the escape sequences work though... try posting something with '\'
Comment has been collapsed.
Only 1,7% of all giveaways are fake and most of them were for CoD 20XX or SMNC or coupons. Not a big problem.
Comment has been collapsed.
This. Drakhor is overreacting to a minor problem.
By the way, I strongly oppose point 1. And the other 2 don't seem like a good idea either. I stand by the earlier proposals to implement a short test of FAQ comprehension before users are allowed to make giveaways.
Comment has been collapsed.
Most problems come from people not reading the FAQ and guides when they register / make a giveaway. On my first day I spend the good half an hour to figure out how the stuff works.
Either they can't be bothered to read few lines of text to figure shit out, or they just want to be le epik troll XD
Comment has been collapsed.
You don't need to read FAQ to know that this isn't some charity site where you press "Create a giveaway" button (and later confirm giving the game away) and suddenly hundreds of people offer to give you game for free, c'mon ;p
It isn't "epic troll" either- more like douchebagery (if that word even exists;)). I think that some of those people create fake accounts and giveaways to increase the entry points they have on their "real" accounts so they can enter more giveaways they want to... That's the only reasonable answer I can find for this behaviour.
Comment has been collapsed.
Wow, you're sweaty!
Limiting the options for new users to create giveaways would do more harm than good. Would you rather have less giveaways with more entrants or a few fake giveaways? People don't usually fake giveaways intentionally, and if so, big deal. You get your points back and they get a suspension if they don't explain themselves.
Comment has been collapsed.
Agreed! This is also why they have the "No Calling Out" rule on giveaways.
Because if it turns out that these new users are just nice people wanting to give away games, but their only fault is that they're simply new to the site or they don't own that game (I don't know, they may think it's shit, like COD). People calling them out will deter them away from this site. Everybody loses out.
Comment has been collapsed.
I don't mind people having VAC bans, it has nothing to do with SG. The FAQ link should just be far more prominent at the top of the page, rather than that tiny little link at the bottom.
Comment has been collapsed.
I think calling it a FAQ is a problem itself. People don't visit FAQs unless they actually have things they want to know. People who misunderstand the site don't have anything they want to know because although they've misunderstood it in reality, in their mind they've understood it perfectly. There really should be something with "Rules" in the title. I know the current sticky post has "site guidelines" on it but the only people who see that are the ones who go to the forums which actually numbers a much smaller portion of the membership. And yes, I agree that it should be somewhere a lot more visible like right beside the Home button.
Comment has been collapsed.
The vast majority of giveaways on this site are legit, as far as I can tell.
I don't (personally) think that the occasional fake giveaway is a huge problem. It's very frustrating for the people who win, but generally speaking people can check for themselves if a giveaway is likely or not be real. I'm generally perfectly aware if I'm entering something that has a high likelihood of being fake. The individual putting up a giveaway gets absolutely nothing out of it unless the transaction goes through (Not even the points everyone else on the site receives), and instead risks getting banned.
I do kind of get the VAC ban thing, though it has little to do with this site. Mistakes do happen, and people do change. I would personally want those who are more deserving of my games to get them (The thought is more directed toward rude individuals), but chance is chance!
Comment has been collapsed.
Why are you so angry about some lost points? and A Fraud? What did he scam you? 60 precious steamgift points? Come on! that's not even a currency or valuable asset. I would instead call those people either A Steamgift Noob (if they don't understand the site) or at worst A Troll (if they purposely create a fake giveaway).
Yes, it can be frustrating at times but the "Mark as not received" is designed for that, isn't it?
Regarding Point 1: Yes Valve doesn't remove those ban notifications. But Valve doesn't permanently ban those users neither, so why should we? You can always check their profile to see VAC ban records, and then it's your call to enter their giveaways or not.
I have seen several people on Steamgifts with VAC bans from way long ago, but gave out many legit games here. VAC ban doesn't automatically mean outright cheating, there could be many other reasons, could be a stupid mistake they did when they first registered as a dumb kid and didn't know better. Or I heard it could be this: A half-life mod called Paranoia, uses a modified opengl .dll that enabled high tech bloom, so if a user installs, plays this mod and then accidentally forgot to delete it, then try play another HL1 mod (CS1.6 for example), VAC will automatically detect opengl32.dll as a cheat. Now does that sound like intentional, unfair cheating to you? that he should be banned from Steam forever or from creating a giveaway here forever?
Comment has been collapsed.
It's not about your intuition being right. It's about being able to PROVE that the giveaway creator does not intend to send the gifts. And that cannot be done until the 7 day period after the giveaway has passed.
I think that the current setup works just fine. It gives users the benefit of the doubt, and gives them freedom to give away what they want. Your suggestions are too restrictive.
What exactly is wrong with the current system? Worst case scenario: a user creates a giveaway with zero intention of sending the game to the winner... there are two possible outcomes.
1 - When the 7 day period after the giveaway ends and the winner doesn't get the gift, and the winner reports the creator for creating a fake giveaway. The giveaway is deleted and everyone gets their points back. Nobody has lost anything.
2 - When the 7 day period after the giveaway ends and the winner doesn't get the gift, and the winner DOESN'T report the creator for creating a fake giveaway. All you lose is a handful of points that is rather insignificant considering you'll gain it back in a matter of hours even on a slow day.
So what exactly is the problem here? You either lose out on nothing or a relatively tiny amount of points, while still allowing users as much freedom as possible for creating giveaways. IMO it works fine as it is, and the restrictiveness your suggestions would impose far outweighs the minor inconvenience/annoyance they aim to alleviate.
Comment has been collapsed.
Seconded. If it ain't broken, don't fix it (and in my eyes, it isn't broken)
Comment has been collapsed.
Agreed, I know of many instances where people have gotten VAC bans for stupid things. Apart from that, people deserve a second chance imo. Though I agree with your other two points
Comment has been collapsed.
i cannot imagine how u can get vac ban for "stupid things"? cheating is cheating. and dont try to tell me that people can get ban by mistake... but i agree that people deserves second chance, but at second time there should be more consequences than ban from game where u cheated.
Comment has been collapsed.
no its not because all people who have VAC Bann have done something wrong and tried to cheat against others.
its only fair to not allow those pesky people here on SG.
Comment has been collapsed.
Yesterday a guy created a saints row 3 season pass 20 minutes after he register the site, he had 1 giveaway entry and didn't understood how the point system work. But I talked to him and it was legit. So I disagree with whatever that can impede a new member to create a giveaway of something he don't want or already have.
Comment has been collapsed.
Question: can totally newly created Steam account with no games create giveaways?
If yes, then your points should be taken into some consideration, especially during big steam sales times, since someone might create 10 steam accounts, make 30 giveaways worth 150 points each, just to get tons of points for his legit account, breaking whole economy.
If not, then number of fakes isn't big enough to consider any big actions, because like DRM they would affect legit users more.
Comment has been collapsed.
There's a better solution, when you create a giveaway, you should enter a steam key or a link to redeem a gift, and when a person wins the serial key or the link to the gift will be show in "won giveaway" section. that way we kill 3 birds with 1 stone; legitimacy of giveaways, people not marking games as received (because the game is given automatically then there's no need marking as received) and overall faster and easier prize transaction.
Comment has been collapsed.
Person can just report it was fake and parma ban the giveaway creator, that way less people will think about creating fake giveaways.
Comment has been collapsed.
Problem is that there isn't a way to directly link to redeem a gift as far as I know (I'm actually curious about that, is there a way to gift without having to open a trade send to their account directly?), and there is no way to tell if a serial key is legit via the Steamgifts website, either.
Would be nice in the sense of ease and reliability, though, wouldn't it? That said, I do enjoy the interaction both when I've given and received gifts. I like to say thank you and chat with the individual I won a game from, and I enjoy the happy from someone who won as well. Seems like it would make it really impersonal. (I'm sure the vast amount are impersonal, but it's nice when they aren't.) :D
Comment has been collapsed.
you can create a link for a gift from your inventory.
just send the gift to your own email and copy the link out of that email. :)
anyone who click on that link receive the gift.
Comment has been collapsed.
My sympathies to the OP, but over-legislating only creates more complexity and administrative headaches. Like many of the suggestions posted on the forums, your ideas aren't bad, but they're impractical with regard to implementation.
No system is perfect, but this one is not bad. Better to accept that a smaller percentage are fake and avoid those as best as you can.
Comment has been collapsed.
But isn't discouraging users from giving games away at all - well - ultimately not the point of this site?
And even if #2 or #3 make some sense, #1 will probably be discouraged for being not fucking relevant at all. So he cheated in a multiplayer game with a specific anticheat system - you can't and wouldn't check his entire MP game library for cheating records - how'll that decrease the odds of hims not creating a fake giveaway?
Comment has been collapsed.
Calling out is morally and officially an offence to the people of the Republic. For this outrage I recommend administrative punishment of 10 lashes.
If you are unhappy with the current regime I suggest you stand for office. Only you, the chosen one can make all those in power see the folly of their overzealous ways, how they have been corrupted from within and how you can redeem them by showing them the righteous path.
Comment has been collapsed.
1,405 Comments - Last post 8 minutes ago by maximilyn
1,308 Comments - Last post 1 hour ago by ryuga
2,064 Comments - Last post 2 hours ago by MeguminShiro
14 Comments - Last post 2 hours ago by AwesomePossum50
821 Comments - Last post 2 hours ago by WaxWorm
58 Comments - Last post 3 hours ago by WaxWorm
15,392 Comments - Last post 3 hours ago by LuciferLove
20 Comments - Last post 12 seconds ago by StrangeAsAngels
91 Comments - Last post 1 minute ago by ThatDave
36 Comments - Last post 15 minutes ago by FullMetalZ
5 Comments - Last post 21 minutes ago by maruten
2,410 Comments - Last post 37 minutes ago by Ellendyl
2,704 Comments - Last post 38 minutes ago by Mhol1071
41 Comments - Last post 40 minutes ago by FreeFall
EDIT: First of all: No, I did NOT win one of the two copies. Second: No, none of my won giveaways turned out to be fake. I was lucky enough to always get what I won.
Remember this bold statement I made here?
Well, guess I don't have to hold my end of the promise, seeing how neither of the two supposed winners have acknowledged their gift so far. You'd think that after 6 days, they would have done so for such a highly sought-after title...
The creator of the giveaway seemingly hasn't sent out his other gift either so far, and not really surprisingly either has now turned his Steam profile to private... probably so that nobody can contact him again and call him what he is: a fraud.
This giveaway, along with so many others, shows again how flawed the current system is. If I, as a normal user, am already able to figure out a fake giveaway when I see it, why aren't the moderators, or the creators of the site? In fact, I'd LOVE to know how many public CoD giveaways have, in fact, turned out to be legit. I doubt it's a high number.
Maybe it's time to change some rules, no? Here are some suggestions:
1) Users with VAC bans shouldn't be allowed at all. Period. It doesn't matter if that happened years ago, or if it was the little brother, or whatever other excuse they come up with. They made a conscious choice to cheat against other players, and got caught red-handed. Valve doesn't remove those ban notifications, so why should we allow such vermin to win our gifts?
2) New users shouldn't be allowed to create giveaways as soon as they registered. Yes, there are the odd exceptions where a user turns out to be legit and becomes a valuable member of the community. However, I am sure the number of those pales in comparison to the number of users suspended for creating fake giveaways. A waiting period isn't the solution either because I already saw several accounts which were created months, even a year ago, come back to life all of a sudden and create a (fake) giveaway.
3) New accounts (be it newly created or never used before) shouldn't be allowed to create giveaways for 30+ points titles. Make them start slow. With the flood of indie bundles being active all the time, it should be very easy to grab one and create a couple of small giveaways to figure out how the site actually works. It's also a sign that they're willing to be part of the community, not just leech.
There is definitely nothing wrong with the concept of the site. It's a great idea, but the execution is clearly flawed. Yes, we all get points for free all the time, but just think about it: How many of those points are actually from new and legit giveaways? Isn't it rather the case that the high number of points we see when we return to the site is rather due to points being returned from fakes which we entered for whatever reason?
Feel free to discuss, although it wouldn't amaze me if some overzealous "moderator" closes this down instantly and suspends me for some obscure reason.
PS: Thanks to HugCat for telling me how to properly link. ^^
Comment has been collapsed.