You either die a gleeful winner, or live long enough to become an unfeeling recipient.
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Pretty much same here, I started using SG to win, then gradually got involved in the forum and community. I was super, super active at some point, but in recent years I've gradually reduced my activity to nearly nothing. Both I and Steamgifts/its community has changed a lot since then, and I guess I just don't feel like spending as much time getting involved here as I once did - I still check in regularly throughout the day though, and I still enjoy gifting/winning like anyone else although I barely ever enter giveaways.
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"reduced my activity to near nothing" - I've been a lurker for over five years and you are one of the few commenters I always remember, so I wouldn't say you aren't active :P
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Hmm, guilty as charged - but I am comparatively less active, at least. :P
I also don't make threads anymore, which I used to do quite regularly.
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I never join giveaways with the assumption I will win, so to me it's always a nice feeling to win a game. Even if a giveaway has 5 entries and you are one of them, you are still more likely to lose that individual giveaway then win it.
I have felt what you feel on other giveaway sites though, which is why I only really use SteamGifts. I think the forums makes things much more fun. I really like the puzzles and event people make here.
I just appreciate that people giveaway games at all (whatever the reason). I've got some really amazing gaming experiences because of it. I learn about new games through the forums and giveaways too.
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No need to apologize AJ -- this is a nice post! I'm glad your perspective changed, it seems like you're able to enjoy yourself a little bit more now.
For it is in giving that we receive.
--St Francis of Assisi
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As someone who hasn't won much in the 3 or so years I've been active on this site and doing giveaways, my disappointment hasn't been in not winning much (ok there was a little, but, eh), the disappointment has come from giving good games away that sit in people's libraries untouched. It has taken me a long time to get over that frustration that people only care about a +1 in their account, and not about the fact someone gave it away for free, with the hope it goes to a home that will give it some attention.
I've also found that if you disagree with someone, you might get 10 blacklists. Earlier this year I cleared my blacklist (it's still empty) as an experiment to see if that mutual removal of people from that list would affect the blacklists I've received. I'm surprised it hasn't. At all. The good thing with that is I can say, without regret, that they must genuinely hate me as a human being. I finally feel like I can live with that.
Lastly, I'm thankful for the people who have tolerated me. I'm not the easiest person to get on with, much less like, and I often feel the same about myself. I'd go off the grid, but I feel like the small conversations, and the time spent here is helping me to realign myself.
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Or they dont know you specifically have removed them concidering your giveaways still doest come up in their feed because they have blacklisted you. :)
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You probably know about this already, but for me, personally, I give away games in Playing Appreciated if I want people to play them for sure. You could also do a similar thing if you aren't doing' it already. :)
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they must genuinely hate me as a human being.
I suppose some people might use their blacklist as a way to express their feelings about you as a person (or at least as an online persona -- not the same thing)... but not everyone uses the blacklist that way. For some it just means "I don't want you to enter my giveaways" and it's as simple as that. That was the case with me, when I used my blacklist. (Like you, I emptied mine and it's still empty).
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1) If they blacklisted you too they don't seen that you took them down from your BL
As i did because of your multiple heavy insults, that were far away from "a bad day (or week)". Special after you were at my whitelist for a long time were that stuff def. far from ok or for me acceptable, so i don't seen your clearing of your BL.
2) I don't think that a lot of the users here really hate other users because you don't know the person behind the part you see online. It isn't the full person.
I as example don't hate you because you aren't important enough for me to invest much feelings, the same counts for all (excluded 1 user) at my BL. Hate never leads in the end to a happy life ;o).
Special if you have a chronic illness as mine, that punish you for all stress that you have and/or make yourself, will force you to learn that block a lot of stuff and handle it easy and fast reduce the stress -one of the reasons for my good filled BL-.
And i think, nearly all?, others will have a dislike of something that someone do or a dislike of a user and not hate.
3) That you collect BL for not agree with the "expected common (IN) stuff", is a sad reality at sg but you have three options to handle it.
a) Don't care about the BL you collect from writing your opinions ans experiences [I am in that group]
b) Don't write your opinions (or better nothing besides a thanks after a win) [not my style of interacting with a community...]
c) Write only what the masses expect from you [it give a few of such people at sg and they are very successful with it -but before i would do that i would write nothing more or leave the site-]
I hope my words can be seen as i wrote them. Only as a explanation as far as i see the situation. It should not be a attack or start something bad/negative.
And a small addition about your "i am not the easiest person". It's not important to be the easiest person, i seen that you done over time steps in the right directions with your rage/insults because you were able to see that you done stuff wrong and tried to do it better in the future. Not much people are able to do that and i really respect people that are able to do it.
Sure the steps were little ones and it gave backsteps too but thats ok and complete normal.
First as you done, much more as one big backstep and exploded many/different times without a reason that i were able to see, without a explanation and without that the explosions were all very close together (and that way maybe easier to understand with more infos) -against "friends" too-, i started to mark, in my mind, different behavings/actings from you in a negative way.
[Hard to translate what i think and feel into english sentences right now]
Normaly i am a (very) resentful/unforgiving person if a person earned my "dislike" (special with insults). One of my weak spots.
-None of us are perfect ;o)-
I thought a longer time in the past about your reaction and the reasons for it and i were never happy that we weren't able to speak about it in a normal way.
That and the fact that i act the last few and for sure the next weeks (and for the future maybe months) with more feelings. Because of different heavy OP's that are needed. The first that i have soon + high risks + a relative unclear future life.
So lets say it change thoughts, feelings, priorities and many more if i feel the need to write for my, "little", son a Farewell letter that should be given to him as soon as he is old enough to understand and handle the letter, in the case i don't wake up after the OP(s).
Long story short... i took you done from my BL and lifted the block at steam.
And i would like it to hear why you reacted how you reacted if you are able to [ If so then please at steam or discord Masafor#1075 ]
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Yeah, I know... and I don't expect it to change; I have been quite harsh before, and I can't take back the things I've said.
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The "hate" part was more a dig at the fact that life is too short, and I'm trying to move on the best i can regardless of what I have done, or what others thought about me in the past.
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I don't usually collect BLs for giveaways, only for things I've said in the discussions. The last couple months I have not had any BL's, so I think I'm trying to do something right at least :)
So lets say it change thoughts, feelings, priorities and many more if you write for your, "little", son a Farewell letter that should be given to him as soon as he is old enough to understand and handle the letter, in the case you don't wake up after the OP(s).
I don't know what you mean? I am not married, and I haven't had any children.
Thank you for removing me from your blacklist/block.
I'm sorry, but I don't know how to explain why I have outbursts, or misunderstandings.
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1 month since I joined SG.
I am pretty much in the same boat as you were, made two giveaways just o enter in lvl1+ GAs. And Firefox list SG as most visited :D
I am slowly starting to get the community here. Entering those GAs which have less entries, solving puzzles,jigidis as they tend to have less entries than others.
Also participated in drawing contest, and might participate in coding contest as well.
All in all, SG community is awesome!
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I was also in a similar situation with the disappointment and the selfish wanting to win something, but I think it got less and less in time. Now, I rarely enter GAs because there aren't many games I'm interested in and I'd rather win games that I'll play. I'm not a collector, and I don't intend to be.
In this change of mind, me being part of BLAEO has also helped a lot. It provided me a different perspective and helped me focus on the games to play them.
I haven't felt disappointed about not winning for a while now. And it's good!
I enjoy checking the forums, and participating in PAGYWOSG (it's so hard to write that name every single time).
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Very similar story to the others here. I started entering a lot, switched to giving more pretty early on, then BLAEO helped me focus on playing games and I enter very few giveaways now - just those that I'm fairly sure I'll like. I've been on the site a long time, and check the forums pretty much every day but I doubt most of the regulars know me because I don't post that much.
It was nice to read about everyone's SG development :-)
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Looks like i am the other side of coin. I have found this place to dump my unwanted keys and never come back again, because i dont really like online giveaway stuff (mainly because you cant track what is happening and if its legit or not etc.) Then i was really surprised with community and giveaway system in place. Stayed and begin to enter stuff since it solved most of my issue with giveaways. But then i have stopped buying bundles because i value playing the games. It put distance with site and me again. I visit daily now but i rarely enter anything I only enter if i am positive that i will play the day i have won. I used to be more active on the forum side and also that changed a little as well. Hope this site attract more people in the future cause it's a good one.
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Always nice to hear some positivity on the forums and your story probably reflects a lot of other people's journey on here. After all, the site is called Steamgifts and if you don't enjoy gifting games away then this community is not for you. I hope you continue to enjoy your time here and if there is a time where gifting is no longer the enjoyable experience you want it to be, you can always sit back and just enjoy the forums. I hope the good times last for a long time!
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I signed up in September 2017, so not much time before you. As much as the idea of winning a game for free was enticing, I never really expected to win anything to begin with (the only time I felt disappointed with not winning a game was in a GA with only 2 entries where I thought I was the only one till the very end). What kept me coming back to the site was basically the fact of having spare HB keys to give away (not knowing better places where I could do that) and the weird "addiction" I developed towards the puzzle section of the forum. For a period I was simply solving puzzles, without a care for the games at stake there or anything else. Then for the 1st time I thought about making a puzzle myself, so I had to actively think in order to make something enjoyable for others and that's not easy. That changed a bit my perspective of the site. I mean, I still enjoy the puzzles (I have much less free time for them though), I still give away my HB/HC leftovers and I still don't expect to win anything, but now I can appriciate more the effort some people put in this community, so I come back here almost everyday to check the site and the forum (and not only the puzzle section now; I don't write much, but stil...).
About the winning part... personally I join only GAs of games I wishlisted or that I really want to play (I assume you don't, sorry if I'm mistaken), that imho helps a lot with the feeling of actually being winning something. For instance, my personal stats on the site say I've been overall unlucky in these past 2 years, but I don't feel like that at all, actually I almost feel kind of indebted and that gives me further motive to come back here regularly.
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I signed up around when the site exited beta, before the days of CV and levels and such. I signed up because I wanted to give away some games (I had already given some on other forums and on my Facebook giveaway page). I entered some giveaways and won 3 games, before I decided that there was no point, since if I really wanted a game I could afford to buy it. I continued to make some giveaways, although that also dwindled with time. I did stay for the community.
Over time, following the introduction of CV, SG grew into a site that basically has nothing to do with charitable giving. It's a place where people who don't really need to win games gift games to other people who don't really need to win games. In these days and age, I'd say that pretty much no one really needs to win on sites like this. The amount of money and effort that goes into winning on SG seems quite pointless when stores (Epic mainly over the past year, but also others) regularly give quite good games, and other games are pretty cheap to buy (I bought Assassin's Creed Origins and The Witcher 3 each for $5 at the Epic store).
SG is what I call 'random trading' between game collectors. It's a black hole for game money.
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I'm just lazy (or would rather be playing a game) and find it easier to give the games away over dealing with the hassle of trading. I don't have the time to argue whether X game is worth more than Y game, make big trade lists and keep track of them, and deal with numb-nuts trying to scam me. If it weren't for SG, most of my game keys would just rot. If someone gets a kick out of winning a game, or I win a game occasionally, it's a bonus. Pure truth.
shrug
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I signed up 2 years ago, but only have been back and really using SG last last month. The reason I created an account is solely for the sole purpose of this giveaway. And then that's it, I was gone for almost 2 years, then quarantine began in my country (one of the first to get hit by covid ;-;) and somehow found this and surprised I already had a registered account here and the memories cam flowing back. Back then, I don't and can't buy anything, since I don't have a credit card and an allowance to do that. If I really want to play a game back then I would just watch YouTube videos of gameplays, or if I really really want to play it and very am very desperate, piracy is always an option (don't recommend it tho). The truth is that some people just can't buy games they want themselves, so that's why there are people who don't give anything because they can't. (I'm talking about teens and kids btw, not people who are just greedy)
Yes, my view of SG have really shifted since when I started being active again, there are always these people who win games, but didn't play it. Well I didn't know that idling cards and ASF was a thing back then, so I went as far as emailing a person who won one of my first giveaway to ask for them to accept my friend request for me to send the gift to them. I was excited. Very excited actually. But I noticed that the person was playing the game he/she won... along side with many many other games. WHAT? HOW? It's was long until I released that that person was just using the game to idle for cards. Welp, that's that. I'm not saying that winning a game to idle for cards is wrong, well it is kind of wrong I also do that myself, but I kept in mind that "Hey, if you have time you should play the game", or otherwise I'd feel guilty. It's really cool to see some people actually playing the game they won, but that's just rare.
During my first weeks back, I always check back expecting something to pop up on that trophies tab, but nope nothing, nada. I waited until I just don't care anymore, the idea of winning a game for free just faded away into abyss, I don't even know what it looks like to win a gift, until I joined those exclusive ga groups (Unlucky7, etc.), that's when I started winning some stuff but still, the chance of winning (something really good) is just brutal. It says in my stats page that I am
Overall, you've been unlucky, and won 4 fewer gifts than estimated since you first joined.
So that's my 12am train of thought. What's the conclusion? I don't know man, it's almost 1am now I need sleep and to finish my overdue assignments. Might edit tmr.
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but GENERALLY when you check, nothing's new
kinda agree, then again are you sure your frequency of checks isn't higher than the rate of giveaways actually ending?
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Oh, for sure. However, I've entered some 40.000 giveaways and won some 200 over the course of the last years, so I think it's fair to say that no matter with what frequency you check, generally nothing is new and the wins are always a nice surprise!
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Great post, and now u still keep going even after 5 years. Thanks for sharing consistently and hope you keep your streaming active as well :)
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Ohh is there a rule against doing so? Im unaware do let me know if possible.
I just want to push some User Projects that have room to grow or something interesting enough for others to read even now.
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Yes there is.
Unreasonable bumping. When bumping a discussion you should try to ensure it is in the best interest of the community. If you notice our community is not engaging with the content after it has been bumped a couple of times, then you need to stop bumping the discussion unless important new information or updates would make it appropriate to do so.
It's been over 2 years since these discussions were last bumped. Leave them alone.
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Alright thanks, I will seldomly do it.
Edit: Just so I dont bump this further and make the same mistake again.
In connection to the other user, wanted to mention that this is my first 'Bulletin Boards' experience.
Heck I learnt what 'bump' means after coming here, just a month ago😅
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As visible on my profile, I signed up over 2 years ago in November 2017 and I must say, as I just checked Steamgifts before bed, as I usually do, I noticed a distinct difference in how I perceived this website and its system.
In the very beginning I was super excited to have a chance to win games. I was thoroughly disappointed to learn that the best games weren't available for level 0's, so I gave some games away as well to get my level up - though purely out of self gain, to be able to join these giveaways that were level 1 and 2 and seemed so appealing. Whenever I checked and I had NOT won anything, I was thoroughly disappointed, leading to periods of inactivity in between.
After that, that excitement to check if I won something never went away, and I kept getting disappointed so I joined groups. In doing so, I discovered that there is actually a nice thing about giveaways: You can advertise stuff! And so, I made more giveaways and used them to advertise. It worked well some days, less so others, but in general, it did what it was supposed to.
I came to make my own group for giveaways during this very phase, when I made sure to do my giveaways weekly and regularly and I wanted to give people who joined a chance to win something. However, that feeling of selfishness was always there. I wanted to win better games than I was giving away and make people like me by doing giveaways.
Tonight, I checked Steamgifts and as usual there was no wins or anything (yes, I did win over 200 games, but GENERALLY when you check, nothing's new). I went on to spend my points and went back on my profile but I noticed that there was absolutely no disappointment over not having won anything. At some point between the time I made the group and today, it appears that the selfish need to win has completely been erased. I still do 5+ giveaways every week but I don't advertise anything other than, in one of them, the Steam group, which I use to give away the other 4 games. And the giveaways themselves, I don't care if people say thank you or not, or if I feel they are grateful or whatever. It just gives me joy to simply give games to other people, and possibly help someone who can't afford games get them, add to someone's collection of games, or help someone discover their new favorite game along the way.
So in short: Over the course of some 2 years, my use of this website has changed my perspective on not only this but also other sites like this one completely. Of course I am still overjoyed when I win something, but rarely now disappointed (come on, everyone sometimes sees a giveaway of a game they really want and then gets sad about the 10.000 entries that particular one already has xD).
The community in and around Steamgifts has been amazing and helpful, and a lot more caring than I would've expected a bunch of people on a giveaway site to be. Thanks to all of you who use the site in a way that brings other people as well as yourself some happiness, especially in these times.
Sorry for my midnight rant, I guess I should mention it's 2AM ;) Love y'all.
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