"that's 350 coins a week--almost enough for Dungeons: The Dark Lord (worth $20, 395 coins)"
Sorry, I don't think bundle games on the bundle list count as contribution farming >.<
Also, with regards to your statement about "maximum return" and those people who have only spent "two, maybe three hundred bucks" to get 2k value: you are saying that they spend $200-$300 to try to have a chance to win a $2000 contributor level giveaway? I don't think they're going to be recouping their investment any time soon...
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Sorry, I think that giving away loads of bundles, then consciously hunting for some ridiculously low sales on other games not on the bundle list, so you can give a few non-bundle games away to raise your non-bundle contrib. value to more than 80% of your total value (so you get full value out of those bundles you've given away while still spending ridiculously low amounts of cash) is a strategy, too. In fact, it's all I see these contrib. whores do.
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So, giving games away is "contrib. whoring" nowadays? I don't like your tweed, sir.
Would you rather prefer people not give away bundle keys for the games they already own and therefore have no use for? Would you rather they sell them? Honestly that's a bit daft.
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You're really missing the point of the thread, and are misinterpreting what has been said.
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Sure they will - if they're entering all the 1k+ or 2k+ giveaways. Besides that, as I tried stating clearly in my original post, it's not about how much they have or haven't given away - it's about the idea of rewarding people who see higher contrib. value as an incentive, not an incidental stat. As in, whether or not they've given away 2 or 3 hundred bucks' worth of stuff, they've consciously, selfishly plotted in a way that gave them 2k+ value, and are being rewarded for it.
The only other thing I can say is that since more and more of these douches are popping up, I see more and more giveaways with 1k or 1.5k contrib limit that have 100+, 150+ entries. So, what you see happening is that they're ruining it for themselves and each other, as the pool of dishonest types entering these giveaways is increasing.
So, first, you had "30.01" giveaways "to counter leeches". What now, then? cg recently raised the limit even more. Where is this all heading? Eventual 3k+ giveaways for the "real" nice people? That lock out people who otherwise would be quite fairly rewarded for their generosity, but maybe don't have so much to spend? Had they chosen to spend time trying to fool the system instead, and spent less money, maybe they would have been able to enter those giveaways. Right? -_-
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You could compare these TG/SG exploiters to people who only give away games they've purchased at a huge discount. It's still coming out as spending less (remember, time is money) to get the same return as someone who paid full price.
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Try reading better. I address this argument also. And counter it successfully in my post. This objection of mine (and more and more on the site) has nothing to do with how much people really spent, but rewarding people with clear indicators of purely trying to exploit the system instead of give away (maybe bought cheaply on sale) games.
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Try arguing better. Please point out where you were able to "counter it successfully." Because I don't see it.
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" That lock out people who otherwise would be quite fairly rewarded for their generosity, but maybe don't have so much to spend? Had they chosen to spend time trying to fool the system instead, and spent less money, maybe they would have been able to enter those giveaways. Right? -_-"
To me it sounds that you're taking this a bit too personal now.
And jatan is completely spot on. Comparing the number of wins between people with high contrib values and those that belong to private groups and/or managed to get access to a bunch of private giveaways... trying to farm contrib with Crazy Machines/Shadow Harvest seems like a very bad "investment".
If you do have stats that prove me wrong, that high contrib values GAs (I'm talking of 2k limit, since I've yet to see that many 3k+ users that supposedly did contrib whoring by your definition) are that often and have less entries than typical group/private giveaways (therefore bigger chances of winning and recovering their "investments"), then I'd love to see it.
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If I spend about 200 bucks on steam gifts, and get a contributor value of around 2k or more, and as long as I act kiss-assy enough and favourable to everyone to get into a few high contributor groups, that stat is for ever on my profile. If it leads me to win 3 AAA titles and a handfull of cheaper titles over a few months' time, I see that as a fine investment.
Besides that, efficacy of the method isn't what's the whole point of my argument - my point is, that as it stands, people who do this contrib. farming (whether it actually is or isn't a good idea) are being rewarded for their conniving and dishonest ways.
And I wasn't taking it personal.. Let me copypasta what I just said in a chat:
13:20 - ፤ዛለነዞ፤•●░▒ﮒϞιゥøы▒░●•: and whether or not there's a gain in it for me, whether or not I can or can't enter these giveaways, I don't really care.. I care that **** like that get rewarded.
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Ohhh, so now there's a different variable, you'd have to join private groups as well to actually boost your chances of winning. And that can't really be controlled except by the group admins themselves (and I've stalked... I mean, checked a few groups and some employ rules such as "don't make GAs for bundles, exploited games, etc"). Therefore, the only "solution" for the problem you exemplified is the admins of high contrib groups stop being idiots/naive.
EDIT: Just a little something I'd like to add. Lets say you did spend 200 bucks and get 2k and over "a few months" you got 3 AAA titles... which is unlikely, since high contrb public AAA GAs aren't as common as you think, you seem to think that what cg did a few months ago as a norm (plus by the number of entries, it's far from a sure deal). So, you spent 200 bucks to get at best 180 bucks (60x3) worth of games? And what next when contribs start rising again (because the generous people tend to give even more games, and the gifters may want to show a little love to them)? They'll have to spend similar amounts in order to catch up with them. Again, it's a pretty bad investment (for public giveaways), if that's the intent of the gifter.
And, like I mentioned in a reply down below, you're talking about the intent of the gifter, are you not? People with the intent of "abusing" the system are rewarded over the people with the intent of simply giving freebies to others (or am I mistaken?). And like I said down there, it's hard to measure intent, no matter how you change the system.
At best you can make a system harder for people to "abuse" it, but they still will do it and people with the right intent will still get screwed. Feel free to call me an apologist or something like that, but I seriously don't have any suggestion on how to improve this.
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I'm not butthurt, I just like inane discussions.
And I'm not the one who thinks this is a problem. I'm just offering alternative views to show how I believe the issue raised by the OP, while somewhat valid, lacks proper proof that the said "contrib whoring" is effective. And that possible solutions (that I can think of, at least) are impractical.
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i just liked this community even more, just tell me this: Why are you so butthurt about this? No one is losing anything, 'exploited' games are obviously wanted by some people since they enter the GAs, and winners get what they want. GA creators get what they want (contib points). SG gives a chance to win the "exploited" game to those who want to win those "exploited" games so SG gets what it wants. TG gets more members, and profit from those video watching thingies. Lastly, for those who want to thank the "real" contributors, as retsukun said: " the only "solution" for the problem you exemplified is the admins of high contrib groups stop being idiots/naive.". But that would mean this IS a problem, which it isn't, except to you. So i have to ask again, why are you so butthurt about this? Sorry for lowering the level a bit, and for any possible typos.
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"Besides that, efficacy of the method isn't what's the whole point of my argument - my point is, that as it stands, people who do this contrib. farming (whether it actually is or isn't a good idea) are being rewarded for their conniving and dishonest ways."
Our argument is VERY relevant. If you only stand to lose money from contributions, even if "exploited," why would you do so? I hardly count losing money as a reward. The answer lies in the fact that those people "exploiting" contributor value perhaps have additional reasons why they are giving away the games.
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Some people just have to make a buisness out of everything. If they could sell AIDS they would probably do it. OP didn't get what Steamgifts is about....
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Oh I know what "OP" means deary :3
I was just wondering whether he meant me, or the OP of what I linked to and copypasted.
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Oh yeah, sorry for not being clear. I meant the poster on the Steam group, not you ^^
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... try actually reading my post and what it's about. This has nothing to do with Tremorgames, or how to actually use their site properly.
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Actually, it does work. I've been picking up keys for rainy days this way.
This is not a way to get games quickly, but it does come out 'free-ish' if you're just playing those videos in the background, muted, while you're doing something else you'd prefer to do.
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Yeah, and if you're doing it just to net yourself some free games, hey that's one thing. But using it as a way to farm contrib? Hmm, fuck that?
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Farming contribution value is also done by buying Steam games on sale. It doesn't matter what you're spending to buy games. TG people spend coins they earn from a time investment, while Customer Support employees spend coins they earn from a different sort of time investment.
I don't care about contributor value all that much, and so can you, if you choose to.
Just choose to.
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Greedy people business. I rather boost my value in legit ways.
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Hes making that site look fancy just so everyone signs up using his refferal, lol
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Likely the original poster. His TG link includes his referral code. Whatever his referrals earn, he is given 20% of that value, created from the ether. TG doesn't seem to be giving Person 1 anything if Person 2 recruits Person 3, so it cannot be called a pyramid scheme.
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Yeah, I think (and hope) he's responding to the OP of that "instructional". However, some people really suck at reading apparently, and fail to understand I am copypasting someone else's words. See the posts of user "Enzime" in this thread.
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Does it matter if it is yours or not? You posted a link which advertises a ref link + because YOU posted it here, loads of people will see this 'scheme' and join them. Copy paste or not, it's your post. But I guess you fail to understand that part, it's pretty tricky! ^^
By the way: "see the postS of enzime"? I made ONE which I deleted because the person above me pretty much said the same thing. I repeat myself:
"Does it matter? You make it sound better than it is + there's a ref link. Weak"
It still doesn't matter if it's yours or not. YOU posted it here. If you fail to understand it, YOU are the 'moron' (that's what you called me, right? Typical kids I guess, instantly calling out names.)
Thanks for the laugh. :')
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Here, this is what someone else said about this very subject you raise:
As an aside, OP's concerns regarding his mentioning ot this method possibly encouraging such behavior, is likely true. It may have a miniaturised version of the Streisand Effect on our community. Unintended, obviously, but possible.
And here's my reply to that:
Like wot said in another part of the thread, acceptable. It wouldn't really add much to the current bulk of bullcrap exploiters, considering how few would probably bother opening the thread (considering its' title), actually bother reading it well, as well as how much crap's already going on, I think. Also, I am keeping it in here so people really see for themselves, with their own two eyes, a good example of shitty intent. So it hits home how these types really think / operate.
Your now deleted post seemed to attack me in a way which suggested you'd not read the thread well enough to realise I wasn't the one posting the TG trick, as you were insultingly referencing "OP" for posting this TG trickery, so I retorted, simple enough.
Badum, tish, smart-ass?
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Actually I deleted my reply within a minute of posting because I didn't notice the post above me (yet) and I never attacked you, Stop telling lies because it's getting pathetic. Posting the link to the group which has the ref link is weak. If you feel insulted, not my problem.
You are encouraging others to participate and to join through his ref link, a bit or a lot, I don't care. Also you are the one who keeps insulting people (+ insulted me in the first reply you did even though I didn't insult you). Sad story indeed, smart-ass.
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No, I'm linking to source to prove I didn't pull this out my ass. As for your other comment - it was inflammatory and seemed to admonish me for posting ref links, which I didn't.
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Not you, the guy who made that group and that announcement. His group has over 100 members, I'd guess at least just 20 of those signed up through his refferal.
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I joined his group purely because I knew it was a front for referrals, but was waiting for something like this to show up / for like-minded people to post comments in there etc. Think of it as gathering intel on people.
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... try actually reading my post and what it's about. This has nothing to do with Tremorgames, or how to actually use their site properly.
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I'm surprised there's no essay on TremorGames. How much profit must they be pulling in from all the advertisement dollars and surveys and free offers they get people to sign up for, just for some bundle games worth pennies?
I'm frankly not all that worried. If people are trying to use TremorGames to farm contribution value on SteamGifts, they're not too bright to begin with. I don't like that the post blatantly tells people to try to exploit their value, but there will always be greedy and selfish people in the world. No amount of complaining is going to change that, but I appreciate how hard you're trying.
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My post has nothing to do with Tremorgames specifically - it has to do with the contributor whoring going on here. The post I saw on this group from this guy who was trying to get refs for himself inspired me to segue into the broader topic of rewarding dishonesty going on here on the site. Also, see my replies to jatan11t for more sound argumentation.
I am not griping about this "exploit" specifically, but using it as an example of the mindset of types strategising over how to boost their stat higher.
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People that give away purely for contribution value, regardless of how cheap they got the games for or if they exploited to get the games, take away from the spirit of the site anyways. I have no problem with people giving away games from bundles or games that were extremely cheap. Everybody has a budget, especially when it comes to charity. I look at it like this: if I have 20 extra dollars that I'd like to give away, I could either buy 4 or 5 games on sale, or buy 1 game, though arguably more desired, that isn't on sale. If I only had $2, well that could be 1 game on sale, or I could buy 2 bundles and make like 10 people happy. Just because the game was cheap or in a bundle doesn't mean it's not appreciated. There's at least some measures on the site to prevent people from grossly inflating their contributor in that bundled games can only account for 20% of your non-bundled contribution with a $30 grace amount. The system isn't perfect; no system is.
I just go about my day and I try not to pay any mind to what others are doing. It's not worth stressing over, let alone getting upset over. There are plenty of more pressing matters in my life than what other people are doing with their time or money LOL
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True enough, that's why all this kind of deep thought and discussion should always lead to simple conclusions - currently, "bad" users (using 'bad' purely for brevity) are being rewarded for their bad ways. This is bad. Simple enough. Although, obviously, this is less important to me now than if some douche won any high contrib. giveaway of mine.
As well as the rest of your post, hey I totally agree and get where you're coming from. But you're talking about putting thought in to your choices for giveaways (which is altruistic in itself also), and maybe spending little due to low funds on bundles. Which is 100 A-ok to me. What's not ok, is consciously planning ways to boost your stat higher as cheaply as possible, with the kind of motivation the copypasta'd instructional shows.
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I do not agree with the instructional at all, nor do I advocate people looking to exploit the system for selfish means. What I don't understand though is how bundle games and games on sale become associated with contribution farming as well. It's not so much what's being given away than it is the intent behind it. When you're dealing with intent, unless someone blatantly states it as in the instructional, the best you can do is make an educated guess. That person who gave away a bunch of games at 90% off may or may not be contributor farming. I try not to make assumptions and judge people.
Other than removing the contributor value system altogether, and in turn, removing the benefits of having a high contribution value, I do not see any solution to the problem. There is no foolproof way of distinguishing between the bad users and the good ones. You just have to take the good with the bad unfortunately.
For example, I'm fully aware that not all the winners of my giveaways are necessarily grateful, but I'd like to think that for every person who only cares about padding their library with no intent of playing the game at all, that there is at least one person whose day I just made that much better. Ultimately I gift games away for those people and I don't concern myself with the few bad apples along the way.
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Well, in the reply to my post, OP states that the contributor exploiters are those people that give away bundle games to maximize the 20% bundle value.
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Try reading my whole post, then posting. My post has nothing, 0, zilch, nada to do with Tremorgames, or free tokens, or what people actually spent on their games. It has to do with the decrepit practise of trying to exploit the contributor system.
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You're just going to post that reply to everything everyone says? well if you tried reading MY whole post, you'd realize it had absolutely nothing to do with the website you're talking about. The point I am making is that there's nothing that can be done about contribution farming this way, because steamgifts has no way of knowing how you get your games.
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And again, you fail to see the entire point of my posts. I also said "..or free tokens, or what people actually spent on their games." This has nothing to do with where you got your games. This has to do with people who are obviously trying to plan ways to exploit the system, people with 20x Crazy Machines, 10x Metro 2033 (in the small window before they were banned from the site) etc on their profiles, being rewarded for their exploitative attitude. Whether or not you can prove where games come from, I think if you see more than 3 times all games off a bundle being given away by someone, it's safe to say they're purely farming.
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I understand your point, you don't like people getting contributor points for little to no investment. My point is there's absolutely nothing that can be done about it so there is no use in complaining. If you have a game that's on steamgames' list, you can give it away. Regardless of how you got it, how much you got it for, where you got it, and how many copies you have. Unless steamgifts somehow attains the power to make other websites not give video games away, there's really nothing that can be done. People will always try to find a way to get as much as they can for as little as they can. It's called greed, it's a part of humanity and isn't going away any time soon so you may as well get used to it.
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guess what - almost EVERY f'ing giveaway on here is "exploiting" the contributor system because there's probably less than 5% of those giveaways that weren't purchased for less than their store value. It's what everyone does (I'm sure there are some who go out of their way to only give games away that they paid full price for but not very many) a game goes on sale for 75% off there's a couple dozen giveaways for it - close this site now before the evil spreads!
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... try actually reading my post and what it's about. This has nothing to do with Tremorgames, or how to actually use their site properly.
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With free things there will always be exploiters. People don't seem to realize it can truly damage a system like SteamGifts.
People don't like cheaters and exploiters when their own money is involved but nothing can really be done.
It was a week or so ago with the Crazy Machines and Shadow Harvest and nothing was done about that. Not mentioning names but one guy got $500 value from Crazy Machines alone.
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Ignite spam, Magicka spam, Shadow Harvest spam, Sleeping Dogs spam, there's so goddamn many. If you're in several groups on Steam like Hookups, you get updates on so many sales, you can easily strategise ways to exploit the system.
Heck, you can even get Hitman Absolution for around 20 (was something like 18,99 or 18,95 or something) bucks in a bundle PLUS all other Hitman games, excepting only "Hitman: Contracts". Give those away, watch your stat jump. I even saw some sale somewhere (that I didn't look in to or check out so don't know any details) for I think 10 bucks for Absolution. And there's trades like this all over, all the time.
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What? So you're saying paying $10 for Hitman Absolution (it was that price yesterday at GMG) is contribution exploiting? What? If you would please define your definition of contributor whoring, I would appreciate it. Give a set sale percentage please.
I love how you keep referencing sales as part of your arguments and then saying in other posts how sales have nothing to do with your argument.
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Welcome to the internet.
Welcome to human society.
If theres a way to scam, cheat, lie, take advantage...we humans will find it and exploit it as long as possible. This was true before the internet but now, the internet has made it SO easy and very fruitful.
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Oh thank you wise one. But being old and wise enough to know and to some extent accept that doesn't mean that you must be complacent when such crap exploitation of a system designed originally as a tool for positive energy gets actively rewarded with very low entry giveaways.
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If we block people who pay low to get high returns, we'll have to block people giving away game that have been purchased at anything lower than full price. It's the same thing. Effort for currency, virtual or real world, gets traded for games in both situations.
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You're double posting the same argument. You already put this same argument up before, and I already replied.
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Apologies, then. There's a lot of angles to cover in this thread. Economics are an interest of mine.
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You know what? Nobody forces SG community to be absolutely fair and just. As far as I can tell from reading this forum, buying games during Steam sales to give them away is tolerated while bundle spamming is not. The conclusion is pretty obvious.
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The sad part is I'm not at all surprised this article (and probably others elsewhere) exist. I don't even make giveaways of bundle keys (though some of my giveaways were added to bundles later) just so people won't think I'm trying to farm. I drop them randomly around the forum and hope whoever ninjas them enjoys their new game. I won't lie, I buy during sales, same as I would if it was for myself, but I'm not worried about a petty number. I just find that's the most affordable way for me to give good games back to a community that's been kind to me in more ways than one.
Besides all that, trying to make Steamgifts an "investment" is ridiculous in all sorts of ways. You're better off just waiting on a sale for something you really want than buying a bunch of bundle or sale games for the ever-slimming chance of getting a AAA game in return.
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You fucking get it, what a breath of fresh air :)
See my replies to jatan11 for a little more thinking into all this, and the potential effect(s) further down the line.
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I know how you feel about bundle keys. People judge you if you give away a bundle game but that shouldn't change what you give away.
Bundle games are just as good as other games, sometimes even better and it sucks that there is a negative shroud around giving them away.
It shouldn't matter what you give, people should understand that maybe they can afford to buy games and not play the ones they win but there are people out there who do enjoy playing any games they can because they just don't have the money.
It's a shame that something designed with the purpose to share things with others can have a whole nother side to it where people are judged because what they give away is 'sub standard' in the eyes of those who can afford not to buy bundles.
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+1 Steamgifts started as a place where you give away keys or games that you don't like or need,which mostly coincided with leftovers from bundles or packs.The fact that it now became an elitist "you don't give away AAA titles you loser" is something i can't understand.I mean it's not even about contrib value,you simply come here to give out games you have but not enjoy to people that will probably like them more.
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"Steamgifts started as.."
Registered
2 months ago
What do you know?
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As someone with anxiety/panic issues, I believe in the idea of "Beware of yourself, for your own thoughts will color your opinions of others." This affects more things than we are aware of consiously, which is why Ad-hominem attacks work so often. Hence, Fox News Corporation.
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true,unfortunately.While i do understand in a thread like this it is easy to fall in defensive stance,people are proving their points,they can be right or wrong,which can be argued,but attacking their persona is just an easy way to get out of it,and the discussion will just degenerate and everyone will do the same.
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It wasn't meant as an Ad Hominem argument, or attack, but as a genuine question of "umm, what? How would you know?" because the very first thing your post started with was about how the site started, which seemed a bit odd coming from someone who's only been here this short. I hope you get that. Your reply sorts that out fine, but I didn't mean my post as "you're NO-ONE, you HEAR? YOU'RE not part of the COOL club" or anything.
Also, that "start" talks about the really really early beginnings of the site, when the membership was below a hundred users or so. It didn't take that long to become a full fledged tool to use to do giveaways of all sorts on - by the time I joined, it was already being used as far more than only a place to dump spares.
As for the rest of your post, I agree 100% that it's a shame that some people go "omg leech no Bethesda Complete Pack or Skyrims from you, you're a leech omg". Those types are indeed, a blight.
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"what do You know" ,frased in the that manner seemed an attack,and the most basic of ad hominem attacks.While i mostly agree with you and what you base your argument on,as i replied on other comments aswell,saying that ALL bundles are bad is inherently wrong as it is based on the asumption that all people are bad,and get bundles to increase their contribution value,while it puts out people that buy bundles for themselves and giveaway certain games they might not enjoy.And that's why it was later added that games that are in a bundle do not increase your contributor value.The same thing applies to games from sales,while some can gift them for the added benefits,other gifts them for the sake of giving,which ultimately is what steamGIFTS should be.
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Your first statement is actually untrue. Bundle keys were banned until around ~7 months ago.
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At least I can drop spares from bundles on the forum. Someone gets a game they want; I get to know I might've made someone's day. Good enough for me still. And yeah, some of them are pretty good too, which is why I why already owned a copy from somewhere and had a spare to give to someone else.
I also don't feel like dealing with the inevitable person who's going to go check out my win/giveaway ratio, account, etc. and start calling me out, despite the fact that absolutely everything I own was at least 66% off or more (or even free from other non-SG giveaways), with rare exceptions for indie/cheap games that were still under $5 during 50% off sales. I've also noticed it's extremely difficult for some people to get that other people's income isn't always on an even keel. For instance, I work odd jobs online, I have bills to be concerned about, classes to pay for, etc., and the money from those odd jobs fluctuates. Sometimes I can afford to give away better things. Sometimes all I have are spare keys to drop in some hidden post somewhere. :/
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I don't see the problem with this. It's in the gray, so it's obviously debatable, but it's advocating an approach that takes advantage of the system. My only issue it Tremor Games' open promotion of their contribution farming strategy. It's just tacky.
When I see you give away 21 games but win 104 ... you're obviously working the system according to your own methodology and coming out on top. Bravo to you.
Edit: I am amused at the usage of a bundled game as an example. Really, anyone who follows that tutorial is a moron.
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Did you even bother reading properly?
As far as "it's in the gray"? Umm, no, it's not? If you're purely trying to find which combination of games you can give away to give you the max possible contributor value, you're exploiting the system, pure and simple. If your supermarket has some discount coupons and you find a way, through some loophole they hadn't thought of, to stack the coupons and walk out of the supermarket with entirely free items that you were supposed to only pay less for, you've been strategising ways to exploit the system. Period.
Only, here, you're not screwing some big corporation. You're screwing a people-built community, and their good intentions in making high contrib. giveaways as a thank you for others' generosity.
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" Am I happy with my wins? Hell yes! Am I grateful? Same! Do I feel guilty over winning so many even though I gave away less? Hell no. I got lucky in random draws."
Should they feel guilty because they thought of things others didn't thought of? Hell no, in the end they will only get games if they get lucky in random draws.
Should they feel guilty over spending so much less though they get so much more out of it? Hell no, they thought of things others didn't.
You see how your position isn't much different from them if you look at it with ethics and or morale in mind? As they exploited the system through cheap games and big contri value, you (and almost everyone else I guess) cheated the system by winning more either in terms of games worth more than they contributed or in the sole quantity of wins over giveaways.
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I'm not giving away games for selfish reasons, period. From an ethics / moral standpoint, my behavior is entirely different from theirs. I enter giveaways that I was meant to and that were made for me and users like me - people in specific groups, with a certain contributor value. Farmers enter giveaways fraudulently, that were never meant for them.
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Morals are black and white. There is no gray. Either something is morally correct or immoral. Simple as that.
They enter giveaways meant for a certain contributor value. The only thing that matters is their contributor value. Have it = enter. Don't have it = can't enter. Simple as that.
You are mixing up different points here and lose focus of your original point. The flawed system of the contributor value.
As for those farmers: There is nothing you can do about it and that behavior is condemnable for sure, but, as many other people mentioned, you can't measure intent.
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Pfff please go study morals and ethics - the first thing you learn is that morality is very gray, and often very dependant on location and circumstance.
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"Hell no. I got lucky in random draws"
Not true. You are actually statistically unlucky according to your estimated wins.
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Come on dude, not really here nor there.. Not relevant to the discussion. Although true. Still, you didn't see my profile when my wins exceeded my estimated wins a while back. I had 2 or 3 weeks where almost every day, I won something. They were quite the lucky streaks, and made me sit there looking at the green bar that kept coming like "ok wtf" :P
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Well if it's not relevant, why did you bring it up? You specified that you didn't feel guilty about not giving away much because you only "got lucky in random draws"
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Yah, no shit. OP has won some damn good games within his 100+ wins. Nice job working the system to your advantage.
Then look at the COMPARITIVE garbage he's given away from the 20 there. Wow. Time to get off your high horse and go back to being the douche you're complaining about.
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Ad-hominem attacks do not diminish the points he has raised. Posts such as yours should be deleted, as you're flaming here, intentionally or not.
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Hah, crappy games? Really now? They were all games picked by the people in the groups I made them for, and were all met with much happiness and enthusiasm. None of them are bundle games, and the Iron Brigade one was the first giveaway of that game on this site. If I showed you the comments people left on that giveaway, you'd see how happy people were with it.
The two Dead Space pack giveaways were made because a lot of people in those groups were German, and there's only a cut version available there - again, much gratitude from people.
The RE5 giveaway coincided with a stream we were doing in a group I'm in of RE5 - I had a spare copy in my inventory I had spent cash on I had saved up for a while, which I was intending to give to a friend as a gift, but decided spontaneously to make a giveaway for during the stream.
I also made all those giveaways some time ago, after having bought them on sales, and stashing them for a while in my inventory, so that when I did make a giveaway for them, it would be a nice out of the blue surprise for people. Some are a little older now (like the DS packs) but they're all solid games, and a lot weren't so old at the time I gave them away. I also put a lot of thought and effort into all of them, and had spent all the cash I had available at the time on them.
Aside from all that, see my reply to chairmankao for a reaction to your inflammatory and childish attack.
Oh and, I guess you're too dumb to realise that I didn't, not once, do the thing I am complaining about in my OP, or "work the system", abrasive little prick.
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Yup, I read that word, also. Tell me, aside from my win of Hitman Absolution, which was still full price (with some 10% off sales here and there) at the time I won it, which of my wins was so earthshatteringly better than the games I chose to give away?
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Since you asked for it, I think the following games are MUCH better than anything you have given away.
Morrowind, Warlock - Master of the Arcane, Civ IV, The Walking Dead, King's Bounty: The Legend, Borderlands GOTY, The Witcher, Recettear, DoW Franchise, and King's Bounty: Armoured Princess.
Oh, I see you havent even bothered to launch any of these games. Maybe that's why you don't think highly of any of your wins.
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As a general rule of thumb for me, it's the names giving things away rather than their contribution value which means something to me.
You must've been living under a rock if you honestly believe this 'public contributor' is a way to distinguish people who gave away games on their own and people who happened to get a few good game deals. I'd say about 90% of the games on SG were bought on some sort of sale.
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You gave away $500 on Crazy Machines alone. In fact, you were who I was mentioning in one of my previous posts.
Yes, most games are bought in sales but there is a different between saving $15 and getting $500 in contrib value for around $50 worth of games.
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I'll totally feel bad now. You convinced me, I'll change my life and won't give stuff away anymore.
I mean, it's totally irrelevant I gave away over $3k even without Crazy Machines. That's just me thinking it held any value, but truth to be told all it got me was into a nice group or two - and groups are what it's all about, no?
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Unfortunately, when you do something that is considered to be exploiting, it does become the only thing that people see. It is one of the most prominent things you see when you click on your profile.
I never told you to change, nor did i tell you to stop giving things away, i have merely stated you did something that I consider to be exploiting.
I don't have a direct problem with you, you can do what you see fit with your money and your games and your SteamGifts, but you cannot expect people to not want to voice their opinion when you post in a forum which clearly is already full of debates about people who have done the very thing you've done.
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It's okay, it's not like I took any offense in that; I'm merely voicing the very thoughts going through my head (which is more often than not a wrong idea, either way). Think of me as exploiter or not, that's okay, you're entitled to your own opinion.
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I don't really see how using a sale is "exploiting" something. It was the same with Ignite, it was on 90% sale and everyone was racking up insane amounts of contributor value from it, while spending 90% less. I don't consider it an exploit. That's how the site works, no one actually contributes as much as their profile says.
I don't see what all the bitching was/is/will be about, perhaps some kids were restricted access to their parents' credit cards and they're jealous, that they are unable to take advantage of such an offer themselves.
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Relax VWR - he's right.. He's not plotting on ways to raise his contrib. stat - he simply gave away some extra games he had, which is totally ok, no?
Also, hi :)
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Actually read my post! There's not one ref link in it!
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I'm not sure whether I should dislike this practice (that's what OP wants me to do) OR be not-dislike it because it is encouraging people to give games away?
EDIT: and to be honest, reading your replies to people has set me in the not-dislike it category. You seem FAR too bothered about contributor value and are almost as bad as the contributor whores in my eyes.
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When your chance at winning a game when you've given a lot to the community is pushed back because of exploiters it can make you pretty angry.
People who gave away very good games started upping their minimum contributor value to enter their giveaways to avoid these exploiters winning.
It isn't just about contributor value, it's also about principle and morals.
This is a FREE site and when people exploit something that is free people either start to leave or the system starts to fail.
Websites like this rely on trust and honesty. Following the rules. I don't think that is too much to ask of anyone.
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"Exploiters" and people who buy games on sale for the intention of gifting here, are both exploiting the contributor value system in the same manner. Both are giving games away for free. The only difference is the currency, and what they did to earn that currency, that they spent on those games.
Worry more about the Giving side of the word Gifts, instead of the Receiving end. "Tis better to give than to receive," after all.
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Buying games on sale isn't exploiting in my eyes. There is a difference between buying a game for 50% off and something for 95% off.
I don't see a problem with my buying one copy of a game on sale so someone else has a chance to play it. I do however see a problem with someone buying masses of $1 Indie Gala store games to make $10 - $20 contributor off of each one.
There is a difference between being thrifty and exploiting.
I''m sorry but I just cannot see how saving myself money on a good game to hopefully give away to someone who could never afford it can be considered to be in the same class with people earning hundreds of dollars value from $1 games.
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Neither method is an exploit in my opinion. I simply pointed out that buying a game on a large enough Steam sale gets you the same or greater discount than buying something off of Steam, for any form of currency. As time is money, these Tremor Coins are a currency. They're a currency that I would exchange at 1 USD per 225 Tremor Coins, if I had to put a real world value to them.
Let me summarise: No method of obtaining games, short of theft, should be considered unethical here.
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Mutual understanding is the goal, rather than indoctrination. Regardless of what beliefs we bring to the table, we should all try to leave here improved as a result.
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Might as well include everyone who buys a game on sale and gifts it.
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And there's a difference between measuring numbers and measuring intent.
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of course intent can't be measured. but there are ways to moderate the system (bundle list) and there are times when moderation clearly fails and the system is beyond exploited and there are possibly better alternatives out there, such as counting by games/dlc or gifts given (like galagiveaways).
i'm quite sure this has already been covered. the op, though, didn't touch intent since they had already made clear which group of people they were talking about.
this is also a derail.
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Why is it a derail? Isn't the whole point of this thread the people with the intent of spending as little as possible on GAs just to join high-value-high-contrib GAs, instead of giving games away just for that fuzzy feeling inside? Am I missing something here?
And counting the number of games/dlcs given away is a terrible idea.
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Time invested into Tremor Games coins, or time invested into a job to get real world coins, both are just time exchanged for games. This is my point. People using Tremor Games to gift games, are spending more time than people who use real world currency. Thus, people with jobs are harming SG more than TG people are.
I see nothing wrong with TG gifters. They only -think- they're getting something for free.
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The economic point still stands true, unless someone shows that TG pays more per hour than minimum wage, whatever value that is in your area.
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VERY interesting point indeed, similar to the whole "but TF2 idling isn't profitable" thing which I'm sure you also have read some about, considering you're interested in economics etc. However, there's one more variable to consider - effort. Also, you can sit in your pyjama and rest one hand on your dick while doing farming TG for coins - not exactly doable at the office :P
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I don't know about that.... I see a lot of my coworkers just browsing reddit all day at work :P
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I'd say the amount saved is not important, what is important is the reason behind the giveaway. If someone buys a crappy game just because it will get them good contributor value then its bad. But if a game you love is 90% off it would be completely reasonable to give away a lot of copies.
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oh ultimate leecher talks about cheats & exploits ... this makes me sad:'(
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So, should it be "fair" that people who contribute only among their own community, and rarely/never to everyone else at SG, to be able to use their total contrib value to join public giveaways?
Just a little something to think about.
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i know, and i've mentioned it already elsewhere in this thread. but as long as the system allows it, then there's little to be said. cg has made it clear they won't add the gala store bundles into the bundle list despite the gala store bundles also being pay-what-you-want.
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There are multiple ways to contribute, and not all have to do with making giveaways.
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Which would those be? Seriously curious on what you have in mind.
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And I don't see how you could implement those to the website's system, so that others could measure your intent, while avoiding possible "abusers".
Plus, I've seen a few people who avoid such "social" contributions that you mentioned (and I can relate, since I'm also an antisocial bastard) and yet always seem to make generous giveaways.
Plus[2], I've seen quite a few people who you could argue that are "contrib whores" (or slightly changing the wording to fit my initial point in this particular reply, "people with unfair wins"), but can be seen around SG doing some of the things you mentioned. Including a certain user who was called out here for getting nearly 500 in contrib from a certain "abused" game.
To conclude this without making this whole post look like derailing: it's like I've been saying for a while, it's hard to measure intent.
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You're mixing things up here. My reply about ways to contribute was a reply to this current thread of discussion, and the topics presented within. My point was a reply to your "So, should it be "fair" that people who contribute only among their own community, and rarely/never to everyone else at SG, to be able to use their total contrib value to join public giveaways?" I think, yes, as long as they indeed do somehow contribute. Is there a real way to quantify such examples of "contributing"? Nope. Indeed. Which is more reason for me to say that the whole idea of a contributor giveaway system is inherently flawed to high heaven. Ignoring the idea that even a basic course in ethics will tell you it is ALWAYS a bad idea to tangibly reward desired, positive character traits, in any community or society, and will always lead to degradation of said traits, as well as the society / community's cohesion and harmony as a whole.
Surely though, intent is hard to prove - but not in all cases. In fact, there's probably more people who you can clearly earmark as farmers than cases of doubt and / or mixed opinions.
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And why do you think my giveaways are group or private? Because of the generally crap quality of most of the public community, or rather, a large enough part thereof to make me not want a lot of them winning my giveaways, especially since I really have very little to spare on giveaways (or even non-essentials in general) atm. Also, what wotgamer said - "you do realize there are communities that never touch the front page?"
I haven't given back to the community? I discuss actively in the forums, I offer help and advice to anyone who posts IT related issues / problems, spending loads of time sometimes on helping people (because I work[ed] on IT, so I figure it's what is part of my skillset, might as well), and I have no clue how many mult. accounters, giveaway group exploiters (people with mult. accounts or friends making 5 man groups to farm contrib. stat entirely for free by giving games back to each other continuously gifting them back and forth), and other forms of miscreants I have helped track down, report, social engineered admissions out of - i.e. spent time on helping weed out.
I have contributed to this community in many ways since day 1.
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About what wotgamer said ""you do realize there are communities that never touch the front page?"
while most of those communities are elitist "win and you must create a giveaway,no bundles,no game sales ecc ecc",what is bad is that train of thought getting in here on the public giveaways,there is a certain trend of thought where lately bundle games are frowned upon,as well as class B titles and whatnot.
On the other side what you are defending right now is the public community,to which you didn't gift anything yet,yet you feel more entitled to get into contributors giveaways than those that really gave games,independent to in which way they got those keys?
If we must see strictly "value" as we are discussing here,and that's the way the site works at this moment,they indeed have more than you.If that's what we are discussing here then i think we are getting out of topic,and we are discussing the whole foundation of steamgifts that should be changed.
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Most, not all. And I for one don't belong to almost any of them, save a handful where I belong more because of who's in the groups; friends - I don't even enter giveaways in those groups.
How am I defending or even commenting in any way on the public community with the post you replied to? I am stating the ways I have contributed to the site and its' community, I said nothing about the public community at all. I also said nothing about entitlement to entering contributor giveaways, or about how much I myself do or don't deserve to be in them. In fact, let me copypasta something I mentioned in a chat:
13:20 - ፤ዛለነዞ፤•●░▒ﮒϞιゥøы▒░●•: and whether or not there's a gain in it for me, whether or not I can or can't enter these giveaways, I don't really care.. I care that **** like that get rewarded.
Don't put words in my mouth dude.
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We are discussing contributor farming here, and many people do believe that group/private giveaways count as contributor farming whether you like it or not. That topic is relevant.
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inb4 threads complaining about private group farming?
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You're only a troll who's mad at me for reporting what a douche you are to other groups and their admins. You entered private giveaways not meant for you in another group I admin, that were put in chat as stream giveaways during streams the group was doing, where the people in chat were all watching the streams and participating. And when we asked you to un-enter, you even once told the maker of the giveaway to fuck off, because he shouldn't have put the link in chat. You trolled our chat, spammed our chat, and leeched giveaway links off it while lurking and not participating in the chat with anything more than a hi / bye when entering / leaving, and the occasional (once or twice in 2 or 3 days) one or two sentence random, often off-tangent replies to things being discussed in chat, that when read, showed you hadn't even bothered reading the chat or what was actually being said at the time. You were kicked 3 times, before an eventual ban off the chat, in a group with 1,000+ members, where hardly anyone is ever banned from chat.
Just so everyone reading this knows why you're trying to piss me off and harass me here.
As for a response to the point you make - let me copypasta what I said to chairmankao, to save you some time looking for it:
"My own low number of giveaways is solely, purely down to 1 thing - I am skin flint, close to broke, and have spent money I didn't really have at times on making giveaways for others. My comparatively high number of wins is a result of being in several smaller groups, and a few lucky streaks. The two are entirely separate stats to me - had I a steady job now, at a salary level around what someone my age / experience in IT would be earning on average, the numbers would probably be the other way 'round - I'd be buying way more games myself, entering almost no giveaways, and spending at least 100 - 150 bucks a month on making giveaways for others. There is no strategy involved, ffs. Am I happy with my wins? Hell yes! Am I grateful? Same! Do I feel guilty over winning so many even though I gave away less? Hell no. I got lucky in random draws, and was gifted by many different people. And I always put thought and effort into choosing what to give away for others, making descriptions with jokes, links, stories etc, and spend as much as I can, quite literally at the moment."
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Ansatsunin, (Assassin in Japanese, yes?) let the trolls/flamers/haters/etc drop from your mind along with the exploiters, just as I do. I don't know you, so I don't know if this issue is really giving you a migraine, but just in case, remember: "This too shall pass."
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Thanks for the words. Was just worth pointing out why he was even bothering posting, purely to harass me. Fuck it, let everyone know, he really doesn't deserve anyone's sympathy or support - he's a troll.
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oh ... I am sure you beg to admins to ban me as you always do before :'(
I witnessed your lies that you told group admins you are just pathetic guy who likes to insult others in public , to the PM and you like to talk dirty after "x person" leaves . Keep talking about me ^^
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Actually, thanks for replying. I reported you to admins of several groups, including logs, because you were such a rude, obnoxious, abrasive troll. I told you I had done so, also, so nothing "behind your back", not that it matters - you're a douche.
I didn't lie about anything you did, not once, and I have about 10 or more people I can call here right now to post +1's to prove my point, who all witnessed exactly how you acted, and saw chat logs of what you said to people in PMs, as well as our main chat at the time.
You decided to try and exploit our group and its' stream giveaways, act like a troll and an idiot, got kicked, again, 3 times, then got banned after warning after warning given both in PMs as well as main chat, in a group that hardly ever gives out bans. Your behavior was unnaceptable. Aside from that, when I once joined a group chat you were already in, you instantly tried lying about me, trying to tell everyone I was an asshole, calling me a troll, attacking me, trying to piss me off.
People like you have the lowest social behavior possible.
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Ofcourse you do , it is your job to tell everyone on street who not knows me that I am troll and an idiot because YOU DECIDED it .
I like the way how you are so desperate that you always need to tell ppl about me. And I love your lies about being rude , thats why I remembered everytime I entered your so long "worlds best group" chat you insulted me with bad words. Haha I never forget that once you saw me in other chat you begged instantly to the admin that I am a douchebag.And I loved those chat logs ofc which you use agains me .. Mmmmm nasty . I love you guy.
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You're still not addressing anything I said about your behavior, like I expected. You haven't posted anything here that adds to the discussion or the topic at hand, either. I posted an explanation of why you're such a moron because you were trying to troll and shitpost here, because you saw I had made the thread, nothing else. You didn't post anything worth reading, only childish insults and attacks on me. So, suck it.
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225 TG coins per US Dollar. That's what most of their games come out to. You could also think of this as 0.0044... dollars per coin. Since each video gives 5 coins, this means about 2.2 cents per video that you don't have to see or hear.
If you're playing a game, think of it as being paid 22 cents to alt-tab ten times each day. Half of us already are alt-tabbing more than then times per day.
Combine this with joining Bing Rewards, which slowly pays you just for using Bing instead of Google. I'm a Google Search fanboy, but I'll say that Bing gives similar search results. Might as well get paid for what you do normally, even if it is pennies a day.
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Thanks for the entirely off-topic post. Anyway, good tips and all, but this thread has nothing to do with Tremorgames.
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Thank you for mentioning Tremor Games, then stating that your post has nothing to do with Tremor Games.
To make your belief true, please delete the first half of the original post.
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they were referencing an example of exploiting, and then continued on their topic.
yes, the OP dedicated around ~30% of their post to an example, and normally, that's far too much. but regardless, if you actually read the topic, it was about the title and not tremorgames.
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"it was about the title and not tremorgames."
As are my comments, for I must reference TG, because the OP's points are grounded in a TG example. I will not discuss flying elephants if the OP posts about science experiments done on rats.
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Fine, revise one of my comments to read 'delete the middle third.' If he does not need to reference TG, remove TG-related content.
As an aside, OP's concerns regarding his mentioning ot this method possibly encouraging such behavior, is likely true. It may have a miniaturised version of the Streisand Effect on our community. Unintended, obviously, but possible.
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Like wot said in another part of the thread, acceptable. It wouldn't really add much to the current bulk of bullcrap exploiters, considering how few would probably bother opening the thread (considering its' title), actually bother reading it well, as well as how much crap's already going on, I think. Also, I am keeping it in here so people really see for themselves, with their own two eyes, a good example of shitty intent. So it hits home how these types really think / operate.
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Wow. No. Try thinking harder before you post.
My points are not grounded in the example. If you'd bother reading what I posted properly, instead of skimming it, the post about TG was what INSPIRED me to make this thread, so I put it here AS AN EXAMPLE of the kind of mindset I go into criticising in the remainder of my post - which is the actual topic being posited and discussed. I could have also not copypasta'd it, and only put in the link to the announcement, but as I stated in my post - "In case it gets taken down / modified, here's a copypasta of what it says.."
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Inspired by. I think this is analogous to 'grounded in' when it comes to this topic.
It's about people exploiting referral/redemption programs to get giftable games at a low cost of time investment, correct? A job is an even lower cost of time investment. An hour of minimum wage will get you about three or four days worth of TG coins, so comparing these two, the day laborer is the true exploiter.
TG is certainly not the only method around, but it is the example you pointed out. This means that to discuss why I think they are not exploiting SG, I must point out why I think TG is not an issue.
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"Grounded in" is a way to say "based on", or "finding its' foundation in". Which isn't the same as saying "this inspired me to". The link is far more direct.
"It's about people exploiting referral/redemption programs to get giftable games at a low cost of time investment, correct?" No... It's about the larger issue of contribution farming on the site, with this specific instructional posted purely as an example of the mindset prevalent in the asses doing the farming - this method of abusing TG to get games to give away is simply one avenue such types might take.
Sorry also for my harsh tone, was a bit annoyed by some other people in the thread, including that Osmaniuc troll. Will quit that to you though, you seem cool enough.
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No worries. It's easy to allow the thread tone as a whole affect the way you respond to each individual response, rather than taking each response as an individual.
I would compare your reaction to getting called fifteen unsolicited times by some telemarketer from Florida, then yelling at my brother in Florida when he calls.
It takes more effort than most of us have, to treat each minute as its own day.
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All true, and I am well aware of it. Doesn't mean it makes it much easier at times - which is why I try to reflect upon my own expression and post those "sorry"'s sometimes. If you stumble or trip, hey no problem I figure, as long as you don't fall..
Were I not so tired from all this typing now, and pointing people at their misinterpretations / failure to see the real point at issue here, I'd post a whole interesting reply here about psychology online, images of people, etc etc.. :P
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It makes me sad to see how many times OP has to mention that this topic has nothing to do with Tremor Games or how to use that site properly. Comment first, read later (or not at all)
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Support itself has already posted in here. Chances are slim. Also, why do you hope that? Oh wait, I just looked at your profile. Right. Now I see why.
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No reason to close this. It's informative, and leads to just as many intelligent discussions as it does trolling/flaming comments. Just ignore the negativity.
I would remove the link and the instructions copypasted from the source, if it's all the same to you.
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I want to show what inspired my post, and a perfect example of the disease ailing the site.
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Says you. All I see you post are moral high horse posts telling others off for their indiscretions, and most of the time resorting quite quickly to insults yourself. Also, the guy was being a facetious douche, telling me he hopes this thread (which presents a very valid point of view / arguments that are quite important on the site, and in hot debate among users, for good reason) gets closed, no explanation of why, no argument, nothing. And looking at what he's given away, all I see are free stuff from promos. Not in a quantity that could be called farming, sure, but that's why I didn't claim he was farming - merely tossing the ball of douchy-ness back a little. Although, sure, I could have refrained from doing so, and felt more morally perfect, less human and imperfect, yes.
At least I didn't call him an asshole.
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I didn't say calling someone an asshole is being judgemental, just that for someone telling me that my mother needed to raise me better, it seems quite hypocritical a thing to do - call me one when trying to tell me I am rude, along with what else I said about other posts of yours I see in places. You do seem to defend good morals, but act quite condescending and abrasive / insulting to people you criticise. Not that I don't, or am perfect, far from it (and not just talking about what you see here - I admit fully to fucking up / letting bad shit slip out my mouth / fingers a bit too fast at times), just saying, maybe it's not just me who has to check himself some.
"I think that you're just really defensive right now because of all the feedback you've been getting so you just made the assumption that his comment was meant as an insult to you." That's a decent, fair point, and might indeed have some merit. I'll give you that, and definitely use it as a mental hand-hold to help keep me "good". I won't edit or remove my old posts, ever, as I don't believe in hiding my flaws / fuckups, though. I see that as weak behaviour, and owning your behaviour as a virtue.
As for the rest of your post - the problem, and what I as well as a lot of other users are objecting to, isn't getting free / cheap stuff and giving it away. The problem is with the kind of people thinking "hmm, if I buy 10 bundles, that's 10 bucks. Now, if I buy 3 Hitman Absolutions for 10 bucks (there's a sale somewhere for it atm), I'll spend 40 bucks on it, and get back more than 6 or 700 bucks contributor value!" People like that are CONSCIOUSLY PLANNING WAYS to get more contributor value, nothing more. And they get the reward of very low entry, high contrib. limit giveaways.
In other words - people purely trying to exploit the system put in place as a means to reward generosity, being rewarded by that system. Pretty crooked and fucked up, if you ask me, wouldn't you say?
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You're still missing my point entirely, and are even turning it into something entirely different, about something entirely different also. Your points have been raised, and refuted, many times over in this thread already. Hit ctrl-f and type "sale".
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"..buying games that are very cheap, then giving away dozens of them, which then boosts their contributor value up a large amount."
Thanks for that line, as it identifies where the probable miscommunication is occuring. It seems you don't know how bundle game values are calculated on the site. My complaint isn't about people buying games for very cheap, or on sale - it's about bundle spammers and abusers. And apparently, you don't know about how you can buy them for a buck a pop, get 4 or 5 games to give away, then get sometimes more than 100 bucks' worth of contrib. value for giving away 2 bundles. And how thus, people are around who pirposely buy 10x a bundle, with the sole intentr of tricking the contrib. system into thinking they spend oodles of cash, when in reality, they spent handfulls, just so they can enter giveaways that were made to reward truly generous people.
The problem isn't sale games or cheap games being given away, or that people still get full value for them. The problem is with bad intent; trying to find ways to cheat the system.
It seems you should read the FAQ, and then in particular the bit about contrib. value and bundle games.
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How was that, talking to a brick wall?
You'd have saved yourself a few minutes if you just stopped at "Wow, you're a judgmental asshole."
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Sharing opinions, yes. Sharing them with someone who ignores every logical point you make and responds to your every comment like you're a moron who is personally attacking him ... um, I'm kind of on the fence.
That said, I am impressed with his tenacity. He responds to almost every reply. It's like if he can't beat you with logic, he'll wear you down through attrition! Stay the course!
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Look who's talking. You constantly post ad hominem attacks on me to discredit me, like these useless posts replying to someone else and childishly trying to win them over to your side, and don't logically argue or refute any of my replies to you, like a fukkin kid. Grow up, try replying to what I answered to you more, and use your brain some to come up with more than cheap shots at me. So far, you've not out-argued me, only out-trolled and harangued me.
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Yup, you're right. I'm not perfect, I slip out shit occasionally, also. Even though it was part of my explanation as to my original post, which was being attacked by jessika. Want a cookie?
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Wow, lol. What does "..by a woman.." have to do with anything? Also, calling someone an asshole in your reply to them, then insinuating they weren't raised well would be considered a sign of an attack by most people, at least those that speak English.
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Your post makes no sense. Why don't you actually explain why you wish this thread gets closed instead? And while you're at it, explain why you posted that ^. I don't understand what you mean, 1 bit.
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Because others(some) will abuse this opportunity. It's like the humble bundles instead giving them directly away they (...wait to) do for each game a giveaway. Why don't you just contacted directly the support instead making a thread. It's like f.ex. you found an exploit on a popular website and instead reporting it direcly, you do first a thread about that bug where everybody can read it and maybe abuse it. Instead contacting directly the Admins to resolve this quietly, you are just making their lives even harder, and managing even more unnecessary discussions. If you still don't understand this keep it up, feed the leechers with more information.
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???
As I said in the post, and many times in this thread, the only reason I put that up there, with a link to the source, was as an example of the kind of mentality of contrib. farmers, so people can see for themselves how these types think. Nothing else.
And this topic is quite important.
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Yes it's important...but by multiplicating the numbers of contrib. farmers doesn't resolve this situation at all. The way you transposed this message is just bad. Does it costs too much to contact the support, to avoid these unnecessary conversations`?
"so people can see for themselves how these types think. Nothing else."
you think that everbody thinks the same way like you do...?.
The link is the cake.
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Another rant about crap that doesn't matter. Most that complain about this still don't have a problem entering these giveaways they complain about. If it bothers you so much don't enter these types of giveaways. We've had many arguments over this stupid complaint. You should be happy people are spending some money so you can keep expanding your game collectin. Hell when you were in my group you had no problem entering said giveaways from other members and building your wins but then giveaway a game someone gave you and another that cost you very little.
You need to think that some people, like you always say about yourself, may not have much money and buying these bundles gives them a way to give back. Ya some may exploit it but I also think people exploit things other ways too. If you can't afford to give back maybe you shouldn't enter so many giveaways.
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Actually, this is exactly why I am glad to be out the group, and don't bother entering giveaways off types like this anymore. I already had huge doubts about being in the group anyway because you seemed fine with letting people in who were doing giveaways purely for selfish gain, nothing more, so had already given up the idea of feeling good about making giveaways for the group, and being a bit "responsible" in my entries. I admit to some spite and anger, which I am now glad has fallen off my shoulders, as it was a weight I didn't like on my shoulders, and made me behave unbecoming of me. I would most likely have left the group myself anyway, especially had you actually messaged me and talked to me about things before you kicked me - like you so strongly told me to always do when I was admin; never kick people without talking to them first, right?
I've found a different group, where there are no pressures whatsoever, no "minimal contribution, chat time" or anything rules, really, just some nice people, an actually active chat, with actually decent discussions, and a few incidental giveaways, where the people actually poll and ask each other what to give away in chat, actively discuss it. And where people actually seem to understand the idea of "intent" and the difference between "intent" and "result", which you seem to have trouble grasping, always. Where not half the people are purely kissing mods asses to gain favour (read: half, not all).
Also, you do say "Ya some may exploit it but I also think people exploit things other ways too." which entirely defeats every argument you've ever given me. As I said so often to you, but you really don't seem to be able to wrap your head around, there is a difference between people who are low on funds, want to still give something back, and buy one or two bundles to be able to do so, and people thinking "hmm, if I buy 10 bundles, that's 10 bucks. Now, if I buy 3 Hitman Absolutions for 10 bucks (there's a sale somewhere for it atm), I'll spend 40 bucks on it, and get back more than 600 bucks contributor value!" People like that are CONSCIOUSLY PLANNING WAYS to get more contributor value, nothing more. They aren't doing giveaways to make others happy, or in any way give a damn about others - only spending as little as possible to win more games. You can try to argue that ad nauseum, but its' pointless - the proof is in the pudding, as was also shown when I told you about a chat I had with one of the my giveaways' winners. He flat-out admitted to only doing giveaways to farm contrib. value as cheaply as he could, but no, that's fine, right?
As for your other critique - you say "..but then giveaway a game someone gave you and another that cost you very little."
I haven't, not once yet, given away a game someone gave me, at all. Neither have I in your group. I made 3 giveaways - I bought those games with my own damn money, and bought them out of feelings of guilt and pressure, when I already hardly had enough to even buy the basics with for myself - food. I made the giveaways, taking more than an hour to find funny images, type up a well formatted description, with a lot of thought and effort put into both that, as well as the game chosen to give away to begin with.
As for my high number of wins compared to my given away games? Let me copypaste something for you:
"My own low number of giveaways is solely, purely down to 1 thing - I am skin flint, close to broke, and have spent money I didn't really have at times on making giveaways for others. My comparatively high number of wins is a result of being in several smaller groups, and a few lucky streaks. The two are entirely separate stats to me - had I a steady job now, at a salary level around what someone my age / experience in IT would be earning on average, the numbers would probably be the other way 'round - I'd be buying way more games myself, entering almost no giveaways, and spending at least 100 - 150 bucks a month on making giveaways for others. Am I happy with my wins? Hell yes! Am I grateful? Same! Do I feel guilty over winning so many even though I gave away less? Hell no. I got lucky in random draws, and was gifted games by many different people. There's no one person I have taken a lot from, without giving back to. And I always put thought and effort into choosing what to give away for others, making descriptions with jokes, links, stories etc, and spend as much as I can, quite literally at the moment."
And to stay on-topic, are you saying that people that are posting the kind of "instructionals" I posted are ok? And the fact people like that get the reward of low entry, high contrib giveaways, that were meant for generous people, is ok?
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you seemed fine with letting people in who were doing giveaways purely for selfish gain, nothing more
You're generalising here. Maybe you have a problem with a couple of the members but all the bears I've spoken to or have seen in the group are respectable contributors, friendly and have great community spirit, which is what the group is all about really.
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Oh you are glad to be out of the group and had huge doubts about joining? You sure seemed happy when I let you join. I get it that know that you're not part of the group you want to say it was bad. I talked to you before about being better in the group. You had won like 10 games before I even asked you about giving something back. It's not right to win a bunch of games and never really give back. Like I said if you can't afford to give back don't enter so much. On giving away games people gave you I was referring to Worms which you told me was given to you. I didn't say you were regifting stuff you won.
Yes some members that I invited in the beginning weren't the best fit but it was a new start. We have come up with better ways to invite members since then. Many of the members that didn't fit into what we want as a group have been removed just like you. You were never active, sat idle in chat all the time, participated once in game of the week voting which you actually complained about, and you never joined in with anybody to play. You say you never saw anybody else active but that's a load of crap. You told me the first time I talked to you you were going to leave the group but you never did. You were also an admin until I realized the mistake. You were voted out by majority vote in the group so deal with it.
Would you still complain if there was no contribution value? You should just be happy people give games away for you to win. People aren't breaking the rules to get these games. It still costs them money to get these games. I could care less about contribution value as if I really want a game I'll just buy it or hope I'll be the lucky one to win it. Plus nobody really does high contrib giveaways anyways so what does it matter.
As for your question I would have never known about the instructions you posted because I just enjoy the site for what it is. A place where people giveaway games for people to win. It didn't cost you anything to win those games. So stop complaining so much and be happy there is something like this site for all of us.
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I buy alot of games for myself..agree with you there. If I want it that bad, and can't wait. Daze you have been ultra nice to many people. I know that they all are given fair warning, and fair advice. It's really the users actions that get them. Everybody knows right from wrong. The group name says it all, and as a family member I couldn't ask for better team support. There is nothing for any rule breakers to complain about in MHO. They did it, and nobody forced them to do it.
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I mean no offense, but your entire critique sounds like you are butthurt over being kicked from the group. I don't agree with your assessment at all. Then again, I suppose it's your opinion.
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So you are mad at people who are giving away games because they can do so for less money than it costs you?
And lets be clear, they are not exploiting SG, they are exploiting Tremor Games (or other sales/deals). SG gets the exact some from a "exploiter" as a non-"exploiter". A "exploiter" creating a giveaway is just as good for the community as someone who paid $60 for Borderlands 2.
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but it isn't, since high contribution boosting will lead to giveaways with even higher contribution value (as to lock out those who abused the $1 keys), and that'll lock out even more of the legitimate users.
this is just an endless cycle that'll only escalate, not depress. you can call it a flaw in the system if you want.
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Well of course contributor value will go up over time...
It is not like SG is old enough yet that it oldest users who had the longest time to gift games are likely dead yet.
And these people got 1K contrib because they gifted 100+ games to people who wanted them. I do not care if you are a developer and gifted 100 games without it costing you a penny, won a big contest, are a millionaire, or hunt for givaways/deals/free shit. You are helping SG.
The guy who boosted contrib values by exploiting Tremor games and gave away 30 copies of Dungeons has helped SG as much as the millionaire who bought 30 copies at full price (and boosted contrib values), or the developer of dungeons who gave 30 copies of his game away for free.
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Organic increase over time compared to increases following exploits, is like comparing playdoh to LEGO. It's a massive difference. Say, some are now putting up to $500 more than they used to be two weeks ago just to block out those who spammed Gala store keys.
This not a non-issue just because games are being given away. It is reducing the perceived quality of the site by being flooded with so many cheap, undesired games (many people who enter Shadow Harvest do so because of the high winning chance, and some public ones are as high as ~6-8% if you use SG Plus), and as such, reduce motivation of other users to give away more expensive and attractive games.
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This has nothing, nada, 0% to do with solely what people choose to give away, but the intent apparent in trends of what they give away. If they give away some bundle games, hey, cool, but when you see people with 2k+ contrib. value, who have 20x entire bundles (all games therein) given away, and a few games you know were on some ridiculous sale somewhere, what's going on isn't a decent chap giving away a few cheaper games - it's exploitative attempts to trick the system.
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While your original post was about exploiting some kind of system to increase your value,most of your comments were aimed towards those who give bundles and games on sales as well,and my post was towards those kind of comments,and apparently a lot of other folks here as well.
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Then you're not reading my comments well enough to draw the intended meaning from them. I keep hammering on about intent, and give multiple examples of bad intent and the way it might manifest itself. Last post on the thread for now, there's enough material / arguments here, and I've countered them all already..
Have a good day (or well, mornafternoonevenight) sir, and sorry for any offence caused.
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I have read most of them my good sir,and if you do too,you would see some of your first comments covering that topic as well.While your latest ones were indeed towards intent,not all of them were.But I can agree that there is nothing more to say without sounding redundant,as it was well covered in here.You have a good day aswell.
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This below here shows exactly what's wrong with contribution farming.
It was an announcement on a group from someone trying to get ref links, which I have copy pasted below. There's ref. links all over the original I'm not putting here - emphasis added to the lines that cause me most offence and prove my point:
JUST TO BE CLEAR: THIS IS NOT MY TEXT, THIS IS SOMETHING I SAW SOMEWHERE. If mods want, I will remove the copypasted bit, or remove the "instructional" bit, as my whole intent is to counter such behavior, not encourage it.
Boost Your "Given Away" Total on SteamGifts
Sorry to promote TremorGames so much. It might seen like I'm just trying to refer you all, but that's not entirely the case-bear with me for a second.
If you frequently use SteamGifts, you know that having a high giveaway total will increase your likelihood of winning to a certain extent. The following advice will have you boosting your giveaway total by around $15 every week. Sounds too good to be true? It's not. Here's proof.
HERE'S HOW IT WORKS.
I'm not going to lie, I get a 20% bonus off whatever you earn. If you're not yet a member of TG, I encourage you to sign up here.
Next, leave one of these videos playing in the background; repeat with the next one when it's done for 5 coins every time. (If the link didn't work, just click on the red "More Coins" button and find the video tab). With around 10 videos a day times 5 coins each time, that's 350 coins a week--almost enough for Dungeons: The Dark Lord (worth $20, 395 coins). Because the games change frequently, check out other games under 1000 coins. You can easily utilise this method to join the league of those who have given away hundreds of dollars worth of games. Just make sure to buy games that weren't part of a bundle for maximum return!
That's just through watching (or rather, backgrounding) some videos. I got 600 coins for trying the Hulu+ free trial. That, plus 300 I already had, got me Two Worlds 2--$30 worth right there.
Thanks for reading!
.
.
.
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"You can easily utilise this method to join the league of those who have given away hundreds of dollars worth of games. Just make sure to buy games that weren't part of a bundle for maximum return!"
Exactly you contrib. farming douches - the giveaways made with higher contributor limits were made by people to reward those people who have a high contrib. value on their profile due to choosing to giveaway games, purely for generous and warm spirited reasons, not for people trying to exploit the system and strategically try and boost their contrib. value - like you types with that attitude of plotting the best way to get "maximum return".
I've participated in a number of these contrib. farming threads / discussions, and was / am pretty sick and tired of the way things are going, but this load of crap "instructional" on how to "boost your contrib. value!" really prompted me to post this up, see what reactions people post. Go ahead, try defending such a ridiculously dishonest, conniving attitude.
And the site doesn't like exploited keys being given out and takes a stand against them, a lot in the community are very vocal against piracy etc, and act like moral white-knights, but this behavior's somehow ok? Tell me again why the contrib. value feature was implemented in the site again? That's right; as a simple way to record and reward generosity - i.e. to give people a tool to give back to people giving a lot away, after the fact. Not as an incentive to encourage exploitation and trickery, and selfish motivation. And no, not every giveaway has to be for 100% altruistic, selfless reasons. There's a wide range of nuances between trying to be the next messiah in terms of altruistic intent, and being a grubby bottom-feeder who only ever cares for persona numero uno. But regardless of intended motivation in making giveaways, you can be sure this contrib. boosting crap is entirely selfish, and purely an attempt to shamelessly exploit and trick the system, nothing more.
Period.
I'm not going to call anyone out here publicly, but I keep seeing low entry, high contributor limit giveaways with entries off people with 1k+, sometimes even 2k+ contrib. value on their profile, but when looking through their given away games, all they've given away are 20x Crazy Machines, 30x Shadow Ops, etc. One such profile I saw had more than 2k value, but looking through their list of given away games, a rough estimate of what they actually spent on it would fall shy of two, maybe three hundred bucks, being very generous in my estimate.
So, firstly, that 2k+ is bull (and yes I know almost everything given away here has been on sale etc, but there's still a HUGE disparity between buying a 20 buck game for 5 and giving it away, and buying 5 bundles for that price, then netting 5x the value of the games in that bundle), as well as the far more important issue - they're clearly, undeniably selfishly, strategically trying to boost their value as cheaply as possible.
And these exploitative types, who are on here purely, entirely, 100% solely to get free games, and are trying to trick the system however they can (even if it means they begrudgingly have to spend a handful of dollars [euros, whatever] to fool the site into letting them in to lower entry giveaways), get rewarded with <20 entry AAA giveaways? And this is right how again?
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