14 hours ago I won this Tomb Raider giveaway:
https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/YkMu4/tomb-raider

When I just tried to activate it says key is already in use by another steam account.
So I went to the giveaway to find creators steam profile, but got the message the creator blacklisted me.

I think it might be because I didn't activate soon enough but given the fact of time difference I think it is only fair to wait a day before giving the key to someone else. And why blacklist me? Is this even according the rules?

Now I can't join other Tomb Raider giveaways for a week until I can mark the key as 'unreceived'.
Can a moderator help me out please :(

6 years ago

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Wait 7 days and mark not received. Mods cant forward time.

6 years ago
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Well, that's certainly a pickle, isn't it?

Like madsession says, mark it Not Received after 7 days. You can try contacting the creator by adding them on Steam in the meantime and letting them know it was a dupe.

6 years ago
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Well the problem is I can't see the creator because he blacklisted me. Could someone share his steam profile?

Also I know I have to wait 7 days but I'll miss a lot of Tomb Raider giveaways ;)

6 years ago
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try to contact the giveaway creator on steam man

6 years ago
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Thanks a lot :)

6 years ago
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Would you like a key for Tomb Raider?

6 years ago
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white listing you for this comment!

6 years ago
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check the giveaway in chrome/firefox incognito mode, or logged out from your account.

6 years ago
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I'm always puzzled about this. What sort of twisted logic is that?

6 years ago
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Because blacklisted people can't see the giveaway, when you log out, you are not the blacklisted person to the system, so you can see it. It's the same as you hiding games away, and when you log out, those games aren't hidden anymore.

6 years ago
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No, it's not the same thing. Not being allowed to view a GA page makes no sense when the same page is publicly viewable when not logged in. Not being able to enter the GA: sure. GA being hidden from the main page: sure.

6 years ago
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You were not blacklisted before as you could join the giveaway. And now you are blacklisted, that's weird if he blacklisted you only a few hours after the giveaway ended as his last presence on SG was 10 hours ago...! Very strange for him to blackilist you in the 4 hours after the giveaway ended.

Anyway, you can still post a message in the giveaway page so he knows the issue, both regarding key activation and blacklisting issue.

6 years ago
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Some people simply blacklist all their winner to make sure every game they give away goes to a different person.

Anyway, you can still post a message in the giveaway page so he knows the issue, both regarding key activation and blacklisting issue.

He can't. The page will not be accessible to him due to the blacklisting.

6 years ago
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Ah, I see. then the giveaway creator is stupid. He should wait for the giveaway to be indicated as received before blacklisting the winner...

6 years ago
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The giveaway creator has been here for two months, and may not yet be aware that blacklisting also acts as an ignore function.
Likewise, his action would be what was stupid, not the GA creator himself. Perhaps try less needlessly rude phrasing in the future.

Mind also that removing someone from your whitelist, or from a group, acts in much the same way, so it's an issue that can crop up in several giveaway contexts. If you encounter an issue and can't contact the GA creator, you do have the option to put in a support ticket and request that support contact them on your behalf. As inconvenient as such circumstances may be for a winner, for a situation that vague, us outside of the situation can't be reasonably aware of the perceptions and circumstances involved. In fact, such is why we have the no calling out rule in the first place.

6 years ago*
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I can't see the creator because he blacklisted me.

For future reference, you can view such details on your won page- just toggle Received on and off, if necessary. Otherwise, as suggested by others, incognito mode can help you bypass blacklist restrictions on a giveaway, so long as the giveaway doesn't require you to be part of specific groups to view it.

It's also worth noting that contacting someone on Steam can exacerbate any negative feelings that may exist in an interaction, as adding someone on Steam (without their providing acknowledgement that they agree for you to do so), is generally considered quite rude. That doesn't necessary mean you shouldn't contact them in such a way (though asking staff to contact them on your behalf is a viable alternative), just that you should keep it in mind. Of course, in the case of your GA creator, they have open comments, so it's likely safe to assume they're fine with being contacted on Steam through that method.

As far as your GA creator, they decide what's fair for their blacklist. You then decide if your interpretation of their actions is agreeable or not, and can reciprocate the blacklist if desired. Then, you forget about the matter, because it really has no bearing on your day-to-day life, and has no significant meaning on its own.

As far as 'a moderator helping you out', if that's your aim, please attempt to attempt to contact support directly before taking to the forums. That's not to say you can't address us for assistance, just that the forums aren't typically a suitable place to attempt first contact with staff on a matter [regardless of how effective such an approach may occasionally be].

cg is the only one who determines site functionality, so if you find the seven day wait period to be of issue, you can put in a suggestion in the appropriate forum. Note however that the seven day period is there in part to allow the GA creator to attempt to resolve invalid keys, so it's unlikely there'd be a change in that regard. You may, however, be able to convince cg to introduce a "Key is invalid" toggle on the won page, so as to bypass blacklist communication restrictions.

6 years ago
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and can reciprocate the blacklist

They've been two-way for a while now so this part is largely redundant.

6 years ago
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yeah, who knows why he bl you. it's a pretty crappy situation.

ah yes, now you won't be able to join more GAs, thanks to the update that "won't affect anyone negatively". 👏

6 years ago
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It's a pretty weird rule indeed. Not really anything positive to it, except people can't just put it as not received even after activating the key.

6 years ago
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It's possible he just blacklists winners to eliminate the risk of the same person winning one of his future GAs and he might not realize he sent you a bad key. Hopefully it'll get sorted out if you can contact him on Steam.

6 years ago
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I was just thinking the same. I'll update this post when I know more.

6 years ago
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He should definitelly wait with the blacklisting before he knows that his winners were able to activate the keys he provided, though. One would think that's a common sense, but apparently not :D

6 years ago
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it might be because I didn't activate soon enough but given the fact of time difference I think it is only fair to wait a day before giving the key to someone else.

You have full 7 days to activate your key ;) I see that the GA creator is a member for 6 years so he's likely well aware of that fact. I think he just made a mistake and created a GA which he already gifted to someone else. Or, maybe the key was already used when he bought the bundle, that can happen occasionally.
Whatever the case, he should at least have enough decency to not blacklist his winners before he knows they had no problems with the provided key :/ Like others said, try to contact him on Steam, if he refuses to respond, wait for 7 days and mark as "Not Received" (and better luck with your next wins!) :)

6 years ago
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GA creator not 6 years membership, but 2 months. The OP has a 6 year membership.

6 years ago
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Oh, you're right O.o I was looking at the wrong profile hah, my bad!

6 years ago
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Some people blacklist their winners because they want to make sure that every game they give away goes to a different person. Some people blacklist you because you didn't say thanks. Others will blacklist you because you did. People can blacklist for any reason but I admit it was a bit unwise for the GA creator to not way until you had received the game before doing so. (Unless they just don't like you and purposedly gave you an invalid key.)

As others have said, best thing is to contact the creator on Steam and hope you can resolve this with them. I don't think the mods can mark the game as unreceived before the 7-days waiting period have passed.

It does suck not being able to join other giveaways for that game in the meantime. You happen to be part of the "small minority" of people affected by the change. "Most people won't be affected" is all nice and dandy until you're the one on the wrong end of the issue.

6 years ago
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6 people black listed me, only two let me know of reason (I thanked creator for GA, they didn't like that). The rest I don't even know who or why.

6 years ago
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only two let me know of reason (I thanked creator for GA, they didn't like that).

I've seen people state "Don't thank more or you're blacklisted" and people say "Thank me or you're blacklisted" but to think there are those on here who will blacklist you for either after the fact without prior indication is peculiar.

6 years ago
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Is there a penalty for these kind of creators?

6 years ago
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usually falls into the "fake giveaway" category, several offenses will trigger it.

6 years ago
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Since no one has assisted in the most direct way possible:

I posted a link to this thread on the said giveaway, so he can see the situation and that you are trying to contact him.

There is also a possibility that he can not read English well.

6 years ago
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Smart guy! :)

6 years ago
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Now that someone has left a comment on the giveaway on your behalf, you might want to remove the link to the actual giveaway, as it could be seen as "calling out" the giveaway creator which we're not supposed to do...

6 years ago
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It's ~ 6 days until it will qualify as a rulebreaking :P not everything is a calling out where people have problems with a giveaway, which is obviously linked to the creator

6 years ago
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¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It was just a suggestion and I only said "could be seen".

It's ~ 6 days until it will qualify as a rulebreaking

I wasn't aware of a time limit

which is obviously linked to the creator

Except we've only had one side, which is the reason for the guideline in the first place, I presume.

6 years ago
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Wait a second... I am confused. If I receive a key from a giveaway creator and it's duplicated, I'll try to contact the creator first to let them know (obviously, this has been suggested and the OP has done this the only way they currently can - on the creator's Steam page). But I thought the rule was that if I received a key and discover that it was duplicated then I should mark it not received. If within seven days, the creator remedies the situation with an alternate key that works (or really at any point in the future), I can then toggle the button to "received".

6 years ago
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I thought you can only mark as "Not Received" after 7 days though

6 years ago
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I am sorry . First of all, I translate it into English by software. It may be my personal reason for the inconvenience to you, give the wrong key, I deeply regret. I have added your steam friend and have found the available key. As my mistake, I think I can give you some small gifts as a remedy for my mistake. Thank you

6 years ago
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I was going to do a giveaway of this game.
I'll wait for a week so at least you get another shot.
You may need to remind me to do it

6 years ago
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Thanks but no need.
I've contacted the creator through steam and gave me another working key.

As people mentioned he blacklisted me to make sure I wouldn't win another key soon from him.

6 years ago
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Closed 6 years ago by KwIjL.