$1000

Giving is nice you should try it sometimes.

On the charity thing, I don't think money is the way to go. I think that money can only do so much, but ultimately it's the services that people provide that actually do the most work. Example would be like donating old clothes to Vinne's, downloading and running Folding@Home and spending time with people who are suffering depression/old people.

These kinds of things actually produce visible, tangible results. I'm sure there are charity and scientific organisation that do good with the money they receive, but ultimately they could do more with volunteers and resources over straight cash.

I think you guys are being a bit harsh on him. He's obviously a new user who just doesn't understand the site and its community fully yet. He probably doesn't yet understand about the risks of a public giveaway. And seeing as how the site's primary attractiveness comes from winning stuff, it could be hard for a newcomer to understand why exactly people gift things so much. I really don't think jumping on him like that does our community any good. Instead of easing a new user into our community and teaching them the values you all seem to be so eager to defend, you instead estranged him and probably helped to set him on his way to being that user you so dislike.

So I guess I'll answer some questions. People give things away for several reasons: generosity; that good feeling you get when you do something nice; to be a part of the community; or to raise contribution points. Looking at your post it's clear that you're only focusing on the last one, the CV. But for some people this site isn't just a place to win games but somewhere to give things away. I hear you ask now, "then why do they give only to those who give?" Couple reasons... public giveaways come with risks. Risks such as the winner not activating the gift on their account, the winner not giving feedback to credit the gifter, the winner not even thanking the gifter for the gift, the winner having won the game previously but entered for your giveaway anyways, the winner taking their won gift and making a giveaway with it in order to get credit for the game themselves, and the winner might not even have wanted the game in the first place but just wanted to win SOMETHING. That's a LOT of crap to potentially deal with especially when all you wanted was to be nice. So gifting in private groups or through puzzles filters out a lot of those people. Another reason is the community reason. They want to give something to the community that they're a part of. They probably feel they got something out of that community, like a sense of belonging, and want to give to those people who made it so great.

Edit: Oh, and since I see that you're on the topic of charities... That's just really not your call. People will do what they want with their money. If you want to argue about money that should go to charity there's tons and tons of cases where someone spent money that would be better going to charity. The biggest difference between giving to a charity or to this site is the interaction of people. You get to interact with your entrants and your winners. Not only that but you become more and more integrated into the community. It's not something most charities can give.

Some people are just nice, and like to give stuff away. There are some wonderfully generous people on here, and at its best, the site is a truly awesome and inspiring place.

If you treat Steamgifts as an investment or some sort of lucrative P2W enterprise though, the economics simply aren't going to stack up, and you're probably going to have a miserable time on here.

:)

According to my profile, I've contributed a bit less than $4k. Now, that's actually completely wrong since I get my giveaway games on sale normally, so it's probably more around $1k or so.

The reason I do it is very simple really. I like the warm fuzzy feelings I get when I make someone's day with a free game. Sure, the amount I've spent on giveaways could have bought me my entire wishlist several times over, but I think I like see people happy to win free games more than I like buying games for myself. Hell, many times I've purchased a game with the intention of it being for myself only to decide "Nah, let's go to the forum and have some fun!" instead.

That's my reasoning for it, though everyone has their own reason.

When I found this site I just really liked the idea of it. I gave away games because I thought sharing with other gamers was a rad idea.

Have I given more than I received? Sure, but I don't care about that. If I didn't want to give any games away I wouldn't have. I don't think my CV is some sort of "investment" to win more games and if I never win another game I'll be perfectly fine with that.

hmm

You don't have to be a millionaire to get a high CV. You don't have to "game the system" with bundles to get a high CV. You don't need to hack SG or "know somebody" to get a high CV. I know this to be true because I have none of the preceding to benefit me, and yet I find myself with $500 in CV.

Now, you may not have intended it that way, but your OP came across as accusatory and disparaging. Whatever you think you were saying to us, here is how it came across to me:

"You guys must be cheating to get such high CV values. Either that, or you're complete idiots who blow your money on pumping up your CV so you can be arrogant bastards. People who gift only bundled games should have the same CV as you guys. You all should spend more money in "real" charities instead of showing off on SG."

Looking at that, perhaps you can see why some people reacted negatively.

Now, speaking only for myself, I found your post offensive. You are making a whole lot of assumptions about how people get a high CV and what kind of people they are. The truth is that you have absolutely no clue as to what any of us is really like or why we do what we do. You should ask yourself why you are so quick to think so badly about people you don't even know.

For myself, I give to my community, my country, and even the people here at SG in a variety of ways. My end goal isn't really to inflate my CV, that is just a result of my actions. Sure, I could buy bundled games and game the system if I wanted to, but I choose not to do so. That is just how I was raised, and I don't like bundles, anyway. Sure, I could make giveaways for the masses of SG (and do so, from time to time), but I have very limited funds and so prefer to direct my giveaways to specific groups of people (e.g. those with no wins, yet). Sure, I could try to befriend people of influence here on SG in hopes of gain, but quite frankly, I loathe sycophancy and hypocrisy.

I like giving to other people more than I like receiving. If you can't handle that, then steer clear of me. And if I sound a bit upset, it's because I am.

[Edit: Oh, and one last thing, if a person owns something, he or she has the right to dispose of it in any manner he or she sees fit unless and until doing so brings harm to others.)

believe it or not... most of the people who give away hundreds or thousands of $$$ are doing it because they want to be nice, not because they want to win games

I give (gave, been gone for a long time) away games that I won in contests, got from bundles, got cheap or etc. I don't think that many people spend $50+ and give it away. I'm sure it happens but not as often as you think.

The people who give away games because they think higher CV will win them more games end up disappointed. You have to give away a lot for it to really make an impact on your chances to win - so much, that you'd be much better off just buying the games you want for yourselves.

I do believe most people give away because they like to. Especially people who get high CV. I'm also sure there's a portion of competition involved - getting higher CV is like beating your own high score. And like a high score, some people like to show off their high CV.

With regards to charities, why can't steamgifts be some kind of charity? First world problems can feel serious enough if you haven't tried starving ;)

because they're very generous & wanna use that extra money to make someone else's day rather than blow it all on games or something for themselves. it makes me feel good to do giveaways for others (especially when its their first win & they didn't even expect to win anything & freak out lol). my PC can't run shit, except for old games or 2D stuff. what's the point in hogging games that you're not even gonna play when someone else would be grateful to do so?

when i first came here i thought you had to be rich in order to be worth anything in the community ("All you gave so far was $5 in your first week? What a fucking loser", etc.) or to have a high CV to win anything (cause literally 80% of the giveaways were marked with red CV) but that's not the case at all. like, i wasn't looking at my CV to brag, i looked at it as if to say holy shit, i didn't even realize how expensive games could add up to be, how the hell am i gonna be able to give to everybody? i was stressed over not having the funds to give even though i kept winning games of my own, but once i stopped worrying, everything sorted itself out. even if you just give a lil every month or two months, it still adds up very quick.

if sharing games with others doesn't bring you joy then...i don't see why you're here. i'm not saying you're not welcome, but SG is about giving from your heart (well its supposed to be...) not competition.

Hey, welcome to SG. Yeah, questioning people's life on sg is going to be a very bad idea as you understand now.
Here's a story of my beginning at SG if it helps explain anything:
I wanted free steam games so I googled that. Lo and behold, I found this website. A few days went by and I won nothing. I decided to gift something to improve my chances and it felt nice. It also seemed to work because I won something shortly after. To celebrate winning, I made more giveaways. A few days after that, I found out about the forum. Then, I notice one of my winners was regifting my gift. I talked with him a bit and it seems he never intended to play it but enter it just to regift it. So, I said screw that and never really made any public giveaways after that. Except for high contributor or when I lost a bet.

I enjoy winning games. It makes me try genres I wouldn't touch before. Giving is cool too, I guess.