I just a got new Windows 10 PC (upgrading from an older Windows 7 machine) and tried out some MAME games for the first time. Somehow, Windows 10 realized I was playing a game and gave me these automated notification pop-ups from something called XBox Game Bar to record the game or capture a screenshot.
So the question here is, if I'm using MAME and not an XBox, how did Windows 10 know I was playing any kind of a video game? Is Windows 10 somehow programmed to know what MAME is?
It has an in-built list of things it knows are games, and also uses some heuristics to identify game-like things. Full-screen exclusive mode, enumerating controllers with RawInput API, etc. can make it think something is a game. It isn't always correct, and you can override the automatic decision. One common use for this is to tell it something is a game when it isn't so you can use the screen recording feature.
> ...you can override the automatic decision. One common use for this is to > tell it something is a game when it isn't so you can use the screen recording > feature.
As I'm sure the OP is aware, this 'feature' is active so that you're not interrupted by a Windows notification. Heck, I can recall when I was playing a certain game, had a moment of rage and said something out loud ... Then Cortana budded in with her response to my voice, and I promptly told her to "die".
And she responded to that too.
Eh, anyway. I don't see why anybody would want to hide that they're playing a game if Windows is going to interrupt it. And it's not like they're sending the info to the FBI that so&so is playing illegal game romz. :cop:
ETA: There's even times you'll get a "While you were gaming..." thing in the lower right corner after exiting a game.