How We're Planning to Fix Bundle Keys and Contributor Values (Option #1)

Sounds great but once again, is it not possible to have all?

i like this idea the most

I actually got Cargo! quest for gravity for giveaway forgetting it was in indie gala, and also some Time Gentlemen! bundles cuz they were cheap and fun games, but that was in some bundle too. I ended up giving it out on Playblink to avoid drama here.

That was a side note tho. Now back to the issue at hand. I hated people breaking rules just to get contributor status up, though some (many?) honestly wanted to give out some stuff they had extra keys for. It seems to be against ToS of every bundle I've seen, but noone really cares about that methinks (it's often just a complimentary option to DRM free version but not a separate licence to freely redistribute.. it's not that you get 3 copies - like, say, Steam, Desura and DRM-free.. it's still one license but allowing multiple ways to redeem it.. IANAL tho and it gets ugly if you start discussing actual laws on various territories that would support or deny claims of given ToS or EULA).

Seems like the best option, something that actually accomplishes things succesfully, it is somewhat unfortunate tho' that there is the backlash of "punishing" "legit" giveaways. I am myself affected by this too, but not really, that is - seems I gave away enough of non-bundled stuff for my "graylisted" (but legit!) giveaways to actually fully count. It's scary tho for peeps with "finer" tastes wanting to support indie devs. Seriously, sometimes you gotta think those indie bundles have something sinister planned out to actually punish people for buying indie games outside of indie bundles xD

It remains to be seen what is the social impact for this. I think that general populace seems to be happy that stuff is given out for free and it's rubbish to punish gifters, while people who abide the rules and sometimes struggling to put out a legit contribution absolutely hate that. Really polarizing issue. Is it going to be forgiven now that you gave out individual keys? Will people actually accept it will be okay to give individual keys as legit giveaways? Do the licenses on bundles really mean anything?

I like this idea the best.

this is the best option... the third-one could work, and the second one will kill the site...
we should make a poll for this, let the democracy (jaja, funny) lead the decision

Happy with this option, provided a date field can be added for comparison purposes (as others have suggested, full value kept if game given away before bundle exists) and a historical value can be kept for contributor values rather than always using today's Steam value to calculate contributor points.

The first opinion is the best opinion.

Nuff said

This is the best option, but user who created a giveaway of games that later become in a bundle, should not be affected

This is the worst and most damaging option, because it seems a lot of people don't consider those who gave away inventory games, that happened to be in a bundle at one point, before or after. There are soooo many games that have appeared in bundles. I had no idea that Dungeon Defenders was ever in one, and it seems I gave it away after not before.

You would need to somehow distinguish an inventory gift from a key, for every game that has ever been in a bundle. If you go through with this and don't at least provide the opportunity for us to take a screenshot of our gift history (more support tickets for you) then you wont just be hurting the people this is aimed at, but honest people too. It still feels very "guilty until proven innocent".

I have a feeling that the only people who really like this option have huge contributor values and just want less competition in the giveaways - even if it means stripping other honest users of their contributor points.

Never given a key, always an actual Steam gift... but my total will drop by $30 because a game(s) was in some bundle at some point. I feel this would just discourage gifting of actual copies of those games. Hard to find a fix-all that makes everyone happy, though.

Read all 3 and this is the only idea that sounds good. The other 2 have far too many problems.

THIS option would piss me off a LOT. There's too many issues, for instance my donation would go to $0 even though I spent money on The Ship and gave away several copies BEFORE it was in a bundle. It kind of makes people not want to donate games that may end up in a bundle.

While that would drop me to $0 as I've given away the only game I had spare, I fully approve of this change.
Edit: How about imposing some sort of limitation that would record the value of a game as of the date of giving it away, thereby eliminating the problem of having legitimate contributions reduced afterward if the game is later put into a bundle?

20% is a little low. I think it should be more. I like this idea though.

I like this option better than 2 and 3. It's a good plan.

I think this is kind of perfect. I for one am poor, so I don't get to buy a lot of games outside of bundles. But sometimes I already some of them, so I'd like to gift them, cause what's the point of having a game if no one's playing it? With this new system I can comfortably gift my bundle game key without being afraid of getting banned, while also giving at least a little something to the community, all the while NOT getting contributor status (which, let's face, would be unfair for real contributors).
I hope to one day be able to contribute with some proper non-bundle games, but for now I'm just happy to know that I can gift a couple of games without ever exploiting the system. As a non-contributor, I totally approve of this system.

Please let us know when this kicks in so I can giveaway my 2 spare games. Thank you :)

Cant you just do...(maybe to complex?)

Make it so you need it in you inventory to make a giveaway for non key games. Then for keys you have a whole new list since they dont have the game in inventory , they would have to list it as a key.

So this would help to know if its key or not?

It's a good idea,for people like me who have spare keys from bundles.
I don't care contributor value: I just want to offer the same chance to the most people possible.

Relatively to the problem to see wether or not is a key or a giftable copy, I assume you'll check the user's inventory. A simple and effective solution.

I add /update but don't see changes!

I like it as well.

Great job, guys!

Meh, why do people care so much? I mean I could buy some non-bundle games on a sale? Like a 90% sale, and then still raise my contributor level fast. At the end who cares? Isn't it just about giving away? So to me it doesent matter if bundle or not.