Hint added in reserved post
So I've been meaning to ask regarding the criteria for a game classified as bundled on this site.

The reasons I'm aware of are as follows :

  • Game has sold for 95% and above at any given point of time on Steam.
  • Game has been bundled.

My question is based around the second point.

  • Is the game classified as "bundled" if its put into Humble Bundles alone? Or does this apply to every other bundler there is (ala. Bundle Stars, Indiegala, DailyIndieGame etc.)?
  • Is the game NOT classified as bundled if its bundled in Non-Steam form? (For instance, if a game is bundled as a Desura key, is it not considered?)

BTW I just found out that I dropped couple of hours ago from Lvl 7.1 to Lvl 6.48. Happened just today too. I was about to drop my 64-bit, i3, 1GB RAM, graphic cardless laptop in shock (Would have been bad, cuz my entire final year project depends on it. That's right, on a machine like that....) So can someone actually help me out by telling me what happened?

P.S. Found nothing interesting yet? Guess you wasted some time here. If not, feel free to hang back and enjoy your stay! (First try at this kind of stoof so....)

SOLUTION

Now then, seeing as though 20-30 people alone managed to get in, I'll say that this was an easy puzzle, but it just about managed to throw most of you guys off, so it was a successful puzzle.

Let's start with the simple part. Anyone who has read the Zelgh guide of puzzle solving magical greatness, would know that I had left a hidden link in the OP.

..Is the game NOT classified as bundled if its bundled in Non-Steam form? (For instance, if a game is bundled as a Desura key, is it not considered?)
I hid the link here
BTW I just found out that I dropped couple of hours ago from Lvl 7.1 to Lvl 6.48..

The pastebin link is relatively easy to find. Its the stuff after that most people were stuck with. The link obviously doesn't work (I mean, cmon, its me, remember?) So there was some decoding involved.

I was about to drop my 64-bit, i3, 1GB RAM, graphic cardless laptop in shock

I made sure the hint was casual, but any puzzle veteran would see through it. The numerical value is what matters here. 64. The URL was encrypted in Base64. In short, you have to decode the code from Base64 to its original form. Which gives you

http://pastebin.com/paF3EjxX

Head over there, and you will see links to all of the invite only GAs I made. Problem solved!

9 years ago*

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Potato?

View Results
Yes
No

Every bundle with a Steam key or if it is discounted more than 95%.

Steam prices bug out sometimes, and causes CV to fluctuate.

9 years ago
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So let's say Saviors is at 90% sale right now, but has been bundled in the past in the form of a Desura key, its not considered bundled right?

Cuz if it is, then even the Hyperspace Pack becomes bundled, due to all its games being bundled.

9 years ago
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http://www.steamgifts.com/bundle-games

Edit: If it's just a Desura key, then no. But if it turns into a Steam key, then yes.

9 years ago
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I know about that, but it isn't always updated. So I tend to cross check manually.

9 years ago
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Reserved cuz reasons.

9 years ago
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Quite a bunch of people found my stoof interesting.... Guess I'm not as boring as I thought...

1 day is over. BUMP!

9 years ago
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Well then, only 20 people or so managed to see throught the farce, but the rest didn't. Either that, or they found my puzzle hard

Hint :
What you see is not what you think you will get. The truth is often veiled and the only way to get to it is to self reflect on the courses of action you have available to you.

9 years ago*
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Guess Potato is winning.

Last 4 hours! Bump.

9 years ago
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Bump

Am I allowed to just wait for the solution? Will there be one?

9 years ago
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Yeah of course. Solution will be posted after the giveaways are done.

9 years ago
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Yay, I got stuck on your stoof!

I'm definitely interested to see where I went wrong.

Probably Karma for my puzzle train a few weeks ago

9 years ago
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Solution added. Games sent. Congrats to the winners!

9 years ago
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LOL! I didn't think to use that URL on pastebin

facepalm

I got the decoding, and had my 8 char and tried only ITH and further decoding... lol, was right in front of my face. I deserve that. Same thing I did to people on my puzzle train. Hahahaha. Nice one

9 years ago
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yeah its marked as a bundled game as long as it has been in any bundle, not just humblebundle ones.

was just ranting about it in another topic :P i dont really think how steam gifts for games that havent been sold on >95% should be marked as bundled games because im yet to see a bundle made of steam gifts :x

9 years ago
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Probably because Steamgifts cant tell the difference between gifts and bundle keys.

9 years ago
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umm yeah it can :P heck, even when making a giveaway you can chose between a gift or a key :) it should be too lazy to add a couple of lines of code either, but oh well :x

9 years ago
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but they can't check if you actually sent a gift or just e-mailed a key ;)

9 years ago
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yeah thats true :P havent thought of that part, but im sure that could be solved too... maybe? :x

9 years ago
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I'm sure everyone will be quick to report the people who gave them free games and asked them to mark as received even though they selected gift and sent a key. I'm equally certain that people would know to do so in the first place.

9 years ago
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Several bundles have included keys that when redeemed give you extra gift copies. Gun Monkeys, Murder Miners, Space Farmers, Ibb & Obb just to name a few off the top of my head.

9 years ago
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Arkham Knight's "price" is 0, I think, so that might be your problem.

9 years ago
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That was 2 months ago. This price drop happened 3 hours back.

9 years ago
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Prices fluctuate like that a lot, and as far as I know it is retroactive. I can't recall the name of it currently, but there was (still is?) a game that's bugged to like $100 when it's actually $10 or something.

Edit:

Sorry, misread ._.

9 years ago*
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9 years ago
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9 years ago
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The calculation is always done against the current price. If the price is bugged, then the calculation is wrong and will remain wrong until the error is corrected.

9 years ago
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I think you replied to the wrong comment...

And yeah the list is retroactively maintained by one guy alone, so the prices are updated way later than they should be. I already took a hit with Arkham Knight GAs not giving me CV, so it had to be something else. As Jasmine pointed out, it's Eidos Anthology + Castle Crashers+ Stronghold Complete that were added recently into the bundle, and that caused the 260$ CV drop.

9 years ago*
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I misinterpreted your comment. (And mostly didn't really follow the Arkham Knight situation)

Carry on. :P

9 years ago
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Hi there!

Same happened to me twice and the answer I got after I asked is that maybe some gifted games decrease their price in Steam or become part of a bundle, and for that cause our SG level was fixed.

9 years ago
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I know the why, I wanna know the what. Which games could possibly drop my CV all the way from Lvl 7 to Lvl 6.5. Thats around a 250$ drop. Too high IMO.

9 years ago
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Sure it is

9 years ago
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Ask for a detailed page to which ga contributes to how many cv as a feature request. Also feature request might be a non downlevel cv stance even as cv fluctuates.

9 years ago
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afaik it also depends on the bundle price - e.g if there's a $13 tier with one additional game, that game does not count as bundled

9 years ago
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Thanks a bunch ; as others have already pointed, as long as the price of a game doesnt go below 95% of US price at ANY region, game is not classified as bundled. That's the most general definition I can get. Hope you also got the interesting stoof while here.

9 years ago
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Eidos Anthology, Excalibur Sim, Stronghold Complete Pack and Castle Crashers have been added to the bundle list, maybe something else too. Eidos Anthology was $208 CV, as bundle it would be $31, so about $177 lost. Excalibur Sim was $20 and now is $3, so that's $34. Stronghold Complete was $50, now is $7.5. That's other $42.5. Castle Crashers was $15 and is now $2.25. We are now at a total of about $266 less CV. I'm too lazy to check for more.

9 years ago*
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That should be it. Though I would question why its put in the bundle list. I'm dead sure it had enough non bundled games in.

9 years ago
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Sometimes, if it's been very cheap in some regions and there have been lots of giveaways, it's still added to the bundle list.

9 years ago
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Ah. Makes sense. Thanks for the help!

9 years ago
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Castle Crashers is been in a bundle ? :|

9 years ago
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Can't Stop Laughing Bundle and Amazon has had Castle Crashers on sale around last Christmas for $1.49. Steam has sold the bundle for $2.49.

9 years ago
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But wouldn't that sit at 90% discount and not 95%? Sorry I'm not sure w/ US prices since my store has been localized and the conversion isn't exact.

9 years ago
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THANK YOU! I wasn't sure which one I had dropped value.

9 years ago
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Given the actual value dropped my first thought is towards the The Daedalic Armageddon Bundle's being retroactively bundled... though that did happen a few weeks ago.

7.1 to 6.48 though would be around the $260 - $290 mark?
The full bundle is... $160? And it drops to $24 dollars as bundled pricing. So -$272?

Maybe about that sort of range.

How much was Arkham Knight? Well, already mentioned that, and you seemed to be aware of that already dropping your CV anyway... Hmm...

9 years ago*
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When it comes to bundled games- If a giveaway was before the game was marked as bundled, you get to keep the full CV, while those who have made giveaways after the bundled date get the 15% bundle-CV. So, a non bundled game given away just after the same game came out in a bundle - counts as 15% as soon as the database has been updated.

9 years ago
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How to Survive - Storm Warning Edition got it's bundle date moved to earlier. It happened to me also for the same reason. Just keep giving away games, trust me that will help get you back a level. ;)

9 years ago
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There's a reason you missed: games given away for free (as some kind of promotion, on Facebook, woobox, IndieGala, ...) also end up on the bundle list. Most of the time those games have been bundled before anyway, so it does not have an impact on the list.

Depending on the mass of keys given away the game might even get removed from the giveaway list, so SG does not get flooded. (This is usually a temporary thing, but for example in the case of The Ship or Metro 2033, I think the games had been removed over 12 months, before they have been added back).

9 years ago
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Games given away for free don't go to the bundle list, they are removed from the site, and never come back.
Try searching for The Ship or Metro 2033

9 years ago
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http://www.steamgifts.com/bundle-games/search?q=metro
http://www.steamgifts.com/bundle-games/search?page=2&q=ship

though you are right, they can no longer be given away. still, I'm pretty sure they had a short comeback. oh well, maybe I'm just tired and mixing stuff up ;)

9 years ago
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The ship was given away?! Damnit i should have not bought the boxed edition firstplace ( actually the first game i bought back then with a steam code in it ). Essentially i wasted my money on it.

9 years ago
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This paste has been removed.... grumble grumble

I just wanna know where the secret GAs are! :P

9 years ago
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i am upset too =\

9 years ago
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the paste was already removed when I checked 3 minutes after thread was created. I thought: I'll check later, OP will have fixed it by then. I also thought: maybe the removal was intentional and this is one of those devious puzzles I don't get. :D

9 years ago
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well, some people got in so I guess I am just being dumb again =\
anyways, i give up

9 years ago
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But it's interesting stoof..... What are you guys talking about?

9 years ago
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I understand the idea but can never find an actual solution :(

9 years ago
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Sounds like an call to transparency... Good luck with that

9 years ago
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I don't get it.... I only ..... I only put interesting stoof in there....

9 years ago
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No, not really. Just stating the fact. I am relatively new here and still don't fully understand how some puzzles work but I will figure it out one day. I am not really interested in giveaways themselves whatever they may be.

9 years ago
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You still have time. Its pretty interesting stoof. But not THAT interesting! No rush to see it.

9 years ago
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Hint added.

9 years ago
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The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian was added for some unknown reason to the bundle list even if it was never at 95% or more discount or at any known bundle.i dropped a level too because of that,that's why i checked what was it.

9 years ago*
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Same happened to me, don't know why it has been added to the bundled list...

9 years ago
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I notice that! I dropped a level too for same reason. Waiting for explanations!

9 years ago
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Uhm, can't like, enter and stuff. It's too hard ? :(

9 years ago
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Aw, you didn't find the stoof? Too bad :D

It's not really that hard. Just try your best to look for some very telling clues. You'll see the stoof then.

9 years ago
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Got it, thanks :P Silly me.

9 years ago
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Good to hear!

9 years ago
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I really don't know how to get the interesting stoof...

View attached image.
9 years ago*
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Man.... It's not any "word I cannot say", it's interesting stoof. Stop spreading lies.....

9 years ago*
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soz... erm... autocorrect....

View attached image.
9 years ago
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Same. :D

9 years ago
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Lmao! But for reals... I'm interested in this interesting stoof... Hint pls...

View attached image.
9 years ago
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But I cannot give you more hints. I've already left one....

9 years ago
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Still no luck?

9 years ago
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Nah I've given up xD

9 years ago
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I keep coming back ;___;

9 years ago
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Keep at it. It's pretty straightforward.

9 years ago
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Hint added.

9 years ago
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9 years ago
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Forgot to bump, sorry. ;_;

9 years ago
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Not a problem!

9 years ago
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a little correction: game will get "bundled" if it has been highly discounted in a sale in any region.
bump!

9 years ago
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^ This
Got an answer from support,every game that drops in a low price region below the 95% of a normal priced one will get bundled until the admin comes up with a way to implement regional CV.

9 years ago
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"normal price" = US price for steamgifts

9 years ago
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i mean normal = row

9 years ago
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Europe is not normal?

9 years ago
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i'm from europe who said that?

9 years ago
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We have row games at a different price than US.
That's why I clarified that steamgifts uses US prices not a generic "normal", because what is normal in a place where there is people from all around the world?

9 years ago
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thats why i said about row gifts below that and not locked ones

9 years ago
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Australia has (mostly) ROW gifts. They pay 50% more then US.
They still get US CV, not their own.

9 years ago
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Thanks for the tip!

9 years ago
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9 years ago
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I like pasta.

...that's all I have to say on the matter, really.

9 years ago
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Interesting stoof right there...

9 years ago
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Don't know why this topic isn't as popular as the other CV-related posts.

I think this one is the best, especially with all the pasta provided.

I think you need a more aggressive title, like "THE WHOLE BUNDLING SYSTEM IS RIGGED!" that'll get everyone looking.

9 years ago
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Yeah, I could have easily chosen a click bait title, but I chose not to. I wanted the stoof to be as inconspicuous as possible.

Thanks for the appreciation!

9 years ago
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What about copy pasta?

View attached image.
9 years ago
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EDIT: Don't bother about this post, I just realzied something ;)

9 years ago*
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View attached image.
9 years ago
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Bump some interesting stoof

9 years ago*
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Obrigato.

9 years ago
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Wow! 3582 bundled games/dlc... impressive list!

9 years ago
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Closed 9 years ago by gag6357.