How did you enter the giveaway then?
Given the date of release and the issue in question, it's presumably typed on Steam as an Expansion; That being a discontinued Steam license format [eg, Game, DLC, Package] which is known to have this issue. This is further supported by the "Notice: Requires the Steam version of Civilization IV" info box, which is indicative of that association [See also this example, which is also typed as an Expansion.]
Since it's not typed as a DLC, steamgifts doesn't read it as one, and therefore doesn't restrict entry. However, Steam does still check Expansions for prerequisite ownership (an interesting benefit of the typing is that, as per the example I linked above, it can actually check multiple base games, unlike the DLC typing) which will cause the license activation issues the OP described.
In this case the creator of the giveaway has to ask for a reroll.
Just as a tidbit for curiosity's sake, I'll note that in the case where a giveaway may require additional rerolls and there's a method still available to reduce that demand, staff will instead typically favor the deletion of the giveaway. The GA creator can then repost the giveaway with proper detailing of its specialized circumstances in its description (or, if possible/relevant, with proper restrictions [eg, the site's region locks] in place).
Comment has been collapsed.
It could've been easily resolved with a reroll, but you received the game via steam gift and that's a problem. While it's true that you generally can't enter DLC giveaways without owning the base game, steamgifts has problems with some of them. The gifter might consider this your fault and report you.
Comment has been collapsed.
The game is a "stand alone DLC" that still need the basegame. Steamgifts can't see that this is a DLC.
The gifter can ask for refund on steam.
Comment has been collapsed.
2 weeks from the time of activation onto the activating account, yes. It doesn't start counting off until an account actually receives it. That said, it sounds as though the support ticket was posted after the activation, so.. yeah, it's presumably past what Steam Support guidelines'd properly allow.
That said, Steam Support can be really iffy on following those guidelines, so it may still be worth the attempt. Especially since it'd be rather easy to prove that the expansion wasn't actually played/playable, which seems as though it'd make for a convincing argument. Then again, Steam Support is just bots and madmen, so you never know how they'll respond to anything.
Comment has been collapsed.
The gifter can ask for refund on steam.
Steam Support has previously told me that if the gift has transitioned ownership, then the recipient has to initiate the refund request instead (it'll still refund to the original purchaser). You can still cancel it as the purchaser if it hasn't been accepted by the recipient, but you lose rights to request a refund after that. Presumably, this is a measure against fraud, as it'd be far too problematic to allow gifters to envoke refunds at their own discretion, given how often steam game licenses are traded or resold.
Comment has been collapsed.
ah okay. the more you know :)
I just saw the refund button when I gifted something but prob. the person didn't claimed the gift before
Comment has been collapsed.
Hi,
first off: keep in mind that this site doesn't check properly if you own the base game in the future. For this case: Either get the base game somewhere so you can redeem the gift - or if you don't want to / can't: Ask the giveaway creator to request a new winner - I'm not sure if the giveaway being several weeks old might be an issue, though. If it is, ask the giveaway creator to delete the giveaway instead, so he can create a new one for it.
Comment has been collapsed.
How come I can´t find in your wins on SteamGifts ??
whereever you got it from, if you want to play it you´ll need to get Civ.IV - If you don´t want to do that, as it seems you either have not won it here or it really was such a long time ago that there are no records of the transaction why don´t you Chilli Pepper it yourself ..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr_uHJPUlO8
Comment has been collapsed.
OP did neither mark the win "received" nor "not received", so it does not show up in their wins.
Comment has been collapsed.
oK - that´s plausible though why didn´t they mark it because technically they received it.
well, if you (OP) would like to stick to the rules of SG in the 1st place, you´d have to return the gift to the creator of the original GA, as basically you should not have been able to enter that GA at all but because of a glitch you could.
nobody is to blame here & that would imo be a proper solution and let the gifter take care of the rest ..
Comment has been collapsed.
Oh Damn, that´s really quite a Catch 22 you got here 🤦♂️
stay strong, you´re doing your best - I´m sure it´ll all work out fine ! 👍
Comment has been collapsed.
Why mark it "not received"? If I understand the guidelines correctly, OP should not have entered the giveaway, if they were unwilling to buy the base game.
Comment has been collapsed.
I mean as far i understood he couldnt activate it so it isnt in his account .
and if the dude traded the game ,because (old gift) he just needs to give it back.
if the other cases it was purchased gift he can decline or refund it .
But if you look at his phrasing he was unable to activate it so ,it aint on his account .Its kinda the same like region restricted gift but just that the receiving end is at fault .
And having the temporary red mark there would just help to resolve the problem faster .
like you see ,he said already 3weeks passed since the giveaway
Comment has been collapsed.
That's the quickest way to get an suspension. Good job!
Comment has been collapsed.
was kinda sleepy at the time ,but i understood he was unable to redeem it ,like he gets a game with region restriction but he cant redeem it ,shouldnt be that the same literally in this case?
he can just give it back and the dude will either get a stored gift ,if its that old or he will get the money back so ,i wrote that he should delete the giveaway,because the game might not be on sale anymore ,but he should have wrote that to the giveeaway creator instead .
I mean sure the ga creator had no fault except that he didnt check his winner if he owns the base game .
As far as i understood Steamgifts rules ,if you cant redeem it mark it as no received and let the GA creator know ,so the GA creator gets a red remark and knows there is a problem.
Like in this case already 3weeks are gone .
the GA creator dont want to have a red redmark and want to resolve this as quickly as possible ,so we have 2 partys that will argue about a problem?
Its not like you get instantly banned for having a not received on the profile .
Comment has been collapsed.
The giveaway creator regularly did all he could do. He did the giveaway with the right rules, he delivered the right gift and he marked as sent. Giveaway creators aren't responsible for misused giveaways like giveaways you still can enter having the game/dlc/bundle. The giveaway creator also aren't responsible to check if the winner owns anything. You can say that's an etiquette, but no rule. Since winner is the one who entered in a giveaway he shouldn't, winner must be responsible to solve his own problem. This can also happen if you delete the game (or the basegame) after you won the dlc. This problem is caused exclusively by the winner and the winner is the one who should solve the problem he created.
Comment has been collapsed.
He created the problem yeah.
But he cant redeem the gift so its not in his account
And as far Steamgifts rules is you cant redeem it you mark it as not received ,its literally the same like giving someone a region restricted gift and they cant redeem it ,its just that in this case the receiving end is at fault .
and like i said if he declines/refund/ he wont have the gift and the person gets the gift or Money back .
its the same in most other cases the GA creator needs to take responsibility for this kind of thing .
and like i said having a temporary red mark there wouldnt do anything except that the case probably would have resolved 3weeks ago .
Comment has been collapsed.
Wrong. Never simplify things by their ends (read more about the ends justifies the means in philosophy).
When winner can't redeem because winner did something he shouldn't, it is winners problem.
It isn't nowhere near to give someone a region restricted gift because the problem was created by giveaway creator when doing the giveaway. That moment, the giveaway creator are responsible to put the correct information of the gift. When giveaway creator fails to assign correct information, he created a problem for himself.
The same goes to the winner.
If the winner deceive the SteamGifts system to win something that he won't be able to redeem, the winner caused the problem. If you received something you shouldn't receive, you are responsible to solve the problem you created. Giveaway creator isn't responsible at all for a problem that winner created for and by himself.
I'll close this giving you this link to check what is the consequence for "Misuse of Giveaway Feedback". Hope I helped to make you understand how responsibility works.
Comment has been collapsed.
You dont understand he cant solve it alone and he cant activate it its nothing about philosophy nobody is getting harmed here atleast one red button .
and if he declines it or gives it back he wont have it .
He cant activate it at all due for him not owning the base game .
Is it really misuse of Guideline if he cant "Redeem" it .
no i will not understand he cant redeem it whats so hard to understand its the same as he will get a region restricted giveaway .
and neither partys wanted it to happen.
This game just simply doesnt have a dlc tag and wont be registered on this site as a dlc because of that .
Why is everybody getting offended by that red button?
Okay than tell me how you would like to resolve the probem if the creator will blacklist you .
You cant write him.
he may have comments deactivated on steam and he might not even read replies here because hes busy? .
How can he do that?
there is a problem he cant redeem the gift ,its so hard to understand that his damn button is created to be used?
If he would have just instantly used it the giveaway creator would have been informed that there is in fact a problem with the gift .
Comment has been collapsed.
Yes he can and it is absolutely simple. He can solve the problem he created activating the basegame.
How? I'll give just one answer: not giveaway creator problem.
There is no one offended by that red button. Everyone knows how this works and proceed their actions accordingly.
You are the one who is upset with the consequences of the red button.
Comment has been collapsed.
And even if he didn't activate it on his account, he did receive it... The creator sent the game to him, and he got it, so that means he received it...
By your logic, if someone enters for a key, then gives the key to someone else, he didn't receive it, which is clearly not true. Of course, in that case, you would probably blame the winner, but it's pretty much the same thing, except that in this case the creator might be able to get a refund...
Comment has been collapsed.
we need to trust people alot in a society like that
and no its not the same because you shouldn trade the gifted game to the winner ,only directly gift it .
and if it was bought he could just decline it and it would go back into his inventory .
the thing is he cant avtivate it does that mean because somebody received a key for cyberpunk 2077 with region lock needs to "press received?" No? Does somebody need to press receive if he gets a region locked gift no?Does someone click Receive if he gets a beta key that expire?I mean the dude will get the game back or the money in the normal circumstances here.And i mean sure here are bad cookies too that would write dupe even it aint a dupe but if they activated all the other keys you will have no proof.except he has a history like all high point giveaway related games would be "Dupe"
I actually saw the last time a game giveaway like that people used SGtools ,because it was to easy to make a mistake in this kind of giveaway .
i still dont get why everybody gets butthurt here because the red button .
i always saw the red button as Hey i have a problem with the key we need to discuss ASAP this rather than youre a bad apple and should be expelled from this site .
like i mentioned above there is alot of situation where you cant even write with the creator like Blacklist ,no comments on profile allowed .
I mean our society lives through communication .
i meant it anyway more as last resort ,because he should try to contact the giveaway creator ,but seriously already 3 or nearly 4weeks passed .
Comment has been collapsed.
Except this is a working gift, not an expired key/invalid key, if you enter a giveaway you aren't supposed to, then just sit with it for weeks doing nothing despite receiving a working gift, then hit "not received", that's against the rules. You mean to say nobody is supposed to be upset when rules of the site get broken?
Saying "not received" when getting a region-locked key or expired beta key is what you're supposed to do according to the rules, so your examples are different in that sense, although the person would have "received" a key, but those, unlike this example, could never be activated on the receiver's account. (Well, I suppose there is a way to change your accounts region, but that'd be fraud or something)
And the fact that the winner has just held it for weeks without even trying to contact the creator or make it right just seems absurd to me... A "society liv[ing] through communication" should try to communicate... Doing something sensible like trying to activate a won game in a reasonable timeframe would have helped a lot, actually trying to contact the creator would probably help, checking if you could use the game you're entering for would have been smart, just adding a "not received" despite it being against the rules of the site... Umm, yeah, don't know how much that'll help besides frustrating creator/risking a suspension?
I also don't see how marking it as "not received" is supposed to speed it up? If I sent a gift weeks ago, and didn't hear anything from the recipient, I would always assume they activated it with no problem, and doubt I'd keep checking the sent gifts to see if the recipient broke the rules by lying without letting me know. If they left a comment on the giveaway so I'd get a notification I'd actually see, that'd probably help more, imo.
Comment has been collapsed.
Youre right about that ,but i guess i meant it more casually as steps and tbh we have no idea if he tried to contact or not?
we can only assume and we probably can assume that most people here writing would have find a solution in the first day they received the gift .
but i always assume the worst like somebody couldnt even afford a 15year old game or they dont wanna pay 2euro for that .
and i seriously think that pressing decline if he got it as a gift or trade it back or refund it in anyway shouldnt be to hard right?
i mean honest mistake can happen .
Comment has been collapsed.
Yeah, it sounds to me like he didn't contact the creator since he only mentioned trying to contact support, but who knows, really?
And yes, I would think it wouldn't be too hard at all to fix...
Comment has been collapsed.
iirc, if you don't accept the gift on steam, the purchase should be invalid and the money should be returned to the buyer's account. but again, it has been years since i got a dlc gift from someone, so my memory might be a bit hazy.
if the winner gave you the gift in a trade, you can just return the gift and ask for a reroll, i think.
Comment has been collapsed.
Just leave a message on the giveaway letting the giveaway creator know what happened. If they still use steamgifts, they will get a notification of your message and hopefully they will respond. Then you can send the DLC back if they want it and they can request for a reroll or to delete the giveaway.
I would not mark the giveaway received or not received, just leave it unmarked. If you leave it unmarked it will have no affect on your steamgifts account and you can leave it that way for as long as you want. If the giveaway creator or support notices this unmarked giveaway in the future, they will see your comment explaining what happened and see that you tried to get in contact with the giveaway creator.
If you are not able to get in contact with the giveaway creator and end up activating a copy of Civilization IV sometime in the future, you can always activate the DLC and mark it as received at that time.
Comment has been collapsed.
if you want to activate this game/dlc, you could buy the base game. less than $2 in [REDACTED] and similar sites
i mean, that's why you entered the giveaway... because... you planned to play it? 🙄 or just to +1 and idle cards?
buying the original civ4 shouldn't be too much of a hassle if you really wanted this one.
Comment has been collapsed.
I would do one of the following:
just decline the gift on Steam, since you cannot put it in your account anyway without the base game. This should process a refund through to the gifter, who would be able to request for a deletion of the said giveaway. Of course giving the gifter a heads up is always a good idea.
as mentioned, buy the base game and activate the gift, then mark as received.
Comment has been collapsed.
Best solution is to just buy the base game and activate the DLC.
Comment has been collapsed.
This really shouldn't have dragged for 3 weeks... Talk to the GA creator first, but the proper way to do it IMO would be to just refuse the gift on Steam and allow the GA creator to reroll or delete the GA.
Gifts that are refused on Steam are refunded to the sender (if they just bought it) or returned to their inventory (if they already had the gift in their inventory before sending).
Since you waited so long, though, the first option means the GA creator may miss out on a promotion if they were counting on it for their GA...
Comment has been collapsed.
48 Comments - Last post 6 minutes ago by sensualshakti
46,809 Comments - Last post 17 minutes ago by MyLifeGameRU
471 Comments - Last post 1 hour ago by Koalala
83 Comments - Last post 1 hour ago by gonsi
99 Comments - Last post 1 hour ago by ryuga
347 Comments - Last post 1 hour ago by quijote3000
370 Comments - Last post 1 hour ago by Acojonancio
179 Comments - Last post 7 seconds ago by MundoBotafogo
251 Comments - Last post 3 minutes ago by Foxpile
101 Comments - Last post 10 minutes ago by Fluffster
2,398 Comments - Last post 11 minutes ago by Fluffster
7,908 Comments - Last post 18 minutes ago by mysticalpeace
127 Comments - Last post 19 minutes ago by CheMan39
233 Comments - Last post 21 minutes ago by SheWulf
Hi, some time ago I won a Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword, creator of giveaway added me as friend in steam and sent it as a gift, I was accepted it but found myself unable to redeem it on account, as it turns to require base game, which I don't own. I requested support via ticket 3 weeks ago with no answer, so maybe more experienced members could give advice what I can do to resolve this situation?
Comment has been collapsed.