We rolled out a few important updates to the site today.

  1. The first major change is the way contributor values are calculated. In short, the update limits giveaways that might have originated from a bundle to 20% of your total value (Note: Giveaways created prior to a bundle always receive full value). Please review the threads from earlier in the week for the full details. Keep in mind, we'll continue to improve this system as time goes on.

  2. There's no longer a restriction on what games can be given away, assuming they're not guest passes or beta keys. Anything found in the drop down menu when creating a giveaway is allowed. If you're gifting a game from a bundle, please review that bundle's terms of service to ensure you have permission to do so. If you believe a giveaway needs to be removed, please use the report button. There's no reason to post accusations in the comments, and users doing so may be suspended for inappropriate behavior. We'll review reported giveaways, and remove them if necessary. The new system will ensure contributor values are not overly inflated by bundle games.

Thanks to everyone in the community for all the feedback the past week, and I believe we created a system that's fair for everyone. It still leaves room for improvement, and there are a number of great suggestions in the previous thread we'll be exploring in the coming weeks.

12 years ago*

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A very needed bump with the numerous questions being asked about this. A sticky would really help a lot!

11 years ago
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Yeah, although you CAN actually get to it by following a couple of links from the FAQ, the info is hard to find for someone new.

11 years ago
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Why not calculate points spent (and earned by creating) on a giveaway by how high the demand is for that game? Set a number to shoot for, and if previous giveaways for that game yielded high entry amounts then have a program raise the cost to enter for new giveaways. This way, spammed entries will be worth less automatically, and people will have increased incentive to create more high value giveaways.

Automatic Dynamic Cost Calculation. Much like the free market, but in a computer program.

11 years ago
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no new idea,has been discussed,biggest problem here besides that its a matter of taste anyway are group/private giveaways and how you value the entries (also the "quality" of an entry).

11 years ago
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First off, I'm not exactly sure about the meaning behind everything you said, so there's some guessing about your intentions.

I don't see how it's a stretch for taste, just about everyone wants more Skyrim, Boarderlands, and Xcom giveaways while a good amount of the community would prefer less Dota 2 and bundle giveaways when they're cheap. Group and private giveaways are the no different in the cost to enter and reward for creation, but aren't counted in the pool that sets the point cost, otherwise they'd overvalue the game if the group was too small. How you value entries is for every public giveaway, when closed, the total entries are entered into an existing spreadsheet for that game on a new line, and you can run it through an averaging function in which there is a target amount of entries, or entries per point so the cost will be adjusted causing the amount of entries to be (hopefully) closer to this target the next time that giveaway is created. Such functions are similar to percentage stats in which, if you have 0, and you add 10 you now have 10%, but if you have 90 and you add 10 (in the function input), then the end value will be 92%.

No idea what you mean by quality. Tally the entries at the close of the giveaway, that way there is no cancelling. If the giveaway is fake, it doesn't matter for this because this system is derived from demand, and as long as there isn't a crazy amount of fake games, the same game in fact, at the same time, then there isn't the question of a fake supply.

11 years ago
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bump cuz this thread is kinda important for newbs

11 years ago
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It should be stickied as it would help prevent most of the threads asking why their cv didn't rise.

11 years ago
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my thought exactly

11 years ago
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Bump for Rysixness!

11 years ago
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Rysixxx!!
Also cuteness overload for that avatar!!!

11 years ago
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ok, if the bundle is ended, will the 25% stay the same ?

11 years ago
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Yes.

11 years ago
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Bump. Just to prove they wouldn't read it anyway (honestly, I'd love to see window with rules while registering and a damn quiz after).

11 years ago
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They won't read it because 1. it's not sticky, 2. it will be off the first page within the hour, 3. they aren't reading the FAQ either which already contains this part.

11 years ago
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I didn't read this. Then I sent a message to support about it.

Yeah. I guess I'm one of those people. I'm sure I searched the forums for "contributor value" and only a few (1-5) results turned up, none helpful. I don't know how I failed a simple search that bad (perhaps spelling?). Didn't know there was a FAQ. Oh, there it is... Deer God it's literally at the bottom right corner of every GD page. What a disaster. I'm not kidding, I'm finding out I'm dumber as I type this.

Greetings to bobofatt (support), who very nicely replied to my message, gently letting me know what's up, without even a hint of letting me know just how much he hates me.

I'M SORRY! I'm ashamed. Please forgive me someday.

P.S. I'm probably also doing a bunch of other things wrong. I will try to correct this by reading all the things.

11 years ago
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I know this is old, but...

can the bundled list be stickied :).

11 years ago
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11 years ago
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Can you give away a Dota 2? Please answer or add me on steam if you can answer steam name:albin995 (DudeMxM)

11 years ago
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No, you can not.

11 years ago
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wut

11 years ago
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Yes, but not as a giveaway.

11 years ago
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mmm i read the rules and hundle bundle keys are supposed no valid to gift...

is true?? i see all people gifting hundle Origin keys....

Can someone explain me???

11 years ago
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As long as it is a Steam version (key or gift), you can giveaway anything on the list.Giving away an Origin key is forbidden.

11 years ago
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Yes yes i know origin keys is forbbiden, i mean steam keys for the last hundle bundle.

I got a mirror´s edge steam key and i not going to use (have mirror´s edge in Origin) so i think to create a giveaway, but in the menu i see the [Wondering about the asterisk () next to certain games?] and dont know what m eans...

11 years ago
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the asterisk means it is a bundle game, so you won't be able to get a contributor value higher than 30$ with them.

11 years ago
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Ok understood, thx to all

11 years ago
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Damn it, man! We're in the very thread that explains this stuff and you still give the same old simple-but-false answer!

11 years ago
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It always confuses people, because its much easier to say "up to $30" than it is to say that they receive full credit up to $30, but after that, they'll only receive credit so long as its up to 20% of their additional, non-bundle CV.

I.e., if they gave away $40 worth of bundled games, they get $30 CV.
If they gave away $40 worth of bundled games and one $10 non-bundle game, they'd have $42 CV.

11 years ago
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I know about the 20%, just thought it would be easier to keep the answer simple.

11 years ago
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You can't assume intelligence on the part of your readers. Some of us have a hard time with "simple."

11 years ago
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if the bundle have 3 or 4 years, why it still a bundle game, i can buy it now.

11 years ago
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you can buy it no matter if it was in bundle 2 years or 2 days ago and still give it away. it will just be counted as a bundle game.

11 years ago
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I think people should read things called out on the giveaway page - admins took the time to put them there.

From the page where you create the giveaway http://www.steamgifts.com/create
Wondering about the asterisk (*) next to certain games? Click here to learn more. (link is to this page)

Top of this page:
The first major change is the way contributor values are calculated. In short, the update limits giveaways that might have originated from a bundle to 20% of your total value

Basically once a game gets put in a bundle - you no longer can get full contribution value (As Zomby20 points out, I'm oversimplifying, see CV) for it if you give it away. So if you are looking to get contribution value give away your games before they get put in a bundle, or buy games that are very unlikely to be part of a bundle (Thanks for Skyrim!). If you have a steam gift of a game that has been in a bundle and you are worried about CV, try to trade it for a gift of a game not in a bundle and give that game away.

11 years ago
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Actually, you still get full value from your bundle game if they do not equal more than 20% of your regular giveaways.

11 years ago
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That's why I want 2 separate CV counters - B and NB

11 years ago
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Yes, people getting CV from bundle games is such a horrible thing... I mean, bundle game and non-bundle game CV mixed together? Disgusting.

11 years ago
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A nice thing would be having a breakdown of the calculation when you click on your value. Not sure how hard it would be to implement but being able to see the details of the calculation (bundle vs non-bundle, 20%, etc.) might help a lot of people understand better the CV number on their profile.

11 years ago
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+1
That would be awesome!!! so one could see how much Points the bundlegames would add to if there wasn´t the 25%-rule.

11 years ago
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Ah nice, value on profile in now explained. Nice addition CG.

11 years ago
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it's been explained over a year ago ;p

11 years ago
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I know that, I was reffering to the (?) next to the value in your profile, I hope this will prevent "My Value didn't increase" threads.

11 years ago
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It won't stop them, but hopefully it will cut down the threads/support tickets at least a little.

11 years ago
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So, if we made some bundle games giveaways in the past we will recive the full value?

11 years ago
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You get full value if they were made and completed before the game was added to the bundle, or otherwise if you have enough non-bundle-game CV

11 years ago
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$0 for all my Steam keys of Humble-EA-Origin Bundle? WTF???

11 years ago
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Scandalous!

11 years ago
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n1ce trololo

11 years ago
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sure thing - ypu should obviously gpot 130$CV for 1$ you paid tor the bundle ;p

11 years ago
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So? Give me $1 in my profile, I got $0 for this bundle. It's honestly. So other people will not be willing to give a games to other people

11 years ago
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yeah I will cry because so many games I can buy for 0.30$ won't be on SG anymore. Oh wait...have you checked SG lately? Full of those games...

11 years ago
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you got 0$, but if you give away normaly bought, non-bundle stuff as well you will eventually get full value back.

11 years ago
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i don´t think that that is important to most People. the give games away because they want to make others happy & not because the got a cv-epeen-enlargement

11 years ago
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Sue them. Sue CG. Sue support. Sue the whole SG community, sue valve, sue Mr. Internet, sue the president of the Internet and in the end sue your lawyer. After that you will know what it feels like to actually lose money.

11 years ago
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kj

11 years ago
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Kingdom Jearts?

11 years ago
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The total value, not increases, it's normal?

11 years ago
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-_- read the start post!

11 years ago
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not from bundle games. From your today GAs: Darksiders 2 was in bundle, so it's counted like explained above. ME and MoH are in current HIB so they also count like all other bundle games.

On the other hand Darkness II was never in a bundle, so when winner confirm he received the game you will get 30$ + 20% of this 30$ from your "bundle games", so totally you will have CV increased by 36$.

11 years ago
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OK :)

11 years ago
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Excelent !!

11 years ago
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kool

11 years ago
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There are people asking the contestants to $1000 in gifts, I think with the new system I never come to that, I dont like

11 years ago
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you mean the 1 year old system? You,who has registered here 5 days ago?

11 years ago
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for now give away 2 games, the first I got $29.99 and the second $0.01

11 years ago
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you actually paid $1 for your games, what did you expect ? lol

11 years ago
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That's because those are bundle games. Go buy a game in the steam store and then give it away and your value will go up more than the game is worth.

11 years ago
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Wow,you gave us your leftovers from a 1$ bundle,why didnt you get your "GENEROUS GIFTER" badge by now?

11 years ago
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yes I know that!!!!!!!!!! but why for a same promotion games give me 29.99 for one and for the other only give me 0.01? you comprende? ... :/

11 years ago
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yes,I understand how the system works. You obviously not.

11 years ago
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read the start post?

11 years ago
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You can't get more than $30 to your CV from bundled games.
Also people who can make a high CV need are people who have a hight CV themselves, from making no bundle giveaways.
There's many no CV needed and low CV needed giveaways also for you Nake, so no need to get upset.

11 years ago
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Ребят , please, кто хорошо владеет инглишом , может объяснить о чем здесь сказанно , а то транслит не помогает и сам понять не могу

11 years ago
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Ну что, разобрался?

11 years ago
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Everytime this gets bumped, I think there's some new update. But its usually just someone confused by bundle CV. At least it seems to have reduced the amount of new threads asking why their CV is stuck at $30.

11 years ago
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I can only repeat the post by another user one week ago:
"A nice thing would be having a breakdown of the calculation when you click on your value. Not sure how hard it would be to implement but being able to see the details of the calculation (bundle vs non-bundle, 20%, etc.) might help a lot of people understand better the CV number on their profile."

11 years ago
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Yea, but if they DON'T do that, math teachers can point at us and shout 'SEE, you DO need math later in life!'
We gotta leave it as it is, math teachers have a hard enough life already, we can't take this from them.

11 years ago
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I think you are just creating a fake problem here, and there are things that should have higher priority on this site.

11 years ago
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cool

11 years ago
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