What do you think of the SG contributor system?

I believe that having the contributor value is a good thing since it encourages people to create giveaways in order to gain access to more, higher CV, giveaways. In the same sense, I also believe that getting rid of it would cause people to giveaway less, as it removes an incentive to create them. With that said, however, I do think that the CV system could use improvements. The problem isn't having it, but in how it works.

For example, I've occasionally seen posts asking why their value decreased, which, from what I understand, tends to be due to a game's price decreasing. Why not have it to where, if you make a giveaway while a game is a certain price, you keep that price, regardless of whatever the price changes to in the future? If a person gives a game away while it's worth $50, why should their CV decrease just because the game went down in price long after they did the giveaway? It was that valuable when they gave it away, so it makes sense to let them keep that value.

Also, regarding the bundle list, I believe that the list shouldn't be based on a collection of all past bundles, rather, a time-frame for when a game is considered such. In this way, if a person gives a bundled game away during, or a few months after, said game has been in a bundle, he or she will only get the bundled game value. However, if it is given away after many months or years of it being in a bundle, then it gives full value. The best example that I can think of to back up this idea is the fact that I have been trying to win Puzzle Agent 2 ever since I played PA1, even before it was added into an Indie Royale bundle. However, I haven't actually seen any giveaways for it recently. In fact, looking into that, the last public giveaway for it was created a month ago, the second to last was two months, and the third was three months. My point is, after a certain amount of time, it seems to me that even a bundled game stops coming in regularly, and when it does, I don't see the problem with it giving full value again. Of course, some people may simply hold onto their bundled games and wait for them to get full value, but there is no guarantee that the game won't be placed in another bundle, and we aren't exactly talking about a short waiting period, either. To combat that, perhaps instead of a flat bundled/non-bundled value change after a certain amount of time, it gains a gradual increase in value over time the longer it stays out of a bundle, until it gets to full value.

Finally, in similar regard, one point that I've noticed some people make in relation to this issue is how bundle games, or "low-tier" games, tend to flood the site for awhile and that the site should be quality over quantity. In their minds, decreasing the amount of such giveaways is a good thing, but the problem with this argument is that any giveaway is a good giveaway to someone; there's always someone who is interested enough in a game to enter it, so decreasing giveaways only hurts the chances of winning something on here, with an ever-growing population. I just want to note that people making this argument seem to fail to realize that getting rid of X does not increase Y, in that decreasing the amount of low-tier giveaways will not cause the number of high-tier giveaways to increase. The high-tier giveaways are there regardless, having the low-tier giveaways simply allow more options for people to spend their points on.

P.S. Noting some improvements that have been brought up here, from what I've read of this thread, that could help issues regarding the CV, but may not directly be related to it-

I agree that an in-site option to filter giveaways for games that you aren't interested in would be very good. Although, yes, there is an extension that does similar, having it handled on the site itself is always the best/simplest route.

I do like the idea that someone mentioned here, of an option to assign a maximum amount of entries to giveaways. This way, even public ones can have good odds IF you get into it in time, and could encourage activity within the site/community.

I think we should have a system, just a different one. I still like my idea of having it so the more people that enter the giveaway, the more points the contributor gets as well the more points the giveaway costs to enter. This will stop people from entering every single giveaway (like I admit I do) and only entering the ones they want really badly. So lets say someone puts up Borderlands 2, you will get a couple thousand entering that hands down. The contributor should get some extra points for putting up a game people want. The same time, Borderlands GOTY is on sale or in a bundle, so there is a shit load up. With points being so scarce, you wont want to spend a lot on a game you have low chance of getting when you can enter the others instead. In a way, the contributors will get less because people can enter the other giveaways instead which gives them a motive to wait it out before submitting their game which solves the problem of massive game spam on here.

My idea isn't perfect, but I think someone should perfect it or come up with something similar. The way the system works right now is terrible, there is a lot of good games that people like and want on that list just because of some bundle that happened ages ago. Perhaps maybe a new system like you get contributor value based on how many people have it on a wishlist? Then people will be motivated to buy what we actually want as a community. It would be awesome to implement the wishlist somehow.

Thanks!

Improve it

The contributor is the only reason i giveaway games

So... I guess we have a winner...

I completely missed this poll, WHOOOOOOOPS!

I would have voted against the contributor system though. I'm very surprised by the results.....

I use the contrib feature more than most I bet. Almost everything i've given away recently is for higher contrib. But really thats more because I just dont see that many people using it. Which is why im surprised to see its a topic here at all. I know people get mad and complain because of rules changes with whats considered a bundle now and people lose value. I have lost hundreds in value over time to rule changes.
If you were to look at my gifts won they are all from people with high contrib. Just about every one of them. And it gives me pleasure to return that favor they do for the community. When I make a GA yes most of the time I do make it an average to high contrib value because I'd like to reward those people too. If I were to make a GA with a 500$ contrib amount its about one thing. Rewarding someone who has taken the time on this site, spent actual money out of their own pocket and decided to make someone's day with a gift.
If you go up into the thousands in value you are then rewarding the people on this site that have given way more than they will ever win and continue to do so daily or weekly. CG does this more than any other user......

I win.