Should I Raise the Minimum Level, or What Else?

I grumbled the same way a month ago because i hoped it all done quickly so i could get on with more difficult things irl. Some nice people gave me some interesting answers about it, especially that it's a question of perception of what's important, and that for many of those who try their luck here i had forgotten that deep down it's not really important.

It's not that people are generous or not, i think they're not all in one piece, it's more that depending on the moment we try different things more or less selfish or generous in a circumstantial way. We all have our specific difficulties more or less, and no one knows what's really going on in the real lives of the people. So... just try your best in a circumstantial way, experiment to determine what makes you most comfortable, and if someone is slow, maybe it's not easy irl for him actually, or maybe he is just slow then reroll and it's his loss. And anyway, who knows in a few years if it'll all still be there.

Depends, what is the biggest issue for you.

If it's CV rates, then I would suggest keeping level 3 (or even lowering it to lvl 2) and use SGTools to set the CV ratio thresholds for your GAs, simply posting SGTools links in Don't like bots? Post your random invite-only giveaways here. It's easy to create, and also easy to check, if those entering the GAs have got the GA links in a legitimate way.

If it's mostly the hassle of having to chase the winners, I would suggest joining one of low quaility GA groups, like LootBoy SG. Keeping level 3 threshold should be enough there, and the added benefit is, that it's OK to post somewhat dubious keys there.

If there are good games, that you really want to be played, use one of the most restrictive groups like Playing Appreciated or Playing Matters.

None of those solutions is 100% foolproof, but the mix of them (+ my WL and groups I have chosen) works quite satisfying for me.

And generally, just do, what feels good for you :) As long, as you don't create some 10 people game exchanging ring to cheaply rise your levels (though unfortunately there are some other ways to do so), those are your GAs and you have a full right to decide, what are your requirements for the participants ;)

I've missed, that it's not the second answer, but the 2nd answer on the 2nd page, so a lot of those things have been said before, but I still think, that it's a good summary of the easy options to use.

I wouldn't be too worried, to be honest. If it's a pretty great game, you can set the level higher, or give it away to your whitelist or a group. But even then, you can't guarantee that the winner isn't just using it as a +1 for cards. There are a couple of friends on Steam that I see idling their games all the flippin' time and every second game I happen to check the store page of... is on their wishlists. I like them as people, so I overlook it. It's not something you have any control over and it's not that important to me. At the end of the day, I give games away, mostly from bundles, that I will never play, or that I already own, so it's not a loss to me. =)

I would be more annoyed if I paid full price for a game and it was won by someone who had no intention of ever playing.

I understand that you would like to continue to make public giveaways (but with less hassle) and that's a good thing. I wouldn't raise the level - but maybe try shortening the time span of your giveaways to 12 hours instead of 24. You can alternate between western and eastern hemispheres if you don't want to leave people on the other side of the planet out. I don't know why, but this seems to cut down on the amount of chasing down winners for me. I wouldn't worry about CV and ratios too much - you never know if it's the person who actually ends up playing the game is the one with the bad ratio.

I create level 4 giveaways and it's fine for me.

Make all gibs level 11 or blacklist some people you will not find the perfect winner EVEN NICE PEOPLE HERE ON SG DON'T ALWAYS PLAY THEIR WINS

Often creating a whitelist will make it too restrictive, groups will still have leechers, and raising the level won't weed out many bad people.
Better yet, create a new group, and advertise it and then do special group-only giveaways. You will still be disappointed, but then you will only have yourself to blame ;)

Check out the group "Playing Appreciated". Sounds like exactly what you are looking for.

Level 3 is just the best, so stay up there.

I don't worry too much about what people do with their wins...it only leads to stressing out the giver, so I figure you've already built up good karma -- why worry about their bad karma? ;)

The only thing I don't like is chasing down winners who don't activate (and I re-roll at 7 days), which I will do because I hate incomplete lists. :D
This is another reason I create events...I mean, it's mostly because it gives me a creative outlet and I like doing fun things for people, but it has the side benefit of focusing the pool of entrants to larger percentage of people who are paying attention and will activate their wins.