Does steamgifts feels like a "waste" of time to you personally or not?

What if you worked with a full salary and overtime all those hours you played video games, would your life be less wasted as a result? The purpose of all entertainment is just that, wasting time by not feeling bored, instead of doing something profitable. So the same applies to SG as well, it's worth it if you feel entertained, not if you imagine clicking 10k giveaways has some monetary value.

Take a break, see if your mind changes. If it doesn't, and you still feel Steamgifts is a waste of time, then move on to something better, something you feel is a more productive way to spend your time.

SG is just a time-killer for me. Usually killing time at work, or chilling at home with a cup of coffee, and there are definitely other things I could be doing, but there are always other things I could be doing, right?

For me my time here is great and I have SG running all the time in the background if I'm doing something on my PC or playing games.

I like the feeling I get when I win a game or when someone wins my GA. I'm happy to win the games I wanted and I'm happy when I know someone winned my GA and will have something to play and something that will make him happy and his life better even for a short while.

Using this site for me is like making word a better place one small step at a time.

It all comes back to whether you enjoy it or not. I enjoy making giveaways, I enjoy winning the occasional giveaway, I enjoy talking with the people here and replying to long posts that question the value of time spent on SG. ;)

Could I be doing better things with that time? Certainly. Would I be? Probably not. If I spent less time on SG I'd have a bit more time to play games or catch up on my email or read the news or read a book, but I don't see those as necessarily that much better. Sometimes I do feel like I spend too much time - particularly when I write long replies trying to help people, or delve into a jigidi or puzzle or something like Grez' dungeon (I'm honestly afraid to even enter it) - but in the end I remind myself that I enjoy trying to help people, that I enjoy the occasional jigidi or puzzle (I lie, I rarely enjoy puzzles, they always just make me feel dumb).

Could you have written a book with all the time you spent on SG? Possibly. Would you have really done so? Or would you have just spent that time browsing the web or on social media or trying to bring peace to the Middle East or some other similarly frivolous activity? And think of all the giveaways you've made, and all the people who's day you've brightened as a result?

In the end, if you feel you may be spending too much time, then maybe you are. Try to cut back for a bit and see how you feel. You have to do what's right for you. But I wouldn't beat yourself up over not spending every moment of your free time writing a novel or working on finding the cure for cancer.

Btw, what sort of things are you creating? Writing, music, art, games, sand mandalas?

For me SG is a great way to spend time ATM, for personal reasons I can't commit to much more. I've not won any game yet (well I got -that- game from an orphan key, ty Knighthood) but maybe I need something simple to keep looking forward, more than games or stuff.

As for you, my advice is that, if you feel like leaving, then do it; if after a few days you miss it, get back. Maybe (actually often, in my experience) it's neither of those extremes, but just finding a good balance between spending time in SG and doing other things you might find more productive or personally rewarding. What would be wrong IMHO is staying in SG and feeling it's a chore or a waste of time. So, whatever you do, GL.

On the other side this site has great people in it.

That was the reason why i don't leaved the site complete.
But i reduced my time, my forum activity -special at how much threads i write something and at how much i only roll my eyes in my thoughts and move one without to write something- and last but not least the ammount of GA's i make.
Too much "bad apples", and not really effective rules and tools against them. And when you can't change, for you, important stuff you are forced to change your own behavior and use at a site that it fits for you, is healthy and you are able to enjoy the time you spend.

So in the end nobody can say you what to do but make a break and focus at other things will show you very fast how unimportant sg is (a few people that you know better/long exluded) and then you will see very soon what's the right for you to do. That it feels good/fitting

Sadly, i feel like it is kinda pointless as well. Especially if you are like me who only enters giveaways if you are gonna play the game. (not after your previous 1000 games)

I am almost always sitting on 400P and giveaways i enter have several thousand entries. I used to write at least "thanks" before if i enter the giveaway, now i feel pointless since i won't be able to win at all.

I feel even sorrier when i saw this big giveaway winner. Generally, the dude has 1-2k games, but playing only the first 3-5 games in their library. So basically, it goes to card farming. I wish there would be a rule to make everyone play their won game as long as OP doesn't say otherwise. Yeah, there are great groups like PA, PM etc. but sadly people prefer public giveaways instead of these groups. When i see public Cyberpunk giveaway, i just hope than the winner plays the game. But honestly, i don't believe the winner will play the game.

As you said, some great people with some great events, good forum topics. etc what makes me spend some time here. But i don't spend as much as before, that is true.

For me personally, only tiring point SteamGifts is I have to climb to level 5 for the third time. It's probably "What's the big deal? It's so that levels actually feel like levels and not everyone is 7+", but it's REAAAALLY hard to keep up lately because I can't do as much gifting, ever since (first) removal of Steam inventory gift and (second) dollar skyrocketing in the country. With actual Steam gifting option completely blocked out for me (I'm not US or RoW, so I wouldn't be able to gift to most of the SG users even if I wanted), is even any game that is not AAA unbundled nowadays? I think not.

Only 44$ to go again, but even through this climb, I have went up to 4.86, and then down to 4.77. :D Though don't get me wrong, I've won my fair share of games, and I still giveaway any key I won't use myself here, but that's the catch point. Since it was usually rewarding enough for me to even giveaway a game I had wishlisted here, thinking that I would rather use it as a RCV now, so I would hope that someone does a giveaway on it and I would eventually "win" it (back?) anyways. That's no longer possible, so if I obtain a game I would play from somewhere, now I usually keep it to myself.

So maybe it started to feel like a "bad trade" even though that's not the idea of SG. However when I can't giveaway as much, it really comes down to that. I'm pretty sure this will definitely get me blacklists (even though I only enter my wishlisted games, and even amongst those, only ones I would play right now if I won any) but you know, people "hate" that word, and since I don't do any AAA games at all right now, it's not in their favor of "trade" either if they do blacklist me. :D

So yeah, that is the conundrum of SG for me, besides engaging with community started to feel stressing as well for the past couple years.

Your story begins just like how I stopped playing Runescape. Finished my thesis, logged back into the game and suddenly felt like: "wow, this feels like work now". Can't explain why. But I pretty much immediately quit after that, even wasting the subscription time I had left. Weird feeling.

As for you question, no but I don't spend that much time here. And usually just like @Tzaar: when I have some small spare time, I may come here for my break ^^

Yep, it's kinda waste of time. SG is more a habit for me. SG is declining together with so-called indie games scene. Less giveaways every month. Every day I don't know how to spend points.

SG has helped me avoid doing some odious chores around the house that I have been procrastinating for quite some time.

But in truth, I really do enjoy giving away games (and winning them), and especially when one of those weirdos who actually wants to play it, wins one from me. That's a good day on SG for me. I also enjoy this community - there's a lot of smart, interesting people here that I appreciate, so I probably spend more time than I should reading posts.

Since i entering last 2 years basically every day and won 2 games, yes. No idea why i even keep entering anything.
actually its 7 months from last win... i see guys winning multiple every week. Yes waste of time

No. It is if you're entering for every game, browsing through all the giveaways. I enter for a few a really want to play and check the site multiple times a day for a minute or two. Check the new GAs, enter some if it interests me, check out the discussions and read a few threads if they sound interesting.
If you haven't won anything and think it's a waste of time, remember that persistence and patience is key

Lately I've been seriously considering stopping entering giveaways. In recent months I've found that I simply do not have time to play games, and I've felt quite bad about winning some coveted games, only to never be able to find the time to play them. I've never been too involved with the community here, but it has been supportive when I have been posting more and/or hinting at issues I've had in my life. I have no intention of stopping making giveaways, although I've always been erratic with them anyway. But it wouldn't be surprised if I stopped entering giveaways in the near future. Let people who will actually get joy from the games win. I have more than enough for a lifetime.

I've had times in my life when I felt like everything was a waste of time. Like, what is the point of anything? Millions of years of evolution of life on earth just so we can make t-shirts with funny words on them and eat sandwiches, or whatever...

Then there are other times when I feel like time is such a limited resource that I should be making the most of it. Every person on Earth, whether rich or poor, successful or a failure, motivated or a slacker, we all have exactly the same number of hours in a day. The only difference is the opportunities we are given and what we choose to do about them. The only one stopping me from becoming a better person is myself.

Then, most of the time, I feel like I'm just tired of dealing with the daily monotony of work (or school, what have you) and just wanna relax and make some space cats appear for lucky people and maybe win some games which are hopefully fun and help me relax even more.

And then there is the stress of having not enough time to relax and too many plans for what to do in my few relaxing hours, and that turns relaxation into a stressful activity. Which takes me back to the beginning of feeling like everything is a waste of time.

So, in summary, wait a while and your mood may change. :P

Yeah, it's definitely a timewaster and I've spent a lot of time here I could have spent doing more productive things. Anything can be a waste of time when you're avoiding something you should be doing, exactly what I'm doing right now, ha!

But I've enjoyed my time here, the community, groups, events, etc. I spend a lot less time on the site lately but I don't think I'd want to stop visiting entirely. Still, taking a break from anything you think is holding you back is not a bad idea.

it's a waste of time, that's true. 🤷

unless you've been unemployed since you were born and you feel like making 10 cents per day by idling your wins, indirectly beg for stuff (to idle and resell), get attention to farm whitelists (and win games to idle). you know, all things easier and better than getting a real job (wow i'm insane, how can i even say this?).

you can also advertise your discord/group/twitch/youtube channel (earn cents from sponsors!) then cry your thread got closed, complain about $1 bundles being too expensive, (extreme) leeches killing sg 😭, hb monthly being trash, bad apples rotting the community (very bad! ^^™).

it might sound dumb, but it beats playing games, working, or doing any other relatively productive activity! 💃

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Only 3 minutes per giveaways made? :O
Wow, it takes me a bottom line of 30 minutes to just decide what to say in my descriptions, write it and then double, triple and quadruple check it for any mistakes. Half of that About as much if I have to write a comment (like I am doing now)... I should really stop putting so much effort into stuff like that.... :|

Well, I don't have anything better to do and it usually distracts me from thinking about... bad things (well, unless there is a discussion about such things <.< )... so I'd call that time well spend. :)

thanks a lot for GAs!

It's only a waste of time if you have something better to do with your time.

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weird flex but ok

We are changing all the time, the world around us is changing, so the things we do, enjoy and need are changing as well. Some of the old habits should be thrown out of the window, and some are worth preserving, even if just for the sentimental reason. And, yes, it's definitely hard to separate them from addictions and routines, that we stick with just because we are to lazy to get rid of them. It's not like the gaming is always just a waste of time, even more so socializing on internet, but often they are.

My advice: take a break; try to get a clear idea, what you are missing in your life (sure you will be missing at least a bit), but also what you are gaining; then decide, what is worth changing and what is worth keeping, as it is.

Good luck :)

I had to cut some time on SG because it was taking away gaming time. It is kind of like emails, where you feel like you want to check every single email as they come in, but can do it a couple of times a day instead for efficiency.