I'll go first. I'm from Israel. I don't have it listed in my Steam profile, but I also leave out gender, age and other private stuff. You're just going to have to take my word for it. And yes, I know it's a bit unfair when I made this the main requirement for others to join, but as creator of the group I get to have this privilege ;-)
Comment has been collapsed.
I am from eastern Europe (Romania), so I don't qualify, but have this free bump!
Comment has been collapsed.
Thanks for the bump :-)
BTW, in the discussion prior to this thread, where I asked people to guess what is the region, someone suggested Transylvania. Now that's an idea...
Parts of the OP now retired...
Old Criteria for joining the group: (replaced Aug 6, 2017)
- You currently live in the Middle East and your Steam profile country is updated as such. You can find a list of eligible countries here (or in the tables in one of the next comments). Note: Do NOT try to cheat by changing Steam country to meet this criterion. If you live in the middle east and don't have your Steam profile country defined as such, then it's too late for this giveaway (unless we happen to be friends on Steam and I know you're from the region). Same if you are originally from the middle east but don't live there any more. If you can think of other creative ways to prove your location, I'm willing to listen. This is one such option, if you don't mind the bother. Cheating in general will get you blacklisted, and the same is true for these giveaways. So just don't.
- If you've participated in trades you need untainted trade feedback (but if the number of negatives is low I will have a look)
- Activated all games won; has no multiple wins of the same game. In other words, passes the Steamgifts tools tests.
- Registered more than a month ago
- Level 2+
- Won up to three times the number of giveaways sent (i.e. if you won 9 giveaways you need to have sent at least 3 games). Similar ratio in Real CV works too (see Steamgifts tools link above).
Note about the frequently changing title: Since submissions were initially quite slow, I decided to update the title with names of countries, eventually leaving Turkey and Israel for the final iterations of the title, as 85% of Middle East SG users come from these two countries. However I'll make sure to give all countries "air time" to hopefully have this thread noticed by users from all countries. Here is the history of titles of this thread:
- "A few giveaways to those from the Middle East (with a consolation prize for those who aren't)"
- "If you live in Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE or other Middle East countries, GAs await you!"
- Different iterations which include "Egypt, Cyprus, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait"; "Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine"; "Turkey, UAE, Iraq, Bahrain, Syria"; "Turkey, Israel, Qatar, Oman, Yemen".
- The largest number of group members (by far) is from Turkey, so to balance things out a bit I won't list it in the title in the near future. I just want more variety :-)
Comment has been collapsed.
Noooooot a good topic if actual people living in that region can be involved. Let's just say that the current and the former owners of Transylvania still don't go well along.
Comment has been collapsed.
That's not true. We don't have anything against magyars. If you see some reaction against magyars that's because there are some magyar extremists in Romania who think that Harghita and Covasna (which are basically in the middle of the country) should be autonomous because romanians are in minority there. Even fewer romanians have "problems" with hungarians from Hungary.
PS: I'm not saying that somewhere deep I don't hate hungarians (or turks), because I do, but from a historical, "romancised" point of view. I don't like your ancestors for the relations between our countries, but I have nothing against you or present day magyars. As far as I am concerned, you are allright! Also, welcome to my whitelist!
PPS: Gabor is the slang for cop in romanian. :P
Comment has been collapsed.
Well, so far this thread isn't going great as far as users from the middle east joining the group, but interesting posts such as this definitely make it worthwhile. Thanks for sharing!
Comment has been collapsed.
Strange, Gabriel in the Hebrew/Christian/Islam mythology is just a messenger, not a peacekeeper soldier angel. And the Gabor tribe is a gypsy tribe, so again not really seeing how did they end up as cops. :D
Comment has been collapsed.
I live in Romania, but I'm from the eastern part of it, called Moldova.
Comment has been collapsed.
Kazakhstan doesn't count as Middle East country so I won't enter. Yes, I'm awesome? Are you? So don't enter, be cool!
Comment has been collapsed.
Here are some relevant stats while I'm waiting for people to join:
Total number of SteamGifts users in all Middle East countries: 25,625
Percentage from all SteamGifts users: 3.06%
Stats sorted by population:
| Country | [Population] | SteamGifts Users | One in how many people is a SteamGifts user? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Egypt | 88,523,000 | 560 | 158077 |
| Iran | 78,778,000 | 330 | 238721 |
| Turkey | 78,214,000 | 13,312 | 5875 |
| Iraq | 36,575,000 | 130 | 281346 |
| Saudi Arabia | 31,521,000 | 1,219 | 25858 |
| Yemen | 26,745,000 | 9 | 2971667 |
| Syria | 23,270,000 | 57 | 408246 |
| United Arab Emirates | 8,933,000 | 763 | 11708 |
| Israel | 8,372,000 | 8,092 | 1035 |
| Jordan | 6,837,000 | 225 | 30387 |
| Palestine | 4,683,000 | 51 | 91824 |
| Lebanon | 4,288,000 | 148 | 28973 |
| Oman | 4,181,000 | 52 | 80404 |
| Kuwait | 4,161,000 | 218 | 19087 |
| Qatar | 2,113,000 | 144 | 14674 |
| Bahrain | 1,781,000 | 110 | 16191 |
| Cyprus | 846,000 | 205 | 4127 |
Stats sorted by number of users per country:
| Country | Population | [SteamGifts Users] | One in how many people is a SteamGifts user? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey | 78,214,000 | 13,312 | 5875 |
| Israel | 8,372,000 | 8,092 | 1035 |
| Saudi Arabia | 31,521,000 | 1,219 | 25858 |
| United Arab Emirates | 8,933,000 | 763 | 11708 |
| Egypt | 88,523,000 | 560 | 158077 |
| Iran | 78,778,000 | 330 | 238721 |
| Jordan | 6,837,000 | 225 | 30387 |
| Kuwait | 4,161,000 | 218 | 19087 |
| Cyprus | 846,000 | 205 | 4127 |
| Lebanon | 4,288,000 | 148 | 28973 |
| Qatar | 2,113,000 | 144 | 14674 |
| Iraq | 36,575,000 | 130 | 281346 |
| Bahrain | 1,781,000 | 110 | 16191 |
| Syria | 23,270,000 | 57 | 408246 |
| Oman | 4,181,000 | 52 | 80404 |
| Palestine | 4,683,000 | 51 | 91824 |
| Yemen | 26,745,000 | 9 | 2971667 |
Stats sorted by frequency of users in population:
| Country | Population | SteamGifts Users | [One in how many people is a SteamGifts user?] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Israel | 8,372,000 | 8,092 | 1035 |
| Cyprus | 846,000 | 205 | 4127 |
| Turkey | 78,214,000 | 13,312 | 5875 |
| United Arab Emirates | 8,933,000 | 763 | 11708 |
| Qatar | 2,113,000 | 144 | 14674 |
| Bahrain | 1,781,000 | 110 | 16191 |
| Kuwait | 4,161,000 | 218 | 19087 |
| Saudi Arabia | 31,521,000 | 1,219 | 25858 |
| Lebanon | 4,288,000 | 148 | 28973 |
| Jordan | 6,837,000 | 225 | 30387 |
| Oman | 4,181,000 | 52 | 80404 |
| Palestine | 4,683,000 | 51 | 91824 |
| Egypt | 88,523,000 | 560 | 158077 |
| Iran | 78,778,000 | 330 | 238721 |
| Iraq | 36,575,000 | 130 | 281346 |
| Syria | 23,270,000 | 57 | 408246 |
| Yemen | 26,745,000 | 9 | 2971667 |
Comment has been collapsed.
Because according to Wikipedia and the CIA website it's in the Middle East. If you're asking why is Cyprus currently in the title, then it's for "Marketing" reasons. I'm updating the title occasionally and changing the list of countries so that all 17 countries will get "air time" ;-)
Comment has been collapsed.
That's strange, because it is in European Union. I'm asking because it sounds weird that it's in Middle East. xD And to be honest, we are usually told that it's a part of Europe, maybe because of its bond with Greece.
Comment has been collapsed.
These things are not as straightforward as one would think. Turkey, for example, is in the EU too but in terms of land part of it is in Asia and part of it is in Europe. Or at least that's what I know. There are plenty of users here from Turkey to correct me :-)
Comment has been collapsed.
Yes, it's obvious that Turkey is in both Europe and Asia. You don't have to ask anyone to know that. ;P Anyway, I just thought that it's in Europe, that's all. xD I mean, it's in European sports competitions, song competitions, European Union, geographically a part of Europe and extrememely near of a Greek island, etc. ;P But yeah, wiki will probably be right. xD
Comment has been collapsed.
Turkey is not in the EU yet. Although in the late 2000s their acceptance process was sped up, but ever since their president is showing obvious autocratic signs and regression of secularism, the negotiations essentially stopped.
Otherwise, politically, it is considered both Europe and Middle East, but usually the latter.
Comment has been collapsed.
Thanks for the correction. I guess that's why I was under the impression that they are part of the EU.
Comment has been collapsed.
I don't get Cyprus either, to be honest. Doesn't really make sense. If it was due to religionist reasons, then Pakistan should be there too, but it's considered Southern Asia.
Comment has been collapsed.
Yep, it's strange. We were usually told that it's a part of Europe. o.O
Comment has been collapsed.
The Middle East is a geographical area. If you look at the map it makes perfect sense why Cyprus is part of it:
Comment has been collapsed.
well Algeria is fare but still there use still 2 :p and i prefer call it Palestine :p
Comment has been collapsed.
Bump. don't know how many active are from Middle east. but SG region says a lot:
http://www.steamgifts.com/stats/community/regions
Comment has been collapsed.
Thanks for this link. I used it to create the stats above :-) yes, I'm bored
Comment has been collapsed.
Wow, indeed bored.
just so you know, there are several users from Lebanon who can't activate keys. only gifts...
Comment has been collapsed.
I had a similar problem with a winner from Iran. My key was from Humble so was supposed to be ROW, but it didn't work. Their Support (which was very friendly btw) insisted that it is ROW and issued another key, which didn't work either. Eventually I had to request a reroll. I know that at least one other user (from Syria) has been experiencing similar issues.
In any case, all of these giveaways are keys, not gifts. Crossing fingers that things work well...
Comment has been collapsed.
Thanks for the bump and the kind words. So far it's going slow, but I learned from my Level 0 initiative and left some provision against not getting the minimum number of participants. Still 6 days to go, so hopefully it picks up some pace later on...
Comment has been collapsed.
Oh I misread as middle earth....and at least i lived there a long time.
Comment has been collapsed.
Maybe I should try a different title? How about:
"If you live in Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE or other Middle East countries, giveaways await!"
?
Comment has been collapsed.
I had fun when I read it properly xd Leave it as it is :D
Comment has been collapsed.
Yes, I think I'll leave it for now, but if level of participation remains so low I'll need to come up with something... pretty disappointed so far that the pace hasn't picked up.
Comment has been collapsed.
2 submissions in more than 24 hours is too slow, so let's see if a new title pulls more candidates in...
Comment has been collapsed.
I'm from the UAE, in about a few hours I'll become level 2(again ._.) when the winner of my giveaway confirms the win so sorry for posting this right now :/, I might have forgot later if I don't leave the post here.
Comment has been collapsed.
You're the first to enter, so no worries. I just sent you an invite to the group. Also, since you meet my whitelist criteria I also added you to that list :-)
Comment has been collapsed.
Take this bump as an appreciation for the consolation prize :)
Comment has been collapsed.
You come up with some nice creative ways for giveaways, I like it. :)
Bump!
Comment has been collapsed.
I was certain I already said it, but turns out I didn't, so thanks for the kind words and the bump! :-)
Comment has been collapsed.
You should now be able to join the giveaways... or does none of the games appeal to you?
Comment has been collapsed.
That's odd. I see that you joined the group and I just double check and none of the giveaways have any level restriction. What error are you seeing?
Comment has been collapsed.
error: You do not have permission to view this giveaway, since you're not a member of the required Steam groups.
Comment has been collapsed.
By the way, can Turks activate all ROW keys? They have a separate Steam region and their own set of strange Steam locks. I know they are practically ROW for many games (all casual level that I know of), but not sure about more expensive stuff.
Comment has been collapsed.
Good to have you. If you're familiar with other users in the region, feel free to share them the link to this thread :-)
Comment has been collapsed.
No idea, as I don't keep track of reasons for bl/wl. I am thankful that he/she bumped the thread ;-)
BTW, no interest in any of the games? The odds are pretty good...
Comment has been collapsed.
I've been to Egypt and have family there, does that count?
I'm joking, of course, but it's nice to see giveaways for the region. Have a bump.
Comment has been collapsed.
It will count for my next project/poll, but not for this one :-)
Thanks for the bump!
Comment has been collapsed.
Hey,
Even though I am not interested in any of the games (still considering Nights into Dreams, might enter that one) joined the group because you invited nicely :)
Wel, ahh, g'day from Turksieland!
Comment has been collapsed.
Go for it! The highest rated review on Steam starts with "One of the greatest games of all time". Surely you can't go wrong with that ;-)
Comment has been collapsed.
Added to group and whitelisted (nice ratio!). Don't forget to re-sync your account to get access to the giveaways.
Comment has been collapsed.
I might be moving to Dubai next year, does that count? Kidding (about it counting, not about me possibly moving.) Bump.
Comment has been collapsed.
Thanks for the bump! :-)
I hope Dubai happens for you. The place looks impressive.
Comment has been collapsed.
Wow, I didn't know that we have that many Turkish members ^^
I'm also from Turkey
Comment has been collapsed.
Well, 4 out of 5 comments on his steam profile is in Turkish. BTW I am from Turkey too.
Comment has been collapsed.
Invite sent :-) Don't forget to re-sync your account.
BTW, criterion #1 is a little bit more demanding. The one option that comes to mind to prove location (for a profile that doesn't have country defined) is the newspaper method, but I doubt it's worth the effort for a few giveaways.
Comment has been collapsed.
Thank you for the contribution! I updated the OP and sent an announcement on the group :-)
Comment has been collapsed.
Greeting from Israel! :-)
To join the group, see criteria #5 and #6 above.
Comment has been collapsed.
For the sake of uncluttering the OP, I'm moving the list of original giveaway to this little "archive":
These are current group giveaways (finished giveaways in
strikethrough)
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams
Lilly Looking Through
Melissa K. and the Heart of Gold
Belladonna
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/bDPlr/stalker-call-of-pripyat
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/sH8LW/deponia
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/bOU82/pool-nation
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/o4Bd4/nights-into-dreams
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/pTeBL/world-of-goo
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/dRcFb/divinity-dragon-commander
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/os834/surgeon-simulator-2013 (contributed by yotamdo)
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/pl9Bm/micron (contributed by Pinacho)
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/pXwuT/canabalt (contributed by solamyas)
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/BFHUm/melissa-k-and-the-heart-of-gold-collectors-edition (contributed by robocub)
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/0fkPj/nightmares-from-the-deep-3-davy-jones (contributed by robocub)
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/RrOZp/grim-legends-the-forsaken-bride (contributed by robocub)
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/tIpc0/enigmatis-2-the-mists-of-ravenwood (contributed by robocub)
http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/MhTl9/pool-nation Kostrip (2nd copy contributed by Kostrip)~~
If you'd like to contribute another game for this group it would be very much appreciated. Edit: I think we have enough giveaways for the first week. Let's get more users! :-)
The end date for many of those giveaways is Nov 2 at 23:30 (GMT+2). If toward the end of the giveaways the number of entries on any of them doesn't reach a minimum of 5 I reserve the right to use this thread to invite more users, even out of region ones.
Comment has been collapsed.
Fun fact: So far we had winners from Turkey, UAE, Israel, Egypt, Syria and Cyprus :-)
Don't you sometimes feel envious when you see those region-restricted giveaways and you're locked out because you live in the "wrong" place? Well, I certainly do and I want to be on the inside for once ;-) ...so, if you live in the Middle East, here's your opportunity to join some region-restricted giveaways (restricted by me, not by Steam). And
here'sa little consolation prize for those who aren't (and are L3+)How to join? Just go over the criteria below, and if you meet all requirements write your Steam profile country in a comment. I'll then verify your entry and will send you an invitation to the group over Steam.
Criteria for joining the group:
Here's what you need to do to join the group:
I check pending requests every few days, so be patient. Requests from users who didn't go through the first two steps will be denied.
Good luck!
Note: I frequently change the title of this thread. An explanation is at the bottom of this post.
Comment has been collapsed.