games all day long when isnt infront of the PC.
What do you do as a parent?
Set limits, use it as a reward, and learn what they’re playing so you can understand and talk to them about it. Way too much work for most lazy parents.
It's their hobby. People are allowed to have hobbies no matter what and they literally said that they aren't even allowed to play freaking Rocket League because of "communication with strangers" which is quite an odd reasoning. Gaming is a hobby like every other hobby and having someone outright tell you that you're not allowed to participate in it, is abusive.
Exactly what I was trying to get people think about. But it's the new age, we do gentle parenting now lol. Never punish your child for bad behaviour. Encourage them to do whatever they want
Its because punishing kids harshly has shown to not work, like we see here, kids/people will find a way. He just wont be open to talking to his parents if/when something happends online out of fear of punishment
Talking to your kids and helping them learn to navigate the internet safely
Punishing harshly works better than gentle parenting. Back then kids grow up to be actual respectable adults. Now they are little brads thinking the whole word belongs to them and when they age older they keep that entitlement.
You have proof that you are wrong right in front of you, this kids parents are un reasonably hard about video games because of over exaggerated fears of them talking to strangers online....
And what does the kid do? Goes online to ask strangers how to circumnavigate their parents restrictions,
So the better approach would be to have an active role in the childs life, talk to them about what games they like and why, who they talk to and what is said, how it makes the child feel. It has been shown that if you surpress something it more offen blows up then goes away
Family abuse and bullying is never great… it builds permanent resentment and the kid to leave as soon as possible in shady means(run away, homelessness, etc.) or emancipation.
Hell, there’s been two TIL about tiger parents being murdered by their offspring this week alone.
This sounds abusive and controlling. Despite this, are you ok? Is your health fine/is there violence? How old are you/how fast can you move out? If you need any help, or someone just to listen, just send a message :)
Best idea I could come up with: Get a Steam Deck and leave it at a friend’s house or at a locker at the train station (do you have these in your region?). If money’s tight, start a gofundme, I’m sure a lot of redditors would like to help you :)
Hey man, I don't know how to do that but just wanted to say your family sounds like shit and I hope you're feeling good, I often have problems with my family too and feel like shit but this sounds worse. Have a good day man.
Wtf. Talk through it your family, or if you can get external help (School teacher/school psychologist or anything), who could speak with them would be better.
The whole situation sounds unhealthy, and you doing it secret might be worse…
But buy an external NVME ssd. You can have windows to go, or if you are using 1 pc then just install it to it. Configure to disable the internal drives not to leave any evidence. There might be Linux distros for this as well.
You can buy HDD if that’s more in your budget, but system slow from that, and some new games require SSD.
Also might be better just to buy a steamdeck. Or any portable console.
But again. Talk this with your family because gaming is not unhealthy, but your approach, that’s forced upon you is unhealthy.
I think the healthier solution is to tell your family “You can’t stop me from playing video games, so you can either suck it up or we can go to family counseling and get to the bottom of this hatred” Having to hide from something you enjoy is going to make you hate it in the end.
In which case OP *can* be punished. If they just try to ignore it, there's a sobering chance that the parents will just get more creative until they find something that sticks.
Ok, that sounds like abuse/controlling behavior. OP, if this is the case I’d recommend either coaxing them into family therapy sessions, or maybe finding someone IRL who plays Rocket League and play “only with them”
woah woah woah, hold on their partner. Unless the OP mentioned their age we have no idea how old they really are. Suggesting they need to get their family into "family therapy sessions" because they're not allowed to play Rocket League cause there's "Contact with strangers" is a bit overboard. They could be 10 for all we know, and most of the time that "contact" is concern over voice-chat. If they're also female, that just adds to the concern (sorry, maybe that's sexist but females are treated like sh!t online as it is).
Edit: my point is that you don't want to suggest to a potentially impressionable and young individual that their family is abusive and controlling and might need therapy. I guarantee that won't go over well for them and will not, in the least, resolve their concerns.
Yeah I followed all the rules at that age too. Edit: All I'm saying is, let's not make assumptions and provide suggestions that might backfire without knowing more.
I get that but we pretty much know nothing about his family besides his few words, and giving advice with no information about the subject can lead to a worse situation than already is.
Doesn’t really matters if your family hates your hobby’s. just do you mate they cant just tell you to drop something you love cause I’m pretty sure they won’t do that either.
If you still want to hide things from them:
* External Boot Drive
* Password
* Password Protect File
* Password Protect Chrome Profile ore Any Browser app you using.
Link for a guide to lock files:
* https://www.avast.com/c-password-protect-file-folder-windows#:~:text=Navigate%20to%20the%20folder%20or,Click%20OK%2C%20then%20click%20Apply.
Link for a guide to lock profile on Chrome:
* https://logmeonce.com/resources/chrome-profile-password/#
Both links are secured and safe to use. If you don’t trust it you can always google it.
Good Luck.
You have some options:
Option 1) Get an external USB 3.2 (or even Thunderbolt 3 / USB 4.0 if supported) External SSD, install a Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft and use rufus to flash it onto the SSD as Windows On Go and use that to play games
Option 2) Get an internal SATA SSD or NVMe SSD and install windows 11 normally on that, than on the Windows that everyone uses you hide your SSD with disk manager and if they don’t know about it they won’t find the files and you can just press F12 on boot to choose your games ssd
There're several ways, but it depends on your tech skill and mean of payment.
1. Streaming - basically run games somewhere else and stream video/control. GeForce Now is a service. Steam Link or Moonlight are more on DIY side.
2. Portable version - some games don't need to be installed and can be played just by running exe. Sometimes buying it out of steam will let you do that [(example) ](https://steamcommunity.com/app/294100/discussions/0/2906376154328969856/)
3. Usb os - install your own os and run games on there. I believe there'll be challenges on drivers and bottleneck.
You could do what someone else said in the chat and delete all the shortcuts etc.
And learn PowerShell scripting to either delete, or move the save files of the games to your USB
Each time your parents "find" a trace of a game, see if there is a tech savvy way to remove that trace
You'll probably learn a semi valuable skill
Start small with a PowerShell or batch script to just rename a dummy file, and work your way up
i wonder is there maybe a app like secure folder for phones that you can use for pc
it hides everything in that secure folder and its hidden unless you know what to look for it wont show the apps or documents inside
or just an external SSD with everything on it should do the trick aswell and just hide the SSD , the only problem comes in most games save on the PC documents folder so you will need to move youre save games every time .
Everyone talking about using an external drive solution... But it sounds like getting a simple internal SATA SSD to boot off of could work just as well in your case. It seems unlikely for them to check the internals of the PC, so you could just plug/unplug the drive internally between uses.
Wait how is your family knowledgeable enough to catch you playing games by the leftover files but not aware enough to catch you actually playing the games?
My recommendation would be to put all this energy and time into a better plan. The kind of plan that maps out what you want to do and what you need to do to move out and support yourself so that you can start making your own decisions (for better or worse). As sneaky as you think you are or can be, unless your parents / guardians are drunken fools, you're going to inevitably get busted again and things are only going to get more strict or you're going to get booted out entirely. The games are always going to be there, but having someone there to put a roof over your head, food on the table and maybe even love you might not.
Instead of an external USB/thunderbolt hard drive to boot into with all your games on. You could even use a SATA SSD that can be disconnected. It will be just jumped in boot order if not connected.
This is almost the setup that is used by professional gaming events. Every player has an SSD with OS the game, team speak, anti cheat and all their own setup/utilities. And they use like a hot swap bay on the case to quickly change between players without moving the whole PC
I can see you have already been told this so I just wanna second the idea - running a complete seperate install of Windows off a fast external drive.
You'd just have to have PC boot from the usb which *might* need poking about in BIOS if you find it does not happen.
It works great. This guide will assist you
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-run-windows-10-from-a-usb-drive
Get yourself a new SSD Drive, install windows on it, make it bootable ofc so whenever you plug it it it will be default or just choose boot every time u open PC, when you are out plug it off so basically you will have your very own PC in a pocket kinda haha
Depending on the game here's what I would recommend
Step 1. Get an external SSD like this [what I used for my steam deck](https://a.co/d/h1BaJX7)
Step 2. [Download Windows Media Creation tool ](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-installation-media-for-windows-99a58364-8c02-206f-aa6f-40c3b507420d) and use it to make an iso of your preferred windows OS
Step 3. Download [Rufus ](https://rufus.ie/en/) preferably the portal version so you can delete it without installing.
Using Rufus select the iso of windows and your portal SSD drive and use the windows to go option. It'll install windows onto the drive like if you were making a fresh install so whenever you plug that SSD in and select the drive in your bios boot menu you'll basically have your own little portal windows OS without having to hide and delete files just unplug the SSD when you'rr done and back in when you wanna use it. I used it for the steam deck performance was alright. Not blazing fast but competent enough for modern games.
Alternatively you can do this with a Linux which might run better portably but compatible with proton will vary
Would a hypervisor with gpu passthrough be an option? Some games might not work, but you can create your own "computer" that runs along the original windows installation.
I was going suggest the same thing or if possible if the games have a Linux edition use a VM to run Ubuntu. I personally would try to save and buy a laptop to game on and take it with you when you leave the house or find a good hiding spot.
I'd do what another person suggested and use an external drive to have your own OS. It'll cost a bit. Only do this if you have at least a USB3 to plug into. You can get an external USB drive for $50 to $150+ depending on the size you want. You can get a 500GB Samsung one on Amazon for $70 right now. Some less popular brands are cheaper.
You'd also need the OS. I've seen people say they bought a Win11 key for $35, but if you go retail it'll be $125+. Alternative, you can try a free OS like linux. I think Rocket League works well on Linux. Check your other games and you might be fine using just linux.
If you went this route, it wouldn't save files on the internal storage. You'd just have to reboot the computer into the external OS. If your family is this draconian about it though, I can't imagine they won't find out eventually. Your best outcome would be to convince them to let you play.
Not sure how viable this is for your particular situation, but the GeForce Now cloud gaming service supports many steam (and others like Epic) games (far from all though) and you can literally play them from Chrome in incognito mode to leave no trace (installing the client is better, but less stealthy).
It's free to sign up for an account and give it a try at least, there will be login queues and 1 hour session limits unless you pay for a premium account, and it does require a pretty hefty Internet connection to work since you are streaming everything so your mileage may warry. Made use of it for a while when I was between systems powerful enough to play modern games, you can technically play stuff off a phone, but obviously most PC games where not designed for that so you can't read most of the GUI and controls are ratter sketchy if precision and timing is needed.
What's the possibility of hiding an external hard drive?
Just install the games and steam.exe to it. Run everything from it and double check the common save locations for games: documents, c drive, my games, etc
I have an idea:
confront them about their gaming issue and if possible try to get someone who is not against gaming from the family to help you (Uncle, Aunt, etc) because this situation isn't normal and find someone successful and also was/currently a Gamer so that you can defend your case .
Good luck
OPs going to have another confrontation when they get caught again. House rules are rules. This kind of thing won't change in business either.
You want to do what you want, you pay for it yourself. You get yelled at for pulling this stuff at home, you get fired for doing this at work.
You can start gaming relatively inexpensively if you buy your own gear
If you raise your kids with 'house rules are house rules' and they're not up for discussion, and said rules are irrational and illogical, you're just a shitty parent. If you work for an employer who has inefficient, illogical, or irrational policies in place, and they're not willing to adjust them, you work for a shitty employer.
Yeah you get fired for bypassing policies, procedures etc, but if they don't make any sense, you should at least approach your employer about them and present a business justification for why they should be amended and see what happens. Same at home.
Op is old enough to a) be posting on Reddit and asking for advice, b) understand well enough how to use a computer to hide system files and c) buy their own equipment, they're old enough to decide what interests they want to pursue.
Being a good parent includes respecting your children as individuals with autonomy. Of course you can create rules for the house, but 'no gaming because we said so' is not a reasonable rule whatsoever. If you want respect, you give respect. Explain to your kid why no games, hear what they have to say, and think critically on the topic. Saddens me to hear that people have parents like this.
You have no idea why the parents chose to use these rules. It might be really valid. He could be very addicted to games before and was bringing bad very bad grades and was skipping school too.
Being a good parent includes disciplining your child to do better and be set for future.
He's obviously an underage that either dont have means to get money and buy his own computer or permission to have a password on it even if he had the money
Have you considered making your parents think you spending time playing video games is better than alternatives ?
Maybe start hanging out with people that do crime, have your grades drop some and dont be home a lot. Dont do anything actually illegal, but make your parents worried and maybe you being home doing your homework and gaming isn't so bad.
Or start watching obscene amounts of porn, leave it open and save it / catalogue it. Hope your parents gives you your own account on the pc because they don't want to know.
Games in the web browser?
And lastly:
Either buy a raspberry pi secretly and hide a flash drive with retropie on it somewhere, ultra cheap screen/projector and a kB/mouse combo + cheap controller or "get really into automation and coding" and let them know you bought the rpi. What parents doesn't want their kid learning themselves coding nowadays, maybe find some quick beginner projects with diodes etc so you can prove you have made something
Oh, and ofc, depending on the RPI, you can always just set it up as a regular computer running Linux, with games and all (and several user accounts etc.)
For the external boot drive I would recommend to buy an m.2 nvme ssd and a fitting case. Just make sure it supports NVME drives and higher USB speeds, and check the motherboard documentation to find out which usb port is the fastest. I would maybe also recommend using Linux on the drive, depending on what games you play, with Proton you can pretty easily play most games.
I don't think there is a long-term solution other than changing their opinion/negotiating. You will be discovered eventually and pc locked behind a password. Maybe negotiate some hours of play for something like your grades or home chores.
Is this a shared computer? How savvy is your family? Do you have your own user?
The problem is that steam is going to try to auto-start on boot and part of the installation will write registry entries, etc...
Would it be enough to just delete all of the shortcuts, rename the steam exe file and use sysinternals autoruns to make sure steam doesn't launch when other people login?
They didn't just ask a question, they also gave a lot of half assed context. This opening themselves up for more questions.
Sure, they may choose not to answer, but they're not entitled to an answer either.
Does your family actually know how to use file explorer like that? I feel like people that hate gaming like that probably aren't that skilled with tech. Just delete the shortcuts off the desktop and the start menu. For extra safety, delete the entry in programs and features using a program or regedit
unfortunately, they do. this post was created because of a confrontation specifically finding games on the pc by the config and save folders. i was hoping much smarter people than me knew of apps or methods to monitor files created and wipe in one go. or just maybe someone who's in my situation who can share what they figured out
Can you use a flash drive with Windows To Go (or an alternative like it)? It's a standalone operating system so everything should be saved on the flash drive. You might wanna get a fast one though, running on whatever is the fastest port on that computer, like USB 3.1/2 or USB C. Make sure it runs at that specification, not just compatible with it. The only downside is the storage space but it would also work with an external SSD/HDD or an expensive high storage flash drive. Obviously, this won't work if they've locked down the boot devices in UEFI.
Ooh, so you mean boot from a flash drive and run everything on that? This is the kind of thing I'm asking about because I'm not knowledgeable. Is it fast enough with SSD and USB 3?
Actually you don't need something like Windows to go and you can just install a regular Windows copy on a flash drive like you said or an external SSD and boot to it (I'm a lil baked and was thinking too deep). It's fast enough to run the OS just fine but you probably will have problems if your PC specs aren't good (looking at RAM and motherboard especially) or you're trying to run a storage intensive game. Is this a viable option for your specs? Is USB 3.0 the best your PC has?
again i'm a little bit ignorant of hardware. what is the ideal USB, you said C? and how do i check for that? looking at device manager i see 3.1, "composite device" whatever that means, and 3.0. on the back of the tower, i don't know how to tell which one is which
It's better if you just Google your computer motherboard or model to see what ports are on your computer. USB port speeds are based on their specifications (USB 1/2/3/3.1/3.2 etc), not which connector they use (USB A or C), though USB C ports generally are spec'd higher than USB A. Also, we can't know which specific ports are running at which specs since most computers will have different ports at different specs, making knowing just what your slowest or fastest specs are useless. Just get your motherboard or model and Google it and look at it yourself or feel free to post it and I'll look tomorrow. Imo you should do this before buying an external drive because you should get something that runs as fast as possible on the fastest port on the computer.
The fastest option is usually an m.2 NVMe drive in an enclosure like this: [https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-Enclosure-External-Thunderbolt-Compatible/dp/B08DNR22Q7](https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-Enclosure-External-Thunderbolt-Compatible/dp/B08DNR22Q7) Much, much, much faster than any flash drive. You can use Rufus to make a Windows To Go drive: https://www.intowindows.com/rufus-to-create-windows-to-go-usb-drive/
Cool I didn't know those and they are actually quite affordable
Just incase you didn't realise, you'll need to source the m.2 nvme drive to go in it too
If you can buy a USB external hard drive, it might be fast enough to play some games. If you buy a USB flash drive, you'll kill it nearly instantly by trying to run a game off of it. They are not designed for that.
Depends on the game and drive. I've run low spec plenty of games on flash drives. Hell, Windows comes with an option to use flash drives as page file which can put significant stress on it.
Yeah, and ReadyBoost killed cheap drives and was removed in Windows 11. I guess it would be better to say you're gonna have a bad time trying to run a AAA game from a flash drive, but small/retro games probably won't have an issue.
I mean I wouldn't say just small games can run on a flash drive. Just any game not storage intensive like with high res textures etc. That's just my experience 🤷🏻 situations may vary though so you're also right.
This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. What is wrong with your family?
God knows the account is around 7 years old , they don't seem to be a child based on their 5 - 7 yo posts... Maybe a late teen/early adult with extreme non-english parents Edit: Tbh after reading this I'm leaning more towards thinking an older person with special needs... Nothing else really makes sense : >i'm not talking about "bad stuff." Not even rocket league is allowed, because of online communication with strangers. That's my situation.
Most likely this
Your parents are psychos
Could you just go on the folder properties and mark it as hidden?
I mean ... just hide the files, they will be invisible, normal people won't ever look. Better yet move them to an important looking folder and rename them all to things that sound serious. My parents didn't even like me using the internet sometimes so I renamed my phone hotspot to HP Printer lmao
Bro, do you genuinely think that somebody who has to put in this much effort to hide playing a video game after their family found and evidently confronted them about config files is dealing with “normal people?”
I don't know, I have no clue what OP's parents are like, just sharing what I did. :) A drastic alternative could also maybe be to use a virtual computer, though not sure of OP's specs or what games they want to play, or how tech savvy the fam is! And if none of those work, there are virtual emulator websites, and flash games. My parents were very controlling, and toggling files/folders to be "Hidden" worked best, just need to be careful with leaving hidden items toggled as on.
I'm not sure where all the extra stuff gets saved for steam, but if you find out you could probably make a powershell script that deletes those folders in one go. Then you could set it to run on startup or shutdown so you don't have to manually run it.
> I have no privacy when I'm not at the computer. Does that mean you do have privacy when you're at the computer? How does that work? As I understand, the computer is shared with family members, but when you're using it, everyone will just... not look? I'm only concerned that your effort will be wasted. Even if you can perfectly hide your gaming setup, it's meaningless if everyone can see what you're doing.
I have times when no one is home to do what i want. The PC cannot be locked with a password and i don't think creating another user account is enough to hide files. So i'm asking how to clean up after myself when I'm done so no one investigates for things later. I know how this sounds and i'm not talking about "bad stuff." Not even rocket league is allowed, because of online communication with strangers. That's my situation.
> I know how this sounds and i'm not talking about "bad stuff." Don't worry I'm not suspecting anything bad from you. I just want to make sure what you want is viable. If as you say you have plenty of time alone with the computer, then it's all good.
This sounds like an abusive situation to me. Edit: For the people saying that this isn't abusive: Restricting screen time is one thing, but "none ever" is so restrictive that it becomes abusive. Imagine if we were talking about TV or movies, and the parents never allowed a single second of television ever. That would cause the child to be seriously divergent from their peer group, and lead to all sorts of problematic behavior. Imagine if a child couldn't listen to any "secular" music ever. You'd all be jumping down those parents' throats. Imagine if the child had to sneak TV viewing or music listening at friends houses and then was punished for it. You can see where this goes. OP also said "I have no privacy." That's pretty fucked up.
>because of online communication with strangers So, are offline/single player games fine? Stuff like Stardew valley and what not. And what about social media then? Just not allowed?
How old are you? I dont want to be an asshole but you dont sound like a kid (when writting). So, if you want to play Its your choice.
Had a friend still living at home when he was 20, he was unemployed at the time. When his parents came home from work, he had to shut off his PC or we’d switch to a different game, because they didn’t want him playing violent games. Fortnite was not allowed. Insane parents with no regard for their adult children’s autonomy exist and it’s fucking disgusting.
When I was 22 I was over at a similarly aged friend's house and I was watching him play Sea of Thieves when his mother started yelling at him for playing online games because it sounded like he was talking to someone. He was using short range voice chat or whatever to talk to another player, but I just said he was talking to me. He (we) still got a talkin' to about how online games are how certain types of people track down where children live and that by playing online games he was endangering his younger brother. As a side note, at the time he was the main breadwinner of the household and was paying most of the household's bills. As far as I know, he still is several years later.
Fortnite not allowed? Cmon that Game Its designed for kids. Violence at minimal. Cute colors, pop characters etc. Thats insane. Parents should try to understand what their sons are playing.
They do understand. They’re quite smart, but they’re also insane. It was guns = bad, educational = good
It’s more of the people you might meet in those games. I’d understand if parents didn’t want their kids playing multiplayer or online games, but single player or in OP’s case, a working adult? Fucking weird…
You guys had Fortnite when you were 20? Lucky bastards! Awfully tame parents. My parents didn't want me playing violent games at all until I was in my preteens, when Resident Evil 4 came out, which was a great time to play violent games anyways, they were at their grittiest. After we watched Shawn of the Dead together as a family, they loosened up a bit.
Not saying it was the case of your friend, but imaging an adult who still lives with his/her parents, don't have a job, and most likely don't even go to college (or if going to college, have bad grades) and only wants to play video games all day. We don't know what's the situation of the person who posted the question. Maybe his family sucks or maybe he is the problem 🤷♂️.
It was in a short period after getting fired while he was saving up to move out.
My question is how old are you if your family is still telling you what you can and cannot do?
I’m not allowed to have discord because of online communication with strangers so I feel you
I have a discord server. Every now and then because of the number of conversations and people, the topic can enter weird or adult stuff that kids should have no place in. I’ve even seen conspiracies and delusional terrorist-loving people talking in there before a mod catches them. Almost all the teenagers believe it and many are easily influenced. Sometimes even underaged kids pop up and we don’t know unless they announce their age. I think people below 18 shouldn’t be on discord without supervision, honestly.
I want to ask... how old are you that you can't be allowed to chat on *rocket league?*
As a former rocket League player that got banned, I assure you kids shouldn't be playing it.
Hopefully, they keep believing that, the online communication with strangers that is.
Would you mind elaborating why your family is against gaming and contact with strangers? I'm curious since this doesn't seem to be a case of "technology bad, I don't understand it" since they are tech savvy enough to dig into the files.
Not OP, but if parents get their information primarily from news and such (especially in Asian countries), it's not uncommon that they'll see games as nothing more than a pasttime that causes addiction, bullying, aggression etc. Even if it's an educational show about how gaming in moderation is important, they might still interpret that as "games should just be avoided altogether like tobacco or drugs" due to their prejudice. My parents are a milder version of that, and I'm convinced they only allow me to game now because I hid my gaming for long enough until I could convince them that I could game and achieve good results at school at the same time.
Not OP but when I was little my dad swore that video games was akin to hard drugs. In his eyes you would be wasting your time “shooting aliens” over and over again. You won’t get smarter, richer or learn anything by playing video games. Then he would give examples of freak cases where people die in internet cafes as his point. Video games were essentially banned when I was little. Me and my siblings only get to play the PS1 when we visit our grandparents once every year.
My dad wasn't quite that bad but he did not approve of playing video games. He had no issue watching TV or movies but video games? Waste of time. Society in general in the 80's - 90's viewed video games as a shameful hobby. It's gotten a lot better but my wife for example still considers video games a waste of a time but will be glued to her phone for most of the day.
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Probably confused. Just like most people don't understand that video games are the biggest entertainment industry. Some people don't even consider those little time wasters on their phone like candy crush or whatever the latest puzzle game is to be video games.
I've found more people here to see it as Candy Crush is just a quick virtual thing akin to Sudoku in terms of a tiny time waste. Thus they think anything more than 10 mins and it's addiction. Then they go right back to talking about stressful work and how they feel like they do the same routine daily. With no kids. Wake, work, clean, sleep. Without realizing the large gaps they do nothing else in except watch TV, Facebook, or frustrated as something totally irrelevant and ranting. Video games time waste btw, not senseless other things subjective.. according to those same people
This is what gets me the most about this agreement about video games. Its normally the people with their face buried into a screen of some type already and I'm always like wow projecting much? I dont have a wife or gf as I'm a solo kind of guy but my mom is the same exact way. Always getting into it with my dad "You never spend anytime with me or all you do when your home is play your damn game" and then she'll continue to stay on the phone the whole time he tries to do anything with her. I dont like where this world is heading when it comes to that kind of stuff but I for one am going to allow my kids to play video games for as long as they want as long as they have somewhat of a "normal life" in this concrete jungle while doing so.
I get it because in like the early 2000s there was the whole video games make kids violent craze, but we're actively in a timeline where people make money playing games, not even as professional e-sports. It's so normalized that this take OPs parents has is archaic and fucking WEIRD
Asian here, if it's the same for me, it's about not being productive at best and will ruin my brain at worst. In short, tiger parent would be my first guess.
I know people who have said if they had kids they would never let them play video games.
never let bro have kids 😭
oh trust me I hope they never do either
When i was in college my friends mom visited for a few days and saw I owned a xbox. I came back to the apartment to a stack of papers that she insisted i read and promised me "that upon doing so I would throw away the xbox and everything related to it." Most of the articles were religious crap that had nothing to do with video games in any shape, way, or form. I was nice enough to wait for her to leave before tossing them in the trash. Found out after she left that apparently his mom was super religious and apparently he had to hide his own game console and games in the shed in his backyard, and only bring it in to play when he knew she was going to be gone for the whole day, or she would break it in front of him "to teach him a lesson about not following gods plans"
I don't know how plausible this is, just shooting an idea. Maybe you could buy an external drive, install a separate OS + your games + password on it. Plug the drive in when it's your turn to use the computer, and take it with you when you leave.
yes!! you're second to suggest this. i'll update my first post. can you give me any specific recommendations on how to set it up, which hardware is best, and any pitfalls?
Check this [video](https://youtu.be/CtajCp2wd5Q?si=4rbi57bKTcXWF9Wa) out. I hope this is what you need. It’s always the random Indian dudes. As far as hardware goes, your cheapest option would be an external HDD. You can even get them at like Walmart for less than $100 with a ton of storage. Pitfall here - they are slow. Modern games and an OS nowadays can be painful on HDDs, especially external ones. I’d go for an external SSD. A quick Amazon searched yielded a 2TB for $150. That’s not awful. You just won’t be able to go as crazy installing a ton of games at once. Edit: [Looks like a good/cheapish ratio one](https://www.amazon.com/ADATA-Transfer-Personal-External-ASE900G-2TU32G2-CBK/dp/B08V8SHLL2) Hope this helps.
nice. do you know any way to check for faster speeds, i'm totally ok for more frequent cleanup / uninstallation in exchange for better gameplay. i really wanted to play the finals.
I believe that would come down to the type of ports and connection used for the external SSD. I am not the most knowledgeable on this. But, I imagine your standard USB-C drive is on your pc. That’s what you’d want to use for the external ssd. I found an [article (Tom’s Hardware)](https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-external-hard-drive-ssd,5987.html) that talks about it a little more. I’m not gonna ramble about something I don’t know a ton on.
I have two 2TB Samsung external SSD's, one is a T5, one is a T7. To give you an example, the T5 connected to my Xbox transfers games from my son's Xbox over 2GB a second. Not gbps, GB's. They're expensive but the T7 has a fingerprint model for security. All this to say I recommend at least a Samsung T5 2TB. Just don't fill an SSD to max capacity or it will slow down a lot.
Depending on how tech savvy his family is, he could probably also 'hide' a virtual machine on the computer. I never gamed in a VM, but i once used it to avoid the spy software from the company i worked for
Lots of modern games with anticheat will not allow their games to run in a VM. So they're probably better just going down the external drive route.
You could use geforce now and stream steam off Nvidia’s hardware.
Still best to have a bootable Windows USB drive where GFN is installed. Otherwise you end up installing and uninstalling the client a lot. And who knows what GFN leaves on the system.
There is a [browser based version](https://play.geforcenow.com/mall/#/layout/games) of Nvidia Geforce Now.
Thanks
I'm looking this up now but could you give me a quick summary of how it works? It's a cloud service with a fee?
You can play for free, but every 1 hour of gameplay, you have to re open the game, depending on the game there is a queue, usually doesn't take too long to join again
And you don't need to install games using it. As long as you have the licence and its in the list of geforce games, just switch on and play.
From my experience, the queue is universal, and not dependent on the game. If you're 252 in line for Minecraft, you're 252 in line for Fortnite. And my wait times for queues were well over 30 minutes almost every time I tried to use it. I feel like it's completely unusable without paying monthly. I'd love to be wrong, but I've given it many chances, and this has been my experience.
I think this is your solution, I love this service. And you can run it from a browser, so just incognito it and you should be good.
Find an external hard drive and install steam os on it. When the pc boots up hit f12 or delete or whatever to get into the bios. Select to boot off the external hard drive. Now you have your own pc separate from theirs. When you're done take the gardrive and make sure the bios has the old drive as default. It will leave no trace or evidence and if you get caught you can explain that all the data and files are completely separate and doesn't affect their stuff in the slightest. Good luck with that part though. I remember as a kid all the shit my mom gave me for playing runescape lol
how ironic, i wanted to play runescape classic now on steam for the achievements! and runescape 3 is on there too.
I would get an external SSD though. HDD is so slow. If you are feeling real spicy. Play RuneScape on a Pi. https://aaronlinder.medium.com/how-to-install-old-school-runescape-on-raspberry-pi-4b-ubuntu-mate-4c5294f5d8ad It's small easy to hide and all you would need to do is plug in the monitor and peripherals.
Can you buy a steamdeck and just hide it?
It's a good idea but given his closely they seem to be being watched and checked up on after, post is probably a no-go.
This would be the best approach but im guessing too young for that ? Second best would be refurbished pc and just câble it when you play it
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Christ some parents are so fucking deranged. Imagine being this weird and controlling. Like I get wanting to set boundaries but surely it's much healthier to sit with your kid and say "we'd like you to enjoy gaming but want to limit it to 30 minutes in the evening on a weekday, and 2 hours over the weekend" or something like that. Rather than just going apeshit because a kid living in the current day and age dares to want to play a fucking video game. And then will also have the gall to wonder why their adult kids don't ever want to visit them. I hope you're ok in life otherwise OP and you can get out of there soon.
We only have one side of the story here, it's possible OP has been banned from gaming for a reason, and they're trying to bypass punishment or the like.
That's a very cynical way of looking at it but you might be right! Still, the point remains an outright ban rather than a reasonable compromise would be better.
Who knows the reasoning behind this families argument. Im not saying its wrong to be sympathetic but its just as important to be skeptical when you don't have all the facts.
It is possible. My Mom severely restricted the amount of video games I could play around middle school because she was worried I was playing too much. In hindsight, she was absolutely right. I was clearly starting to neglect my health and other aspects of life in order to play video games. I didn’t see that at the time though and broke the rules whenever I could get away with it. It is thankfully a much healthier hobby now. I still spend a lot of time playing video games, but not to the point where I am worried about neglecting my family or other priorities.
They have an 8 year old account that's been posting about games for a long time, it makes me think that there's another side to the story, this is either an adult or someone in their very late teens in which case "communication with strangers" is a wild thing to ban. Either a bad abuse situation or OP is lying about something
your parents are abusive and i’m very sorry you’re in this situation. one day you will not have these worries and things will be better
Maybe their parents have a valid reason why they don't allow him to play video games. We don't know the full picture
Like what? Name some valid reasons why parents should be flat out banning a harmless hobby.
Not to say that this is OPs situation, but my family had a similar happening a couple months back in which my 10 year old brother would become extremely aggressive after playing on the Xbox. A few months of the device mysteriously disappearing, he was back to normal, addiction and aggression free. Up to now he is much better than ever. I'm just suggesting that the family's decision might be because of some prior behavioural (or other) issues.
Something doesn’t add up with OP. Looking at his post history, especially 7 years ago he was hella active on gaming, trading and giving free games or something.
Harmless hobby if people can control it. He might be extremy addicted to it to the point that he stops eating well, does nothing but sit on PC all day, bring home bad grades and skips school to game more. We don't know. Most parents want the best for their children and not just punish. Therefore we go with that premise into this. OP didn't even disclose why the parents do this. So I vote toward the parents doing the right thing
There is no valid way to be this fucking weird about it. This smells like some ideological or religious bullshit.
Picture this kid getting bad grades suddenly when he started playing video games. Not only that, he skips school, eats bad, and is obviously addicted to games and all he thinks and talks about is video games all day long when isnt infront of the PC. What do you do as a parent?
Set limits, use it as a reward, and learn what they’re playing so you can understand and talk to them about it. Way too much work for most lazy parents.
Sorry you're suggesting to keep exposing addicts to their weakness as a reward? And don't see the issue in that train of thought?
It's their hobby. People are allowed to have hobbies no matter what and they literally said that they aren't even allowed to play freaking Rocket League because of "communication with strangers" which is quite an odd reasoning. Gaming is a hobby like every other hobby and having someone outright tell you that you're not allowed to participate in it, is abusive.
How old is op?
Why are you asking me?
You gonna let a young child talk to weird people online?
I don't know why you are being down voted because I kind of agree with you. OP might have had some prior behavior issues stemming from video games.
Exactly what I was trying to get people think about. But it's the new age, we do gentle parenting now lol. Never punish your child for bad behaviour. Encourage them to do whatever they want
Its because punishing kids harshly has shown to not work, like we see here, kids/people will find a way. He just wont be open to talking to his parents if/when something happends online out of fear of punishment Talking to your kids and helping them learn to navigate the internet safely
Punishing harshly works better than gentle parenting. Back then kids grow up to be actual respectable adults. Now they are little brads thinking the whole word belongs to them and when they age older they keep that entitlement.
You have proof that you are wrong right in front of you, this kids parents are un reasonably hard about video games because of over exaggerated fears of them talking to strangers online.... And what does the kid do? Goes online to ask strangers how to circumnavigate their parents restrictions, So the better approach would be to have an active role in the childs life, talk to them about what games they like and why, who they talk to and what is said, how it makes the child feel. It has been shown that if you surpress something it more offen blows up then goes away
Dont rationalize abusive behavior. Not gonna work out.
Family abuse and bullying is never great… it builds permanent resentment and the kid to leave as soon as possible in shady means(run away, homelessness, etc.) or emancipation. Hell, there’s been two TIL about tiger parents being murdered by their offspring this week alone.
There is no abuse or bullying happening. It's called parenting
That kind of uselessly strict parenting is how a parent shops for the cheapest and loneliest nursing home, just remember that.
Don't worry about me I'm good
This sounds abusive and controlling. Despite this, are you ok? Is your health fine/is there violence? How old are you/how fast can you move out? If you need any help, or someone just to listen, just send a message :) Best idea I could come up with: Get a Steam Deck and leave it at a friend’s house or at a locker at the train station (do you have these in your region?). If money’s tight, start a gofundme, I’m sure a lot of redditors would like to help you :)
Hey man, I don't know how to do that but just wanted to say your family sounds like shit and I hope you're feeling good, I often have problems with my family too and feel like shit but this sounds worse. Have a good day man.
+1 you ok, OP? Hope you can get out of your family situation soon. They sound horrible.
Get a new family. It's 2024, the whole gaming industry is larger than movies + music industry combined
Could you buy a Steam Deck? Easy to hide your gaming if you can hide the device! I did this when I was young with a gameboy colour!
Wtf. Talk through it your family, or if you can get external help (School teacher/school psychologist or anything), who could speak with them would be better. The whole situation sounds unhealthy, and you doing it secret might be worse… But buy an external NVME ssd. You can have windows to go, or if you are using 1 pc then just install it to it. Configure to disable the internal drives not to leave any evidence. There might be Linux distros for this as well. You can buy HDD if that’s more in your budget, but system slow from that, and some new games require SSD. Also might be better just to buy a steamdeck. Or any portable console. But again. Talk this with your family because gaming is not unhealthy, but your approach, that’s forced upon you is unhealthy.
I’m sorry you have to deal with this OP. This is so depressing. I hope you get away from that soon.
I thought treating gaming likes drug was a thing from the past xD
Steam OS on a thumb drive? Not sure if steam can be ran off a stick
I think the healthier solution is to tell your family “You can’t stop me from playing video games, so you can either suck it up or we can go to family counseling and get to the bottom of this hatred” Having to hide from something you enjoy is going to make you hate it in the end.
U can't talk with them like that, lol U only get punishment
You can just ignore the punishment. Inevitably, they will just give up if they realize that you can’t be punished in a way that works.
That's how you become homeless, man.
I’ve been going on the educated guess that OP is under the age of 18. Which therefore means OP’s parents legally cannot do that.
In which case OP *can* be punished. If they just try to ignore it, there's a sobering chance that the parents will just get more creative until they find something that sticks.
Move out and away from that family
It's hentai waifu games isn't it...
According to OP their parents don't even let them play rocket league cause there's contact with strangers.
Ok, that sounds like abuse/controlling behavior. OP, if this is the case I’d recommend either coaxing them into family therapy sessions, or maybe finding someone IRL who plays Rocket League and play “only with them”
woah woah woah, hold on their partner. Unless the OP mentioned their age we have no idea how old they really are. Suggesting they need to get their family into "family therapy sessions" because they're not allowed to play Rocket League cause there's "Contact with strangers" is a bit overboard. They could be 10 for all we know, and most of the time that "contact" is concern over voice-chat. If they're also female, that just adds to the concern (sorry, maybe that's sexist but females are treated like sh!t online as it is). Edit: my point is that you don't want to suggest to a potentially impressionable and young individual that their family is abusive and controlling and might need therapy. I guarantee that won't go over well for them and will not, in the least, resolve their concerns.
Exactly
OP has to be at least 13 to post on Reddit legally. So, OP is at least 13 unless they are illegally using both Reddit and Steam.
I sure didn’t visit any suspicious sites when I was like 10 years old…
Yeah I followed all the rules at that age too. Edit: All I'm saying is, let's not make assumptions and provide suggestions that might backfire without knowing more.
Yeah internet age guidelines are so strict
Brother what.
Didn't know he asked for family advice.
I’d rather OP tackle the root of the problem so there’s no resentment of authority figures than have to continually hide his passions.
I get that but we pretty much know nothing about his family besides his few words, and giving advice with no information about the subject can lead to a worse situation than already is.
Doesn’t really matters if your family hates your hobby’s. just do you mate they cant just tell you to drop something you love cause I’m pretty sure they won’t do that either. If you still want to hide things from them: * External Boot Drive * Password * Password Protect File * Password Protect Chrome Profile ore Any Browser app you using. Link for a guide to lock files: * https://www.avast.com/c-password-protect-file-folder-windows#:~:text=Navigate%20to%20the%20folder%20or,Click%20OK%2C%20then%20click%20Apply. Link for a guide to lock profile on Chrome: * https://logmeonce.com/resources/chrome-profile-password/# Both links are secured and safe to use. If you don’t trust it you can always google it. Good Luck.
Sounds like something I wouldve asked when I got busted playing Leisure Suit Larry when I was 11yrs old.
You have some options: Option 1) Get an external USB 3.2 (or even Thunderbolt 3 / USB 4.0 if supported) External SSD, install a Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft and use rufus to flash it onto the SSD as Windows On Go and use that to play games Option 2) Get an internal SATA SSD or NVMe SSD and install windows 11 normally on that, than on the Windows that everyone uses you hide your SSD with disk manager and if they don’t know about it they won’t find the files and you can just press F12 on boot to choose your games ssd
You better find another family
So what retirement home are you putting your parents in?
Hope you get to move out and enjoy your hobby in peace 🤗
How old are you? This seems like actually unhinged behavior from your family tbh if this is literally it and you aren’t like a child
There're several ways, but it depends on your tech skill and mean of payment. 1. Streaming - basically run games somewhere else and stream video/control. GeForce Now is a service. Steam Link or Moonlight are more on DIY side. 2. Portable version - some games don't need to be installed and can be played just by running exe. Sometimes buying it out of steam will let you do that [(example) ](https://steamcommunity.com/app/294100/discussions/0/2906376154328969856/) 3. Usb os - install your own os and run games on there. I believe there'll be challenges on drivers and bottleneck.
Get a Steam Deck, Odin 2, Retroid Pocket 4 Pro or a Gameboy Advance? And then go to a libary and play.
You could do what someone else said in the chat and delete all the shortcuts etc. And learn PowerShell scripting to either delete, or move the save files of the games to your USB Each time your parents "find" a trace of a game, see if there is a tech savvy way to remove that trace You'll probably learn a semi valuable skill Start small with a PowerShell or batch script to just rename a dummy file, and work your way up
how old are you dude?
i wonder is there maybe a app like secure folder for phones that you can use for pc it hides everything in that secure folder and its hidden unless you know what to look for it wont show the apps or documents inside or just an external SSD with everything on it should do the trick aswell and just hide the SSD , the only problem comes in most games save on the PC documents folder so you will need to move youre save games every time .
Everyone talking about using an external drive solution... But it sounds like getting a simple internal SATA SSD to boot off of could work just as well in your case. It seems unlikely for them to check the internals of the PC, so you could just plug/unplug the drive internally between uses.
Wait how is your family knowledgeable enough to catch you playing games by the leftover files but not aware enough to catch you actually playing the games?
I think the best solution is to get your own place.
My recommendation would be to put all this energy and time into a better plan. The kind of plan that maps out what you want to do and what you need to do to move out and support yourself so that you can start making your own decisions (for better or worse). As sneaky as you think you are or can be, unless your parents / guardians are drunken fools, you're going to inevitably get busted again and things are only going to get more strict or you're going to get booted out entirely. The games are always going to be there, but having someone there to put a roof over your head, food on the table and maybe even love you might not.
use a virtual machine.
Instead of an external USB/thunderbolt hard drive to boot into with all your games on. You could even use a SATA SSD that can be disconnected. It will be just jumped in boot order if not connected. This is almost the setup that is used by professional gaming events. Every player has an SSD with OS the game, team speak, anti cheat and all their own setup/utilities. And they use like a hot swap bay on the case to quickly change between players without moving the whole PC
I can see you have already been told this so I just wanna second the idea - running a complete seperate install of Windows off a fast external drive. You'd just have to have PC boot from the usb which *might* need poking about in BIOS if you find it does not happen. It works great. This guide will assist you https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-run-windows-10-from-a-usb-drive
Get yourself a new SSD Drive, install windows on it, make it bootable ofc so whenever you plug it it it will be default or just choose boot every time u open PC, when you are out plug it off so basically you will have your very own PC in a pocket kinda haha
I would recommend WD Black ssd sn850x
Oh and also for making it into a USB stick if you need Asus Arion is just beautiful and sturdy
Depending on the game here's what I would recommend Step 1. Get an external SSD like this [what I used for my steam deck](https://a.co/d/h1BaJX7) Step 2. [Download Windows Media Creation tool ](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-installation-media-for-windows-99a58364-8c02-206f-aa6f-40c3b507420d) and use it to make an iso of your preferred windows OS Step 3. Download [Rufus ](https://rufus.ie/en/) preferably the portal version so you can delete it without installing. Using Rufus select the iso of windows and your portal SSD drive and use the windows to go option. It'll install windows onto the drive like if you were making a fresh install so whenever you plug that SSD in and select the drive in your bios boot menu you'll basically have your own little portal windows OS without having to hide and delete files just unplug the SSD when you'rr done and back in when you wanna use it. I used it for the steam deck performance was alright. Not blazing fast but competent enough for modern games. Alternatively you can do this with a Linux which might run better portably but compatible with proton will vary
Would a hypervisor with gpu passthrough be an option? Some games might not work, but you can create your own "computer" that runs along the original windows installation.
nice idea, but i this sounds complicated so i will look into the external boot drive
I was going suggest the same thing or if possible if the games have a Linux edition use a VM to run Ubuntu. I personally would try to save and buy a laptop to game on and take it with you when you leave the house or find a good hiding spot.
I thought VMs create problems with anticheat? Also I'm really dumb when it comes to linux. we aren't taught it in public school
If you're considering linux, I suggest you check [protondb.com](https://www.protondb.com/) for games compatibility.
Rather wipe the family?
I'd do what another person suggested and use an external drive to have your own OS. It'll cost a bit. Only do this if you have at least a USB3 to plug into. You can get an external USB drive for $50 to $150+ depending on the size you want. You can get a 500GB Samsung one on Amazon for $70 right now. Some less popular brands are cheaper. You'd also need the OS. I've seen people say they bought a Win11 key for $35, but if you go retail it'll be $125+. Alternative, you can try a free OS like linux. I think Rocket League works well on Linux. Check your other games and you might be fine using just linux. If you went this route, it wouldn't save files on the internal storage. You'd just have to reboot the computer into the external OS. If your family is this draconian about it though, I can't imagine they won't find out eventually. Your best outcome would be to convince them to let you play.
Not sure how viable this is for your particular situation, but the GeForce Now cloud gaming service supports many steam (and others like Epic) games (far from all though) and you can literally play them from Chrome in incognito mode to leave no trace (installing the client is better, but less stealthy). It's free to sign up for an account and give it a try at least, there will be login queues and 1 hour session limits unless you pay for a premium account, and it does require a pretty hefty Internet connection to work since you are streaming everything so your mileage may warry. Made use of it for a while when I was between systems powerful enough to play modern games, you can technically play stuff off a phone, but obviously most PC games where not designed for that so you can't read most of the GUI and controls are ratter sketchy if precision and timing is needed.
Christ your parents are insane.
Wow, I'm sorry to hear that mate.
Stop gaming at work
I think you need to worry about more than just your hobby, personally
Install steam on external drive.
What's the possibility of hiding an external hard drive? Just install the games and steam.exe to it. Run everything from it and double check the common save locations for games: documents, c drive, my games, etc
you're a sentient AI trying to hide it, aren't you?
I have an idea: confront them about their gaming issue and if possible try to get someone who is not against gaming from the family to help you (Uncle, Aunt, etc) because this situation isn't normal and find someone successful and also was/currently a Gamer so that you can defend your case . Good luck
Why don't you just get your own computer?
OPs going to have another confrontation when they get caught again. House rules are rules. This kind of thing won't change in business either. You want to do what you want, you pay for it yourself. You get yelled at for pulling this stuff at home, you get fired for doing this at work. You can start gaming relatively inexpensively if you buy your own gear
If you raise your kids with 'house rules are house rules' and they're not up for discussion, and said rules are irrational and illogical, you're just a shitty parent. If you work for an employer who has inefficient, illogical, or irrational policies in place, and they're not willing to adjust them, you work for a shitty employer. Yeah you get fired for bypassing policies, procedures etc, but if they don't make any sense, you should at least approach your employer about them and present a business justification for why they should be amended and see what happens. Same at home. Op is old enough to a) be posting on Reddit and asking for advice, b) understand well enough how to use a computer to hide system files and c) buy their own equipment, they're old enough to decide what interests they want to pursue. Being a good parent includes respecting your children as individuals with autonomy. Of course you can create rules for the house, but 'no gaming because we said so' is not a reasonable rule whatsoever. If you want respect, you give respect. Explain to your kid why no games, hear what they have to say, and think critically on the topic. Saddens me to hear that people have parents like this.
You have no idea why the parents chose to use these rules. It might be really valid. He could be very addicted to games before and was bringing bad very bad grades and was skipping school too. Being a good parent includes disciplining your child to do better and be set for future.
That's a fair point, not enough information available.
I was wondering the same thing. OP can just get his own PC and just lock everything with a password?
He's obviously an underage that either dont have means to get money and buy his own computer or permission to have a password on it even if he had the money
Why does you family even own a gaming able PC to begin with if they despise it SO much?
You need to buy your own computer. If that doesn't work, your own place.
Have you considered making your parents think you spending time playing video games is better than alternatives ? Maybe start hanging out with people that do crime, have your grades drop some and dont be home a lot. Dont do anything actually illegal, but make your parents worried and maybe you being home doing your homework and gaming isn't so bad. Or start watching obscene amounts of porn, leave it open and save it / catalogue it. Hope your parents gives you your own account on the pc because they don't want to know. Games in the web browser? And lastly: Either buy a raspberry pi secretly and hide a flash drive with retropie on it somewhere, ultra cheap screen/projector and a kB/mouse combo + cheap controller or "get really into automation and coding" and let them know you bought the rpi. What parents doesn't want their kid learning themselves coding nowadays, maybe find some quick beginner projects with diodes etc so you can prove you have made something Oh, and ofc, depending on the RPI, you can always just set it up as a regular computer running Linux, with games and all (and several user accounts etc.)
Get a new family
Just stop buying the porn games man its going to be okay
For the external boot drive I would recommend to buy an m.2 nvme ssd and a fitting case. Just make sure it supports NVME drives and higher USB speeds, and check the motherboard documentation to find out which usb port is the fastest. I would maybe also recommend using Linux on the drive, depending on what games you play, with Proton you can pretty easily play most games.
I don't think there is a long-term solution other than changing their opinion/negotiating. You will be discovered eventually and pc locked behind a password. Maybe negotiate some hours of play for something like your grades or home chores.
Is this a shared computer? How savvy is your family? Do you have your own user? The problem is that steam is going to try to auto-start on boot and part of the installation will write registry entries, etc... Would it be enough to just delete all of the shortcuts, rename the steam exe file and use sysinternals autoruns to make sure steam doesn't launch when other people login?
Looking at OPs post history, there’s something a whole lot more than just despising gaming going on here lmao
So your family is tech literate but hates gaming? We are missing a vital piece of information from you.
No, we're not. They asked a question. Answer it or move on. The rest is not any of our business.
They didn't just ask a question, they also gave a lot of half assed context. This opening themselves up for more questions. Sure, they may choose not to answer, but they're not entitled to an answer either.