I think that's a great idea! Definitely helps cut down on the multiple hundreds of entries for every game.
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I agree. Entering a giveaway, and then seeing 850 entries next to it... is really discouraging.
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Maybe reset all open giveaways as well at the same time.
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The only problem that I can think of arising is that if a person had say, 10 tickets right now, and a large percent of the next 48 hours of giveaways ended within an hours time - an hour later their ticket count will be reduced - having a ticket count decrease would probably infuriate some members. Furthermore, what would happen if that person had entered 10 giveaways that didn't end - and their ticket count was reduced?
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I understand what you're saying, it's possible their entry count will be over the allowed amount. I think the biggest issue with what I originally posted is as follows. Say 100 giveaways are ending today, and tomorrow 20 are going to start and end. You think you're able to enter 10%, so 12 entries. You decide to pass up all the giveaways today, and wait to use those 12 entries on tomorrow's 20. Well, those 100 end, and tomorrow the 20 giveaways open, but now you're limited to 2 entries (10% of 20). You decided to pass up those 100, so you could have the extra entries, but now they're no longer available.
A simple fix would be to take into account past giveaways. Select a fair timeframe, maybe users can bank entries for up to a week. Max entries can be 10% of giveaways ending in the upcoming 48 hours, and past week. So, say you pass up 50 giveaways today, you can still save those 5 entries and use them anytime in the next week. The upcoming 48 hours helps to boost max entries if there's a sudden increase in giveaways. Would that work?
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I think that might help. Thinking about it, a better solution I guess would be give out "tickets" at a fixed interval, say 4 times a day. Calculate how many to give dynamically, like you originally stated, but split it 25% - so if that person was going to get 12, they'd get 3 now; and maybe more or less 4 hours later - depending upon the giveaways that have finished or are beginning.
This solves the problem of disappearing tickets, and kind-of keeps the amount of tickets in circulation dynamic; people can spend the tickets as they get them, or they can skip entering giveaways to collect more tickets.
With such a system however, an "activity" threshold would have to be imposed to make sure somebody that signed up yesterday, but doesn't come on until in a years time doesn't come on with thousands of tickets.
What do you think of this solution?
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I like the concept, it makes a lot more sense from the user's viewpoint, as disappearing tickets would cause mass confusion. What about if we take value into account as well. For simplicity, imagine 1 point is equal to 1 dollar. Everytime a giveaway is created, everyone gets 10% of that value in points. So for example, we have $3,800 worth of giveaways, so if you joined on day one, you might have 380 points. Then, you spend these points to enter giveaways. A $50 dollar giveaway would take 50 points to enter, a $10 giveaway 10 points, etc. Instead of an activity threshold, we could just cap the maximum number of points you can stock up. Perhaps, 500 or something similar.
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I really like this idea, however I've picked out another flaw that would affect both this and the original concept: There is no verification in-place, nor is there possible - I believe, that a user actually has a gift available to give before putting it up on this site. With these models, it would be entirely possible for one member to put up a give-away of say, the Valve Complete Pack, and saying they have ...100 copies of it. That is $9,999 added straight to the site's "gifts value", and would add 999 tickets to everybody's account - effectively maxing out everybody's possible points.
There are a number of solutions that could be implemented to make this model work:
Like in the suggestions thread, these are off the top of my head. A little focus group could probably come up with a load more, perhaps more elegant solutions.
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I could setup a cap for a max of 50 points created for a giveaway. It wouldn't make sense for someone to create a number of fake giveaways, they'll only receive negative feedback, and no longer have access to the site. If we only create points for 'received' giveaways, that causes another issue. What happens if a high number of giveaways are setup today? People might not have points to enter, and they can't expect to receive new ones until they all close.
I'm thinking it'll work though, or at least be a start in the right direction. When a giveaway is created we send out 10% of that value in points. As well, new users automatically get 20 points to start, and you can stock up on them to a max of 400.
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Am I understanding this right: 1 ticket for each day you're a member. So if you happen to earn, lets use your 50 point example, 50 points, and use them on a $50 game; does that mean the person will have to lurk for another 50 days before they can enter another giveaway?
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It sounds to me like you're trying to replace the point system with a similar system which gives all games the same value (2P), and instead of the limit you add expiration on old points.
It's not bad, but I think that the reasoning for the point value was fine, and reducing the percentage of points granted to be in line with the 2P value as an average would produce the same effect.
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True, but everyone would be in the same boat, and the odds would be identical. For example, say 100 people are interested in HL2, and there are 10 HL2 giveaways. If you're limited to entering 10%, you can end one. The giveaways should average 10 entries each, meaning you have a 10% chance of winning. If they were somehow grouped, you would have 100 entries for a giveaway of 10 copies, which is exactly a 10% chance of winning again. The benefit of keeping them separate though, is that you can increase your odds if it's a game you really want to win. If there were other giveaways going on at the same time, you could focus more on HL2 by entering 5 different ones, giving you a 50% chance, while another person could use 1 entry for a 10% chance, and their other 4 entries on other games.
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Another idea, let people enter more than one time in one giveaway max of 10, that way you can have bigger chance for winning one game you really wanted, that's abusable though, you would have to implement 24-hour time limit or anything time based.
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not exactly. the issue is if one giveaway for some reason ends up with more entries than another and you already used up your entries in the giveaway with more entries, you have worse odds. just read kijib's idea and love it (maybe a more balanced way would be 1/3 of your entries for unlimited participation in the same game)
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everything is abusable even that 10 entries cap like cg said, one would just enter those 10 entries that are going to end soonest and then after one ends, enter another and another, that's only a possiblity, i'm not sure how it really works.
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I like this suggestion and if he doesn't have hl2 by the time summer sales come, well we'll see :D
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Is the number of giveaways entered displayed in the profile, historic or just open giveaways?
IMO should be # / # as in:
number of open giveaways entries >>> # / # <<< historic total of giveaways entered.
High numbers can be misleading if it is the historic total.
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I don't think that game cost should really have anthing to do with it. I guess I can see what you mean in terms of a $5 game vs a $60 game. But I imagine the $60 would get far, far more entries anyway, giving you a lesser chance.
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plus games that are on sale are being counted for their full value.
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What about a something like a flat rate? Say 10-20 for nongifters and every time you gift something successfully you go up 5 or 10 extra clicks. I know it kind of makes it a rich mans game, but in the process they're gifting games. It's also a little weird because right now there are giveaways that are open for days and ones that are closing soon. They're not easy to sort so trying to spend your day strategically planning your submissions seems like it will kill any idea of playing it forward.
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I could see it working if the percentile excluding multiple entries on games and the 10% it counted had to be unique game entries. Things like portal and the frozenbyte bundle are popular giveaways right now. Having more than enough up to meet a quota well you want to sign up for all of them to win but might not be able to unless the quota only counted unique game entries
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There should definitely be a limit on entries. It will be interesting to see an economy develop between the using your entry tickets for the higher profile games (more entries, lower chance of winning) and the lower profile games (less entries, better chance of winning). This will cause myself, and others, to really evaluate which contests we want to try and enter.
Love the site, btw :)
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Great idea! Also will help people entered for what they REALLY want. I'm trying out demos for things that I'm entering for, so that I can help myself make that decision. It seems to be helping. Having an added limit would help more. Lets the giveaways get spread around some.
Also some kind of limit for those who have already one might be nice (maybe a 24 hour wait or something?), though I don't know if that's fair. Just woke from a nap, so I may be rambling a bit.
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It would be better to make a game checker to check if the user already own the game if he/she doesnt he/she can enter.
Also for entering a giveaway make it "solve a trivia question" or something like that.
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I like the idea of having a requirement to join. I have no idea on how it can be made, but I think a game checker is easier said than done.
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what happens when you enter and a give away ends do you get a ticket back?
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What the... fuck? A year old... huh? What's going on?
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This would be a nice improvement! but...
Necromastery! Com`er!
Submit to the Empire of Bones!
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Hey guys,
I think it's obvious this is one of the first improvements that needs to be setup. It should help to keep people from entering for games they already own, while at the same time, allowing them to only enter for giveaways they're serious about winning.
Here's what I had in mind. We take the total number of giveaways ending in the next 48 hours, and select a percentage that's allowed to be entered. Let's say 10%. Then, this is compared to the total number of giveaways someone has entered in the past 48 hours. So, let's say 100 giveaways are ending in the next two days, that means you're limited to 10 entries during that time. The number could be listed next to the 'Enter This Giveaway' button, so it might say (4/10), meaning you can enter 6 more giveaways. Thoughts?
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