We're working on a number of major updates to the community, and the contributor system is one that we go back and forth on quite a bit. Let's start with a simple poll.

Edit: Currently the results are roughly 66% for keeping the contributor system, and 34% for removing. I looked into the users voting to see if there were any interesting trends. I looked at only votes from contributors, votes from users that have contributed $100+, $1,000+, users that have been registered for more than a year, etc. No interesting data though, they were all similar to the existing results, with roughly 2/3 for keeping it, and 1/3 for removing.

11 years ago*

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Kinda split between the two- both options have their cons and pros. You just KNOW people are gonna complain just as much if you remove it as they do about it now. So I honestly don't see any way of "fixing" the situation(Well, apart from not paying attention to people whining. After all there are ALWAYS people whining.). If you make the system "fairer" in any way, then the people who can't abuse it/lost from the change/didn't bother learning how it works/are inconvenienced by it in any way will still whine.

Well, I put in a vote for getting rid of it only because that would give some variety to the usual stuff that pop up every day, but I still think this would solve nothing in the long run. Humanity will be humanity. :P

11 years ago
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There will be complaining either way, indeed. Hopefully, some suggestions to minimize it will come up.

11 years ago
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It's not a matter of disliking the system itself. It's a great idea and works well, but the problem is the features are all wrong and simply put, just need to be redone. The idea itself is great. It inspires people to participate more.

11 years ago
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Remove it, the contributions are not useful with offers (Humble Bundle, games free limited time, newsgroups, indie gala, etc.)

11 years ago
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If we vote keep it, will it stay as it is or be reworked?

11 years ago
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Suggestions to change it are really welcome. Just a simple poll to check what users tend to prefer and what is suggested.

11 years ago
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11 years ago
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I am not against overhauling it but removing it would IMO be a bad idea as it creates public giveaways. Without it we'll go back to 100% group circlejerks.

11 years ago
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I want to watch it burn and dance in its ashes.

11 years ago
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Harlem Shake?

11 years ago
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please naked...and afterwards we eat the ashes to get the strength of the contributor and the soul of the system

11 years ago
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<3

11 years ago
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keep it, but make it so that games that have been in bundles as bta only are worth more than normal bundle games

11 years ago
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Needs to be reworked but not removed. There's enough stupid groups for private giveaways as is, and removing contrib will just cause more

11 years ago
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I voted to remove it. I appreciate the intent behind it and was in favor when it was introduced, but my feeling is that removing it would mean losing something that is in theory a minor positive in exchange for the end of a whole lot of acrimony, abuse, and headaches in the community and for the staff.

11 years ago
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I think it would need and enormous amount of people and resources to keep it completely fair, so I say remove it altogether.

Even if you say you want to reward people who contribute things, there keep appearing so many ways of cheating it that is kind of pointless.

If you can find a way of making it so everyone is happy and there's no cheating by all means do it. Now, I don't think that's so easy.

11 years ago
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To modify it would be the best option I think.

Giving games shouldn't be about raising your C.V. It's about giving a game to an other human so he can enjoy it.

Thank you for asking for our opinion. Sadly, I don't have any good idea to improve the contributor system.

11 years ago
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If it is removed, there will be far less giveaways.
The only people giving games away will be those in super tight groups and the site will die it's death.

11 years ago
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+100

11 years ago
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That's just a fear,not a fact.

wasn't like that before contributor system was there.

11 years ago
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I never understood these private giveaway groups. If you came to give away a game why do you care so much about who gets it? Shouldn't it make no difference to you as long as the person that wins enjoys the game?

11 years ago
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"...enjoys the game" is often a problem ;). There also was this one famous post of the guy winning over 60 giveaways and complaining that he didnt win anything he wanted.

11 years ago
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I think it was over a hundred.

11 years ago
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111 iirc.

11 years ago
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fuck,you are right,I just checked. It wasnt 60,it was 160

11 years ago
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11 years ago
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no,not this....the thread was made by a certain King ;)

11 years ago
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:( and here i hoped I'm actually famous ;p

11 years ago
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dont worry,I will always remember our conversation that one night with that bright moon,the wine and then the magic happened....

11 years ago
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I don't know if you'll read comments this far, but here's an idea I have. Instead of having a cost-based system you can more easily implement a quantity-based system, that is how many games the user has given away. Maybe some AAA titles would give a double score for the first months they are out (since they are generally the expensive ones).

So instead of having user A with 50$ Contribute Value you now have user A with 10 Contributed Games or even user A with 16 Contribute Points if you want to assign more for new AAA(=expensive basically) titles.

You can also have both systems(quantity of games and points) if you want to allow contributors to say "I want people with at least 1 contributed game to enter".

Thanks for steamgifts and your continuing efforts to improve on the service you provide.

11 years ago
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Just made it this far. Thread developed quite a bit since I last checked last night.

Thank you for the input. Implementing this, considering the stats for a game could be an idea. We'll really need to see what the opinions and suggestions are before discussing this in depth.

11 years ago
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Of course. I'm glad you're reading through all of these comments. Keep up the good work :)

11 years ago
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i vote keep it,if remove it maybe people dont wanna giveaway their game again,its like acipment/objective for contributor and about bundle point maybe the point contributor get same as bundle price BTA not normal price its more fair i think

11 years ago
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Any system will be abused, human nature. That said best thing I can think of is split contributor value into two distinct categories. Bundle (with a firm definition, like anything sold at 95% off or greater, more than X copies given out free etc as examples) and Normal. With that give giveaway creators three options 1) Normal CV only 2) Bundle CV only and 3) Combined CV

So yeah, I voted keep it but it does need some tweaks.

11 years ago
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Still the problem would remain, what counts as a bundle? 95%? What about the occasional 94%?

11 years ago
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That's why I said firm definition. If 95% was the magic number then you just found the first farm idea for it BUT it would fall outside the bundle definition so...

My numbers are just examples but you see how it would work and the reason I started off with "Any system will be abused"

11 years ago
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Yeah, I realize they are examples, I am just asking for any x5% and the occasional x4%. Those are usually the problems with adding things in the list and mainly pointing that out. Also, there will always be complaints and abuse, indeed. Noone will argue that.

11 years ago
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All I can say is pick a % and hold firm to it, be it 80 or 95 or w/e. I know Shobo does quite a bit to help with the bundle list but would need help researching sales and keeping up with the odd super sale. I'd say whatever number is picked though, once it goes on sale over that ANYWHERE it becomes bundle. Thus the Bundle CV only option so more games no longer in bundles are likely to be given etc.

11 years ago
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I'm not active on the forums so I have no idea what all the problems are people are talking about :P The only thing that has annoyed me about contributor giveaways is when you're like 1p under the required value. Currently, for some reason there are 2 giveaways for $30.01. It's annoying i can't enter them because my contribution value is $30.00 :P I'd like a system where rather than specific values, you could choose a group, like $0-$5, $5-$10, $10-$15, $15-$20, $20-$25, $25-$30, $30-$35. So for example, since my contribution value is $30, i'd be able to enter from $0-$35. It would also allows people with none, to very little contributions to enter at least some of the CV giveaways($0-$5). I know no one will likely care, but i've nothing better to do. There will probably be some great flaw I haven't picked up on, blah blah blah :P Good night

11 years ago
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the 30.01 is because that's the bundle cut off

11 years ago
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I don't know what that means, but thanks for letting me know there's a reason, and it's not just people being strangely calculating :P

11 years ago
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No. People should be able to set the value to whatever they like as it's their giveaway. Also, $30.01 giveaways are popular for a reason. I'm sure you know why.

11 years ago
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The $30.01 requirement is set specifically to weed out people who've given only bundle keys.

11 years ago
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oh right. I didn't mean just $30.01 though. For example, say you had $19.99 value and there was a $20 giveaway. I thought surely a lot of people must get annoyed by this :P But yeah, I understand what you mean Corinne. I just thought it a little bit silly to quibble over a few dollars/cents when the spirit of the site is gifting.

11 years ago
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Like others said, there's a reason for the $30.01, because some people want to weed out people who only give bundled games. I honestly don't really care because most of my wishlist is on the bundled list anyhow.

Also, some of us do like being able to choose a weird value. I like being able to do $0.01 to weed out leechers and reward people who have given something. I also like just inputting some random number that looks cool, like I did one for $6.66 just because I think 666 is a cool number that people freak out about too much. I'd also likely do $12.34, and $69.69 and some other funny numbers. Why? Because I don't care what the value is other than it being above a penny, so I'll pick some neat numbers at random. Maybe my next one will be 42 cents, just because it's 42.

11 years ago
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Exactly that. The contribution value can mean something. I mean last giveaway I made had 1969 as CV because I did that to celebrate I had made my way into the moon in Kerbal Space Program.

11 years ago
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How about a third option. Fix it?

11 years ago
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Suggestions are welcome. Poll was kept simple to check the general idea, otherwise everyone would vote the neutral one.

11 years ago
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I think the system is good, but it's been abused a lot lately. Adding humble weekly and simlar to bundle list should solve the problem ( I know humble weekly is now on the bundle list)

11 years ago
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11 years ago
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Bioshock want a pay-what-you want sale. That's the difference.

11 years ago
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11 years ago
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no,the fact that pay what you want bundles work like that (minimum $1),that it has more than 1 game,limited,not reoccuring offer and BTA make it a bundle.

11 years ago
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11 years ago
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There is a minimum price, like with every other bundle. An an beat-the-average price to get more games, like other bundles. Most people do give only either $1 or the minimum they need to BTA on other bundles too.

11 years ago
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+

11 years ago
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You should just change it to levels. 3 to keep it simple. Minor contributors, Middle Range and Very Generous People. :)

11 years ago
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Did my vote. Goodluck SG.

11 years ago
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I favor keeping but tweaking the system. I favor adjusting the bundle list/system at the same time. One of the major complaints is contributor farming. I've brought this idea up but you can decrease the possibility for contributor farming by decreasing the CV gained as more giveaways for a given game are active. This should help encourage more diversity in the giveaways people do and help prevent floods of games. People could obviously still farm over a period of time but it would be much more difficult.

11 years ago
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there should be 3 type of ansfer.
change it!

11 years ago
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I think the contributor should stay but the bundle prices should be heavily modified or removed completely.

11 years ago
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Remove it.

11 years ago
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Closed 11 years ago by cg.