Hello and Welcome to the central hub of SteamGifts Magazine!

The SG Community's own digital monthly gaming magazine in which ANYONE can join for a chance to win a game and review it, putting down their thoughts on "digital paper" for the whole community to read! Each submitted review will be published.

Steam Group Rules and Member Roles

Please make sure you have read and understood the rules for each role before requesting to join the Group:

Reviewer - As a reviewer you can enter the Group's giveaways for a chance to win games and review them.

The Rules:

1) Before entering giveaways, make sure you check the deadline assigned to them. Enter only if you truly believe that you can play and review the game in that timeframe. The deadline varies depending on game size and length, from 3 weeks up to a maximum of 8 weeks!

In case you cannot reach the expected deadline, you can request additional days in order to finish. A maximum of 5 additional days can be requested!

Not all games will require completion in order to be reviewed. Sport games, racing games, simulators or other type of "sandbox" games can be reviewed if a minimum required number of hours is met (that number will be decided separately).

Story based games on the hand, need to be finished before submitting the review!

2) Each Reviewer can enter any group giveaway until they win a game. After that point, the Reviewer is forbidden to enter additional giveaways unless they have played, reviewed, and submitted the review from the previously won giveaway.

3) There will be two giveaway 'waves' per month. Each wave will feature up to 15 giveaways.

4) In case you win multiple giveaways, you'll have to pick the game that you want to play and review the most, and then accept to re-roll the other game/s that you've won. This way everyone has a higher winning chance and you will be able to better focus on the review.

5) You’re not a professional game reviewer. We get that. Nobody is asking you to be one, but if you took upon yourself this task, you should at least try your best. We don’t want to stress you about creating the perfect review. But on the other hand, please respect the Magazine and the Group. Each review should be at least 1-2 pages long for smaller games, and 2-6 pages for bigger titles.

One page is measured in 400 words – font Calibri – size 11

Don’t worry if English isn’t your first language. It isn’t for most of us. I will correct mistakes the best I can before publishing it. Editors will help as well.

We also encourage a lighthearted approach in writing the review. Don’t take yourself too serious! Add some personal stories to make the reader feel more empathic towards you, rant about certain aspects of the game if you feel like it, make jokes, damn.. even add memes if you want to. The point is… be original. This is YOUR review. Pretend you’re explaining the game to your childhood's best friend. The reader is that friend :)

6) Do not try to copy/paste reviews from other sources. Stealing from others isn’t cool. And if caught you’ll be blacklisted. We want the authentic YOU!

7) The only “mandatory” review format is the game scoring. At the end of the review, you’ll have to score it accordingly to the magazine’s format.

8) As you play the game, you’ll be required to take and submit at least 5 in game screenshots, with small descriptions on what you were doing or trying to capture. These screenshots will be added in the magazine.

9) Some games might be too difficult to beat. Maybe you're stuck on a level? Or maybe the game is a mess filled with bugs that stops you from finishing it. If that's the case and you REALLY tried your best, but just couldn't move past a certain point, let us know in the Group. We can find a solution together.

10) The usage of any type of AI software or tool to write reviews or paragraphs from the review is strictly forbidden. We have an AI detection tool that we use on each submitted review, and it is highly effective, accurately identifying AI-generated content 9 out of 10 times.

If you are caught with 2 or less AI-generated paragraphs, you will receive a warning and lose your Premium membership (if you have one). If you are caught with more than 2 AI-generated paragraphs, you will be banned.

11) If you win a game, you have 7 days to redeem the key/gift and mark the game as received. Falling to do so will get you blacklisted.

12) Have a positive and friendly attitude.

Contributor – As a contributor you can support the Group with game giveaways (maximum of 4 per month). A game which will be reviewed by the winner and published in the magazine.

The Rules:

1) You’ll have to ask for permission before creating a Group giveaway. Via direct messaging me or requesting it in the dedicated post "Contributor's Dropxbox" in the Group Forum. The reason behind that is mostly because we’ll need to coordinate with the other giveaways. Also, no repeats of previous games.

2) There is going to be a limit of 4 giveaways per month (for the first few issues) and then, at a later date, the limit is going to be restricted to only 2 giveaway per month. The reason for that is because I want multiple members to participate on both sides. As a reviewer and a contributor. And since we can’t have too many giveaways going on at the same time, we need to limit the amount you can contribute.

3) Contributors will have a special "Thank You" section reserved in the magazine..

4) As a contributor you need to accept the fact that there is a small chance that some of your giveaways won't get to 5 entries. That means you will not receive any contributor points on SteamGifts.

5) Have a positive and friendly attitude.

Full Member – As a FM you’ll be able to contribute games for others to participate in, and you will also have access to other members giveaways for the purpose of playing & reviewing them.

Editor - As an editor, your task is to help us "tidy up" the reviews before we publish them in the Magazine. That means correcting any grammar mistakes you can find, making sure that the reviewer's ideas are well translated and interpreted into text. This is a vital role, as it will dictate the overall quality of the reviews and Magazine.

Moderator - Forum moderators will help with certain activities on the Steam Group Page. Making sure everyone is on their best behavior :)

Okay, now onto the Magazine..

Magazine Format

So far, this is very much up for debate. Everything you’ll see listed here are my own suggestions. By the time the magazine will be completed, many things will be changed or entirely new sections will be added.

• TEAM OF THE MONTH section, in which the editors and all reviewers will be listed, alongside their games (and the page # in which the reader can find that specific review).
• GAME GIVEAWAY section for the readers. Each issue will have a page dedicated to a game that is being given away through link invitation. The game will have a small review on it’s own. The giveaway will end on the last day of the month, right before the next issue is published. There might be multiple copies of the game in the same giveaway so more readers get a chance at it.
• SPECIAL section for different kind of articles related to gaming.
• NEWS section for gaming news.
• HANDS-ON REVIEW for games contributed by developers. If any indie game developers want to advertise their game and are looking for a honest review. (This might not be available in the first issue).
• REVIEWS section.
• COVER GAME REVIEW section, is going to be the “big” or “main” review. Which shall be the longest and most detailed (also the bigger game of them all).
• SCREENSHOT OF THE MONTH section, in which ALL SteamGifts members can submit their favourite screenshot from any game. Only 3 will be selected for publication. 3rd place, 2nd place and the winner. (don't know yet where they should submit the photos)
• FREE2PLAY GAME OF THE MONTH section, in which we’ll feature a Steam game that is free to play.
• HYPE section, in which we list a few upcoming releases that we’re hyped for.
• CONTRIBUTOR “Thank You” section in which all members that contributed with games will be mentioned. Each of them having a quote underneath the game they’ve gifted.
• And more… (if you have any suggestion, please share!)

The Rating System

I decided against using a conventional 10 digits or percentage scoring method.

Instead, the rating system for each game will be the following:

Story – Based on overall storyline, sidequests, environment, characters and dialogue.
Graphics – Based on overall graphics capabilities, visual effects and how well they hold up (for older games).
Sound – Based on sound effects, music and voice acting.
Gameplay – Based on gameplay mechanics, fluidity of the game, learning curve and engine stability.
Fun Meter – Based on originality and how much you’ve enjoyed playing it.

For EACH of these categories you need to assign a number of stars.
⭐ - horrible
⭐ ⭐ - poor
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ - good
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ - very good
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ - perfect

Besides the star system, we’ll also use a “VERDICT” section in which you can list up to 5 positives and 5 negatives of the game.

In the end, the reviewer will have to choose between “Approved” or “Rejected” on the “Seal of Recommendation”.

List of Reviews in Progress here

List of available Games (Wave 12 - Limited "Lost & Found" Wave):

Finished reviews can be submitted directly to staff member via Discord or Steam. Just message any of us and we'll take it from there.

How to Join the Group?

If you've read the rules and want to be part of the team, please leave a comment here with your desired role, then request to join here

Join our Discord..

if you want to say hi or submit your game screenshot for the "Screenshot of the Month" contest.

Screenshot of the Month

You have a cool, artistic or funny game screenshot that you want to share with us? Then submit it to us on Discord in the submission channel!

At the end of each month we're going to set up a vote poll for the best submission. The winner will be added in the Magazine's "Screenshot of the Month" section!

Submit your favourite screenshot on our Discord channel or on the Steam Group Page here.

Additional Info

After the first issue is released, we’ll have a monthly vote on “best review”, which will grant the winner the option to chose from 3 games. The won game can be reviewed for the next month's issue, but it is not mandatory.

Magazine Index

edit: Please comment here, or on Discord, your desired Group role before submitting a request to join. We have received many requests with no info attached. WE CANNOT ACCEPT THEM unless you specify your desired role first!