I'm guessing you've gave games that should have when you made giveaway, but "that guy with the s" was asleep/in-work/wanking at that time.
Yes, in that case you're losing CV. For example, Hitman 2 doesn't have * yet but it won't matter, as every giveaway made today for that game will lose CV soon, when he finally gets bored enough to check SG.
Or some prices did drop.
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Fluctuations occur very frequently due to a variety of reasons. I doubt anything can be done about this case in particular unless cg decides to rethink and revamp the entire value tracking system or Valve decides to adjust how its data is handled to accommodate SteamGifts just for you.
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@Mew2: I know that probably nothing can or will be done, and that's not my goal by posting. I just wish to understand why that happened, so I can estimate what will be really credited to my contribution value when I create a giveaway.
@Akoperu: So, for exemple, if I created a giveaway of games from the latest Humble Bundle now, and the * is not next to their names, buy the time the giveaway ends I will get the full value added to my value, BUT it will be decreased later? Because I would've thought that if I did that, by the time my giveaways ends (I usually create long giveaways), SteamGifts would give me the "corrected" value, and not the full price one.
And... Wouldn't it be possible to have a record we could check, to see exactly how much each of our giveaways added to the contribution value?
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@minanu: I get that. But I believed by the time my giveaway ended, the games would already be on that list, and therefore would not add theier full value to my account. What I don't understand is why a value gets credited and just decreased a really long time after that.
*Note: and since the full price got actually added to my account, I figured maybe that is how I was supposed to be.
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Bundle list is maintained by people so sometimes it takes some time before it's updated (they don't have time or missed one).
Just because the full price got added to your account doesn't mean this is how it was supposed to be (that's why it changed)
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the * guy is just lazy. sometimes its taking him like a month to add the bundle mark
the main problem probably is that he's only a single guy fully responsible for all the bundle markings. and we all know that there's like half a dozen of new bundles popping up almost every day!
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Carnehill and AtzeMD:
Thx again for the replies. I though that if a CV had been added, I wouldn't be fair that it got changed after. But considering there aren't many people to run the site (I knew there were few, but didn't know it was that little), its understandable that some CV gets mistakenly added and has to be manually removed later, specially with so many bundles popping up all the time.
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"I know some people will say: "Oh, but you donated many bundle games". Yes, I have, but only one of them had the * before it's name on the drop down list when I created the giveaways. And on the same official thread I mentioned above, you can read: "(Note: Giveaways created prior to a bundle always receive full value).". From which I understand that, if by the time I created a giveaway there was nothing indicating I wouldn't get it's full price added to my contribution value, it should count as a non-bundle game and have it's full price added to my contribution value. "
Technically this way of thinking is "right" ((Note: Giveaways created prior to a bundle always receive full value)). But bundle list is maintained by 2 people? Noone can demand that they will sit in front of their PC 24h / day and wait for bundles to come. This kind of threads appears often in the forum so (sadly) anyone who check it should know by now how bundle list works ;)
Edit: And to "cheer you up" - all GA for Hitman: Absolution, Deus Ex: Humena revolution will be counted as bundle GA. So even if someone buy game month ago and was waiting to give it away - it will be counted as bundled.
Sometimes you can buy 15 games for 3$. Shoud you get ~100$ of CV? You are on this site already 10 months, so rules should be clear enought.
(And I'm even don't write about Serious Sam: Complete, which was added to bundle list after few sales -90%, because people were abusing DV system with it giving 10 copies of it multiple times)
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Hmm yeah, I wouldn't expect that just 2 people could maintain that list updated all the time. But it's a bit frustrating to see that the support tickets you send are never replied to or takes more than a month to be replied. Does anyone know why there is such a little amount of people responsible for administrating such a big site?
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Because they must be 100% trusted. They handle cases in which someone put his/hers real money. So they can't be just random people from site.
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Another thing I'm not sure about: One of the games I've given away - 5 copies - I had gotten with a discount from the devs (Subject 9). And like 1 week after that, it got added to some bundle (Indie Gala, I believe). My giveaway lasted for like 2 weeks, which means that by the time it ended, the game had probably been added to the bundle-games list. Does that mean I did not get it's full value added? (I have receipts with dates prior to the game being added to the bundle).
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Nope. If you make GA before bundle started your's CV is safe :P
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I gave Serious Sam Complete Pack before it was bundled and lost the cv from that giveaway, but i havent bothered to send support ticket. I had over 300cv for over three months...
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Second week bundle games are listed with the first week time therefore all second week games given away on the first week of the given bundle will be marked as bundled games later yet those games were not bundled at that time.
eg.: you give away thief 2 today and a week later it will be bundled as the second week game in humble square enix bundle. you will lost the cv you got for the game.
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Oh.. it's a bit complicated, but I think I got it.
But in my case it was a bit different. Subject 9 was on the Indie Gala bundle from the start (not unlocked later). Something like:
Today I get Subject 9, and create a 2-week giveaway. On July 30th, a new bundle that contains Subject 9 is launched, that will last 1 week. On August 6th, both my giveaway and the new bundle ends. Would I get the CV for it or not?
(LOL that sounded like a high school math problem... )
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Actually the giveaway has to end before before the game is put into a bundle. So the giveaway would have to end no later than July 29th.
If a subject 9 giveaway was made today that was going to last 2 weeks which means it would end on Aug 5 but the bundle with subject 9 came out on July 30th then it would be too late and the game would be considered bundled by the time the giveaway was over.
And Subject 9 has been in 8 bundles already and I believe it was given out to people who voted for greenlight.
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"Actually the giveaway has to end before the game is put into a bundle".
Thank you for the explanation :P That helps a lot!
[EDIT] I'd said "I got Subject 9 before it got included in any bundle" (I got it on mid May, and the Indie Gala bundle started on early June), but I just made a little research and saw that apparently it was in a bundle back in November (2013). So I have no idea why it was not considered a bundle game until the Indie Gala one. Anyhow, I don't mind that. I like making long giveaways so more people can enter. I don't want to change that because a non-bundle game might be in a future bundle before the giveaway ends. I'm happy with understanding how that work :)
I'm still curious about why the CV got changed afterwards though.
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Are you sure about that? I was always under the assumption that it's the creation date that mattered, not when the giveaway ends.
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Indie Royale - The Debut 8 Bundle
Hero Siege (Dec 26, 2013)
Love (Dec 26, 2013)
One Way Heroics (Dec 26, 2013)
Subject 9 (Dec 26, 2013)
They gave keys to bundle buyers = instant bundle list (I noticed that adding new games from old bundles takes longer than usual/new bundle add)
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I just saw it was in that bundle and I think I got it: The keys I purchased were already Steam keys. I believe the keys on Indie Royale were Desura keys (or drm free), which later gave Steam keys to the buyers, and that's why the Steam version of the game wasn't considered a bundle-game until June. ^_^
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As to the * next to the game name, that only shows after someone manually adds the game to the bundle list.
In regards to CV, what matters is when the bundle started, not when the games in the bundle were added to the bundle list.
I hope that helps a little with understanding it :)
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Thx for the reply. I've seen conflicting answers about that. Apparently the explanation that fits best is that If you create a giveaway prior to the game being in a bundle, and it also ENDS before that, you get the full CV (even if the game gets in a bundle 1 day after your giveaway ending). BUT, if by the time your giveaway ends, the game has been added to any bundle, you do not get that CV. I guess that makes sense.
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[EDITED - please read the edited part before replying]
Hi. I've created several giveaways, and until some time ago I had the contribution value of $144.84. Than, without any warnings or messages from the administration / moderation, that value got decreased to $88.73.
I've posted on the official thread about contribution value - which informs about the next to a game's name on the drop down list, bundle game contribution value, etc - and people told me my contribution value had been decreased because the full price of some games should have changed. I accepted that and moved on. But today, for whatever reason, I decided to check that, by checking every current price of every game I've donated. And for my surprize, the sum was the old $144.84 (I've not summed up the price of the game that had next to it's name when I created its giveaway). So the games' full prices had not decreased at all!
I know some people will say: "Oh, but you donated many bundle games". Yes, I have, *but only one of them had the before it's name on the drop down list when I created the giveaways**. And on the same official thread I mentioned above, you can read: "(Note: Giveaways created prior to a bundle always receive full value).". From which I understand that, if by the time I created a giveaway there was nothing indicating I wouldn't get it's full price added to my contribution value, it should count as a non-bundle game and have it's full price added to my contribution value.
But the most important is: if a game I've given away was not supposed to add it's full price to my contribution value, it should simply not have been added to that value, not removed from it after credited. If my contribution value had always been $88.73, I would not complain. But if I got credited 144.84, I believe that value should not change, unless the game's full price gets decreased.
I decided to post here to check if anyone else had this happened to them and could help me with the problem. I've sent a similar message to support, but from my own experience I know support tickets takes a really long time to get a reply (which I understand, since there are too many people contacting them).
So... can anyone help?
[EDIT] Just wanted to mention that I do not intend to get any value "re-credited" to my account. I just want to understand better how this whole value thing works, and why a value is credited and removed afterward.
[EDIT2]
Ok. I got many answers and I believe I understand the CV process better now. (Btw, I didn't expect that many helpful replies. Thank you for that :D ).
Apparently, If you create a giveaway prior to the game being in a bundle, and it also ENDS before that, you get the full CV (even if the game gets bundled 1 day after your giveaway ended). BUT, if by the time your giveaway ends, the game has been added to any bundle, you do NOT get that CV.
I though that if a CV had been added, I wouldn't be fair that it got changed afterward. But considering there aren't many people to run the site (I knew there were few, but didn't know it was that little), its understandable that some CV gets mistakenly added and has to be manually removed later, specially with so many bundles popping up all the time.
After understanding all that, I'd just like to make a suggestion to the mods (that probably has been made by others before):
1- Create a way for the users to check exactly how much CV was added to their accounts for each giveaway.
2- Whenever it is necessary to remove CV from someone's account, or change it, send a short message to that person, letting they know why. (Just something like "Project 9 CV decreased to X, for being in a bundle by the time your giveaway ended").
Those 2 things would help A LOT to understand how the CV works. Even tough - in my opinion - most people creating giveaways are not focusing on their CV, that system could avoid some frustrations and misunderstandings. I know it is much simpler to suggest something than to implement it, and have absolutely no idea how difficult it would be to do something like that. It is just a suggestion.
And for the mods (if any of you happen to read this thread): even though I got a bit frustrated about my CV being changed, I know that you have a lot of work - specially with a short staff - and appreciate the work you do on SteamGifts.
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