1. There are levels
2. We have already puzzles here

Already been proposed before and the answer is just no.

I am not going to do captcha's because other people screw the system.

That invite giveaways are much lower is because not everyone is on the forum.

1 is already in place

What are the requirements for registering?
Users sign-in using their Steam account, and we require their account to be valued at $100.00 or greater. Games that have been accessible through bundles, or games that were once available for free due to promotions or pricing errors are not included in this calculation. We have this requirement in place to prevent users from registering multiple accounts.

spending $10 is pretty much the bare minimum to get onto SG with that rule, since 95% off games will get marked to reduced and this rule will be checking for games with a * or **

2 ... invite only giveaways via discussions.

I agree the bots are a problem, but don't think those options would really help / are that different from what we have already.

Here's what's likely to be a very controversial counterproposal: fewer points OR slower point refills. Make entering a giveaway more of a weighty decision. I almost always have extra points. I can see how that situation could lead to interest in bots so that those "extra" points don't go to waste. If you only got (for example) 500 points a week, then you'd be more likely to use them up just entering the stuff you are only genuinely excited about. Which IMHO is what the site should be about.

disclaimers:

• I don't know anybody who uses bots so it's hard to put myself in their shoes, maybe my reasoning has no overlap with theirs
• I have no idea how many points you get per week if you were to spend all that you get

Nobody likes having things taken away and this sure sounds like that. But really, it would make your points MORE valuable since there would be less competition so your chances per giveaway should go up.

Bots can solve captchas nowadays- but i imagine most bot users wouldnt have the skills or spend to solve that(if im not mistaken theres services now that solve captchas, but that would mean a cost for some botters)

While the idea have been suggested before and many people against it i think theres an alternative not discussed enougth- OPTIONAL.
As in up to GA makers, if they turn captcha and or something else on or not

I think something like that would at least solve one thing- the debate
Wether or not how efficient captcha is or isnt probably will never be a certainty, a forever debate... making it an option tough could saciate both sides.
And it could.. you know, test it. If later most dont use, most dont like and or those who used noticed bots were getting in anyway then it could be removed.

Of course all of that is assuming theres no COST to implementing it. Idk how are the options for captchas nowadays- but i assume if theres costs its probably not worth the trouble.

Have you tought about sgtools?
Im not versed in it but theres so many options for rules there... maybe theres one that check something like library size or wether someones steam account is premium(spent money) or not.

I dont really have comment either side. Some users will always find a way.

Also there is already reguirement to have 100$ worth on your steam account.
"Games that have been accessible through bundles, or games that were once available for free due to promotions or pricing errors are not included in this calculation."
https://www.steamgifts.com/about/faq

But if you are worried about potential "bots" joining your GAs:

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

• Level 0 is 1 million users - tho that probably includes ~14 years of people.
• Level 1 drops massively, down to 111k users
• Level 2 is 18k

So by making level 2, for example, you already "remove" 1 million and 111k users joining.

But
Does that mean people will play games you GA? Not really.
Does that mean people will not bot at those levels? Not really?

But it massively reduces that "risk", if you are worried about it
Making public GA with level 0/1 pretty much, sadly, means you shouldnt expect people to not just "+1" it. Hell making public GA at all means that.

Sometimes people dont have time to play wins, sometimes they forget, sometimes they'll play it half year from now. Sometimes ADHD hyperfocus hits and they play one game 100 hours forgetting rest (hi, thats me)
Its not really that deep. I know it feels bad to have game you selected to be just "+1"d.

Join groups, make invite only GAs, make trains etc.

Also not everyone who joins in first minutes of GA are bots. There are 3-5k users online every hour, so even if 0.1% of those would refresh the new GAs and join brand new one - thats already 5 people