How do you feel about people self promoting themselves? (Also GIVEAWAYS HERE!)

Don't mind greenlight promotions, though never voted. About youtube and stream promotions, don't mind them as much as greenlight, since they usually aren't very interesting.

I'm fine with people self-promoting, I take it that it's hard to succeed these days so any type of promotion is ok. When you are nobody, who'll promote you if not yourself alone.

I obviously support self advertisement in giveaway descriptions since I do it myself for my website. I paid for that game I'm giving away and some of the people who enter the giveaway might be interested in checking out my website "in return" (I don't expect to get anything back but it's nice if they want to). The thing is while I do at least try to get some profit off of my website the most important thing there are the giveaway sites and other stuff I list there that's pretty useful for other users, so I mainly want to share my website to help other users. However I don't really like people advertising in the forum because it is meant for better things and forced tasks like "you must subscribe to enter" are bad as well :)

I don't mind having self promotion activities in SteamGifts. It is to their advantage to promote their games, though what I hate is the people falling for these schemes. People are so desperate for <insert crappy game> steam keys to vote for greenlight or do anything the person says. Other than Greenlight self-promotion, there are groups or Youtube channels that promote themselves. My take for them? I don't think it's a nuisance as long as they abide to SG rules. If SG rules were to be changed to disallow these promotions, then I would take a stance against them as well. What all this means is, as long as they aren't breaking the rules, anything is fair game. However, I do agree that SG rules be made to disallow unfair advantage in contests or promoting click-throughs for certain activities/events.

Self-promoting threads some times bother me but it depends greatly on the content and frequency. When it's on giveaways it doesn't bug me because, eh, at least they're planning on giving a game to someone. The ones that bother me most in general are probably the "Subscribe to my facebook / twitter / youtube channel!". >_> Not interested at all.

I have mixed feelings about the greenlight ones. I agree a lot of people are using this to exploit the system and get their games greenlit much faster, kind of like bribing their way into Steam. But when it's a decent game in the first place and the advertisement doesn't come packed with promises of more giveaways and stuff I believe it's a valid marketing approach.

I really can't judge anyone, because I myself have posted a thread in here asking for help with a survey for a graduation + scientific initiation research project and made a giveaway exclusive for those who helped once. So I guess in a way I'm in the same boat as the bribers, haha.

I don't really mind self promoting most of the time, especially if it's not even serious. Like Jesse Cox, he self promote himself all the time. It's more of a running joke than actual promoting. Also, if you are somebody who is just starting you you have a very small fanbase, I think self promoting is okay if it's done in reasonable way. A lot of the time, its not done in reasonable way. If you promote yourself just to win something, if its not something like "create a prototype for some robotic competition" or something along those lines, thats ok. But if you just want to win a steam game, shame on you. I think it should be judged case by case and not generalizing it.

No, I don't mind. They are free to do it and I'm okay with that. I would mind if the were doing it while it was not allowed.
*EDIT: Forgot about the contest winning promotions. I don't like those. Even if they are doing a giveaway. Essentially, they taking advantage of this BIG community and the need we have to win games, so they bribing us, so they win a contest or whatever.

I don't understand the reason though why some people do it. For example the Steam promotion or YouTube promotions. Why people have this need to been known even if they have almost nothing to show..!?! I m not quit sure how to explain it but i hope some of you might think something similar and understand what I mean.

I think it's ok if the gift is good enough :p.
Seriously though, giving something away and promoting stuff is ok. Nobody is forcing anyone to click on a link. So I don't mind. Your promotion might just be interesting to some others.

I really hate them. Especially the ones that blatantly post things without even a giveaway or anything, its just shameless self-promotion and this site really isn't about that. I report most of them and i honestly hope support does their best to minimize the number of this, cause this could turn in a spamfest as i notice more and more of these thing every day. I don't mind the ones posted in a giveaway description that much as they are in a way giving back to the community though

If it's done subtle it's ok for me,I don't mind it. Thank you for the giveaways :)

Guys nobody forced you to read or do anything unless you want to, the guy is giving away a free game, why not promote a bit, hell you might love what he has to offer!

I don't mind if they promote a game they made and want it greenlighted.

I don't mind even if there is no giveaway, although the site rules require there to be a giveaway if you promote anything. My view is this, people who are interested can check out what ever it is they are promoting (eg: youtube channel, android game etc.) and if they like it, they can play/subscribe/whatever. Anyone who is not interested can move on.

What I don't like however, is forcing users to subscribe to get into giveaways etc.. If the choice of wether or not to check out whatever is being promoted is left to the readers, that's fine with me.

It is a good way to promote your game, but for nothing else.

I don't care at all!

It depends, sometime i found something interesting, but often is just trash.
Btw i think is a legit way of promoting something

I dont care, but.. its always options ;) Better this than making ad on internet ;)

i guess i'm ok with people promoting kickstarters, youtube channels, or greenlight games.
but i don't really like it when they are trying to promote something to win a contest (i also feel this is kinda like cheating), or posting referral links.

How i look at it :

vote for my greenlight game, not because you think that its good, just because im giving stuff away here and you should be ashamed if your'e not thankfull enough to vote it up for me

This is how steam got cancer

It depends. Some of them are nice (couple of greenlite games), some are terrible (most youtube channels). Self-advertising is not a crime.

And thx 4 giveaways.

is this a comment or it's just fantasy?

It depends what they want to promote. If its just a Kickstarter campaign etc. iam against this...they should use the money for campaign and not for advertising..but anyway free chance to get a game, so who cares. :)

I don't mind self-promoting. They give something for the community for free, and you don't even have to read the promotion if you don't like. So no responsibility to be mad about. Besides I have to say I saw a lot of good promotion programs around here (never won any gam yet, but still) there were interesting ideas, and sometimes good greenlight games. And of course a lot of people don't use greenlight, so it's a good way to promote the whole program not just their own game.

PS.: Ohh almost forgot, if the promoted game sucks I won't vote on it. They can ask me to watch the game but they can't pay for me for a vote.

Thats a good question and one I've been wondering 'bout for awhile aswell.
Is it morally wrong to promote yourself by giving away free stuff? I guess that really depends on the case.
I mean companies and individuals do it everywhere anyways. You do have to promote yourself somehow.

I'm not sure how I feel about it but I think it really depends on how 'money grabby', 'selfish' and 'manipulative' said person is.
I mean if its a site for example, and said person posts 100 forum posts whoring out his site and it feels like a marketing shtick then its annoying.
If its a nice guy that gives away free stuff and has a 'oh btw check out my site for more stuff' in a modest way then theres nothing wrong.

As for greenlight projects - I think people do the same way with 'debut' bundles.
Then people vote for projects just because they got invested and bought the bundle and want the game on steam and not just because the game is ' good'

Its a tough question with no real answer I guess.