This site have more as enough bots (autojoiners) .... from the active users are they the majority
No additional ones needed.
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I get what u saying but theyre not as big problem here as on many other sites or apps, spamming ads in chat or comments.
I just think these "official" bots would help the moderators workload on this site.
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You get an email about your win, as well as big notification when you first login after winning... So activate it immediately and no need for a reminder? :-O
Don't really see a benefit in what you're suggesting.
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I personally struggle with remembering stuff cause of my severe ADHD + work and home tasks to remember on top of it,
and dont like steam being open in background 24/7. Also sadly i dont have the time to play games anymore daily.
So i usually write down every to-do and the codes i win, couple times now forgotten nearly or completely about them.
But i check email daily, and i assume most do it atleast weekly.
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That is understandable, but there is the redeem button here. I used t during vacation when i won something. Redeemed through here over the phone not to forget.
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Use something like the snooze function on Gmail? That will pretend that you receive the email once again at the time you specify.
And the won giveaway icon here on SG will keep blinking, so you should see it whenever you visit the site.
If you reveal the keys without using them just to forget about them, that's your problem and not something SG has to fix for you.
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But if i dont view them, it gets rerolled in a week. But yah i get your point.
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Well if you don't have time to play games or check the website. Why bother entering in the 1st place?
Sorry to sound rude, just seems the obvious to me.
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Cause like i have said here already, i WILL play once i have the time. Now career is just more important than videogames.
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So it is a you problem, not an "us" problem. Do you have ADHD? There are meds for that. Do you forget things? there is google calendar for that. You can't redeemed a giveaway right away when a fcking button next to it so it is literally 2 clicks or don't have time for games? Maybe you don't enter a giveaway. See I just solved your problem without anyone else but you have to put work into it ^^
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If someone ignores the email about winning a game and can't be bothered to check the site at least once a week, it seems like they don't care that much about the games and I think I would prefer to get a new winner and have the game go to someone who may appreciate it more.
Having to be automatically reminded about things that happen here sounds like something someone would want if they are using a bot and don't actually come to the site. If you are coming to the site to enter giveaways, there is a popup notification that takes over your screen to let you know you won a game and then there is a red indicator at the top until you activate the game.
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Exactly, there's plenty enough reminders. That suggestion would be an invitation for more filthy botters, as if there wasn't enough of them already. You don't care, you don't win, get the hell out of here.
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But i do care, i just dont have the time to play the games as much as i used to have.
I join only giveaways for games that i am interested to atleast try at some point when i have the time.
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I don't think they were talking about you specifically but generally explaining why most people here don't want even more pandering to winners then there already is.
i am interested to atleast try at some point when i have the time.
Also while you have given more than twice what you won so I have absolutely no issues with your M.O. here is some food for thought:
Games lose value waaay faster than most other products (beside factory new cars maybe).
As an example lets look at the Cyberpunk + Phantom Liberty Bundle:
Right now that thing costs ~ 75€ if you manage to find a small discount but in only 12 months I bet you can have it for just 25 - 30€.
Same goes for not as high profile but quality Indie games.
Space Haven normally goes on sale for 11€ right now but sooner that later you can have it for just a fiver.
So wouldn't it be nice if we all tried to win only what we intend to play in the immediate future so that gifters don't vastly overpay for something we could have had from a Humble 1$ Tier until we eventually get around to play it (maybe).
🤔
I know this doesn't work in real life because people (not you specifically but SteamGifters in general) are just too damn greedy. That's why most people stop giving nice games with the intention to be played sooner or later and stop giving completely or start min-maxing for the maximum Real CV gained per penny invested.
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Yah i have seen many profiles here that have thousands of games on their account, yet they play only the general f2p games like DOTA 2 and CSGO on the account lol. They basically dont touch the won games at all, just activate them on their account, maybe for the game collector badge, dont know.
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Absolutely agree. We get a huge warning. There is no way to miss it as long as you enter the site.
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with the bot/bots it could improve the quality of the website, and take less moderators time and resources most likely.
Bots aren't actually allowed... so if we banned everyone who used them, this place would be a much different environment.
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If you ignore won keys and don't care of them, then giveaway creator should reroll after 7th day as rules says, so he will get a winner, who will want game.
Edit: From someone needing bots to not forget redeem games and someone who refuse delete giveaways, enforcing creators get them new key, I would at least expect you will play these games if you really want them that much.
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I want the games that i join, its just that i dont have the time at this point of my life to play them, im not as young anymore so dont have the energy at the moment to play them, im just gathering the games for a point when my life isnt the hectic city worklife anymore.
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I criticize the lack of useful features, support and whatnot about this site, but this is something I feel is unnecessary.
The email, the huge banner when first time visiting the site after a win, and the notification counter on the top right side of the menu bar are more than enough.
I read your other comment about having ADHD, and not having steam open 24x7. However, there's enough implemented to help in both cases imo. I don't know a lot about ADHD, but I believe these 3 "reminders" should be enough, and you can obviously not delete the email until you claim the key which is as good as another email being sent after a week or two.
You don't need the client to be running or even installed to claim the keys or gifts. You can do that from the browser (use https://store.steampowered.com/account/registerkey in case of a key) or the mobile app too. Just clicking the "Redeem" button for keys takes you directly there, while gifts are available on the website/app as well.
I also read here that the moderators here dont have the time to do this,
Nor should they be required to do so. That's not moderation, but babysitting imo.
At the moment it feels a bit harsh to suspend for days for forgetting to use the won key.
Not really. Besides, sometimes the GA creator is troubled too if the winner doesn't claim their win on time. GA creators need to keep checking to verify that the win has been claimed and make sure they get the correct feedback. A slot is blocked until the feedback is received, causing issues for some of the people here how contribute in bulk. GA creators often have to reach out to the winners to even make sure that there's no trouble (it's required as per the guidelines too, and I have had to do that multiple times), causing them unnecessary headache (SG doesn't provide any method to contact winners directly, so instead to need to either use email, which in your scenario is already useless, or message them on steam which is an easy method to get blocked by them).
Specially now with the time of OpenAI, u can even make the AI code the bots script mostly.
Are you a programmer? Do you have any idea about the other impacts of such a system on the backend?
with the bot/bots it could improve the quality of the website, and take less moderators time and resources most likely.
If the winner do the needful in time, that too would achieve the same, or rather even eliminate the need of bots/any kind of reminder systems/such threads.
PS: Sorry if my responses feel harsh, that's not my intention. But I strongly disagree with this idea.
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How about if it was optional? That u could disable or enable the email notification bot?
Also didnt feel harsh at all, i speak like u do, and yah people take it offensive sometimes i know the feeling man. :D
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No. It's still not required. It will never be required imo. What we have is enough. How is a email any different from the notification indicator on the site in this scenario. If someone is gonna ignore the notification, they are gonna ignore the email too. Besides we already do receive an email when we will. There's no need to babysit/spoon-feed/whater-the-hell-is-the-correct-word-without-being-offending-here. No one should be responsible to remind the winner that they need to activate their wins. Not this site. Not cg. Not the mods. Not the GA creators. No one except the winners themselves.
I know not much about ADHD, but but if people suffering from it don't notice the big banner, the first email, or the ever present notification indicator at the top, then I don't think a second email would make much of a difference.
Also, a bot is very different from what I think you want, if I understand you correctly, so stop calling it a bot imo.
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SG doesn't provide any method to contact winners directly, so instead to need to either use email, which in your scenario is already useless, or message them on steam which is an easy method to get blocked by them
Actually, when winner has old public GA, creator can write there. It's better than trying to contact through Steam or e-mail.
We can see the comment without need for a screenshot, it will never be deleted by the winner (like comments on the Steam profile can be), it has a time stamp that we can use for confirmation (as opposite to a pending Steam invite, that could be sent only for the purpose of making the screenshot before making a ticket).
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Actually, when winner has old public GA, creator can write there. It's better than trying to contact through Steam or e-mail.
Yes, so my point stands. "SG doesn't provide any method to contact winners directly"
That is a work around the community has to use. Sometimes finding a public GA for some people takes a lot of efforts as a lot of people have stopped making public GAs due to some of the bad accounts (not people, accounts, if you know what I mean) here.
It's a waste of time for the creators, unnecessary load on the server too. A simple messaging system would be very simple to implement. Or a comment wall on the user page. Both, easier and quicker than searching for a public GA in some cases.
Also, this doesn't work when the winner doesn't visit SG which is often the case.
Another point: In case the winner is receiving a lot of comments daily (like when they have a huge train ending or an every active discussion topic), it's easy to miss comments, specially since SG doesn't allow us to mark individual comments as read, rather either we mark all comments as read or none. I have been a victim of this. A nice unintentional action/bug due to this is when you have the notification page open, go through all the notifications one by one in new tabs replying to them, and then come back to the notification tab and click the "Mark as Read" button, any new comments you might have received in the meantime is marked as read as well. Happened to me, so now I always refresh the page before marking as read.
We can see the comment without need for a screenshot, it will never be deleted by the winner (like comments on the Steam profile can be), it has a time stamp that we can use for confirmation (as opposite to a pending Steam invite, that could be sent only for the purpose of making the screenshot before making a ticket).
I completely agree with this. From mods' pov, comments are easier t verify. But I am sure a email should be as good as a comment too.
None of the existing methods is completely satisfactory for all (winner, gifters, mods), as each one has some limitation or another. Kinda sad. It really comes down to the fact that the winners need to be available somewhere at least, and be ready to activate their wins. SG should ideally be the official channel for contacting the winners in such a case, but the lack of a real means of communication forces the gifters to look at other means
btw, even the official FAQs suggest using either email or steam, not SG, since there's no real system to communicate.
What should I do if the winner of my giveaway has not redeemed their gift, and I'm unable to get into contact with them?
If you contacted the winner of your giveaway on email and Steam over one week ago and they have not yet responded or redeemed any keys or gifts you attempted to send, please contact support to request a new winner. When creating a ticket, we ask you to include data that suggests you made an adequate attempt to contact the winner, such as screenshots of emails, friend requests, or gifts pending on Steam. If the request is approved, a new winner will be generated by the site.
And the fact that we receive the winner's email address points to the same fact. You suggesting that we should instead comment on SG is just a guideline by you/mods as it is easier for the mods in case of a comment on SG. Not saying your are wrong t think like that, but just want to point out that it's not the optimal solution in all cases and though it reduces the work load of the mods it increases the workload of the gifters and has no advantage over the already existing notification indicator for the wins, since both sit next to each other on the top of the site in the nav bar. So, if the winner can see the notification for the comment, they can obviously see the notification for the win as well.
The only instance where I believe it helps is when the winner activates the win but forgets to provide the feedback.
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No hard feelings, but if you don't have 2 minutes to check once a week, and activate the key from browser (works on phone as well), then there should be no effort, time and money spent to make your life (even)easier. The deck is already heavily stacked on the winner's side, the creator has to run circles to contact them in case visiting the site is too bothersome for them.
There are other people lined up who want the game enough, that they don't need to be spoon fed their wins.
edit: this has choosingbeggars classic flavour: "can you deliver that free furniture to my house? If you're offering, you should actually make an effort to live up to the promise"
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"can you deliver that free furniture to my house? If you're offering, you should actually make an effort to live up to the promise"
Oh my, something that just happened to me last month. The guy came to check the chair I want to sell locally, as I don't have a car to deliver, and delivery with a van would cost half of the chair price.
He came, try, everything went fine. Then silence. He replied a few days later, asking if I can drop the price, as he doesn't have a car and will need to take it on the bus. I posted it as local collection only exactly because of this. He even ordered it and then went total radio silence. All I could do is put unpaid strike on their eBay account for wasting my time.
(I am not writing it in connection to the OP)
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the creator has to run circles to contact them in case visiting the site is too bothersome for them
This. This is a rule I dislike. Right now the rules say it's the the creators' responsibility to contact the winner, when though the site already has so many mechanisms that inform the winner of their wins. I think it should be the winners responsibility to make sure they activate the win in time.
Obviously we all have a life (at least most I believe 😅), so it's understandable if a winner is tied up in IRL stuff and doesn't visit the site at all. In that case I believe even the GA creator can be understanding that they should a wait a little longer until the winner visits the site.
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When I first saw and read through this thread for the first time a few hours ago I was actually very pissed off, to the point that I wrote a not so nice comment and seriously considered adding you to my blacklist. You would have been the first user to make it into my blacklist in almost a decade of using this site, you managed to actually make me angry enough to think about using a site feature I've been purposefully avoiding for years. But I decided against clicking submit and instead wait a bit and give the situation a second look later, I'm still kinda offended tho.
I usually try to be polite in this forum, I of course fail from time to time, but I try. Although I must admit that partly I do so because I'm aware of how some users like to retaliate for the smallest of perceived aggressions and I honestly can't be bothered to deal with that, yet I couldn't give less of a fuck about what someone else might think about me in this occasion, I just wanna speak my mind.
You're exactly the kind of user that annoys the fuck out me. The guy that can and will visit the site multiple times a week, see that they have a key waiting for them and not even bother to take a couple of minutes out of their time to try and activate it, all despite the fact that they can do so right from the goddamn browser, no need to open the Steam client, all that's necessary is to click on a few buttons and move on with their lives but they won't do it. Don't tell me that ADHD is this trump card of an excuse when you're admitting to visiting the site frequently and if you're doing that it's only gonna take you a few more minutes of attention to activate the key and marking as received. Do you have an idea of how annoying it is to wait for days to get something resembling feedback from a winner that you can see has been online (and more than once) since the giveaway ended and one has already sent the key. Why do I even stress myself and feel guilty about delivering the key a few hours late if users like you are going to ignore said key for days? It'd be fine if you couldn't activate it earlier because you weren't online, we all have lives outside of this site, but if you come by and visit it'd only take you a moment. And I know many won't agree with my position about this particular subject, but: I couldn't care less if the winner plays their wins, it's your life and your free time, I can't force you to spend it any particular way, gifting you some intangible string of characters doesn't give me such outrageous authority over what you do simply because they happen to unlock a download for some piece of software. All I ask from winners, in general since I consider it a matter of respect for the community at large, is that they at least attempt to redeem the keys, and if they are unable to do so for whatever reason, TO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT THE GIFTER ASKING FOR A COMPLETELY JUSTIFIED RE-ROLL!
It's not our (as in any giveaway creator) responsibility to hunt for your digital ass beyond what we're already supposed to do according to the site rules. So I would appreciate if you'd be so kind as to figure out a method that works for you to sort out this issue instead of asking for this site to be even more in-your-face than it already is when it comes to informing you that you won a game. And no, asking to cobble together bots, or even worse asking staff to be your personal alarm clocks, isn't a reasonable solution in this case.
Well, fuck! I guess I couldn't be softer even tho I tried a second time. Meh, fuck it, struck me with your banhammer if you must moderator of turn, I earned it this time, I can't be asked to edit this any further even if I come off as a complete asshole.
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Sometimes i want to write things like this, but i can never bring myself to do so. But you did, and i thank you for that, what a beautiful read 🫡
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And that's why I don't do public giveaways anymore.
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I have won 50 overall, and from the 50 i have activated most of them in the first hours or under 2 days, but sometimes, if i win 2 or 3 games in a week, i forgot about the one key, and thats exactly what has happened on my case for 2 games now, so thats why i just want there to be somekind of extra notification before a suspension.
No other reason, i dont ignore them on purpose, i just forget about the most simple things in my life sometimes, and it sucks hard, you dont know cause its not affecting your own daily-life, so its easy to ignore, i actually dream to have a normal brain like u have.
But yah genuinely sorry for making u mad.
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Agreed. Sorry about the BLs you must have received after this comment.
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They could also make a bot to to enter giveaways for you, and another one to play your wins.
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There are people on steam who have programs running to get them achievements in games. They dont play their games much despite owning 2000+, AND i have seen those accounts here too joining giveaways.
I get you are just kidding, but still completely irrelevant to what i was looking here with this subject.
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For example, to send users warnings or reminders for a giveaway key they havent used yet,
that is close to the max time of its required date to be redeemed.
I also read here that the moderators here dont have the time to do this,
so a solution to this would be to consider implementing a bot to do it for them.
At the moment it feels a bit harsh to suspend for days for forgetting to use the won key.
Specially now with the time of OpenAI, u can even make the AI code the bots script mostly.
In the end, i really like this site, and want to see it prosper,
with the bot/bots it could improve the quality of the website, and take less moderators time and resources most likely.
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