So I made this topic for people who wonder when they will level up. I based this list on cg's post days ago and after seeing the Real CV calculator tool that our fellow SG user knsys created here I realized it's pretty much in line with it. The mistake most people make is, that they base their CV on the "Gifts Sent" value, but that one now counts all bundle games with their full value. You don't get 30$ CV anymore from your first few bundle games, they are now always calculated into your CV level with only 15% of their full value. Also you need to have at least 5 entries on your giveaway. For a full explanation of CV Levels and Reduced CV/No CV giveaways click here and here

You can check your Real CV here and compare it to this list (kinda redundant now that knsys added your specific range to the calculator :D)
I try to update the table from time to time, if you need the current live numbers check here at the bottom of the page.

Contributor Level Contributor Value Range Number of users (October 3, 2022) Percentage of Users Percentage of Users (Level 0 excluded)
Level 0 $ 0 980,047 85.088% -
Level 1 $ 0.01 - 25 114,023 9.900% 66.386%
Level 2 $ 25 - 50 18,627 1.617% 10.845%
Level 3 $ 50 - 100 14,062 1.221% 8.187%
Level 4 $ 100 - 250 12,360 1.073% 7.196%
Level 5 $ 250 - 500 5,770 0.501% 3.359%
Level 6 $ 500 - 1000 3,415 0.296% 1.988%
Level 7 $ 1000 - 2000 1,955 0.170% 1.138%
Level 8 $ 2000 - 3000 625 0.054% 0.364%
Level 9 $ 3000 - 5000 518 0.045% 0.302%
Level 10 $ 5000+ 403 0.035% 0.235%

In case you are wondering why these are static & not dynamic like in the beta ?

"We did have dynamic before, but it meant people would lower in levels over time if they're inactive. In a couple of years, we might have to raise them" -cg

So these are correct for now.

9 years ago*

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Bump because Kiru is awsm and keeps this up to date :D

7 years ago
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Haha I try to. I forgot to do it yesterday, but thanks! :D

7 years ago
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Every 2-4 weeks is more than enough! ;3

View attached image.
7 years ago
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Bump again for awesomeness.

7 years ago
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i need to give 1k more to be lvl 8 aff u.u

7 years ago
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Something very weird is going on. My level was 6.20 once I was done with all my GAs yesterday but then dropped to 6.03 on my stats for some reason. But sgtools still gives me the correct level of 6.20. Any idea what's happening?

Edit: Nevermind, Infestation got retroactively bundled and I just wasted 10$ :S

7 years ago*
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7 years ago
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I'm still not quite sure how the calcs work. Here I have $494 CV, but sgtools says it's almost entirely unbundled and calls it $390. Does SGTools not show retroactive bundling on the pie chart but does count it in CV calcs?

View attached image.
7 years ago
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Retroactive bundle status only affects giveaways that were done after the "bundled date".
For example you have given away game A and game B at May 1st. Game A was from some store, game B from a bundle that has just started sales. You get unbundled CV from both first, because B is not yet on the bundled list.
A few days later TheShobo finds the time to add B to the bundled list (setting the bundled date to May 1st), so your real CV decreases as you have given B away on or after the bundled date.
Two weeks later game A is also in a bundle. You will keep your real CV, because you have given it away before the bundled date.
As far as I know, there are exceptions for leaked bundle content. The bundled date is then set to the timestamp of the leak.

I hope you can follow my thoughts :)

7 years ago
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Yep all makes sense, but I'm pretty sure I haven't given much borderline-bundled stuff away. Not $100 worth anyway.

7 years ago
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I see my mistake in understanding your text above now.
No, you did not do borderline-bundled stuff (I like the expression), but you have given away some bundled stuff. The CV on your profile here (494) is not adjusted for bundle status. it is just the sum of the store prices of all your giveaways. If you take all bundled values on SGT and multiply it with 6.67, it should be around 96$.

Edit: Does not work, checking another idea, brb.

Edit2: So the missing CV is in giveaway that had entries but less than 5. They do not contribute to your real CV but are shown on your profile here as you have given away something.

=> Your Gifts Sent here on SG are all giveaways with more than 0 entries. Your real CV, which is used for your level, consists of

  • unbundled games (if private or group GAs, 5 or more entries are required)
  • bundled games (if private or group GAs, 5 or more entries are required)
7 years ago*
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Was the 5-entry minimum retroactive? 'cos the last giveaway I did that had fewer than that (other than the zero entry ones) were 2 years ago.

7 years ago
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I think so, but you would have to ask someone who is around longer than I am. I only had a glimpse of SGv1.

7 years ago
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Yes it is/was. Sadly.

7 years ago
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My Level once moved from 1.30 to 1.29
Why does these fluctuations occur?

7 years ago
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The bundle list was updated with backlog/backdates, or some indie game dropped its base price, which permanently lowers CV.
Or, at such low values, rounding error.

7 years ago
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I sent a gift worth $ 140. But my level 1?

7 years ago
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This list uses Real CV while the number on your profile is just the prices of all games you gave away added up.
Games on the Bundle list will only give you 15 % Real CV. You can check your Real CV here.

7 years ago
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Thanks man.

7 years ago
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That 15% is still pretty genuine as bundles average at sales -94-96%. So they worth around 5% of the steam price when the bundle is active.

7 years ago
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Bump

7 years ago
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7 years ago
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Because of bundle games (see FAQ/guidelines).
For real CV, take a look here

7 years ago
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1 Question! is it worth go to level 4.00 to 5.00?
i mean from 0 to 10 how worth its?

7 years ago
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my gifts sent are more then $30 i am still level 1 why :( ?

7 years ago
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payday is a bundle game. your real CV is only 4.5$: http://www.sgtools.info/sent/medvedek07/newestfirst

you can always check if a game counts as bundle game, before making a giveaway: https://www.steamgifts.com/bundle-games

7 years ago
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ah ok tnx

7 years ago
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Is there a penalty at the moment for region locked giveaways?

7 years ago
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i think not

7 years ago
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no

7 years ago
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i should be level 5 but im only level 2. my contribution is at $303

7 years ago
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This is a summary of your CV: http://www.sgtools.info/sent/DarcLucidity/newestfirst

All your Give aways have been bundled games so they are 0.15*303.78 = 45.6 'real' CV, almost at lvl 3.

7 years ago
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thank you. makes alot more sense now

7 years ago
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So giveaway values get changed retroactively if they are eventually bundled? Doesn't that heavily discourage people from doing giveaways for valuable games?

7 years ago
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If a game gets bundled after you've already given it away, the value does not change (unless its value on steam changes). But if you manage to make a giveaway for a bundled game between the time the bundle started and the moment it was added to the bundled list, the value will change to 15% of it.

7 years ago
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Oh, that's much better then. But, why make the CV continually sync with the Steam value, shouldn't it always be based on the initial price the person paid when they made it available as a giveaway?

7 years ago
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Because this is the simplest way to do things without having to spend tons of money on much faster servers with much more storage and bandwidth. Storing that kind of data is beyond the present capabilities of this system. It would slow everything down considerably to do that kind of tracking. You'd have to rewrite and restructure the database and do a whole bunch of other things that no one has time for.

7 years ago
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Oh, that's a good reason. Yea running a site like this, that's so active and with so many users, is probably quite expensive already. How does this site make money anyhow, or is it just funded completely out of pocket by the owners?

7 years ago
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I think I remember someone saying that it would be a bit more difficult to implement? Not 100% sure though, so don't quote me on that. But in the end, many people argue it's better like this anyway because it encourages people to give away more and not leech forever after getting to a certain level.

7 years ago
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Good point. Yea I can see how that could help incentivize people to continue contributing after reaching the upper CV levels.

I'm really new to SG so just trying to get my head around how all this works. I've given away more then 60 games on Reddit over the past month, and figured I should join in the fun over here too. :)

7 years ago
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There is next to no CV inflation as it is, apart from Shobo eventually getting around the backlog to add some obscure games to the bundle list that were forgotten or featured in bundles not as prominent as Humble Bundle. Currently the only way to really lose CV "naturally" is when some game drops its base price on Steam, which translates back here. That is next to nothing though, so CV gathering by nature is a perpetual pyramid scheme type, where the longer you are in, the more advantage you have over newcomers. (Since a newbie who wants to join the high ranks has much less time to achieve that goal than someone who had months/years to claw their way up there had.)

7 years ago
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Welcome and I hope you'll have a good time! There are lots of wonderful people here, and even though you might see exceptions occasionally, don't ever let them discourage you from being active in this community :)

7 years ago
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From a database perspective, it's quite tedious. You would need to archive the price of every game (or at least the ones that have been given away) and record the values every time a price changed at all. That doesn't sound too bad, but by the time you're doing it for thousands of games and recording every change, especially using Valve's terrible APIs, you're really burning through resources. I suppose it could just call up SteamDB or something and check, but even that eats resources.

7 years ago
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i made a contribution of around 40$ but i am still level 1 ? why

7 years ago
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You have contributed 6$: http://www.sgtools.info/sent/dACrYsis/newestfirst
Bundled games only give you 15% of the games value in steam.

7 years ago
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how to get to knw which game will give me most CV ?

7 years ago
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The one that is most expensive in steam and has not been sold over 95% discount.
Bundled games can be found from here: https://www.steamgifts.com/bundle-games
Some games might be added later because there is only one person updating it, so if the game is very cheap it probably will end on the bundled list.

7 years ago
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thanks that really help

7 years ago
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I handed out the game with a value of $ 80, and I still have the first lvl;/

7 years ago
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It's a bundled game, so you only get 15% of its value in CV.
Also, you get less and less CV the number of copies over 5 that you give.

You have $11.31 total CV so far.

7 years ago
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ok tkx

7 years ago
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I still don't get this screwed up system. This guy has a higher CV than myself, yet I've given away more games at a higher value.

People are forgetting that bundling is retroactive and CV value is supposed to decrease after prices lower. And 3 / 4 of his have been bundled, not 2 / 4.

7 years ago*
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This guy made his giveaways so long ago, the games have not yet been in a bundle, so give full value. Your giveaways have all been bundled before you gave them away.
http://www.sgtools.info/sent/derExperte/oldestfirst
http://www.sgtools.info/sent/Koitenshin/oldestfirst

7 years ago
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The amount of games you give out doesn't matter only current price in steam and if the game has been bundled (meaning that the game has had over 95% discount at some point) at the time you gave it away.
You have only given out bundled games so you only get 15% of the real value of the games added to your CV: http://www.sgtools.info/sent/Koitenshin
He has given 2 unbundled games so he gets the full amount of CV from them: http://www.sgtools.info/sent/derExperte

7 years ago
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https://www.bundlestars.com/en/bundle/dollar-mega-bundle

hi,anyone know how many cv i will get if i giveaway all the game from above bundle?thank you

7 years ago
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Check the post about the bundle on these forums:
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/bY00i/bundle-stars-dollar-mega-bundle-extended-duration

Beneath the table it shows the CV :)

7 years ago
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thank you :-)

7 years ago
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thank you :-)

7 years ago
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Just curious, is there a time when steamgifts runs a check? My CV just got high enough for level 4 today but the site shows me still at 3, unless steamgifts tools is miscalculating something. I still have some more to giveaway, just curious.

7 years ago
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Well you are now level 4! :)

7 years ago
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any one know how many real cv is game-developer-software-bundle 1$ tier? thank you

7 years ago
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15% of it's actual price on steam

7 years ago
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Should be a real CV value of $25.95.

The Clickteam Fusion 2.5 is $100 on steam: 15% value for being a bundle = $15
The Spriter Pro is $60 on steam: 15% value = $9
The Spriter Pro DLC is $13 on steam: 15% value = $1.95

7 years ago
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Already gave 28$ and still lv2

7 years ago
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7 years ago
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Bundled games doesn't count as full CV - http://www.sgtools.info/sent/JustThiago/newestfirst

7 years ago
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How to se the real value of a game before start a giveaway?

7 years ago
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Check the archive for old GAs of the game.
Check the bundled list. Remember that recent bundles might not yet be on that list and that in some cases even old bundles/price glitches might not be on the list and will be added later.

7 years ago*
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Bump again.

7 years ago
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Hi Opp, the second link isn't functional :-) Just an FY....

7 years ago
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Thanks. Fixed.

7 years ago
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No, thank-you! I love these handy lists and always forget where they're located :-D

7 years ago
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i have 36 dollar worth of GAs but im still level 1 why?

7 years ago
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7 years ago
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From the FAQ:

No.3 is the one explaining your case.

How much a giveaway increases your level is based on the gifts price, so a $20 game would add twice as much value to your level as a $10 game. There are three other factors that may influence the value of a gift...

  1. After you give away a game 5 times (whether in the same giveaway, or in multiple giveaways), it will begin decreasing in value. The value is decreased by 10% for each additional copy. This means if you decide to give away 8 copies of a $10 game, it would add $74.39 (10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 9 + 8.10 + 7.29) in value towards your level. This has little effect on the majority of users, but prevents individuals from receiving a high level from gifting a large number of promotional gifts, games obtained through pricing errors, or keys from contacting game developers.
  2. If a giveaway is invite only, or for a whitelist or Steam group, it will only add value towards your level if it receives 5 or more entries. This is in place to prevent small groups of friends from attempting to cheat the contributor system, and to encourage users to expand the reach of their giveaways. The whitelist feature offers an easy way to target a larger audience, and you can combine it with small Steam groups to receive a greater number of giveaway entries if needed.
  3. Giveaways for bundle games created after the bundle date will always receive 15% of their value. For example, if you gift 2 copies of a $20 bundle game, you would receive $6 (3 + 3) in value towards your level. Keep in mind that changes to the list of bundle games will apply retroactively, so if a bundle begins today, attempting to gift the game before it's added to the list will offer no advantage. Games may also be added to the bundle list if they're available for free during a promotion, or if they're highly discounted in a sale.
7 years ago
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you all teach me!
3Q!!!!
Q.Q
LV1

7 years ago
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hey i ordered 5 keys for a game on tremorgames.... i want to giveaway all 5 of them in a private giveaway...
so i know minimum number of participants on private GA to raise CV is 5.... i will invite my all friends... obviously more than 5... but i am not sure that whether they have SG accounts or not... so number of participants might be less than 25...
so if i give 5 keys in a single giveaway where suppose number of contestants are 12... will i receive the CV for 5 keys or not?

7 years ago
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AFAIK 6 (or even 5) should be enough.

7 years ago
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5 entries is enough

7 years ago
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thanks^^

7 years ago
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mee

6 years ago
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