So you want to create public GAs, but you don't want bots and auto-join scripts to enter? Good. Just post a comment in this thread with a link to an invite-only giveaway. The idea is very simple and is really not different from many (most?) of the other threads in the forum, except that you don't need to invest much time or thought into it. Just post the link in a comment, and you're done :-)

A few additional guidelines:

  • Feel free to obfuscate the link to make it more difficult for bots/scripts to enter. This is completely optional and may not make much of a difference, because the forums are probably not as infested with bots and auto-join scripts as public giveaways (see example).
  • You may use itstoohard.com, sgtools.info or other sites as filters to the link, but do try to keep things easy (for humans) to enter.
  • Don't feel obligated to write anything to accompany the giveaway link. If you have stuff to share beyond just the link, you probably should create a dedicated thread for it. Needless to say, you can also write it here, but it's not required.
  • Cross-posting giveaways your posted in other threads is fine, as long as they are your giveaways.
  • If you want to add a dynamic signature showing the game name, giveaway end date and current number of entries, but without revealing the URL to bots, you can use this tool created by Reforced. It takes the signature created by SG and provides you with a new URL that hides the original giveaway address. Just add it to your comment using the regular format for posting images: ![](URL)
  • Just like public GAs typically have a lot of entries, there's no need to maintain a low number of entries in GAs posted here. If you want to give especially good odds to people who enter and still get CV, you may want to instead consider posting the link here (and then remove it when you have your 5 entries). This is not needed here in this thread. The more (humans) the merrier :-)
  • The best way to bump this thread is by posting a link to your own invite-only giveaway. With that said, if the thread drops from the first page a regular "Bump" would also be appreciated.

I'm trying to find how serious the issue with bots really is. So far the results don't really prove things one way or another. Here are some stats from my latest experiment:

Game: Space Trader: Merchant Marine
Number of giveaways: 5
Period: 3 days

Giveaway # Level Type Number of entries Winner's Sent:Won Reroll needed?
1 Level 0+ Public 891 0:82 No
2 Level 0+ Invite only, direct link 55 4:47 No
3 Level 0+ Invite only, SGTools (no restrictions) 48 6:71 No
4 Level 0+ Invite only, shortened URL, captcha-free 50 1:205 No
5 Level 0+ Invite only, shortened URL with "I'm not a robot" captcha 54 162:86 No

Yet some more stats:

Giveaway game Period Level Type Number of entries Winner's Sent:Won Reroll needed?
Tales from the Void 5 days Level 0+ Public 755 0:37 No
Tales from the Void 5 days Level 0+ Invite only, obfuscated link 183 42:514 No
Hyper Box 4 days Level 0+ Public 554 0:32 No
Hyper Box 4 days Level 0+ Invite only, obfuscated link 193 178:188 No
Ace Combat Assault Horizon 3 days Level 0+ Public 1596 0:28 Yes
Ace Combat Assault Horizon 3 days Level 0+ Invite only, obfuscated link 234 88:107 No
7 years ago*

Comment has been collapsed.

The Walking Dead: Season 1

Requirements to enter:

  1. Have the game wishlisted earlier than today and have in total no more than 300 games on your wishlist.
  2. Have ratio that's not terrible and have no history of rule breaking. Alternatively, those who haven't won anything yet can also enter, regardless of giving anything.
View attached image.
7 years ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

The wishlist-based GA is in a comment right above this one.

This stop: Bots-free Central [Finished]

Next stop: Giveback 2.0

View attached image.
7 years ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

01110100 01101000 01100001 01101110 01101011 01110011 00100001

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/SB8---GA/ace-combat-assault-horizon-enhanced-edition

To enter: Remove the "---" from the URL

View attached image.
7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

unfortuantely since bots only follow an algorithm they wont be fooled by this try doing X = some other letter or number

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Maybe bots won't be fooled by this, but it still worked fine. The GA above received 234 entries and did not require reroll. An identical GA that I posted as a public GA received 1596 entries and did require a reroll. I'm pretty sure that a much larger portion of those 1596 entries were bots/scripts than in this forum GA.

7 years ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

To enter: Just paste https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway// and add ssU50 between the two //

View attached image.
7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

To enter: Paste https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/VzrDs/tales-from-the-void and replace /discussion/ with /giveaway/

View attached image.
7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

To enter: Paste https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/PiNGu/signull and replace /PiNGu/ with /TZMdK/

View attached image.
7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

View attached image.
7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

haha pingu <3

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

i shall never replace pingu!! he's the one who taught me all about noots

6 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Open for everyone who made a public, invite-only and group giveaway once!
http://www.sgtools.info/giveaways/ and 051f053d-fd65-11e6-96a2-fa163ee2f826

View attached image.
7 years ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/4pYDxsmokeweederrday/zombie-boom

To enter: guess...

Genius idea for a thread btw

7 years ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I wish I could every day and get off of these pain killers.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

+420

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Do you think there are many bots on the forum? Bots and auto-join scripts are not news on the public giveaways, but I honestly have my doubts about private giveaways. Would be interesting to create two identical private giveaways, one with an obfuscated link and the other not, to see if there is a huge difference in entries.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

One step ahead of you. All these GAs, including the one with no obfuscation, have matching public GAs :-)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

That's smart, share with us the results :)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I mean two private giveaways. :P

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

There's an easy solution for that you know ;-)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

i'm just gonna hide this bump here

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

You clever one, you.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Happy Cake Day!

View attached image.
7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thanks!

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

A few dozen at least, but not that 5 digits worth that stalks either the New or the about to expire giveaway sections of the main page.
(As a side note, my current experiment shows about 40% of the bots stalk the new giveaways part, I assume because the user can later use the stored points for more lucrative giveaways they find themselves.)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I stalk that page but I'm no bot xD

I know you didn't imply that regular users don't check the New Giveaways page, but I wanted to post a cute kitten ;)

View attached image.
7 years ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Nice MSM-04 Acguy, however it stands no chance vs the not so White Devil :P

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Final Quest 1+2 (ENDED)

View attached image.
7 years ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Those capital O's are sneaky bastards ;-)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

yeap, second link (Final Quest) with O's too, no luck 😲

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Any bored statistician around here who volunteers to calculate the odds for this?

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Not a bored statistician, but this looks like a puzzle, so I can't pass (or rather, No puzzle shall pass!) :)

7.8% of GA links contain at least one "O".
0.6% chance of Mihey3Z's double misfortune.

(Assuming all 62 alphanumeric characters are used in GA codes and each character is chosen with equal probability, independent from other characters.)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

7.8% for a single giveaway you say? That's like 1 of 13 entries, right? ;-)

View attached image.
7 years ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Yep, that's pretty close. What a nice set of sgtools' rules you have here! :)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I think you have a pretty good chance on this one ;-)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Bump

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Bump for Mihey3Z ^^

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

automated bot-bump

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Oh, the humanity...bump!;)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

If you make your GA's Level 2 (or at the very least Level 1), you will eliminate 99% of bot/script/(leecher) accounts.

https://www.steamgifts.com/stats/community/users

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I may very well be, but since I don't want to use levels, it's not a solution I'm likely to adopt (and I've adopted all kinds of giveaway types).

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Not even nearly. Maybe 80% at the absolute most optimistic predictions, but probably closer to 70%. If you want to reach the 99% mark, that is level 7, and even that is an optimistic calculation.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

No, no, that is level 6 :P

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Level 6 still has plenty. I have been trying to get enough numbers in level 0–10 series of different games with a list of different parameteres in running times to pinpoint these drop-off points, and level 6 seems to be pretty much the same as level 5, as if there was no difference in population there. Level 5 and level 7 are where usually the largest changes show, and level 8–10 acts almost like one gigantic level.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

When are you planning to publish this research? It sounds extremely interesting.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

When I remember to actually collect the hard data and not just recall the short conclusions I came up with at the end of each week.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I am curious if the data is normalized to the population at that level. In addition, the data might need to be corrected to the user habits. For example, high level people might own more games or be pickier than low level people, which could drop the entering rate as well.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

There is plenty of variety in the games involved in this experiment. :) So far I think it has been 14 games or so in it? Next 4 should come today, unless I forget to post the pack.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

This is exciting! I can't wait to see this social science result.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Hello
Nice subject survey. I mean it

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm interested in seeing this, as well.

6 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Those statisticians, they have no sense of humor 🙃

(PS: I agree 👀)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Exactly :D

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

the thing it's.... at this point no one should be lvl 0.... because... really.. you can be lvl 1 just spending 0.10$...... i really hate people that want free games and aren't good enough to spend 0.10$ to free to another user something......

that lvl 0 people don't deserver nothing.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

The only mathematical way for everyone to be at least level 1 is to prevent new people from registering on the site, permanently, and changing SG into a closed community.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

nope because whit only 0.10$ spend you will be level 1 too.

you don't feel that something it's bad when more than 90% of users don't spend 0.10$ for giveaway to other people and just are lecheers??

quality it's better than quantity and in the case of this web the diference it's bigger. (more big) because that 90% of users keep winning a lot of giveaway and they will never make a giveaway.

and please don't answer me whit people giveaway games because they are nice, because we all know that people make giveaways for get more levels and have more chances to win other games.
only a few people make reals giveaway (they spend 60$ buying in the store of steam) almost all the giveaway are from high % discount games or bundles games.

and i can write a big big text saying that obviously some people don't have money to spend for 60$ games and another big big other things about real people that like giveaways. but the fact and the truth it's that a very small % of users are here to giveaway because they like it do that.

almost all we are here to win free games. we all don't should be hypocrite whit that.

for me auto join bots are a cancer, lecheers + bot, really??? this people don't deserve nothing but a perma ban of this web. and obviously they never say thx for the game won or use a generic "thx for this chance" or "thx"

lvl 0 user after a few week / month in this web or after win some games = a cancer of this web too. one thing it's not have money to spend (like me 5 years whitout work, but ehhh i maked some giveaway buying the games in the steam store and not bundles games, so ISN'T a EXCUSE not have work to make a giveaway)

you can sell the cards you get winning games in that web, and wait for a sale to buy a -90% game and giveaway for example.

so please don't say that do what i told about level 0 users will make this web worse and closed community.
also that's a lot of hypocrite when actually in this web we have closed groups / whitelist giveaway.

thx for read this whole text and hope i explained well, english isn't my native lenguage.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

No, you don't understand: the only way for everyone to be a giver is to eventually reach the point where nobody is just a receiver. What you are asking for is not an ethical dilemma but a mathematical one.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

A simple solution would be to make all GAs accessible to lvl 1+ only. NB: not arguing for that solution here, just trying to solve the mathematical question ;)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It would solve the issue, yes, but I am not sure it wouldn't defeat the purpose of the site in the process.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

well almost 90% of lvl 0 will never giveaway something and we all know it, so this only will help to people that really giveaway games, that how you say it's the purpose of this site.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

If there was a requirement to be lvl1 to enter giveaways, all of the lvl0s would give away one cheap game and it would be exactly the same.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

you don't see the point....... you really think that a guy/girl that don't spend a 0.10$ for make a giveaway deserve win a lot of games?

really you think that???........

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I don't really think this site was intended for those who "deserve" to win games. How would one determine whether one was "deserving" of winning games? My point was that there is practically no difference between giving away 0 games and giving away 1 game.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

how i told you don't see the point on what i want to say. will be to dificult to explain to you at this point, you aren't going to open your mind to understand too, so better stop the conversation here. good day and good luck to you !!!!!!!

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I agree.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

True. lol
They would all buy just a 10 cent game to level up. ^^

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

nope, i'm saying that a guy/girl that after some weeks or some won games don't want to spend 0.10$ for make a giveaway and win a lvl 1 don't deserve absolutely any more free game.

hope whit that i explained well what i really wanted to say, maybe sound a bit rude but it's the only way i can say it using the english lenguage xD ^^.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I think the guy used leech as not giving, only taking, and not in a ratio's sense

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

There is no obligation to give games on this site, and most people understand and accept this. No need to hate Level 0 users. Not giving back is not against the rules.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

here we don't discussing if it's against the rules :). obviously it isn't.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Rules aside, I don't think that anything good can come from hating Level 0 users. If anything, I prefer a more positive approach. I may be naive, but I think the end result is better, with more of them becoming contributors or active forum participants.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

well this web have years so the info it's there. 90% of them don't changed so........ if people keep defending them they will never change.

from my part i will never more make a giveaway whit lvl 0 restriction. sry but i think it's a bit shameless not to giveaway a game using 0.10$ when other people do, you can't defend that in any way.

for me this tipe of user (lvl 0 whit some games won and never maked a giveaway) don't have any shame in their lives and are here only to be a parasite from others.

you don't need to buy any game or win anything for win money (in all sales steam give a lot of free cards than can be sold for nice money and make giveaways) so sry but for me this users don't deserve nothing (lvl 0 user whit some games won and never maked a giveaway)

i'm not the only who think in that way, there's a lot of people and also a lot of people that stopped making public giveaways for that thing. (and you are the proof because almost all your giveaway aren't public)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Actually, almost all of my giveaways are Level 0 and are accessible to everyone on this site (who doesn't have unactivated wins or a trade ban). They just need to visit the forum to see them. I use public GAs as a form of advocacy to bring them here :-)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

well but they still are invite only not 100% public. so no, your giveaway aren't public (but don't talk about your giveaway and what are or not)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

This forum is public. You can argue semantics, but I know who can access my invite-only giveaways, and for 99% of them, it's everyone on this site who bothers to visit the forum.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I disagree a little bit. :)
The forum is public, but you are still imposing a condition for people to be able to enter your GA's. To me it's just like using sgtools. Public but not entirely.
Not saying you are wrong or that you shouldn't do it.
Just disagree as what public GA means to me.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Levels are a condition too. There's nothing about SGTools that makes things less or more public.

"Invite-only GA" are not "public GAs", because this terms is reserved on this site for a specific type of giveaways, but when their link is posted in the forum they are public GAs, or publicly accessible GAs, or whatever you want to call them. But they are public.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Past tense of make is made, not maked.
Don't mean to be rude, but found a little bit hard to make sense of what your are saying. At first I thought you meant marked than I realized it's made.
Just in case you want to correct those sentences. Will make it easier for people to understand what you mean.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

what? sry can't understand what sentences you say ^^ but np, this post it¡s 3 days old so i doubt more people will read what i writen. don¡t worry and thx for the advice.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

if people keep defending them they will never change.

Let me tell you a little story. When I joined this site, I was unemployed for over a year now. I joined to get some games legally as I was quite running out of my previously-acquired games on Steam. Money was tight enough that I had to skip eating at least one day a week (although usually one meal on two different days) to somehow get by. Asking for a ten-cent game was out of the question.
(Now I have a decent job, but I am still skipping a meal occasionally, although this time to get some nicer bundles to push them on this site.)

So, no, there is nothing wrong being level 0. Even if they won a dozen games already. The problem with level 0 are not those who never give back but those who use scripts or programs to enter anything indiscriminately, winning games they never intend to play, while others who would are left with nothing. Or those that think of this site as a random free key market to sell their wins on the trade forums or grey market. Those are whom against threads and tricks like this are devised, sometimes with better, sometimes with worse success.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

mmm you too don't understand what i want to say, i feel bad because your problem and sry for that, and if whit the next you feel offended, sry it's not my intention.

but you know that when you play a game ( a huge amount of games) can drop cards, that cards you sell on steam and you win fee money, if you sell like 3-4 cards you can buy a game of 0.10$ cost so, there's no excuse to be a lvl 0 if you win a game or get some free games from indiegala for example.

money isn't the problem for be a lvl 1 after you won 1-5 games or after you look the forums during 1-3 months (always there's someone saying where to get free games that drop cards).

in case you don't know for be a level 1 user you only need to make your first giveaway, no matter the price of the game 0.00000001$ game count too.

one guy that just want and want and want and don't spend a single 0.10$ to buy a game at -90% make a giveaway after won a lot of cards whit the games he won and got for free from webs, i just think he don't derserve nothing but some rectriction at least.
and well the bots how i told in one of my other message they only deserver a perma ban.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

One wonders if opinions has evolved since at least one participant in this thread branch hasnt had a GA in 5 years.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Well when you enter for 3 consecutive years (talking from almost 7 years ago) in GA and don't win nothing you start spending you rmoney in "you" and not in others.

anyway this thread was 5 and almost 6 years old and you came here to talk shit from a post of 5-6 years ago without know anything that happened during those 5-6 years?

you are not very smart my friend.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

You're not wrong

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 1 year ago.

1 year ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

bump

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Oups, auto-join bots subscribed to this thread !

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

bA9ns [3+]
Wroom!

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

People better hurry with this one! :-)

View attached image.
7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

But it's not working on mobile. >/<

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

It does work. Here's what you need to do:

  1. Go to any GA using your browser
  2. Copy the URL and paste it in a text editor (e.g. email app)
  3. Replace the 5-character giveaway code in the giveaway with the one ostgals posted above.
  4. Paste the modified URL in the browser and enter the GA.
7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Bot: write "Bump!" and then press "Enter"
Bump!

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I'm married to a bot so i am obligated to like bots ;)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 8 months ago.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Bot! Err, I mean... bump!

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

This is going to be hell for people like me using mostly phone to browse SG...

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

This depends on the outcome of some test GAs. If I see that obfuscation is not serving a real purpose, I'll recommend to post the direct link. We'll see.

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Note that I can still enter this even though I own everything of the game :)

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Ikr

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/KF5VMp/

Remove the number from the giveaway code.

Game is Ampersand (contains cards).

7 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

3 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

And happy cake-day to you too!

2 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Deleted

This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

2 years ago*
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Sign in through Steam to add a comment.