I hope one day i will have enough willpower to read this

Option 1 is the only thing I've read that makes sense.

Seems like an okay idea, but as others have stated this cannot replace Contributor giveaways, it only works as an additional option to what currently exists.

tl;dr: SG friends list, so you can share/invite to private giveaways

EDIT: Also, Suggestion: Replies counter on top bar.

Ex: (1) Replies

It still feels kinda useless to me because it still feels to much like a group/private giveaway.

But even besides that I highly doubt people will be inviting random strangers to their giveaways anyways most if not all will be people they already know/their friends. It would seem more convenient if there was just a steam friends list giveaway thing, but then again you could just make a group for all your friends instead.

It would require too much clicking every time I would like to do such giveaway for different people I guess but meh, I'm just a lazy guy. Plus I can imagine drama "you picked him, but not me" if the giveaway is mentioned in one of chats... no, I think I wouldn't use that feature but maybe it could be handy for others.

Therefore, I'm not against, I just can't see any use for me in it right now.

I don't like the idea of having "Friend Giveaways" replace the contributor system. The reason being that, while they may do away with bundlers, they actually function in a rather different manner from the contributor system. Imo, keeping the first suggestion where bundle games can only contibute a percentage is a better solution. Having said that, the friend system is a nice idea on its own.

As I said in the official thread, the whole friends list thing doesn't actually have anything to do with solving the issue. Option 2 is more or less "remove contribution altogether". The list idea is good on it's own, but it can't be considered a replacement for contribution.

EDIT: Ok, ok, it's still a good idea on it's own. Probably a bit of work though, so more or less depends or whether you guys wanna take the time to code it. :P

I don't see how this fixes bundle key giveaways at all? Unless option 1 was not the one about reducing value of bundle keys... (and even then I still don't see how)

I like the idea of a list of friends and the opportunity to send "private" giveaways to them without having to share the link with each and every person. However, I don't think that this should substitute contributor giveaways. You can always try to check the profile of the winner, or ask him/her for some more info if you think that there is something wrong. In the worst case scenario, where you really really really don't want to deliver the game, you can drop your percentage received by users :(

I like the idea of being able to make little lists. And since it won't affect either the Contributor Giveaways nor remove the private ones, I see no harm in adding it. A lot of people might think of it as an 'extra hassle' to make a giveaway, but I'm pretty sure there's also many people who'll find creative ways to use the new feature.

Also, epic fight indeed xD Reading it brightened my mood a bit.

10/10 would read again.

How long did you take to type all of these lengthy descriptions?

(I read it all and still missed the "I don't think this will replace Contributor Giveaways to help against bundlers and cheating, but can just be an addition to current public, group and private giveaway types.")

The addition of this friend feature might be great, it encourage people to be more active in the forum. More forum lurkers.

it's starting to get complicated, just when i start to understand every option's value...:)

I think this is a very nice SG method for making a new kind of giveaways,
but as you said already "will not replace... to help against bundlers", i stick to option #1 as the best solution to what exactly had made you start all these threads and hunt for solutions anyway.. the bundle keys...

Yup. Option 1 and no need to worry about the rest until adding site features.

Friend list is not a bad idea. But I can see what kinda problems it may lead to... Every giveaway become so much more personal with hand picked lists and invites and if you're inviting like more than 20-30 people, most of the time you might forget a few people whihc may cause some problems afterwards.. Also it requires so much work to add people one by one for every giveaway you create, even more so if you create lots of giveaways and have a lot of friends... That being said, of course it is perfect for SG duels!

I have to add need of a blacklist is more urgent than a friend list and I'm sure you're aware of that since some people are already using blacklists getting special permission to do so.. Another problem with friend lists might be "invite begging". People might ask for invites and it's hard to reject in that case even if you don't want to coz it's like saying "You're not my friend!" clearly..
Another thing is, I made some friends through giveaways who were not familiar with me before winning or gifting. Using a list of friends will remove that possibility of making new friends from groups and it might hit new users even harder.

My suggestions:

• Please make every giveaway group/private/public visible in the profile of anyone "it doesn't have to be a working link". I don't see why they're hidden anyway, what are we actually hiding?

• Multiple "cross-group" group giveaways is a great idea!

• Add a blacklist feature and it is much much easier to manage than a friend list, you don't even need to change it everytime.

• Please try to fix option 1 "contributor giveaways" first, which is they best option in my opinion so far, before introducing other options at the same time. One perfectly working system is much better than multiple half working systems..

• Please punish abusers by removing exploited games value, not by suspending them 2 days only and letting them back with full value again.

I'm not a fan on the collateral damage on option #1 so I find option #2 and your variation very interesting. A +1 from me, Hichigo.

It's an interesting idea, would probably only be truly helpful and beneficial (in terms of winning giveaways, should be helpful as just another option to anyone trying to give away) to those users who are well known and post a lot in the forums already, or those that people know are heavy contributors already. More new members who haven't fully started commenting and talking yet or who are afraid of the forums will be left out of some giveaways.

But who's to say that's a problem?

I manged to read up until number 2.)

Then I kind of forgot what I read at number 1.)

I'll get through it eventually, I promise!

Im so lazy I had the compute read it to me lol(kinda painful on the ears, the text to speech not your post)

Anyways sounds kinda like group + private invite only easier. There will still be Contributor giveaways and people who exploit will keep on doing it, and people who dont will continue not too.

can anyone post a tl;dr version?

+∞