yes, it has been beaten to death. Just imagine the amount of data the site has to progress for each user if cv is stored like you suggest..anyway if ppl give away games just for cv they are doing it wrong.
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Each giveaway records all entrants plus winner(s), associated comments, and the date. I honestly don't know how much more strain it would be to record an additional data point or number for each giveaway, which is why I'm curious IF it's possible.
I didn't make this topic to upset anyone or suggest people should only give games away for CV. However, the level system and CV are inherently part of SG, and for many users reaching higher levels (for whatever reason) is a motivating factor to varying degrees.
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You people are in the minorty, you are just the most vocal on the forum. I guarantee most users make ga's for the levels and generally never come to the forum and post. People who get all high and mighty about doing it for CV being wrong should just post key drops in the forum then.
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cv decays just like prices, it's natural.
i only agree that games remove and set to 0cv should be fixed with the last price recorded on the store.
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Yea, I see your point about price decay and can live with that. I should say the main reason I was curious about this is how it relates to games that are removed from the store (or appIDs that are changed for remastered/upgraded versions). I like your idea of using the last recorded price for that appID. :)
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Possible, yes, but entirely unfeasible due to the massive amount of user abuse and staff oversight it would require. If you're having trouble finding the older threads on the topic (which cover the issues in more detail) through the site search, open google and type 'site:steamgifts.com' at the end of your search terms to search the site through google.
Past that, as Mullins said, value fluctuates. There's no way to truly be fair with cv, no matter how implausibly intricate a system you design for it. Moreover, people who purchase the gifts and store them for trade, or give them to friends, are just as screwed over if a game drops in value or goes free. Seeing as SG views itself as a sort of extended friends circle, there's no basis for the site approaching the matter differently- nevermind that doing so would highlight an emphasis on CV over more generous-minded concepts.
Thus, in the end, it's out of the site's means to handle a more precise system than it currently has, and even if such could be arranged, it may not even be beneficial for the site if it was.
In the end, value drops are just part of the system, and are easy enough to compensate for, as they're only a fraction of any level's contribution percentage (unless you have really bad luck or consideration when picking games to give away). Think of it as the site nudging you to make an extra giveaway or two.
Also, as Mullins touched on, games removed from the store are adjusted to their last recorded value- at least, they are if the removal seems permanent and the store page has been taken down. For anything else, staff doesn't bother- and in the case of games like Mafia 2, that has worked out in the end.
I do wish they'd fix games that report 0CV but are still active (like Letter Quest or Bioshock), but eh, it's not a major concern [to me]. However, assuming that's actually something they can fix [since there's a circumstance for both games of the store entries having shared listings with their remakes], then I'll support you on pushing that point. :)
Either way, I'm in agreement on one thing- it's often very discouraging to post "Super Cool Game X" "Super Expensive Game X" on the site, as the risk of retail price drops is so high for overpriced games, and the deduction from retrobundles is far more significant than on other games. Unfortunately, there's no way to easily pick and choose which games should get special consideration in that regard (as price has no bearing on game worth/etc), and so there's not much to be done there- other than be especially grateful for the users who are willing to put such games up on the site for us.
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Thanks for your detailed response. I think you make a good point regarding SG CV reflecting the value of games outside of SG (as they are bundled, lowered in price, etc.). As I wrote to Mully, I can certainly accept that - my main curiosity was w/ respect to removed games or updated/changed appIDs, but I broadened the issue to other related aspects related to how CV is recorded. If not storing the price for each giveaway individually, maybe it could be done by SG storing a base price history for an appID then referencing the giveaway date against that. If such a change is not feasible or desired (in the current system), then it's moot.
I've been on SG for a few years and generally know the ropes but am not quite as active as most of the regulars, so thanks again for taking the time to explain some things I may have overlooked.
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For this to happen accurately and fairly, we'd need to sync our database to Steam every minute, otherwise users will start complaining about us missing the price change and setting the wrong value to their giveaway.
In addition, what if Steam temporarily starts providing inaccurate price data, and this data gets recorded? This would cause an inaccurate spike or decrease in value across a whole bunch of giveaways. We'd need to somehow track those issues, too.
More details provided by cg here: https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/eod99/a-note-regarding-cv-and-price-drops
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edit - closing the thread since it was probably ill-advised on my part.
I know this been discussed before in varying capacities when people wonder why their overall CV has suddenly decreased, but I hoped to have a focused topic on the mechanism behind those CV drops. If this has been beaten to death, my apologies.
Unless I'm mistaken the SG system does not record the price of a game at the time it's given away. For example, let's say I make a giveaway for Super Cool Game X. The price of SCGX is currently $30. Two years later the Steam price of SCGX drops from $30 to $15. In the current system, CV from the giveaway will also drop because SG applies the current price of a game to both past and current giveaways. Another case is CV dropping to 0P for past giveaways because a game was removed from the store (or the appID was changed for something like a remastered version, e.g. Bioshock).
Would it be possible to record the price/CV at the time a giveaway completes? I'm guessing that all giveaways retrieve their CV from SG's own database, which regularly updates as the Steam database updates. On the other hand, users get the full/current CV for a game if they gave it away before it was bundled (by comparing giveaway date to first bundle date).
I don't know how feasible it is to record an additional data point for each giveaway (CV at time of completion) in the current system, or if that would strain the servers. I do hope that one day a change may be implemented such that CV won't be affected by future price drops or removals from the Steam store. Thanks for reading. :)
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