So I checked if people played the games I gave away...

There are some pretty good statistics in your OP. My advice is: don't get obsessed with this topic and just assume that giving away a game is not a warranty for it to be played. Most of SG members are just collectors, I've seen several Steam profiles with thousands of games but only a few games played (30 or even less). There are some members here with more than 1000 games won. Members who win more than 1 game every single day. Those members will not play 1000 games even if they live five hundred years xD

Another consideration is that if you actually want to play a game, you'll buy it instead of trying to win it. Almost nobody has the patience required to try to win a game if he wants to play it right now. So, most of their won games are not really wanted. Also, you must consider that hoarding games is a game itself.

You made me feel guilty, I was going to enter in all of your private GAs but I finally entered only in the one I really want to play :P

I can only speak for myself, but I give most of the games a chance. Only some games, mostly from the indie genre, wont be played. On the other side I am not only a gamer whos playing games, I am also a games collector such as badge collector. If you visit my profile youll see that I am a gamer with a looooong history of gaming - as professional also. I bought a lot of games for my steam account for the only reason that Ive played them years ago (Warhammer Collection f.e.) or played them on others plattforms (Brutal Legend f.e.).

Apparently I'm in the minority but I do think we get too many points. Less points would probably make folks a lot choosier with the giveaways we enter.

Also a category I fall into that unfortunately there's no real way to track, is I install the games I want to play once I get them... but I just don't have the time to play them. Many games I've purchased during a sale or preordered at full price (Tales of Zestiria & Grandia II come to mind) are installed but I STILL haven't played them yet. I have two hard drives dedicated to installed games that I ultimately want to play but haven't yet. I'm not at home to check but my installed games are somewhere in the 900+ range. I genuinely want to play them all but will I before I die tragically in a bus accident? Probably not.

TL;DR - Won games are treated no differently than purchased games for me, I rarely get to play any of the games I acquire but still want to eventually.

I have never checked the winners. I try to play all my wins at least a bit.

If this is something that concerns you to such an extreme level, maybe giving away games to strangers isn't for you.

People have different reasons for playing or not playing, mostly time. I, for example, play games every day for a blog, but still have over a hundred in my library that I haven't touched. Some of that's time. Some of that is due to my data cap. Some I tried and just ended up not liking.

This is the kind of thing that groups and whitelists were designed for. The stalking people thing has always come of as incredibly strange to me.

Personally, for me, once they've activated it, that's good enough for me. It's Steamgifts, and once it's on their account, there's a limited number of things they can do with it - play it, not play it, or somewhere in between. It's not up to me to decide that, or expect one or the other.

I can see why others feel differently, but I just don't think it's any of my business after they've won.

You have to understand, I don't 100% a lot of the games I purchase for myself, either. I play them for a while because they're fun, and then maybe I want something else, so I'll play something else for fun for a while. The sheer scope of a lot of games, along with my job and other things I do, practically guarantees I won't 100% many games.

That said, I don't enter for a game I have no intention of playing. That would just be rude, IMO.

That also said, I'm currently working on 100%-ing a smaller game I won a while back, and I DID 100% The Silent Age very shortly after I got it. I loved that game, and it was a nice win for me.

The games I give away? Please thank me if you win. Please activate it on your own account if you win. I would hope you play it at least a little bit, but if you don't, no big deal. I don't really care if you 100% it or not, so you don't have to tell me after the fact, but if you choose to do so, I'm not going to yell at you for it. I may not reply and think, "Okay, that's a little strange, but glad they enjoyed it" and move on with my life.

I don't put as much emotion into giving away games... anymore. Most of my GAs are castoffs from bundles I haven't wanted, and I figure it's better if someone wins it and potentially enjoys it rather than sitting unused as a key in my account. And, you know what? If they don't play it, no skin off my nose. I got CV which means, in the long run, I'm kind of trading games I don't want for games i DO want, because my cumulative CV gives me access to GAs that I really want to play. And, I win those sometimes.

I did GA a few FV games I've really enjoyed in the past, like Gunpoint and Rescue: Everyday Heroes (and recently, even though I don't own them, I gave away 3 copies of CoD: Ghosts and one of Mad Max, just because I had some good fortune in my own life). But, I don't go back to check up on whether they played them or finished them or not. Maybe this is kind of cold, but I honestly don't really care. I didn't want the key, they did for some reason, even if it's just for collecting, so everyone wins.

As a previous owner of the playstation 4 I had far less games and ended up bored off my head playing them. They were overpriced and mostly generic so I switched to the pc. Since switching, I can honestly say I absolutely love the choice, quality of games as well as the price. The community is also much better as the support from Steam. In a short space of time I have built up a large amount of games and even though I only play a fraction of them it's fantastic to have the choice.

I have put up games to win here as well as being lucky to win some also. I am grateful for the games I won as I am sure many people are but it all comes down to one simply factor and that is time. It's human nature to just keep adding to our collection of games and before you know it, you are just clicking on entering the competitions with leaving a generic comment of thanks. I do appreciate what I win and am grateful but the sheer choice and volume on the pc is overwhelming. It's like a job at times keeping up with pc!

Bottom line is that I'm pretty sure many people on here are grateful for what they win but life, time and commitments just take over. I'm thankful to the site, people that post their games and overall just the sheer amount of fun I get from being a pc gamer. Had I this choice and availability on the ps4 I would have been delighted. Yes, I have too much of everything but it's way better than being overcharged for games you can get on the pc for a fraction of the price. Bring on Smiling Kitty :)

In some cases a dual-boot of Linux/Windows or Mac/Windows will also hinder play times. Also real life.

I myself am running Ubuntu (which accounts for slightly less than half of my steam library) and so any casual gaming won't be on Windows. I've only won two games on SG, one of which I've started and it didn't play at all as I expected so I'm working up the patience to go back and tackle it again. The other I'm waiting for my buddy to procure a copy so we can play co-op.

I'm generally not entering many GA's - just ones that are SteamOS/Linux or I really want and where there is a decent chance to win. Maybe less points would help abit - but aren't there scripts to auto enter? Would those be effected at all?

First of all, I commend you on the amount of time you spent gathering these statistics. Even though most people may not support your views, the information alone is invaluable.

I've had the same thoughts as you. During Christmas, I sent a large amount of non-bundled games because I felt like I never did anything nice and felt especially giving at the time. While you can't expect everyone to play all their wins, nobody in the world wants to feel like they wasted their money for games that never get played - especially if it's a non-bundled game that you really want the winner to enjoy but in the end just gets farmed for cards.

I've never checked the end results of the Christmas giveaways, but I'm willing to accept that 80% of those games have either then farmed or haven't been played. Disappointing? Probably. But I do the same thing, so it wouldn't be right for me to feel that way.

At the same time, I checked out my own wins and created this thread and have since backed out of most giveaways in order to complete what I've won.

Won - 23
Finished 100% - 1 (Firewatch)
Finished - 2 (Call of Juarez The Cartel, Door Kickers)
Played - 1 (Plastiland)
Will Play - 1 (Shadow Warrior)
DLC - 2
Farmed - 15
Pack of Games - 1 (3 games) Farmed too

Now i'm only entering games i will actually play, not like the first 15 when i've joined SG :)

finished 100%
I honestly wouldn't remember Steam's arbitrary completion system even existed, if people didn't keep making an inexplicable fuss over it and indicating it had some sort of actual merit toward the actual completion or enjoyment of a game, regardless of individual playstyle preferences. :X

Needless to say, I never once look at or aim for Steam's often arbitrary, inane, and needlessly aggravating achievements [But WHY do I have to farm 20,000 extra kills for no gameplay reason whatsoever?!].

Well, with the exception of Card Hunter, but that's because it's a quick way to check your collection completion stats :P

My family plays my games through family sharing. People seem to forget that.

I feel bad not having played all my wins yet. Though I found Darksiders tedious, I doubt I'll ever finish it.
I try not to enter too many these days, knowing it's hard for me to get around to them.

I'm also disappointed when people never play their AAA wins from me. :(

You know how people have book clubs? Where you get together at someone's house and pick a book for everyone to read in a set amount of time, then when the time is up (a week or a month maybe) you all come back and discuss the book and your impressions, critique, and such.

Maybe a Steam group like that would help hold people accountable to their backlog, provide motivation and goal oriented direction to get through at least some of their library, remove some burden of choosing from so many games by crowd sourcing the choice, and being intellectually stimulating outside of just playing a game for distraction? If a group like that doesn't already exist. If something like that is already going on let me know O.o.

80 - 90 % of the games I give and gave away are games I played a lot and really enjoyed them. For many I have written reviews. So I care about every single giveaway I make and I am disappointed if the winners does not play it. I understand that they start the game and find out it is not to their liking or that they have to wait for more time or other reasons (for example I have one win I want to play in local coop but haven't met my partner since then).

Everytime someone tries to bring up such a topic the general consence is that the poster shall not care for those giveaways and they can't change and that people have different reasons for joining giveaways. Yea, okay I understand that but excuse me to be rude people gift for different reasons as well. And since they are providing something the opinion of the gifter should be valued more than those of the people entering. If I state in my giveaways (and yes I have done that) that you shall only enter if you are interested in the game and will play in the not so far future then do so. Game collecting is a hobby fine. As long as you but those games with your money your choice. But robbing someone who is actually interested in their chance to win a game? Nope, that is an ass move. Lower is only winning for card farming (which I am not a fan of either).

People should only enter for games they are interested in. And I would really prefer if this sentence could be integrated in the guidelines of this site as it should actually be common sense. Joining for collecting or card farming is just plain rude nothing more. But yea, this is most likely a lost cause. Getting the admin to decrease the points or the regeneartion rate or to get the community to respect the gifters as well are both unlikely to happen.

Hm, somewhere I lost what I actually wanted to say .... Maybe I'll remember it later.

My stats go more or less like this:

Gifts Won: 146
Games finished: 67
Games I played a little: 22

So, that is about 60 games I did not touch yet.... To be honest, I do feel a little ashamed about it. My backlog is huge right now, and real life keeps getting in the way. :(

But I still delude myself and think I will eventually get to all of them (when I retire, maybe?). If I can just finish Borderlands 2 now.... :)

Cheers!

P.S.: And Hearthstone. Bastards.

I'm trying to play everything I won, but if I add the games I got from friends, and games I bought it's becoming harder, especially if you keep playing with friends, and try to finish (most) games with 100% achievements. But I do plan to play them - if I won anyone's game who wants it to be played asap, feel free to tell me, I'll keep that in my mind and play it in the near (1-2week) future.Can't promise it really sooner, because if I'm pretty fed up with point and clicks, I won't be able to play and appreaciate the point and click I won from you :)

There's playing games, and then there's the hobby that Steam has very much become for a lot of people. This site really caters to the latter.

The thing here is that unless you're prepared to spend a lot of money in order to access certain groups then you're unlikely to win anything too exciting that you're really keen to rush and play, and you can all ready afford to buy anything like that.

Most of the people here have HUGE backlogs and not much time to spend as i do. For example i spent approximately 5 hours a week for playing games as i prefer doing other things like hanging out with my friends or something that seems at my eyes to worth more than just sitting on my pc all day. I have a pretty small library ( around 60 games) but even though my backlog is that small it would take me ages to finish all those game but hope to at least give each one a try. That doesnt mean that i dont appreciate all those game that i bought or won here....

Don't give someone a present then expect anything. There should be no expectation attached, especially to random strangers over the internet.
Some people park their games and eventually get around to them, maybe after a year or two.
All you're doing by researching (stalking) is setting yourself up for disappointment.

Count me as one of those people who will attempt to play the majority of games in my backlog, but that's because I still have a do-able number. I realized after my first few months on SG that I should only enter games I want to play. That in and of itself severely restricts the number of GAs I enter, making wins fewer and farther apart.

It would be incredibly easy to enter like mad and quickly accumulate hundreds of games just for collection purposes or card farming, but I plan games for escape and challenge. Steam swag is a distance second.

Whether they limit the point regen or not doesn't affect me. I'll just enter GAs as normally I would when I have time and points. I just love to roll the dice and (occasionally) win. :D

Now for your long post...

I've reread thrice, yes thrice, and felt there's no sense of elitism from your post, unlike some others who post numbers to show their superiority. So, for once, I'll reply seriously.

If you read my first paragraph, you should see it's one of the resulting ends. Can't be helped, some people including me will just enter what they can enter. As long as it's not breaking rules.... I guess we'll continue to do so. There's a way to solve it to some extent. Example, make private group with specific nature in it e.g a group that will beat a game being given in it. This will assuredly boost the number of people entering AND beating the game. That if you care about the result of your giveaway.

At the end of the day, the basic of the site is to give away games. With no string attached.... Unless you can make a string, you can not change anything else.

Don't feel so fixated on people beating the games you have given away - you'll wear yourself down. If you love on giving, continue to do so without looking at other things. If you are influenced by the issue, maybe take a break and reconsider? You're giving out things on your free will, but you can't force them to do things you wish for.

Be a good Samaritan, or none at all. Save yourself from unnecessary hassle.

hey, it's easy. people like free stuff and hoarding so most of them just enter every single GA.

doesn't matter if they will play that game. it's just personal satisfaction and to some degree selfishness so they should have that game. :3

you shouldn't mind too much about this, it's impossible to control unless you make all whitelist GAs and keep track of what people do all the time.

Join some good groups, raise your giveaway level, and use sgtools to get the results (or at least closer) you desire.
At least then you'll know the games you're giving away are going to better contributors (for the most part) and you might feel better about then collecting a little dust in their libraries before being played.

I've noticed a trend in the comments on this post, too, but I'll keep it to myself. It does, however, more or less support what I've said above. ;)