Check steamdb. Just because something can't be bought in a country (like Inversion in Germany, Russia and Japan) doesn't necessarily mean it can not be activated (it cna only not be activated in Japan for some reason).
http://steamdb.info/app/212410/
http://steamdb.info/sub/30287/
This all however afaik doesn't have to do anything with a game/key being "region locked". A region lock that would forbid you to make a GA would be a key, that can only be activated like from Russia or Brazil - which often is the case if the key was bought from a Russian/Brazil store since the publishers want to prevent people from "importing" games at less than half the price you stupid americans/less than thrice the price we stupid europeans/australians have to pay for it.
Amazon too has region locked stuff (mostly for US only (wtf is that about?)). In any way trusthworthy shops probably have the product description clearly say when a game/key is region locked.
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It will sound harsh, but it's because people are stupid and don't read descriptions. Even if you write in the description that you won't give anyone a game and you'll share the winner's email with every single spambot in existence, you're still bound to get comments saying "thanks man, real generous :DDDDD".
As for why there's no regional mechanism for giveaways on SG, I don't how hard it is to code it, but there's still some potential for abuse there with some people using VPN. Better safe than sorry, I guess.
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To clarify, region restrictions on gifts vary on how allowed they are here. Generally, if they include more than they exclude, they're allowed. For example, Dota 2 had a wave of South East Asia-restricted keys. Since they could only be activated in the SEA area, they weren't allowed here. But if a game is blocked solely in Germany or Australia (sorry, guys!), it's fine. However, I have no idea what the specifics of these restrictions are. Can someone fill me in? I've seen some conflicting info and the mods would like to know how to handle these. :D
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Inversion can only be activated from the following countries:
US CA MX PR BS PA BZ CR SV GT HN NI VE CO GY SR GF BR PE BO PY UY AR CL EC
Source: http://steamdb.info/sub/15212/
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I'll admit ignorance and say I don't actually recognise more than the first three codes and the rest I'm guessing at. North and South America only?
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Quick info: Enslaved is fine, Inversion is American continent only.
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many japanese publisher games are restricted in east asia.
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I apologize to anyone who entered my giveaways I had to delete of Inversion and Enslaved. I wasn't aware they were region locked until I was notified. Has anyone ever discussed having maybe a separate list where people can giveaway keys they know are limited to certain areas. Are VPN cheating and workarounds really that prevalent? I understand that it may not be fair to all users, because it excludes other regions and significantly limits who can enter... but it seems like their could be some way to still be generous to other users and gift games to people who may not otherwise be able to buy them. Just curious about it, are there any mods or users who've been around for a while that can shed some light on any discussions about why region locks are completely excluded?
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