Do you play games that you win?! [Vent]

It seems like many here don't try to win games because they like playing games, they do it because they like having large Steam libraries... also €0.20 in cards multiplied by 300 starts meaning some real money, even though it maybe costed the giveaway creators €3 per game on average, so that's one way of turning €900 to €60 and inflating someone's library of unplayed games that will never get touched... For me, I would much rather pay the person winning a giveaway for the cards those €0.20, or even the double, and let someone who wanted to play the game win it instead.

I only join giveaways for games I want to play, and I make sure to play them. I finished around 2/3 of my won games so far, and always making good progress in a few more games. Aiming for 100% of course :)

When it comes to your game, maybe you could do a SGTools giveaway that required the entrants to have the game wishlisted before the date the giveaway was made? Probably still means a lot of people who would only farm it for cards (some people add all games with cards to their wishlist...), but maybe a few more would try it for real?

They won your game for the steam "metagame", not for your game in particular. Library number, cards, steam level, etc. I guess they didn't care.

I've given away 50 keys of my game several times and usually my game* gets drained of cards through idling bots, with only few people of those 50 trying to actually play it.

sorry. =(
most everyone will farm them just about instantly, but some may have intent to go back and actually play it eventually. and then there ofc are some who have no intent on playing it, and were merely after the cards and plus one to the library.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong? Maybe I should some sort of restrictions on my giveaways, so my keys wouldn't go to card farmers?

i can't really answer that first part, however there are groups such as playing appreciated that require their wins to be played or else they will be kicked from group.

Sometimes I play then way too late (I still have 2, maybe even 3 year old unplayed ones) but I want to play as much of them as I can. I'm sorry that you had such an experience with your game, it really shows that you care about it. Try Playing Appreciated or some similar group for your giveaway if you want them really to be played, if you give enough copies that SG will consider it as a promoted dev giveaway all the bots and everyone and their dogs will flock on it :\

Given the nature of the internet and the "free" nature of this site (no membership requirements, anyone can join at some level), there's going to be a percentage that simply try to get their hands on anything that isn't nailed down. You can't avoid it. All you can do is (as others have suggested ) is establish some prerequisites through SGTools.

I don't idle any of my games, unless you count them running in the background when I talk to you guys. But if I don't like it it gets closed doesn't stay open long. I try to play everything I won at least a little, sadly a few haven't been able to really catch my attention though so . . . they only get up to around 15mins before I get frustrated with them.

That's sad to hear. I guess a future solution could be to not include trading cards with your game and then at least it removes the people who wants the game for the cards although the whole collector +1 library aspect remains... perhaps SteamGifts isn't great for promotional purposes.

this website is just full of people who just want to sell my game's cards to buy some stupid Rainbow Pony Deluxe CS: GO Butter Knife skins and it's impossible to avoid them :)

Just to note, even if I won a game that I really wanted to play, it would probably still be idled first, since the process is automatic (it does its work precisely when I don't have the time yet to play the game). Of course, I would eventually get round to playing the game, but there is a very real possibility that I have to finish quite a few other games first.

Nope.

I'm one of those persons that just collect games for the sake of having a collection.
I guess you could always give away more copies until it reaches someone who actually plays it?

Damn, and your game looks awesome

I think if you made a post in the discussion board specifically asking individuals who were willing to play your game to volunteer. Then, make a whitelist-only GA for your game. Whitelist the volunteers. Check back on the discussion post from time to time for feedback and such. Don't allow people who have 10,000 games into your GA. I think you're right though: most people just want to accumulate thousands of games without ever playing 99% of them. I only enter GAs of games that I intend to play, but even so, it is often hard to find time.

It's sad, but it is not just this site, it's a large percent of Steam users. A lot of people call themselves gamers, but the main game they play is the the Steam social media game of collecting so they can impress their online "friends" with big numbers. They collect cards, badges, games, friends, and even achievements of games they don't care about just for the numbers.

I believe this has to do with human nature. Most humans are competitive and a large number are hoarders and like to collect. Steam has turned itself into a competitive social media game instead of just being a distribution platform. They created a huge market that would not be there if they just distributed games.

I personally game because I enjoy playing games and I only enter for games here that I want to play. I enjoy a broad spectrum of games and because of that, I have already collected more than I can probably play. I would love to play them all, but the list of games I am interested in continues to grow. Also, I like to complete games I start, unless they are really bad, but that is very rare. I play thoroughly and somewhat slow, exploring and enjoying everything the game has to offer. This usually causes me to take longer than the average person which doesn't help the issue with my long backlog of games.

there is group playing appreciated
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/T80Im/playing-appreciated-giveaways-with-the-intention-for-the-games-to-be-played-within-a-month
You can try make giveaway for those people

I won 9 games.
Played 4. (1 - 100% achievs. 1-can't kill last boss for now, 2 still playing)
Other 5 (1 waiting for dlc sale, 1-waiting for update, 2-didn't have time, because playing other games, 1 - stopped gamedev for now)

"I don't want to give my game to people who don't plan to play it." - Then don't give it away to totally random strangers. This website is not good for this purpose. It's really nice of you to give them away but don't expect much in return.

Welcome to the Steam world :)

After giveaway ends it's dead quiet, I get nothing out of it.

To be honest this is how it's like for most of us. It's more the act of giving but you should probably restrict your to groups specifically dedicated to people playing their wins. I see you've had some excellent suggestions already

DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT FOR THIS GAME
Sector Six - OST Free

Kudos

Edit: Looks pretty interesting and has RPG as a tag, putting this on my whishlist :)

I plan to at least try each of the games in my library at some point. Usually time works against me and I don't have enough left for playing whenever I get near my gaming PC. But I like having as many games as possible in order to have a broader library to choose from. And the reason is simple. I don't believe in playing according to a schedule. I am against the idea of playing something within X timeframe because of some random rule either coming from outside or self imposed.
Games are meant to be enjoyed and if I start thinking about them as chores then the whole point of gaming and all the enjoyment disappear and I'd rather stop playing than transform the whole process into a chore or an obligation.
I always follow my mood whenever I play something and I play it because I want it and not because I have to. With that in mind, on many occasions I even played shovelware instead of AAA titles even though I had plenty to choose from. The most important aspect about it is that I did it because I wanted to give that specific game a try because that's how I felt at that moment. Many times I had more fun playing simple low level games than renowned AAA titles.

I understand your point and it's a valid concern. However, some of those that appeared to idle the game might come back later and give it a real try. If not, they do not deserve to be bothered with. The logical thing is to move on and focus on those that matter. Obviously, everyone is different and acts according to different beliefs and principles so it's quite far fetched to expect everyone to act according to a certain direction. But as long as some players come back to your game and play it and enjoy it (assuming it's an enjoyable game - I don't have it so I have no idea) then word will spread out and a natural player base will form beyond the regular idlers. In my opinion your job is done once the game is activated by the "players". Whatever happens next is beyond your control. The rest depends on the quality of the game and the quality of the people the game ends to, the latter being harder to quantify and control.

Keep up the good work and try to focus on more important things like for instance new ways to keep the players involved and interested without having to invest a lot of time into the game. Keep in mind that many players do not have a lot of time at hand and if their attention is not converted within a certain timeframe you will lose them (for example if they have to invest many hours of gameplay before being able to enjoy the story or even understand what the game is about - this is a generic assumption and it might not have anything to do with your game but I think it's a very important aspect in my opinion).

Anyway, that's my two cents on this subject.

I don't have all the time in the world, but I am slowly going through my backlog and trying to play all my wins + my purchased stuff.
But this site is addicting and it's really difficult to stop entering giveaways for wishlisted games.

One of my friends got this game i would ask him to play it

We would be honored if you would join us!

View attached image.

I actually played Sector Six during the last two days quite a bit (and yes I won it here and didn't play it until now). The game is quite interesting and I'm going to play it even more next week. It's an interesting coincidence that you started this topic a few days after I started 'working' on my Steamgifts backlog (you can thank LastM for that: https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/UZiI0/do-you-play-your-sg-wins-dead-cells-ga/search?page=8#yIMHlYK). I will most likely first ask a question or two on the community forum and then write a review for your game.

P.S.: Is it just me or does the game auto level with you? I found it quite hard to keep up with the damage sponge that the enemies turn into, but I might have missed something.

I do my best to play all of the games that I've won, but I've had to balance that out with an academically intensive major (and my not being smart enough for it xP) and the fact that my comp doesn't run all the games I wish it would :,) Sometimes even games that have low specs, my comp just won't run. I do card farm them, yes, but every game I enter is for one that I do hold an interest in playing, it just may take a bit to get to.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/465020/Sector_Six/
This one?I haven't played it,but since most of people who have played it left positive reviews on steam,I think it's a good game.

Look into this group: Playing Appreciated... read their rules, I believe they will fit your case perfectly, and post there / talk to the curator to explain your intention. The purpose of the group is exactly to make sure that the GA winners actually give won games a fair try (the definition of which depends on the length and type of game).

You can then complement the rules by requesting feedback on the GA description (although winners will not be obligated to actually provide it, some will actually read and be willing to help).