Something has come up, which wouldn't be an issue a while back, but now I feel I should ask anyway, after the apparent exploitation of contributor giveaways by some people.

Along with a couple of friends, we were thinking of scrounging up some cash between the 3 of us to buy a copy of Torchlight II, since our individual budget is a bit too tight at the moment. Instead of rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock, we thought we'd even post it as a private giveaway for us, doing the same for the extra copy of Torchlight I that comes with the prepurchase, until we can manage to actually come up with the money to buy 3 proper copies, and potentially something else to give back to the community.

Keep in mind, whoever won, would of course receive and activate the gift, but the giveaway would still only have 3 entries (2 for the extra copy, since we're splitting up the 2 games). Also, sometime along the road, the winner would reciprocate, but again, the game would be activated normally.

I've seen private giveaways with just 1-2 entries in the time before the contributor era, and it didn't seem to be a problem, provided the winner would normally activate the gift. How about now? Would it be frowned upon, since it would grant contributor status to someone, even for such a private giveaway?

Please, no flaming about how much money we can spare. Not everyone has a job at the moment, or can easily spend €20.

12 years ago*

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I don't see a problem with this, but I don't make the rules so =/

12 years ago
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:P

12 years ago
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If you don't want to exploit the system and there are just 3 of you then why not use your own random number generator?

12 years ago
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This would definitely be faster than waiting for a giveaway to end. Personally I'd make a tournament out of it. Winner would pay for part of the next prize, but not be included in it.

12 years ago
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The plan was hatched before there was a 'contributor' category. We're perfectly ok with not using steamgifts for this, if it poses a problem. I'm just trying to gauge the views of the community, and I have a feeling some other people might be interested in the replies.

12 years ago
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Use dice :)

12 years ago
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The singular of dice is die.

So you'd use a die, or use dice. You could make it singular by using a pair of dice or even a game of dice. But either way, there's no such thing as a dice.

Grammar nazi away!

12 years ago
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Wanna cookie? And as you may have noticed I used dice without an article and then edited it with "a". Enjoy :)

12 years ago
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Your dice looks naked without the "a"

12 years ago
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I did not notice it, but why would you do that?

12 years ago
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It's aN puzzle :) (don't worry, it is not)

12 years ago
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im in the same situation :/ this weekend i should normally do a private giveaway that will have 2 entries, because i promised 2 of my friends that havent won anything that i would give them a chance :) and also give them something to play with me during summer :D

12 years ago
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So far there is nothing written on it, so you should be on the clear about it, but if you're still unsure, you can always just use a random number generator...

12 years ago
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you can make 1000 private giveaways, ask your friends to mark as recieved, make "another" giveaway, mark as "recieved" and you are contributor, great system -_-"

12 years ago
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They would have to actually get the game, otherwise they would soon be facing a ban.

12 years ago
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Until you're all reported for not having the game you won in either your inventory or library.

12 years ago
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who knows if the winner adds the game to the library, trades it or keeps it in inventory, no one.
maybe i made "puzzle giveaway" and i don't know who entered.

12 years ago
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Everyone has to sync their steam account at least 1 time each week. If after one week from your win (when you have already synced with steamgifts) you DON'T have the game in your LIBRARY (not inventory), you are reported and most likely banned. Moreover, mods have said there will soon be a script to automate the process.

As I said, we would activate the won games immediately, so they would be in our library.

12 years ago
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I would say the system should set every giveaways under X entries invalid, where X is... I don't know... 6? 10?

12 years ago
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what happens if someone made a puzzle and only 1 or 2 ppl got the answer?

12 years ago
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I personally don't see it being much different than many of the private giveaway groups that are around. I think as long as the person who wins actually activates the game it should be okay.

But it seems to me there's a flaw in your plan: you would need a fourth person to actually set up the giveaway for the three of you, as whoever does the giveaway can't actually enter it.

12 years ago
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That's the idea, I didn't want to overcomplicate the post, since I already figured the long description isn't friendly to most forum dwellers. After that, the winner would post a giveaway for the extra copy of Torchlight I, with 2 entries, and one of us would wait until next time.

12 years ago
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Just don't get too carried away with this procedure, if you do this too often you may really look suspicious like you just want to up your contribution value without ever giving back to the broader community. The only way to be sure is to do it outside of steamgifts, but yeah, the final word is with admins so always when in doubt, make a support ticket =)

12 years ago
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I didn't see nothing against this in the rules. Giveaways with a single entry, for example, don't count towards the contribution amount (or so I have heard); if, at some point, they decide two entries is not enough either, they can change it at their end.
The only rule is that the winner has to actually activate the winnings on their Steam account, and you seem to have that covered.

I've thought of doing something similar for my friends. Using Steamgifts would be whole lot more fun than flipping a bloody coin.

12 years ago
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  • Scissors cut paper
  • Paper covers rock
  • Rock crushes lizard
  • Lizard poisons Spock
  • Spock smashes scissors
  • Scissors decapitate lizard
  • Lizard eats paper
  • Paper disproves Spock
  • Spock vaporizes rock
  • Rock crushes scissors

bang

12 years ago
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Since it isnt against the rules, i think its fine. i mean giving ur frend a game is still giving a game. This idea is basically the same as making a steam group with just the 3 of u and making the giveaway only for the group.

12 years ago
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Closed 12 years ago by sardanapal.