But there isn't such a thing, probably. The system picks a winner. And everybody else lost. So eveybody else is equally far away from winning.

I don't think the rng works like this on this site. It doesn't rotate and stop at some point. There are no different "tiers" how much closer to winning you were than others. There are only two values: Winner and non-winner. So you are in a certain sense always second. Isn't that good enough?

It just picks one person and doesn't pick the rest. There's no wheel or random.org generator.

why not go for a grid- or cube-based presentation ? that way you can have more than 2 people being "right next to the winner" based on nothing but random ordering.

the user is left anonymous for a reason though.. the only time you could see this would be after the winner marked it received.

the reason they have it anonymous until it is marked as received is so a scammer doesn't change their name and avatar to the winners and try and trick the gifter into giving them "their" won game. no way they will remove that for this.

I am guessing not many people will support this idea...

But here is something: you can look at the winner (after he receives the gift), go to the "Entries" page for that GA, and see how close you are to the winner. Does it help scratch that itch?

Cheers!

Easy to implement but hard on computing power would be system like this:
1) Assing random number for every user, duplicates allowed;
2) Generate random number for every user in the sequence generated in previous point. If there is a collision, generate while there is no collision;
3) User with the greatest number wins, all the users got three numbers in the end: sequence number to pick random number, collisions and the final score.

Nevertheless, you also need a true random number generator.

Edit: On different thought, just assign random number for every user and if the highest number has multiple users, pick the first one or reroll for the winners again :D

Actually I like the idea because I've always said this site is not charity, it's gambling (but don't let the IRS hear that) but you know that's never going to happen, right ?

bump

Bump.

'How close' doesnt even make any sense in this case. Everyone was at exactly same 'distance' of winning .

We should have CG broadcasting live and hosting each giveaway.
Tempete can spin the wheel and Khalaq can showcase the prizes,

View attached image.

bump

bump

Such an odd concept. It doesn't work like Wheel of Fortune where one thing is adjacent to another. It's more like rolling a multi-sided die where the sides are assigned randomly and don't have a fixed 'position' or relation to one another, therefore there is no such thing as rolling 'close'. There is one winner (per copy) and the rest are all equally-distant losers, so it doesn't really make sense.

More likely something like this:

View attached image.

waits for a script

I think your circle should be more like this:

View attached image.

I think the winners are chosen based on randomness, so even if your entry is next to the winner's entry, it's still a lost :(. Cause of that, I don't think the wheel is a necessary feature and it might put burden to the site developers. And Bump!

The graphic representation you are suggesting unfortunately would not mean a thing.
Basically the way rng works when it's scripted would mean that being 'next to the winner' is not more likely to have won than being on the other end of the circle/grid/whatever. The chance of winning in any case is 1 / [number of entries]. The script would assign each valid entry a number, then generate a random number in that array, and then output that number.

Untill the number/winner is chosen each and every entry has a similar chance of winning. There is no real 'next to the winner' in computerbased rng. It's not the same as spinning an actual wheel where you do have an actual 'next to the winner' which would have been chosen if you used a bit more force or bit less force when spinning the wheel.

For example:

Entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
WInner: 1

Then the entry number 2 was equally likely as 3 or 4 or 5.
Remember: it's not a wheel or grid really.

As others have said, a graphic wouldn't mean anything. A simplified RNG is basically this:

Every user gets entered into an Array (list of all users). The RNG then rolls for a number and the person with that entry in the Array wins. So for example if it rolls the number 362, the person at 362 wins. That doesn't mean that person 361 and 363 were close to winning though. If it wouldn't have rolled 362, it might as well have rolled 2 or 2974.

It's not like a wheel you spin, but more like pulling a number out of a hat (can't put it more simplified then that).

Bump!

This kind of visual/aesthetic deception is an old psychological trick used in casinos with slot machines. It's designed to enourage people to keep gambling by making it seem as if they were "this close" to winning last time, and should keep trying because they may win soon. It would serve no purpose here, and it's ethical emptiness should always be discouraged.