Do you think it is okay if someone collects games as a collector but doesn't play after winning?

On one hand, if collecting is the thing that satisfies a person, then the giveaway was a success.
On the other hand, you probably don't want to see your hard earned money languishing in a collection gathering dust.

Solutions:
Give away cheap/bundled games to the masses.
Offer quality games as giveaways in groups that have play or pay policies.
Somewhere in between, give away games for your whitelist.
Outside of pay or play, never go back to check. It'll only end in disappointment.

I think there's a couple tiers here.

Just collecting? Technically completely fine since it is their game and if no gift comes with strings. If people demand or expect them to play it, they're basically handing out gaming-chores, which is as close to weird as you can get.

Not playing it immediately, but only winning games that they actually want to play, but will wait until the mood strikes or when they know they can extract the most fun out of it? - I fall into that category and so obviously I think that's also fine. It might take a while to get to that game thanks to different reasons, but the earnest attempt and interest is there.

Playing it immediately after? - Technically that's the nicest move for sure since that'll likely fill the gifter with fuzzy feelings too. But I hope no one actually does this out of feeling obligated since it's not insane to think that moods shift on a daily basis, so if 4 weeks after the giveaway ends and you have the game in your library you aren't exactly in the mood for it anymore for a bit, that shouldn't be looked down upon since it's more than normal.

Why can't someone be both, would you consider me a collector with 11000 games?
Does that automatically mean i (or anyone else for that fact) does not ever have the intention of playing their wins?

No gifter should ever "claim" their winner, they can respectfully ask for a game to be played within a x time, especially with whitelist giveaways i sometimes see, and that is their right, and even risk losing your spot on that list, but who might not have a backlog, or just not the time right away, and perhaps can even play your won game 2-3 years later, or even 10, so what, does that really make any issue?

I like to giveaway games to see them played, so especially when I give some new released game or expensive AAA title, it matter to me.

I accepted that no game is guaranteed to be played and finished. But any chance is better, than literally 0%, so no, I'm not happy about giving games for hardcore collectors.

I gave away a few games in the past. It were games that I enjoyed a lot and hoped to make more people get into them, but I am more than sure that they meant nothing to the people who received them. Still, I understand, a lot of people are just collecting games for collecting's sake. If I cared about making sure people had to play them - I'd be more careful to choose the right group of people for that, instead of a place where anyone in the world could participate.

I consider that the wish of giveaway creator is the main/only thing that matters.
Logically yes, after winning, the game is the winners. But let's be frank. We ain't that logical of a being. So if a winner doesn't play a game even though the giveaway creator wishes it, then the winner is an asshole.
Ideally you want the winners to always finish or at least play all the games they have won. Realisitically this will never happen. But again this is irrelevant.
For example, most of my steam giveaways were from indiegala feudalife challenge. So the quality of those games are often low and honestly I wouldn't be surprised that if someone plays couple of those games to farm some steam cards at best. For the games that I gave away, I would be completely okay if someone never played it.
And the thing is even the quality of the game is irrelevant. If a giveaway creator is okay with giving away a high quality game without a requirement to play, then it's their decision.

tl;dr For me, If the giveaway creator is ok with it, then it's fine.

I am against pure collecting. Especially when it comes to the higher quality titles(unbundled AAA/high quality indies), the cheap bundle extras are the thing that can keep getting pushed back and I get it there.

it can de-motivate you from buying games to giveaway because you love them... you know how depressing it is to go look at the portal 1+2 giveaways I did in the past when I had a more limited finances and just wanted to share the love for some games and see they are unplayed many many years later?

idk why people even want to collect all the games when all they play is a few F2P games with all their game time.

I would prefer if the people that wins my games actually play them. I try to do it. I also understand that sometimes life gets in the way

I'm in the middle... Mostly depends on the price of the game..
And what is missing on giveaways is a tag open to all or expected to play but I guess it would never happen as also I think by default the expectation is that won games are meant to be played(By the site)...
As for myself I'm trying to start to play my wins at least 1-2h for not so really good games. (Not to go into more detail but I have had a mental period of about 7 years where I don't really play single player games and I am trying now to move past it.. I have probably earned blacklist because of it but who caress.. they are ignorant and horrible people anyways)

I think it's more disrespectful of people who enter and actually want to play the game but since that probably only represent less than 0.1% of winners on SG, I'd say it's hard to draw the line.
Just asking winners to play the game is obviously not enough. I tried that and that never works.
You also have people who are not even game collector but card collectors. They gobble games up to idle them for a few hours, never make any achievement and throw up a few cards on a market to get cents back... yeah I don't get it either but that's even more disrespectful imo.

Anyway I'd recommend anyone who wants their gifts to be played to make their GAs on Playing Appreciated or Playing Matters instead.

I think disrespectful to many different parties.

The person giving away the game. If it wasn't an extra, sometimes they could have used it themselves, but decided to hope for a winner that will enjoy it more than they would... It's sad when it goes to someone who doesn't even wanna touch it. They also spent either time or money on it, and you're taking away the joy the gifter could feel from knowing they genuinely brightened someone's day with something they really wanted and will appreciate fully (or at least try to)

Disrespectful to the people who put their heart and soul into making these games. Disregarding the obvious asset flip games, I know there's quite a lot of them that aren't something anybody would really play, and I don't care much if people wanna collect those to up their +1, but leave the quality games alone... It's someone's creative work and you treat it like nothing, games are (most of the time) lovingly crafted by people for others to enjoy, experience and learn

Lastly, the other potential winners of the giveaway. It's wasteful and sad to take a game for such a minimal reason when someone else who could have really wanted to play it has now missed out... All the giveaways out there that could have made someone happy, instead going to sit there indefinitely in someone else's library, it makes me so mad

I don't understand collecting a virtual title in your account, it means nothing if you don't play it.... It's not something cool you display on your shelf and enjoy looking at, and it's connected to your account, so you can't seperate it and sell it one day as if it will have some later value... So you collect to show people you've accumulated 10,000 games? To say you simply own something is enjoyment? It's just really a meaningless activity/behaviour

I don't care if the winner plays my giveaways anytime soon or years from now. But I find it very frustrating to give games to people who only farm cards or want to get +1 to their library, especially if it's a non-bundled game

Option 3, it's disrespectful to those who participate to play the game.

As a donor, it depends on the game.
If I do a giveaway for a freebie, I don't necessarily expect it to be played. On the other hand, for games that have never been bundled, it's clear that the winner should play the game.

Games are meant to be enjoyed, the way i see it. If you get enjoyment from just collection, i guess i don't really have a problem with it, but it'd be a lot better if you played it, like it, leave a review and support the developer.

Depends on the game. I understand some trash games only have value as a +1, but if it's an actual game you should play it. Because why else would you enter for it? I know a lot of people do it, but... it's just not right. Other people would have loved to play it, enter for games you want to play (unless they're objectively trash, I understand that).

I can't say I've tracked my winners though. I would for a direct gift though.

It depends.

If in my subjective opinion i think a game is trash i make the GA Public and do not care. The same is true for some MP focused games and some games that where allready bundled to death.

But if i want to see a game played i make the GA for groups who expect it from the winner. This solves the issue for me.

There are groups that require playing, so give away there if that's what you want.

I will play some games, whether I own them on Steam or not. There are some games I would play immediately if they were released, and others that I have much less interest in.

There are also games that I have played in the past, and enjoyed, but do not own on Steam, so would like to collect. I might play these again sometime, but I mostly collect them because I liked them. I also like to complete the set if I have several games in a series, I tend to want to collect them all, even if I don't want to play it.

Then there is random junk that I have no intention of playing, but still enjoy adding to my library.

Didn't vote because it depends on the gifter and the reason for their giveaway. If the gifter spent money to share something they enjoyed with a stranger who will play and appreciate it too, it would be a shame if it went to someone who only cared about getting +1 game count. If a gifter only cared about boosting their own CV, then it wouldn't matter. There are plenty of different situations and different sorts of people on here. To be on the safe side, I think people should only join GA's for games they actually care about whenever the purpose of the GA isn't specified.

1st - i think creator of GA should choose does he want collectors to take part in his GA.
2nd - how can you differ collectors from others? Most possibly non collector should be checked by creator of GA after some fixed time for how many hours he played the game from GA. And as a result there may be some rating system.

As for me i generally think it is normal to collect. I enter to GA`s of old games mostly for collection.

I'm cool with it, I understand for some people collecting is the thing. I know I plan to play everything I win at some point but the games I enjoy like Fallout, Pathfinder, Baldur's gate and the like tend to take a lot of time so there is that. I took a break from Kingmaker to play some of my wins and I must say I am enjoying them.

Somewhat in between. Most of the time, I don't care, but when I do a giveaway for a good game I've played and enjoyed before, I really wish the winner would play it.

I think it is somehow disrespectful. I mean, it can happen all the time that you make a gift and the recipient doesn't like it. However, for Steamgifts this argumentation doesn't work as the recipient is actively choosing his gift.

I've given games in the past that I really liked (also some of the bundled games) and I wanted other people to enjoy these games as well. So, it is somewhat frustrating if the game rots away in someone's library. There are also games I gave away and didn't care for. However, there was surely someone within the other entries who actually was interested in playing the game. So, it would be unfair towards them.

If someone wants to collect games that is okay. I have nothing against collectors. But please don't do it at the cost of others. At the end of the day, gifting is the best when both sides enjoy the process and we as recipients of a gift have a significant hand in this, simply by spending some time with said gift.

I know it is quite easy to be greedy and just click away our points. But if everyone just holds back a little bit more, most if not all of us will have a better time with Steamgifts.

Yes, as long as the giveaway has served its intended purpose (in my case, that's someone else making more use of the game than I would), then it's fine. The only exception is when I make a giveaway to share the "gameplay" rather than the "key" because I want others to experience it. I rarely make such giveaways, but when I do, they are often games I buy specifically for that purpose. They're not bundle leftovers or whatever happens to be deeply discounted, but games I really enjoyed and wanted to share.

I personally only enter games that look interesting. I play my wins, but not necessarily immediately unless it's from a group that requires it. Too many games, too little time. Even if I had the time, It would feel like a chore if I forced myself to play something just to call it "played". Oh, and there are also cases where I think I would enjoy a game, but then it turns out that I don't (or I'm not skilled enough for it).

In that sense, I get both ends of the spectrum. I understand why some people want their games played, and I understand why other people feel the giver is expecting too much from them when what they enjoy more is collecting/farming cards/playing later.