What's wrong with the contributor system and how we could change it

I figured this would get ugly. I never saw the thing in the FAQ, so when my contributor value was not what I thought it would be, I submitted a ticket. I was politely informed how SG operates, and I accepted that explanation. I continue to accept it.

My one thought is this: I have given away $70 worth of games. My contributor value is $30. When I see a giveaway that is between $30.01 and $70, I think, "How petty do they really have to be to have made this overly complicated system to cheat me out of, not a game, but a one in hundreds or thousands CHANCE of winning a game?" But that's just what I think when I see them. I don't believe my contributor value should be raised. I think a similar thing when I see a giveaway for a much higher contributor value. For example the guy who is always making $500/$1000 giveaways. You all know who I mean. If you can afford to give that much, you don't need a free game. I'm a guy who works for a living and pays bills -- yet somehow, I'm on SG and I've given away $70 worth of games.

Here's my suggestion. And it's in no way meant to be taken seriously at all. As I said, I accept the way SG operates now. It may not be perfect, but it's not terrible and hey, I have gotten one free game already. I haven't gotten nearly what I've given and that's before I consider my time, but I have gotten more than I expected. I'm not complaining. Anyway, the suggestion: Let people choose whether to make a contributor giveaway or not. No amount set. If they have gifted the value of the game or more, they're in. If not, they're out. The only other option is a non-contributor giveaway in which everyone can get in. That way, there would be no game $30 or less (or $70 or less, if the bundle thing went away -- since bundles are limited, it should be what the game costs when the gift is given) I could not enter a drawing for. But something like the GTA bundle would be out of my reach. And what would make people gift more than $100 in games? I dunno. Rewards of some kind? View the site without ads, automatically enter givewaways (e.g. create a watch list, like say "Tomb Raider" and any game matching that, you enter), things like that. I don't know. If you have that much to give, you're a generous person, but you probably don't need more free games. Right? So create value elsewhere.

I have a simple question for the OP. Ever wondered why the 90+% off sales from Steam, etc are not labeled as bundle games in SteamGifts, despite all that data being already processed by SteamGameSales and thus available?

It should be trivial to add those deals automatically and make sure nobody gets inappropriate CV from deeply discounted games. Compare with bundle list? managed manually.

First hint: referrals.
Second hint: no amount of sensible reasoning about this will ever result in any change.

I don't really see how someone who essentially contributed nothing should be concerned with contributor system. It's not made for you.

TL:DR, but Sales=/=Bundles, thanks.

A better cap for the contribution value that can be requested by the person gifting the game might help, imo its the sight of multiple Hundred (or thousand in some cases) of dollar requirements to enter a giveaway that drives ppl to farm contribution values, some of the contribution requirements on something that is meant to be a giveaway are a little harsh to say the least.

Im sure this has been suggested before and shot down so feel free to flame away, its just my opinion as a newbie here is all.

TL;DR

I think it's good as it is. Bundle games = more common, more people have them, hence those giveaways are discouraged (but not forbidden!). Also, games that are not bundle games are being encouraged, because they are in higher demand.
Enough said.

тгам

Are you serious? Get rid of it all?!
That's like saying you donate to something to kickstarter without getting something special in return.

I veto this.

For stypid mans and women

You buy bundle games and help children, poor mans and another. It's noble cause.

And about another sales - valve and another companies grab money from idiots. So you agree with that fact and that's why this games isn't in bundle list

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE SYSTEM

1) I agree. This needs to be changed. It is very vague.

2) They didn't expect such a massive flow of giveaways. People were just trying to farm. "I've seen someone that payed for 10$ in these sales." And how many of them do you think are actually doing that?

3) It's because they single games, and not bundles. (Well I guess amazon has bundles as well.)

4) Gotta say this I agree with. It doesn't count as a bundle, but it really does encourage people to giveaway the games separately instead of as one. Though on the other hand, I guess there can be more winners?

5) Yea I agree, it is a sad thing and it really does discourage people to give away indie games.

6) Can't say I agree with this. Not all contributors are wealthy at all. Also there are plenty of giveaways for the public that need 0$ value, I just checked and it was about 300, even saw 3 or 4 Bioshock Infinites.

HOW TO FIX IT

1) Probably. Still, I think there should be some way to reward the people who give things away.

2) That'd actually make it lower kinda. A LOT of people forget you get the indie bundle keys value back when you donate nonbundle games.

3) This isn't really a solution to the value system at all. It's an idea as old as time as self. :p

One last thing people should remember is 5x( or so) giveaways were made and have been stable since the value system came into place. If the value system just left over night, many people would stop gifting because many people do it for the value. You can say "we don't want those kind of people here." but the simple fact is they help the site live. Yes, it's not the best reason to gift at all, but many people do it for that reason, and doing that as least gives a little good for people to win games.

System is alright, just us humans are a bunch of #$)@# #$@#%, while also being @#)$)% and dicks.

There use to be no contributer system at all, the site functioned fine, honestly I could care less if there is one, its whatever, BUT problem is people do take advantage of it, best course of action I think is to leave it be and just update the Bundle list when stuff happens(like the Humble weekly).

I think people obsess to much over the system.

How to fix the contributor system? Stop treating it like a pay2win system. Because it really isn't. Groups and private giveaways are still where individuals get the most wins.

I like the system how it is at the moment.
The only thing I'd like to be different is the number of thread made almost everyday about how to change it.
And weirdly enough it's often someone with a CV < 30.01.

I've read it all. Even if I don't agree with some of your points expressed there I do think that removin the CV definitely is the only completely fair measure.

There's also the thing about sales. Noone gets mad about people giving away stuff they got cheaply in a sale and bundle games aren't free, almost, so it's pretty much a huge discount rather than something different than a discounted game in a store.

My contribution value decreased?!
It's ok but the fact that other contributors/ givers are upping the price too high to enter their giveaways is not really cool.

I think the $1 bundle games is fine, if they work out the problem with that ... a game was in a bundle a year ago, ALWAYS A BUNDLE!, which is false. If someone wanted to hang onto a key for 4-8 months, I don't care if they get full credit.

I am vehemently against earned giveaway entry points, that's just turning this site into the other ...

you only giveaway 2 free game but complain,its not false steamgift if new user dont get point from bundle game and the system its fine, new user should learn to read before join/giveaway a game

I don't see anything wrong about people giving away bundle keys. As long as they don't abuse. Any game that has been a "cheap" bundle, should be flagged as such, and, only 1 should count to CV per person.

I only gave away bundle games yet, and just a few, but I only got a copy of the bundle, the games I gave away were those I already got in my collection. I could just simply gave them to anyone in my friends list, instead, I came here to give them away. If people are so worried about leechers, you got the option to create a giveaway for contributors only, at whatever the price. Clearly there are some people here that want to abuse from humble bundles and such, but the bundle games aren't the problem, people who abuse are.

Bundle games could even be considered like, 50% of retail price, but only AFTER they appear in such bundles. CV shouldn't be changed every week just because.. Get a good system going, then stick with it, but do a system where it's really hard to exploit such bundles.

And don't forget, there are always games on sale for really low prices, or giveaways on other websites, so, it's nearly impossible to keep track who's exploiting or not. This is really hard to cover. Good luck.

Honestly, I really do like the fact that you can make the giveaways semi-exclusive with this kind of system. That being said, I think the site would be better off without it, or at least with an overhaul of the system. There are plenty of times where the site just seems too exclusive in the contributor's favor. It's not something that the site did, but more about how the community handled it. Especially when you have giveaways that you needed to donate literally thousands of dollars to enter. While it also isn't necessarily a terrible thing, there's a ton of giveaways with pre-reqs of $30 or $40, but there'll be like 1 or 2 cents tacked on there. If anyone legit contributed something, but can't enter that particular giveaway (due to the extra few cents), it almost feels like a slap in the face.

That's just my two cents though. Heh, two cents.. Yeah, never mind.

Gee, whatever happened to giving away games because one is nice? Apparently you think everyone just "gives" games to get access to high CV giveaways.
And as far as "homogeneity", only bundles let you pay what you want. Amazon, Steam, etc all have fixed prices.

Long but really good discussion. I totally agree with your first point, in which FAQs stays at the bottom of the site. It's very hard to new user to notice. And we also need a little tweak toward the reply system and the way the select games to giveaway as well. Scrolling is just a pain in the *** when I want to create multiple gifts.

I really like your idea about the requirement of number of entries in order to join a giftaway. Why dont we have 2 systems, along with CV, work simultaneously. For example: I create a giveaway require 100$ CV but people with 10 entries for that game also have the chance to enter.