TIPS for the new guy!

let's start with white lists: i've just whitelisted you, so, maybe, you might want to check your "Group" giveaways and find something interesting, or just check how this whitelist thing works.

werrrrrcome aboard!

Welcome to SG. 🙂

If you haven't already, please read the ToS, FAQ and Guidelines of this site to avoid rookie mistakes.

A few interesting links for new user:
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussions/announcements
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/XaCbA/list-of-all-cv-levels-and-their-corresponding-real-cv
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/GeDfy/failure-to-activate-and-regifting

And, maybe in a bit of time... Unlucky-7

Don't eat the yellow snow.
Read the FAQ and Guidelines to get started.

Welcome to Steamgifts.

Welcome to SG.
Some add-ons that might come in handy.

• ESGST
• Steamgifts 24H
• RaChartT Enhancer
• Add links to SGtools
• Do You Even Play, Bro?
• SteamGifts Library Checker
• SteamGifts v2 Dark Userstyle
• Add sgtools.info links to your giveaway's Winners page

Want a tip?

RUN! RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!!!

What not to do?

Expect a lot of a wins, wins for games you really want, to get more than you give away easily.

Why do you want to be level 5? To enter higher level giveaways or to just because you like the idea of being level 5?

In short, don't expect SG (steamgifts) to be an investment, or to get a bigger return than you put in.

If you want higher chances, the puzzle section in the discussions might be a thing. Although it also requires more effort obviously.

Edit: level 5 is not as exclusive as you might think: https://www.steamgifts.com/stats/community/users

If you don't want to put in too much effort, just give away spare keys from bundles of which you already own some games.
If you wanna be generous, nothing stops you from buying games to give away of course.

Anything important I should know about?

View attached image.

Be nice
activate your wins
don't beg
try to join groups to access more (wanted) giveaways
solve climate change
end famine on Earth
and deal with the fact that even if you do all of these, somebody will blacklist you for being too nice, too [insert your nationality or any descriptor of yours] or just because you were in their way. Don't care too much about blacklists :)

Calculate the odds of winning and spend your point for the most likely wins if you are a hoarder (like me). 1 hour long giveaways are your best bet.
Most likely you wont win stuff you actually want if you are low level, but you get the filler which is better in my opinion because they are surprises.
Dont enter giveaways with something really flashy from a person who registered 2 hours ago (like so many cod, they dont know how the site work)
If you like seeing the cat when you win something, your best bet is the 1 point games, not the most quality games most of the time, but who knows? (definietly not me i have no taste)
Dont say things like what I did just now, because a million person going to blacklist you (I'm pretty sure im gonna delete this in 5 minute in regretting to typing it out). Blacklist sucks, you wont see giveaways, but they wont see your giveaways either

giveaway games, and hope you win one for yourself sometimes... repeat

Pretty much everything that is important has already been said so all I can do is to welcome you aboard!
Also, whitelisted, because you seem to be a nice person.
:3

People can go nuts, if you giveaway games that were given for free... it's not against the rules anymore, but still not nice.

Also, welcome to my whitelist ♥

Edit: Witam na pokładzie :D

Do:

• Get familiar with the website's guidelines. More important than just reading, actually understanding them is the key to a good experience. When in doubt about anything, quickly review the guidelines to see whether or not what you are about to do is allowed.
• Search the forum and guidelines before making a thread. It goes without saying, but there are many dups being created, asking the same questions (why was I blacklisted, why did my contributor value decrease/change, etc).
• Try to keep a positive or near positive giveaways created/won ratio. Personally, I'm fine with users as long as they don't have a negative ratio in the hundreds (as well as a poor value ratio), but opinions vary a lot and "leechers" are generally disliked by the majority.
• If you want higher odds of winning some good giveaways, actively participate in the community. You'll find forum giveaways/events, groups to join, and if you're friendly/funny/whatever else that is regarded as positive, you may get whitelisted and gain access to giveaways with very good odds.

Don't:

• Don't let getting blacklisted bother you too much - it sucks, but it is inevitable; the more active you are, the more blacklists you'll gain. It's the "way of Steamgifts". :P
  Don't worry too much about the small stuff - As long as you follow the website guidelines, you're doing what is expected of you - The rest is only your choice.

Cool things to know:

• Want some nifty addons? See the SG Add-Ons Registry thread, a compilation of all userscripts for Steamgifts. I recommend revilheart's ESGST for starter.
• The Discussions that should never go away - aka "SG bookmarks" thread is a compilation of notable threads which have an impact in the Steamgifts community. Some of these bring attention to real world issues, some are active giveaway threads, guides, etc.
• Like stats? This page will make you very happy, then. From there, you can keep tabs not only on your personal stats (comments, whitelists/blacklists, contributor level, etc), but also global website stats such as members count, monthly activity, and such.
• Want to search for giveaways with specific parameters? Check out Search Parameters.
• In addition to that, all official announcements are accessible from here. Some good information can be found about the website's "hidden" features and functionality.

Abbreviations/terms list:

SG: Steamgifts
ST: Steamtrades (trading counterpart of Steamgifts)
GA, gas, gibs: Giveaways
WL/BL: Whitelist, blacklist
CV: Contributor value
Lvl: Level (contributor level)
Points: "Currency" for entering giveaways
Spacecat: The gif that typically shows up when you've won a giveaway (ex: "Spacecat visited me yesterday")
Puzzle: A variety of puzzles get posted on the forum, with private giveaway links as a prize. Better odds of winning as puzzle difficulty increases.

With that said, welcome to Steamgifts! I'm confident you'll have no trouble fitting in quickly. ^^

Nope.

Just kidding, welcome! After you go through the essentials that folks already covered, check the ESGST Chrome extension, it really makes the site easier to use.

View attached image.

Welcome :)

My personal tips:

I would recommend to only join giveaways for games that you want and plan to play someday :)
Makes winning a lot more exciting :P

Not a must but you might want to check out the Hide-function (the eye-symbol after the name of the game), which let's you hide giveaways from games you don't want. It 's a lot of work at the beginning to sort out the trash but you get a much shorter list at the end :)

View attached image.

Don't stare yourself blind on levels. Yes, people with a higher level are more likely to win than those at a low level, but earning a high level is a bad "investment", instead just give what you want to give, when you want to give it. Winnings might be a bit slow, but it's the healthiest way of doing it.If you can spare a few € and want to give away something nice for others to play, then do it, but most people will mostly give away leftovers from bundles they've bought.

Also, consider if you want a game or not before joining a giveaway. A lot of people go crazy at the start and join for everything, and then end up with a library filled with really bad games. There are groups out there for those who play their won games, and in my experience, that's where many of the good giveaways end up!

And welcome to steamgifts!

Well reading through all the comments there's not much I can add except remember to have fun and welcome to Steamgifts :)

First of all: Welcome to Steamgifts :)

I think everything important was already mentioned by the guys above me, so just:

• enjoy your stay
• don't be a dick
• stay out of the drama
• don't take people too serious
• make a lot of level 9 giveaways so I win more... just joking ;)

1. Save business cards of people you don't like. If you ever hit a parked car accidentally, just write "sorry" on the back and leave it on the windshield
2. Win internet arguments by editing your comments after your opponent has responded to completely change what you said and making it look like your opponent has no idea what they're talking about
3. If your job doesn't offer paid vacation, take a 10-minute dump on the clock every day. By the end of the year, it will have added up to over 40 hours of paid time off
4. When applying for jobs online, check the box that says you identify with being LGBTQ+. You'll be more likely to be considered to meet diversity requirements, and if they ask just say you're bisexual
5. Give fake money to homeless people. They will thank you for it, but also when they get arrested and taken to jail, it’ll reduce the number of homeless people in your area

Hope it helps!

welcome ^_^

tips? they already said everything, so.. hmm.. have fun! =P

Welcome! Have a Blue Heart!

Blue Heart = Whitelist (named for the heart-shaped icon that turns blue when you click on a user's name and whitelist them :)

1. Don't be too nice
2. Don't expect to win
3. Don't complain when you don't win
4. Don't complain about life - this is SteamGifts, not Dr. Phil.
5. The more generous you are, the more people will suck up to you. Don't fall for it, they just want more gifts, and hope to be added to your whitelist for being suck-ups.

It seems everyone else has you pretty well covered, but here are a few of my tips:

Enter for games you actually want to play.
Give away games you don't want to play.
Don't worry about stats, or how many games you win, or anything else.

Also, one thing I didn't see mentioned (could be I missed it) is that public giveaways are great in that they're open to the public, but your odds are usually 1/1000, so expect to have to enter about that many giveaways to win something. As you level increases, your chance to win increases through access to more giveaways, but I wouldn't give away just to gain levels.

And groups are your best bet for good chances. Some groups I'd recommend are Unlucky 7 when starting out, Playing Appreciated, and Playing Matters.

Oh, and most importantly, welcome to the site! Interact with the community, as you are here, and you'll hopefully find it rewarding even when you don't win stuff.

There is already a ton of great advice in this thread.

I'll add:

• Always cruise through the discussions to discover lots of fun events. They're usually filled with invite-only giveaways, which almost always have better odds than public giveaways
• Once you have more confidence that you know what you're doing around here (and have, perhaps, built a little stockpile of keys to use for giveaways), investigate joining some private groups. They usually have monthly participation requirements (like giving at least 1 10+P game to the group) to ensure that you stay active, but then you'll have access to private GAs for the group, which generally give you significantly better odds of winning a game than anything else. If you're a collector, being very active in a handful of elite groups will generate lots of wins and grow your collection rapidly
• GIVE - the more you give, the higher your level; the higher your level, the better giveaways you'll have access to enter. Besides, it's kind of the point of the place, anyway. :)

Best of luck, and may the RNG gods be with you!