Which contributor level do you most often require for your giveaways?
All my GAs were lvl zero, after joining quickly found out, that almost half of the GAs are not available for me, not a fun thing, so do my small share of helping the freshly joined ones to get some chance. While i like the fact as lvl1+ member, that my chance to win is doubled by lvl 1, and doubled again by lvl 2 and increased almost 50% more by lvl 3 (and some later lvls give you way more than this), i also don't like the same thing.
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My reason for creating level 0 giveaways are so that new users who come to the site will see games available to them, and it may entice them to become active on the site and create giveaways of their own.
But the giveaway level I use is proportional to the game being given away. Level 0 is, by definition, filled with users who have not contributed a single giveaway to SG, so I'm not going to set the better games at level 0. Level 1 are users who have performed at least the bare minimum token gesture towards being a part of SG, Level 2 are users who have made a small contribution and thus are more likely to be involved in the site and willing to give back, and Level 4 and 5 are active users who have made a significant contribution.
I don't see a point to setting the level higher than 5, since at that point you're excluding the majority of active users to reward mostly those who have a lot of disposable income or take advantage high CV bundles - not that there aren't extremely generous high level users, to whom I am very grateful, but their generosity speaks to them not caring about having giveaways exclusive to them.
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That’s a good strategy. Thanks for sharing! My first win as a new user was actually Rocket League with less than a 1/5000 chance to win. That was an exciting moment. I wouldn’t say it was the turning point that made me giveaway games, but it was a first step toward wanting to start my own GAs.
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There are a couple things you didn't take into consideration.
First that there are a lot of group and whitelist giveaways that are not using level restrictions, but have their own recruitment rules and filter by level during this process. So they don't count towards the stats but they are effectively level restricted.
Then you have to account for all the people who register to check the website and never return. I once got numbers from cg that only considered accounts online in the last 2 weeks and registered for at least 3 weeks, and the distribution was closer to a third of level 0, a third of level 1 and a third of level 2+.
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I recognized that the available stats do not account for inactive users, but I had no idea where to get the numbers counting only those who frequent the site. And I didn't know where to look for the stats for giveaways at each level so I didn't bother since I knew I wouldn't be accounting for all the exclusive groups, whitelists, and SGTools giveaways that would certainly skew the true percentage of public giveaways at each level.
Great points! Thanks for bringing them up.
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I'm currently of the mindset to set my giveaways at my level, save for a few less than noteworthy keys to give "everyone" a shot. I'm barely handling the day-to-day myself and was a measly lvl 1 for a loooooong time because of it so those lvl 0 giveaways I was able to enter and win helped keep me in high spirits on the site and I've since been able to scrape together a few decent giveaways of my own.
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I'm happy making level 0 giveaways, but I usually post links in discussions for people that are paying attention because I've had bad experiences with low level public giveaways in the past. Sometimes I make nicer giveaways for people who have contributed in some way but I don't think I've ever made especially high level giveaways. Just because somebody is high level it isn't any sign that they are a good user...
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Those hidden links inside the descriptions are fun. I’ve seen several with less than 10 entrants. The only hard part about them is that they only attract the users who enter the public GA first, which may not be a lot of people if the game is bundle trash, something most people already own, etc.
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I've seen those kind of things but the flaw that you mention is the big drawback. I hide giveaways in crap topics in discussions like this one. 67 people made it as far as the Frostpunk giveaway, admittedly that had some entry requirements but there were still plenty of giveaways for any level 0 users that were paying attention.
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yeah the system kind of sucks
i have given away games worth 672$ but steamgifts value is only 27$
that just doesnt feel right to me
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I give the spare bundle keys away to get rid of them in a useful way and for someone to enjoy. I honestly don't care about recipient level as I have no reciprocation expectancy. The only reason why all my GAs are 1+ is to spare me some "I don't know how to use this site" annoyances.
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If you want level 0 members to create giveaways themselves, maybe you should allow them to win something as an incentive, to get to know the concept. I admit I do mostly level-restricted giveaways, but I always try to remember that new members are level 0 and need to be given a chance to see how great the site is. Imagine all GAs were level 1 or higher. What kind of impression that would be for a new member.
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It would give them the impression that the site is a scam and they would move on. xD
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I'm also curious where it would fall under gambling regulations if you were required to invest to have a chance to win.
To be fair, I don't know much about the subject, but those regulations appear to be rather broad-sweeping in their definition of "gambling."
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Interesting point, never even thought about that. But I think there are enough other arguments against it anyway.
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Well, do you really think that a contribution should be mandatory before even having the chance to win something? Question is why do we give games away in the first place? Is it not to make others happy at least a little bit? Maybe help out other people who maybe can't afford many games on their own? I don't see giveaways as a trade, but as giveaways. We give something away for free and ask nothing in return. That's how it should be, right? It shouldn't be a one for one. And it definitely shouldn't be a "give us something first before we maybe give you something". There are people in the world who do the same amount of work as I do, but earn only a fraction of the money. There are people who don't have work at all and therefore very little money. I think it should be possible for those people to win something here without being expected to give something back. That's why I am not a big fan of this thing that often happens here where people get shamed for their ratio. A ratio of 4:100 or even 0:100 can be perfectly fine. Sure, some of the members with such a ratio are leechers that could contribute more but don't want to. We have those, no doubt about it. But there are also people who don't have much money, but now have some nice games to play thanks to this site. An entry barrier like proposed here would basically ruin the whole idea.
By the way, I am not saying I do everything here completely selfless out of pure generosity. I definitely wanted to see my level (or back then CV) rise and get access to better giveaways myself. There was definitely a bit of selfishness involved, and probably still is, even though I am at max level for years now. I still live to see my CV and my number of GAs increase. But even if you do a nice thing out of (partial) selfishness, it's still a nice thing. I guess that's the beauty of Steamgifts.
I definitely have to create a level 0 giveaway now, see you in a bit! ;)
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You asked a question, I answered it. "What kind of impression would it give if all giveaways were Level 1?" I don't think that would be a terrible impression. Getting to Level 1 literally takes a single giveaway.
If moving to Level 1 were more difficult, I would absolutely feel differently.
Well, do you really think that a contribution should be mandatory before even having the chance to win something?
Of course not, people can do what they want, including joining a giveaway site and not giving anything away.
A ratio of ... 0:100 can be perfectly fine.
Sure, people can stay at Level 0 if they want to, but it's a choice. No one is at Level 0 by necessity. Not in 2019, and not with the current climate in PC gaming (where nearly everything is bundled and discounted and tracked and analyzed).
An entry barrier like proposed here would basically ruin the whole idea.
What entry barrier? Who proposed an entry barrier?
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You asked a question, I answered it.
Sure. Don't get the impression that I want to attack you or anything. We are just discussing opinions here. :)
I don't think that would be a terrible impression. Getting to Level 1 literally takes a single giveaway.
It takes giving away something you own to a complete stranger without knowing that you will ever get something in return. That is quite a hurdle for many people. Especially if you don't know much about bundles and don't have hundreds of steam keys lying around.
When I started here I gave away a copy of Frozen Synapse. I only had that because my purchase of the game gave me an additional gift inventory copy. Had I not had that one, I wouldn't have had anything to give away. I didn't know any bundle sites with the exception that I heard of Humble Bundle but hadn't used it so far. That Frozen Synapse copy is the only reason I gave away something before winning something. Without it I'd have to invest actual money to give something away. And I wouldn't have done that at first. Spending money for strangers on a strange website? No thanks. The concept grew on me. But that took time. And I am sure it's the same for a lot of people. Especially people who don't have spare money to spend for others. I think it should be understandable that many newcomers are not willing to go first here.
Of course not, people can do what they want, including joining a giveaway site and not giving anything away.
Yeah, but if you lock away all giveaways for level 1 or higher, then a giveaway is kind of mandatory if you want to use the site and win something.
What entry barrier? Who proposed an entry barrier?
Again, if all giveaways were level 1+ then that is basically an entry barrier.
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The problem aren't the newcomers, the problem are the constant GA rulebreakers, over years! (most of the ones i catch that are then perma suspended done that 3 or 4 YEARS !), and the extrem ammount of extreme leechers (over years too).
Such a system as sg don't work when 95% are leeching.
Thats the easy core fact.
The statistics show that with each month more and more people stop to give (different reasons and i can understand the most of them) but reactions on that fact don't come from cg/this site.
And as long as nothing happens is this site dying (more and more).
None can expect that some "holy rescueer" come around when the Admin + Staff don't do, enough, against it.
Don't get me wrong, i know very well, about the limitations of the staff possibilities (no clear rules, not enough active staff members, not enough rights and and and) but think at gone staff members and the fact that one of them (Pete) done so much as all other staff members together. Then you see that something doesn't fit there too.
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Such a system as sg don't work when 95% are leeching.
Thats the easy core fact.
sg has been working fine since 2011, that's a fact. 🤷
the amount of giveaways per month is fine.
maybe if they drop under 25k cg should worry. the lowest since 2015 has been 35k.
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I can't speak from before my time.
So i speak only from the last 18 months.
I see a big drop at all. Threads, comments, active users, GA quality, GA quantity.
The statistics say the same. As example 18 months ago 70 - 80k GA's/month, now 40k.
The much more important thing was that more and more active users are gone or inactive.
And with that will be the leeching ammount of users more and more a problem for the site.
As they get more or are at the same level isn't then the most important on that.
As you think that are all on a ok level or not is a other question and it is ok to have different oppinions at that and all other things too :o)
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The problem isn't the number of giveaways. Even 25k is a hell of a lot of giveaways.
The problem is the people screaming how generous they are while only making small group/whitelist giveaways and avoiding public for every reason they can come up with. The site has, more or less, become a different version of Steamtrades, with a lot of users only making giveaways to maintain a ratio so they don't get kicked from their leech groups (or to appear generous so they can win more, idle the cards, and stroke their epeen.) I see a number of them making their excuses in this very thread.
That's what is hurting this site, the giveaway "trading" and the giveaways that most never even see. They're not helping this site at all, but those people always seem to be the most vocal.
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It would give them the impression that the website is complete bullshit, a lot of people are already very sceptical of its legitimacy when joining as it is
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that.
i was very sceptical.
and kept on being sceptical for two, three weeks or so, after joining.
i was pretty much always thinking "...really??"
plus, i think there's a kind of gap, between the Giveaways part (the actual site you use and see when joining) and everything happens here, in Discussions, where you can find the real SG, imo, a more "human" part (like, not just green Enter buttons). and it seems that "gap" is still there, for some of us, even after years since joining
but, basically, that, what you've said :D
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I understand what you try to say with it and i see it the same way BUT the userbase and the too small hunting down rates of the GA rule breakers make it impossible, for me, to handle it the way you (and i) want.
I learned my lessions from a lot of public GA's with a lot of problems to find a winner.
When i gift free stuff than i shouldn't run behind the winners that they take the win (and i have that scenario at each third public GA !). That made NO FUN to me and DON'T MOTIVATE me to give more. It is so easy.
I must proof after 7 days that i tried to contact them at many ways, i must write all the time with the support, must say please reroll. Partly 9 times. No joke thats the reality with DLCs and rerolls at main games are each 3th GA, alone from the ones checked with sgtools after a win. And for the Support is that a lot of, unneeded, work on top of the normal stuff. [But all this problems are long known but it happens nearly nothigng, that is the reason why this site die each day more -look at the statistics and you have not only the feeling/opinion, you have there the clear facts of threads/comments/GA's and the user base-].
I had, one time, checked all 330 entries from one public GA -lvl 1 or 2- and i BL 180 of them (and reported around 30 - 40 for multiwins/not activated wins).
Sure i am a extremer one but you can be sure that this 180 aren't all "innocent" for other people too when/if they take such a close look as i did it this one time.
As long as the numbers show such things it isn't a "good" experience to gift with public giveaways, special to low levels. At least for me and the most sg users that i know better.
I try it from time to time and the results are always the same, 18 Months....
As soon as, lvl 0 users aren't to 90% bots/autojoiners/bad scripts users/win resellers and more bad stuff, as soon i am happy to gift again to them.
But before that happens i prefer to give to my Whitelist, groups that i can choose or private GA's where i can make the rules which one's can enter or at which way.
EDIT: My BL is at 1000 (thats the maximum). I don't have lvl 0 at it because i haven't more spaces possible. So i am forced to don't make lvl 0 GA's.
And right now i kick always a lvl 1 from my BL when i need the space to put a higher one on it.
I write that to make clear it give more problems with, as example, the GA rule breakers and not only at lvl 0. But the site don't give me enough tools to handle it in a "good" way and it can't be the solution that all active users BL hundreds of rulebreakers. The solution must be to suspend/ban this rulebreakers and protect the normal users (lvl 0 too) from such negative experiences.
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I stopped making giveaways for level 0 after continually having to open tickets for rerolls, not marking received, people not activating their wins on proper accounts, people maybe trying out the site and never returning to collect their wins etc.
It's not about not wanting to give games to people not contributing, simply too much hassle dealing with people uninterested in knowing and following the rules. I'm more confident making lv 3+ or 4+ giveaways. You get there fairly easily (a couple dollar bundles like these https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/PjTul/fanatical-dollar-viva-bundle and you're level 4), and if you did some giveaways you know how it all works (redeem on your account, mark as received, don't vanish for months etc).
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I definitely have experienced those same issues with my lower level giveaways
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To me, there is really NO rule!! =)
I often make lots of giveaways, since I tend to buy nice bundles from some sites (mainly Fanatical, then Indiegala and Humblebundle, plus I always buy Bunchkeys bundles and sometimes from other websites too) and I make single different giveaways: if the game is new, great, unbundled before etc. I make it group + whitelist or whitelist only, if the game is a good game I tend to make it level 4, 5, 6+, if it's a game that I love to share and that I played before I often make it level 1+.. I also make many level 0 giveaways for many reasons and I find it extremely good =P
Plus I sometimes buy full value games (sometimes even DLCs): these are often given to my whitelist, but it also happens that I buy great games like the Final Fantasy series, Chrono Trigger and many other JRPGs and similar and I make them level 3 or 4+ because I want all the community to participate!
The purpose of this website to me is to feel good by gifting games to everyone and making happy the highest numer possible of players, so I'm really satisfied =P
I'd love to paste the comment wrote by Slowacki:
This site is supposed to be about giving games away, not trading. [...] I have much more fun giving away the games, especially if the other person cannot afford it.
I totally agree =) I have lots of fun here and I'm always happy in what I'm doing, so if I'm sharing games already bundled many times and so on, why not making level 0 giveaways? I just make lvl 1+ giveaways for DLCs but for games it's perfectly ok! Every giveaway of mine has its own life =P
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True, I agree with you. I basically have no fix rules here. Just yesterday I did mutliple GAs from lvl 0 to 7 because I just felt like it :D
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On the topic of giveaways, I always see people talking about their subjective opinions as if they were objective, or as if they hold the one correct answer to how to do things. The thing is, we all have our own opinions as to how to do giveaways (level and other restrictions). Let's not judge others for doing it differently.
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I saw this table on another thread and it inspired a question in me, so I figured I'd post it to the community. According to the SteamGifts User Stats page, this table is the current breakdown of users by level. It shows that more than 85% of the users on SteamGifts have not given away a single game. Of those that have given away at least one game, 67% have only given away one game to achieve Level 1 (or maybe a few cheap games, not enough to reach Level 2).
It just made me wonder why there are so many giveaways for level 0. (Here is that question I promised you:) What is your reason for creating Level 0 giveaways? Or if you don't, why do you think so many people create Level 0 giveaways? Low level giveaways seem like they just propagate a consumer mentality on SteamGifts rather than encouraging others to create more giveaways. I acknowledge that I may be wrong on that, but that's my impression. I like to give away games to higher levels because it is my way to show support to the other users out there that give away games. And I'm sorry my giveaways have sucked recently. I stopped buying games and bundles several months ago to fund an orphanage.
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