Holiday Event 2019

I'm having fun going through some really cool-looking boxes.
Shame I can only unlock 5 of them.

That sure seems on point to me. :P

It looks so unamused with falling down.

"Hello, animal control? My cat was just eaten by a mimic. Please send trained adventurers immediately."

What's the reset time on the "per day"?

It's based on GMT. The site will display the time remaining in the day once you open a box.

Well. Tagging dlcs and free games would be nice indeed. Yes.

+1

Probably should also note if the game is hidden on our lists. As that is one way to filter DLC that we own...

Honestly, I see a lot of benefit to this. Well, I can't say whether it's good for the event itself or not [especially given how high profile gibs would only be targetted that much more, especially via wishlist (or ignore list) manipulation*], but I really am not all that keen on the idea that I might miss a top-wishlisted giveaway or, conversely, that someone who didn't really want my game entered it simply because they stumbled onto it and the entry count was low.

*{ie, The adding and removing of specific games to wishlist or ignore list to check contents without revealing.)

And, as you touched on, basing filtering off existing lists is a great way to avoid items that feel less appealing by their fundamental nature [ie, being won DLC or undesired free game]- nevermind those which give less of a "festive" vibe and more of a "here's my garbage, take it" one. Well, cg could always just disable free games for the event, as well, to avoid half of those concerns outright.

A more clunky but potentially more functional alternative'd be to let people select an event-specific, on-site wishlist and filter list, thereby giving cg more control over how such lists are handled. Like, "select any 100 games you want to filter out for this event" and "select any 5 games you want to see revealed prior to opening". Could alternatively just limit the timing (as in, "you must add at least X number of items to desired games at once") and/or ability to remove elements from the lists. It'd be more work on cg and users, but it may work better in regards to avoiding exploitation and other issues.

/

Well, personally, I'm favorable towards just getting a "No Value", "DLC for owned game", and "DLC for unowned game" warning.
Y'know, for the simplest-to-implement fix for the matter. It'd also be cool if it combined the "free game" and "wishlist" parameters, so as to also add a "No Value + Wishlisted" result. On that note, I forget if the API sends out wishlist data for DLCs properly or not. "Wishlisted No Value/DLC" and "Unwishlisted No Value/DLC" could be an even simpler approach.

It might heavly reduce number of aviable boxes for some users ( i know folks with thousands of filtered games) but personaly i would welcome such changes. Though it probably wont happen. Yes.
+1 for sure. Yes.

+1
Its a lot more fun opening gifts when you know there's a good chance it's something you want instead of being almost guaranteed to be something you're not interested in.

Another one that should be filterable is bundles. But hidden and DLC would also be hugely helpful.

+1
Excluding DLC from the event is the best approach.

Ehh, I thought some of the the troll presents were pretty funny. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yeah, those troll wrappers are about 100x less funny than the creators think. I mean, it's obviously no big deal, just makes you roll your eyes and move on, but it's lame.

Good point, would be kinda awkward opening a box and finding a DLC inside.

5 boxes per day.
Maybe mark a dlc

Agreed.

Now that I'm working off of fresh experience rather than fuzzy year-old experience, I can emphasize the following:

DLCs and Free games, and "Not Interested" in general [since that also serves to hide removed-from-Steam/Profile Limited content that can't normally be detected, much like DLCs], still remain an awkward aspect of the event, and certainly should be addressed in some way. I'd kinda be inclined towards something which forces a bit of random opening to the event, such as a daily [random open] box, but that's just my own whimsical style. There's not really any need for more than 5 boxes, especially not if fitlering (of any sort) is added.

The issue isn't in getting a feeling of "this is bad", but of getting a "why did I even have this available to me in the first place".
Highs and lows make the event (and limiting opens helps with emphasizing that), but certain should-be-filtered content simply feels like it's jarringly out-of-place for the event (and almost unnaturally reduces available openings).

In short, "more opens" is just a bandaid approach for reducing irritation over a lack of filtering; The two changes don't need to both be implemented.

+1

I mean, you get some great rare or unbundled DLCs at times. And some of us value DLCs very highly.
Unlike free games, which just feel out of place for the event, DLCs'd be fine if there was just some sort of indication as to which boxes contained them, and the site being able to check by wishlist that the DLCs are desired by the user. 'Course, that level of detail would only further limit how many people actually enter for certain DLC giveaways.. but then, putting low interest DLCs into the event would be a bit awkward to begin with, so maybe that sorts itself out appropriately.

Thanks for the suggestion, OS preferences have now been integrated. You'll only see boxes for your OS when browsing the available page, and you'll be blocked from accidentally opening a box for another OS.