Getting inputs to 2 programs at once

Projects Interfacing w/ Software on the Computer
1

Hope someone can help me out, I recently got into Arduino and followed this guide How to Control Robots With a Game Controller and Arduino
I have a question regarding getting the inputs to the Arduino and to another program at the same time. I want to be able to play a game whilst the Arduino gets the input signals as well. The end goal is to make a game agnostic simulator setup, where the controller controls both the game and the Arduino.

This should be possible? I have seen a number of online streamers have an overlay of their game controllers (using things like OpenJoystickDisplay) and it looks like this is a HTML5/Java function?, so I know that two programs can get the information at the same time, but with the processing application above it needs to be the active window.

2

Just guessing but it sounds like this is on ether net. Simply get a hub and connect both, just do not let the arduino acknowledge as I understand it you want it to just monitor.
Good Luck & Have Fun!
Gil