The Official Steamgifts Fascism Thread!
Fake giveaways are a drop in the ocean of fantastic games being given by wonderful, generous people (some of whom have been VAC banned in the past.) To have such militant restrictions because of a very small minority of fake giveaways is, in my opinion, likely to deter new users more than the fake giveaways.
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2 is bullshit. I've seen loads of odd giveaways (like the one you linked) where it turned out the winners DID receive their gift and every time I blame myself for not entering. You won't be always right about it. My first giveaway ever created also was only AN hour after I registered. The fakers are still a minority, dont punish everyone.
Btw calling out is against the rules, (+ his 7 days haven't passed yet). So personally, this topic annoys me more than those few fake giveaways.
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Setting up impediments to block people from gifting is just plain dumb.
I suspect that this site was originally set up because there were lots of people who had "leftover" keys for games they didn't really want. Someone probably thought, "Hey! Why don't we give these games away to whomever wants them?" and SteamGifts was born. Of course, there was a need to kick-start the site, so newer, more-expensive games were thrown into the mix to "grease the wheels," but this site remains (mostly) a dumping ground for bundle and add-on games that people find no use for. Sure, there are some who just flat-out buy AAA titles to donate to others, but they are in the minority. So, if that minority feels like being generous, why block them? Just because a random individual does something annoying from time to time? How dumb is that?
I've only been here at SG for a few months, and in that few months, I've donated more than a couple of games to the community. None of them have been bundles, and a few have been worth more than 30 points. If your suggested policies had been in place, I would never have joined this site. Your suggestions are inspired by your outrage at having been "wronged," not what is best for SG.
I'm going to stop right here and apologize to everyone for ranting. The original post really pissed me off big-time.
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The system works good as it is, if you indeed spot a fake giveaway you should send a support ticket.
I believe the mods are working hard to get this site running very good.
And not everyone who has a VAC-ban actually is a fraud, sometimes VAC-bans are given away to people who dont diserve them really.
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What a load of steaming pile of maggotty bullshit this thread is. I've seen some rather radical ideas to change the site, but none of them went so nazi during the process as yours.
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I agree that there should be some trial period where users could only join public giveaways and not create new ones. Also, if new contributors are prevented from setting high enough CV for their giveaways, there should be some kind of tutorial for people making their first giveaway, with nice pictures and short explanations of main steps. That was mentioned a thousand times already, but apparently it's just way to hard to add one page before the actual create giveaway page, that would require users to check "I've read it and don't show again" statement. Yes, there would be fake giveaways even after that, but you'd have a reason for instant permaban in that case, nowadays people can claim that they did not know, they did not see there are forums or any kind of FAQ, this, that... blah.
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I agree about the explanations, that would be nice. I disagree about the trial period. This kind of thing is off putting. If I want to give away something, find this site and decide it's a good place to give it (which is pretty much what happened for me), I'd be annoyed if I won't be able to do that. Just like I'm currently annoyed at going to the Neverwinter forum and being told that I can't start a new thread for a while (and they don't even tell me how long that while is). I only came there to post about a bug. I want to help, and they won't let me. That's what I'd feel if I came here and was blocked.
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fake giveaways suck. Yes, they are bad, but heck, the worst possibly loss is the wasted point of the entrants (which will be regenerated anyway) and some disappointment, then why are we making so much fuss about this anyway? we don't even see that many number of fake giveaways, and those of sought-after games are usually made by those who are new to the site. No one gets hurts, the issue isn't important and SG moves on, i say.
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I think you are a horrible person. The fact that you were willing to take the chance to have to support one of the worlds worst publishers and even more buy one of the most horrible games out there.
Honestly, I am not even kidding right now, I dislike you intensively.
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Sorry, I was too harsh, it was supposed to be sarcasm, but I overreacted so it didn't look like sarcasm at all because of the last sentence. Anyway, let's end this? It's leading nowhere, you've proven your point about SP, but I was talking about MP, so.. we both win? xD
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Change that to "indefinite ban" and "for all users" and "fake giveaways" and you have my vote.
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Not permanent. Indefinite. So users would have to justify the removal of their ban. Of course this is all theoretical. Too much administrative hassle for the mods, so it would never go through.
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I don't think we should be putting a introductory period on people or anything like that. Just punish people with a ban if they are making fake giveaways. The "I didn't know" excuse is played out. There is a faq, and even when you go to confirm the created giveaway it clearly states that the user is responsible for the purchase of the video game, and that they are the ones giving it away.
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From the FAQ:
"The submitter and winner(s) of the giveaway have seven (7) days to complete the gifting process. This includes the activation of the gift on the Steam account of the winner."
No giveaway will be deemed as fake until it reaches its one week limit. Period.
As for your suggestions, No, No and No.
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I respect your opinion, however, I can't say that I agree.
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Ah, sorry. Sometimes the tones in comments and tickets mix, so I confuse them sometimes.
And I'm friendly? Wow, that's quite a compliment actually. Thank you! :3
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I'm vac'd, I know it's my fault, and I deserve it... I feel uneasy now =P
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There are problems with all of these.
1) VAC ban means that someone is simply banned from steam for in-game hacking, not for trade scamming or anything like that. I know people that have been VAC banned and still give away games.
2) Lots of people create accounts for the sole purpose of giving away a game. Restricting this is just dumb.
3) Lots of people will join to create a giveaway among their friends. Game developer groups like Hashbang Games give away games to generate publicity for their games.
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My suggestions:
1) VAC-Banned users can only enter after giving away something and/or being here at least a week, because people can reform.
2) Make them take a test that goes deep into the heart of the FAQ so they know the site upon joining
3) Burn this rule
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Whoaa, big deal, cry more. Your suggestions are lame.
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Honestly these suggestions would create more problems seeing as one, you can get a vac ban from simply changing textures or something( Don't remember off the top of my head) like the hud in tf2. (A friend was vac banned from this once.)
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Not really on-topic, but some people who get banned claim it was unfair, they were only doing (completely innocuous activity) - then post a screenshot with the cheat program shortcut visible on their desktop... :)
Or it was their little brother, or their friend, or they got hacked by chinese, or whatever. I wish more people caught cheating would just admit it and move on, although the endless why was I banned threads can be entertaining... :)
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xD That cheat program on the desktop is always a killer :D
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Those wankers! Trying to keep the Regular Joe down! Oppression, I tell you!
Seriously, though, for what? Calling people out? He's linking to the giveaway in which he made his offer. That's important for reference.
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Well, you do have to consider that he publicly linked and started a forum topic discussing an instance where he did call someone out. I'm not really sided either way (Luckily I don't have that job!), but completely disregarding this topic itself, he did break a giveaway rule.
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I guess I could see that. I find this whole calling out rule a bit odd. We bash each other all the time in the forums. Is challenging people in a giveaway really any worse?
And by the way, I like the right / opportunity to bash each other. I love hearing different views and the passion behind them, even though everyone that disagrees with me is an idiot.
I kid. :)
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EDIT: First of all: No, I did NOT win one of the two copies. Second: No, none of my won giveaways turned out to be fake. I was lucky enough to always get what I won.
Remember this bold statement I made here?
Well, guess I don't have to hold my end of the promise, seeing how neither of the two supposed winners have acknowledged their gift so far. You'd think that after 6 days, they would have done so for such a highly sought-after title...
The creator of the giveaway seemingly hasn't sent out his other gift either so far, and not really surprisingly either has now turned his Steam profile to private... probably so that nobody can contact him again and call him what he is: a fraud.
This giveaway, along with so many others, shows again how flawed the current system is. If I, as a normal user, am already able to figure out a fake giveaway when I see it, why aren't the moderators, or the creators of the site? In fact, I'd LOVE to know how many public CoD giveaways have, in fact, turned out to be legit. I doubt it's a high number.
Maybe it's time to change some rules, no? Here are some suggestions:
1) Users with VAC bans shouldn't be allowed at all. Period. It doesn't matter if that happened years ago, or if it was the little brother, or whatever other excuse they come up with. They made a conscious choice to cheat against other players, and got caught red-handed. Valve doesn't remove those ban notifications, so why should we allow such vermin to win our gifts?
2) New users shouldn't be allowed to create giveaways as soon as they registered. Yes, there are the odd exceptions where a user turns out to be legit and becomes a valuable member of the community. However, I am sure the number of those pales in comparison to the number of users suspended for creating fake giveaways. A waiting period isn't the solution either because I already saw several accounts which were created months, even a year ago, come back to life all of a sudden and create a (fake) giveaway.
3) New accounts (be it newly created or never used before) shouldn't be allowed to create giveaways for 30+ points titles. Make them start slow. With the flood of indie bundles being active all the time, it should be very easy to grab one and create a couple of small giveaways to figure out how the site actually works. It's also a sign that they're willing to be part of the community, not just leech.
There is definitely nothing wrong with the concept of the site. It's a great idea, but the execution is clearly flawed. Yes, we all get points for free all the time, but just think about it: How many of those points are actually from new and legit giveaways? Isn't it rather the case that the high number of points we see when we return to the site is rather due to points being returned from fakes which we entered for whatever reason?
Feel free to discuss, although it wouldn't amaze me if some overzealous "moderator" closes this down instantly and suspends me for some obscure reason.
PS: Thanks to HugCat for telling me how to properly link. ^^
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