Hey everyone, it's no surprise we've been struggling with bundle keys lately, and we're bouncing a lot of ideas back and forth. One suggestion is below, and we're curious to hear what people have to think.


Proposed changes to contributor values

Bundle games, and those freely available at one time or another (Ex. Shadowgrounds), will only add a maximum of 20% to a user's non-bundle contributor value. For example, if a user has submitted $50.00 in non-bundle games, they would have a cap of $10.00 (20% of $50.00) for any bundle games submitted. Therefore, if they submit $10.00 or $10,000.00 in bundles, their contributor value would reach a maximum of $60.00. To further demonstrate, a few scenarios are below.

User #1

  • Max Payne 3 ($59.99)
  • Counter-Strike Source ($19.99)
  • Far Cry 2 ($9.99)
  • Half-Life 2 (9.99)
  • Amnesia (Bundle Game $19.99)

Previous value: $119.95. New value: $119.95. They receive full value for Amnesia due to the amount of non-bundle games they have contributed.

User #2

  • Counter-Strike Source ($19.99)
  • Amnesia (Bundle Game $19.99)

Previous value: $39.98. New value: $23.99. The value of Amnesia drops from $19.99 to the max of $4.00 (20% of the Counter-Strike value) since their non-bundle contributions are quite low.

User #3

  • Counter-Strike Source ($19.99)
  • Amnesia (Bundle Game $19.99)
  • Shadowgrounds Survivor (Bundle Game $9.99)
  • Shadowgrounds Survivor (Bundle Game $9.99)
  • Shadowgrounds Survivor (Bundle Game $9.99)

Old value: $69.95. New value: $23.99. Same as the above, the max of 20% is reached, so it cannot increase any further through bundle games.

User #4

  • Amnesia (Bundle Game $19.99)
  • Shadowgrounds Survivor (Bundle Game $9.99)

Old value: $29.98. New value: $0.00. With zero contributions not from bundles, their contributor value remains at zero.


How will this affect your contributor value

Add /update to the end of your profile URL, and you'll see a new contributor value in brackets, next to your existing one. This reflects the updated value, limiting bundle giveaways to 20%. This will have no affect on the vast majority of our users, and only begins to adjust values on those that have submitted a higher than usual amount of bundle games.


Proposed changes to what can be submitted

  • Bundles can be listed anytime, whether the bundle is live or not.
  • Individual bundle keys are allowed, since their value can no longer be exploited.

Lately, the rules are difficult to understand. Certain bundles can only be submitted at given times, and there are over 100 individual bundle games. Users submitting individual bundle keys, whether on accident or on purpose get a bad reputation, and it's the cause of countless arguments. It creates a lot of confusion and brings a negative feel to the entire community, which completely goes against what we're trying to accomplish. The above changes would mean anything can be submitted at any time, and the site will automatically keep contributor values in line. If someone enters a $120 contributor giveaway, you know a minimum of $100 is coming from non-bundle games.


Feedback

No changes have taken place yet. At the moment we're looking for feedback from the community to decide on a fair approach. Please post your thoughts below. Thanks!

12 years ago*

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This is a good idea, and although I understand people's frustration with their contributor value being diminished when games appear in bundles, I think that's actually a positive thing too, encouraging ongoing contribution to the site to maintain a contributor value.

The suggested solution won't please everyone (what ever does?) but will save the mods the tedious task of playing whack-a-mole with the battallions of bundlers who enthusiastically flood the site every time a new pack goes on sale.

12 years ago
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I believe this is the better option. It looks like a fair approach to all sides of bundled games.

12 years ago
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I like this

12 years ago
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NO! When this update will start i will got value from 50$ to >4$ ...
I gived games which was in bundle but before they arise.

This is unfair for me and other guys who gived games not from bundle.

12 years ago
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I like it!

12 years ago
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I think it's not fair.
Just because game was in a bundle once doesn't mean i got it from a bundle. So i'm gonna lose my contrib even if i bought the game alone at full price. :(

12 years ago
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How do I vote for this one? It seems to be the best of the 3.

12 years ago
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I like more this option than the others

12 years ago
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I think this is the best idea so far, but with the provision that if you submitted a game before it was in a bundle, it shouldn't count towards your percentage of bundle games given away. I fear that the friend list option will leave a lot of people out because they don't necessarily like to post in the forums or aren't particularly witty or whatever. The voting option bothers me because I feel like it will dissuade people from giving away games that the genuinely like and wish to share with the community when they could instead pick a popular game and gift it.

12 years ago
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nice

12 years ago
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I like this.

12 years ago
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I don't really like the idea of punishing people just because a game they gifted in the past appeared in a bundle this week.

What? you liked Bastion and handed out 5 copies of it when it came out, ones that you bought at full price? HAH! Sucks to be you.! You should have gifted a couple of Railworks 3 when they were at 90% discount, now that game will never be in a bundle, you'll never, ever be penalized for that.

12 years ago
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Honestly I think Bastion specifically should be excluded, because you had to spend like $9 to get it from the Humble Bundle it was in. That's more than you can get it from Steam for in a sale.

Edit: Also, Bastion was the only BtA game in that bundle. Everything else you could get for $1.

12 years ago
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i think this is the best idea maybe make a poll or something

12 years ago
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Good idea

12 years ago
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I really think this is the best way to deal with the situation. Much better than the friend list in my opinion. To me it seems that it will be a better estimation of value because it still allows people full value for bunles as long as they've donated non-bundled games.

12 years ago
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12 years ago
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A combination of all options would be best. Adding the friends giveaways and wishlist/value added features to the site as additional options, as well as implementing option 1's 20% rule would serve to keep most of the site happy. In addition, allowing users to send timestamped pics of their trade transactions/store purchases if they want to claim the additional amount for a giveaway.

IE, I give away Killing Floor (a bundled game) that I bought from steam's summer sale. I can send you some pic/s of the item in inventory, item being traded, and so on.

12 years ago
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This option seems the best to me.

12 years ago
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What about people who give away full bundles? What about that? Also games in just HumbleBundles shouldn't be penalized, or reaaaally old bundles (ones that aren't being given away from bundles anymore).

12 years ago
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This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

12 years ago
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Great idea, but there should be a check box that the receiver checks if the game they got was a bundle key (they would do this at the area where they say if they got the game or not), and if it was, it would reduce the contributor value, otherwise, it would not. And as a fail-safe, all people who got bundle games before the update will be notified to say if the game they got for that giveaway was a bundle key, and if they don't respond (or don't know) in like a week, then assume that it was a steam gift (to prevent people losing contributor value due to inactive winners/winners who frogot)

12 years ago
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Hah I was JUST typing something along the lines of that until I looked down and saw this comment. I agree it's a better system because real tradable versions are still worth as they should so only bundled games are affected.

I don't think we should make it affect previous giveaways though, only start doing this for the new ones, reason being that it's too easy to punish legitimate gifters if this were applied to previous giveaways. Even if they're in the minority, doing so would be wrong, which is the reason why I voted no on this option earlier.

12 years ago
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OPTION ONE IS BEST OPTION

12 years ago
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I like this idea the most.

12 years ago
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I'm between option #1 or #2

12 years ago
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I take it this also would affect The Ship/Nuclear Dawn giveaways as well?

12 years ago
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Closed 12 years ago by cg.