The point system was updated with a few tweaks. It seems like the general consensus is that everyone has too many points, and they're able to enter a high number of giveaways without focusing their attention to those of higher interest.

  • When a giveaway is setup, all users, excluding the creator, now receive 5% of the gift's value in points. For example, a game valued at $9.99 would give everyone 0.5 points, while a $50 gift would provide everyone with 2.5 points.
  • Although your points are rounded in the top navigation, they're now tracked to one decimal place.

We'll test it out for a week, and see how it goes. The goal is to find the perfect balance, that helps to give everyone the best odds to win a game they're excited to play.

13 years ago*

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Noooooooo, i dont have enough points. SRSLY. i dont. i need more. i could barely enter most good giveaways BEFORE. now ill never win again :(

13 years ago
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I find this a really skewed view of this site, it isn't just for getting free stuff :/

13 years ago
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Having 250 entries equals "I could barely enter most giveaways before?"
Srsly?

13 years ago
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People feel they need to enter for every game regardless of whether their interested in it or not...if people would only enter for games they really want it's not hard at all to stay above 200+ points even now.

13 years ago
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I like this idea, if your short on points than maybe you should only enter the giveaways that you actually want. Great job cg hope this helps the community out!

13 years ago
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If you really want a game, buy it.

13 years ago
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That's the idea LostCause maybe now people will slow down on entering for games they don't really want

13 years ago
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Hmmm... I don't know how I feel about this.
Maybe implement it in a way, that calculates the points you're getting by checking your "Giveaways entered" and "Gifts won" numbers.

People who were already lucky a few times in the past/recent months would get a smaller(possibly flat) amount of points while unlucky people would get an increased amount of points.

13 years ago
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I think the private and public giveaways are a great idea but there are a couple more possibilities to think of.

  1. Giveaways where the creator puts a minimum amount of giveaways a person must have to try for the game.

  2. Giveaways where the creator puts a minimum amount of cash value a person must have given to try for the game.

13 years ago
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Love it.

13 years ago
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I want this, an option to give only to givers(approved) would be great.

13 years ago
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I still would like to see a "contributor" giveaway option as well.

13 years ago
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How come there is no point bonus for persons who gift games away? Sure, they might acquire cheap games off Steam to "farm" points in giveaways, but would that really hurt?

13 years ago
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Humble Bundle or Dirt 3 giveaways ring a bell?

13 years ago
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Farming for points is... missing the point, really.

13 years ago
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It's right about now I'm wishing I didn't spend 650 points on invites :P

13 years ago
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I think this is a bit too low...the previous one was a bit high maybe we could meet somewhere in the middle.

13 years ago
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I think this one is perfect. The less points we get the better. :)

13 years ago
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If i win a gift i can continue to add point?

13 years ago
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Point gathering is slower, but at least this way there won't be hundreds of entries per contest.

You gotta think twice before entering a giveaway, but in the end it increases the odds of winning!

13 years ago
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There will still be hundreds of entries for lots of things. People just won't be able to spend all their points on games dating back a week or more without doing point Tetris.

13 years ago
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It's really slow now, the difference is TOO MUCH!
I say let's boost it up to 0..75 points!

13 years ago
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268 entries in 1 month....
I say it's perfect

13 years ago
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A history of unsent Humble Bundle giveaways. I can play this game too!

13 years ago
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A history of absolutely nothing given away what's your point and what does it have to do with the points system?

13 years ago
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To be fair, he has rather unusual rules for his giveaways. That being that people must have had at least one of the games in the bundle on their wishlist several weeks in advance of the giveaway.
If the winner doesn't follow his rules... then no bundle. He can't really be blamed for that as long as the site rules allow such rules as he sets.

It's their fault for not following his rules, unusual though they may be.

13 years ago
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Great. The main problem is that you get way too little points now. I've got just enough to enter a couple cheap games giveaways in 2 days.

13 years ago
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Sounds Good ;)

13 years ago
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Out of curiosity, why is it that those who are contributing their own money/games into the community are identical to those who put in nothing? It seems there should be some perk or benefit to putting skin in the game, but by appearances there isn't. Please let me know if I am missing anything. If everyone gets identical points, identical maximums, and identical guess pass prices, etc., why wouldn't somebody just create accounts to sit and accumulate points, winning prizes, but contributing nothing?

Thanks for reading :)

13 years ago
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-1 (I'm too tired to explain why, someone will tell you "why people gifting games only to hear "thank you")

13 years ago
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Sorry, should be part fo the FAQ I guess... can you link me to a previous discussion? Much appreciated!

13 years ago
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Incidentally, there is no need to be rude and/or unhelpful. You clearly took the time to respond, but I guess if it's not somebody giving you a free game it's not worth your attention. I see this as a reasonable question, as somebody who has been and is willing to give away free games to individuals. It appears that you are here to collect games from people for free and contribute nothing, the least of which could have been a helpful response.

13 years ago
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i really like the new points system, yes it makes you choose only to enter for games you actually want, but it gives you better odds of actually receiving those games, which is great and makes much more sense. Please, please, please keep this way of allocating points cg.

13 years ago
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Yay someone who gets it!

13 years ago
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Interesting. He's got almost as much unplayed games as you do. Wondering if that has got something to do with wanting the games only to have them...

13 years ago
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Haha, unfortunately im not able to play the games i love at the moment because my stupid pc decided to break and i'm having to use my MacBook, and Mac's and steam games don't seem to get on very well.

when my new pc finally gets built, i'll be sure to put an end to the steadily building backlog ;).

Seriously the new system is much better, can't you see that the chances of getting games you actually want are dramatically improved as people are having to be more selective for which giveaways they enter?

13 years ago
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Yea... MACs + Steam != greatness.

13 years ago
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says the guy with the private profile "mysterious" is right as in Mysterious is a silly billy

13 years ago
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It's friends-only. Learn to read. :P

13 years ago
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To illustrate: The new system halves the amount of entries you can make, but also halves the amount of entries everyone else can make, essentially doubling your chances to win. You have entered for 350 and won 1, using the new systems rules you would only have to have entered 175 to win that 1. in the old system you could be much less discerning about what you entered, therefore the 1 game you won might only be one that you marginally wanted. Under the new system you would still have won a game, but because you had to think more carefully about what you entered, it was probably one you liked more. So the new system is better.

13 years ago
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do you understand now, Mysterious?

13 years ago
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Should I copy our chat and show everyone that you ran out of words or how you get pissed off so easily? :P

13 years ago
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I think you misunderstood the system a bit. Those 175 entries doesn't guarantee you a win. The chances are maybe 0.5% higher, and just sometimes.
This system is good for people like you and kijib (well, kijib is another case, he deliberately simply doesn't play games... You have a good reason not to do so), who have lots of games to play already and who doesn't need any more, or maybe doesn't want more games. However I love games, I want games. I would love to have 100 games, while you would love to have 10 games, while the rest would go to "just like to have" category for you. More entries - more chances to win more games.
Your calculation would work if before there would've been 1000 entries, now it would be 500 entries. Rather there is 700-800 entries, so your calculation is wrong too...

13 years ago
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What i am trying to show is that the new system doesn't reduce your chances of winning games because everyone is at the same disadvantage as you and everybodies ability to enter is halved. I'm sorry that i can't explain it to you any better to you than that, but the logic seems pretty clear to me. One reason why the entries don't seem to have halved at the moment is that people may have had a lot of points saved up from when the old system was in place, over time things will normalize. Another reason is that the highly popular games are still games that everybody tries to go for, but this leaves the less popular games a lot less entered, which is great news for you as you seem to like lots of different games, rather than a few specific popular games.

13 years ago
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The thing is that people used to enter random giveaways, just to win a game. Now people have points for the games they want. So your point isn't really correct.
As for point saving - those who saved them don't enter random giveaways. they prioritize them in the first place, and they have only a few giveaways they like entering. Those who used to spend all points used to enter random giveaways, or like me - likes a lot of games.

13 years ago
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I did mention that; i said that people are still going for the highly popular games they really want, but because they are not simply randomly entering for any game like before this leaves the less popular games a lot less entered and because you want many different games, this is something that actually benefits you!

13 years ago
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Yea, but that rarely benefits me. Most people do popular giveaways, because well... Unpopular giveaways are just unpopular. So in general - it does the opposite to me.

13 years ago
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But you said that you wanted 500 games on your wishlist, that is a lot more than most people, in the past people would have entered for those games on your wishlist randomly, simply because they could, to spend points, without really wanting them. Now they can't do this leaving many games much easier to win.

For example old system: Popular game: 1300 entries, less popular game:700 entries

New system (where total points are halved): Popular game: 800 entries, less popular game: 200 entries

These numbers are just off the top of my head but for whatever numbers you use the total number of entries in the new system should be half the total number of entries in the old

13 years ago
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200 entries is an understatement.
Anyway - I can enter 1-2 giveaways each day, while back then I could've entered 5-10 giveaways each day. So even if you have say 3 times more chances of winning now than you did before, you still had more chances to win before in general. In my case of wanting a lot of games.

13 years ago
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ok i don't think you are ever going to understand this, but you get half as many points now as you did then, therefore if you entered 5-10 giveaways in the past then that must mean you enter 2.5-5 entries now.

13 years ago
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In this case I'm looking at experience, not mathematics. And you can't enter "2.5" giveaways. You can't pay half points for half a game, can you?

13 years ago
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i really don't want to get in to a debate about fractions and averages, so for 2.5 you can call it either 2 or 3 if you entered 5 times under the old system if that makes you happier.

13 years ago
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And again - you skipped part of my post. In particular - first sentence.

13 years ago
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Which part? This? "In this case I'm looking at experience, not mathematics."
You aren't being serious are you? Maths is how things work, not your experiences. Just because you may have the same, less or greater chance at winning a giveaway doesn't mean you'll ever win one.

Also you CAN enter 2.5 giveaways a day because that is an average, that means you would alternate between entering 2 giveaways one day and 3 giveaways the other days. If you fail to understand such a simple maths concept you are really in no position to argue probability.

13 years ago
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Interestingly in the first part you take my side, in the second - his.
As for 2.5 - I didn't see a word 'average', so we weren't calculating an average. If we would've been calculating the average, it wouldn't have to be from X giveaways TO Y giveaways, it would just be X giveaways.

13 years ago
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Mate, i just quickly halved the lower estimate you gave me for the amount you entered a day in the past which was 5, unfortunately 5 is an odd number so when you halve it you get 2.5. In reality under the new system this means on one day you can enter 3 games and on the next 2. Hope that helps.

13 years ago
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You should consider reading my first post again, after I replied to your calculations...

13 years ago
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i didn't really understand what you meant tbh

13 years ago
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I meant that you should read my first reply to your first calculations... Lol.

13 years ago
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i did like the old point system..but that becous i don't have that many games and the was a big need for me to get many points...but i do get why its lowerd and i don't mind..now its like i can enter 4giveaways aday insted of 8..and thats okey

13 years ago
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What about the creator? I was planning on giving away half-life 2 but i expected some sort of reward. Is this to prevent people from making many fake giveaways to get a bunch of points?

13 years ago
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I think its' pretty awesome

13 years ago
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I kind of wish you could get points for games you give away in public raffles which are marked as received. There is little incentive to put up games other than good will, and the prospect of getting more entries might get some people to give away their spare copies.

13 years ago
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Isn't good will the whole idea behind this?

13 years ago
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If I want to impart some good will, I'll give a game to a friend, rather than a random stranger.

13 years ago
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So ... We got points by entering giveaways?

13 years ago
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simple and easy :D

13 years ago
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Nice and clean

13 years ago
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Much much better now. Thank you very much.

13 years ago
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Can we donate points?

13 years ago
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Sounds good. It's like a consolation prize if you don't win!

13 years ago
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Closed 13 years ago by cg.