Are you in favor of this proposal?
Why not, but some basic stuff like reveal key on demand aren't implemented.
In the perspective that any additional proposals that aren't real changers are just additional cognitive load on cg's center of decision, I am not in favor for any non substantial changes that implies source implementation. 😐
And since cg is the only allowed contributor to server code and there is no know public roadmap (afaik), this is unlikely to happen.
Maybe just a change to policy to deal with gifts bought after giveaway end would be more appropriate.
(This could include something like inserting into description : This gift will be bought after giveaway end from XX region)
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I'm sure there can be sophisticated ways to better handle this, but my goal with this proposal is to come up with something that (1) is minor enough that it might actually be implemented, and (2) reduce the misery which the new Steam way of gifting is going to bring to this site very soon.
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Good ideas!
Also from FAQ
If you've been unable to reach the winner of your giveaway using e-mail and Steam after "seven days" of your giveaway ending, and they have not yet activated or redeemed any keys or gifts you attempted to send, please contact support to request a new winner.
Maybe change "seven days" to 2-3 😮 For example i made giveaway right after weeklong discounts and after 7 days i don't need reroll - i just can't buy this game with discount price.
Or don't change 7 days but add one more reason if you want delete your giveaway - "end of discount in steam store"
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+1 the winner could be a jerk overlord and wait the discount ends on purpose, I doubt this will happen, but... you never know
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I can see the first part being useful, and would've been useful for a while since most giveaways were always keys.
The other things you came up with is not as necessary as you believe - people will adapt quickly and naming it two different things for basically the same thing (it is still a gift via steam) just makes it more complicated than simplify it. All in all, I don't think anyone here loses sleep over how they will receive their game - is it via immediate gift exchange or inventory gift exchange ;p
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This does look useful and easy enough to implement! An even simpler solution would be to add a warning message next to the Gift option like "Warning: If you are planning to purchase the gift after the giveaway ends, the new Steam restrictions may prevent you from doing this and you will have to find another way to send the game for the winner."
But I like your solution more because people tend to skip reading warning messages all the time :)
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Thanks for the proposal. But what if I can't send the gift due to the new price-based region locking? Isn't that unfair? Like what solution should I be able to find? :( In general, steam is screwed up now and I can't do giveaways anymore, since it's too risky.
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Actually, I think that ALL gift giveaways should be region-locked, in order to ensure that people will be able to send the gift to the winner.
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Example:
The "Borderlands - Four Pack" must be purchased for your own account. Once you've completed your transaction, you'll be able to give your three extra copies of the game to friends using the Steam client. If you'd like to purchase any other games as gifts, please do so in a separate transaction.
This probably means that you should send them immediately after the transaction and only through the steam client.
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That'd be amazingly dumb—not that I put it past Valve. I've purchased four-packs in the past that I've taken years to fully give away; some of them I still have in my inventory to this day. Just because someone buys a four-pack doesn't mean she immediately has three other people she wants to give copies to right that very moment, and if it's Valve's idea that she should, they're going to lose sales as a result.
I get that this was all done with the intent on curbing reselling, but the consequences just seem poorly thought out. Granted, its effect on sites like SteamGifts is much more acute than it is generally, but even so, situations like the multipacks just go to show the edge cases they didn't seem to care about, which as a company that I presume wants to make money, boggles my mind.
/rant
Edit: On the main topic, I support the suggested changes, but I feel more discussion is needed around Mihey3Z's comment about the seven-day grace period possibly impeding the ability of people to give away copies during sales, and around necessary policies to deal with the situations that arise when post-sale contacts inevitably take place and the giveaway creators no longer want to (or are no longer able to) purchase the gift.
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They have implemented many changes during all those years (mostly in the name of safety but for other stupid reasons too, surely all their reasons though were lies and they're just trying to destroy trading). They just want to find a way to gain more money and eventually steam will end up being NOT user-friendly (actually, it already isn't user-friendly). But seriously, tell me a reason why I and almost everyone else should keep buying from steam?! There's no reason at all. Their sales are always bad, I can't gift a game to my steam friends anymore, I can't buy a game slightly cheaper by another region, I can't give away games anymore, I can't buy 4-packs, etc. Just tell me one reason why a sane person would keep buying from steam! That would only be normal if he already lives in the cheapest regions. So, while their changes will give them a bigger profit by each user's game purchase, the purchases will lower dramatically, while grey markets will profit and piracy will rise. So, this means that they'll eventually get a really lower amount of money because of their stupid changes.
Yes, steamgifts is kinda screwed. Although many people give away keys, there is still a large number of people, including me, that mostly give away steam gifts. This means that the number of giveaways will probably lower, except if an instant change happens. And why did you support the suggested changes? If I can't give the gift away to the winner because of the price-based region locking, what the heck should I do? Why should I have to find a solution, like Yirg suggested? This logic makes me wanna avoid doing giveaways anymore. Wouldn't it be better if ALL gifts would be region locked? That way, we'll all be sure that the winner will be able to accept the gift.
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And why did you support the suggested changes?
Primarily because I view them as necessary just from a usability perspective, unless SteamGifts wants to switch to solely to being a key exchange—though even in that case, the changes outlined in the original post would still be necessary.
Wouldn't it be better if ALL gifts would be region locked?
Quite possibly. Such a change would still need to be in addition to the UI changes outlined in the original post, however: not instead of them.
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I actually originally meant to write "all gift giveaways should be region locked", not "all gifts". Still, that works for me too. :P But I think it'd be better if, here on steamgifts, there would be EU giveaways, US giveaways, UK giveaways, etc. This would ensure that the winner will be able to use the gift.
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Regardless of how the changes may effect those packs they shouldn't really be considered when determining site design as it's such a limited case.
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I'm not sure whether you meant when determining SteamGifts' site design (as in what we're discussing now) or whether you meant when determining Steam's site design (as in what Valve did with the changes), but I disagree either way, albeit for different reasons.
In the latter case, Steam needs to consider it simply because it's a facet of their store environment, and it has to be handled somehow.
In the former case, I'd argue that since SteamGifts' entire purpose is to facilitate the giving of games on Steam, it's desirable that it should allow users to do so in as many ways as are both possible and verifiable, which is what it's done to date. Obviously it's not incumbent upon it to do so, as it is in Steam's case—cg could just decide to turn the site into a key exchange, for instance, and that'd be that—but if options to give non-key gifts through the site is continued, I'd certainly support consideration be given to all the ways these gifts might materialize.
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Maybe change "seven days" to 2-3 😮 For example i made giveaway right after weeklong discounts and after 7 days i don't need reroll - i just can't buy this game with discount price.
This, to me, is the bigger question: Will SG change its policies to accommodate people who want to do giveaways under Steam's new scheme. in particular, if the first winner declines the gift which means the giver gets refunded, should they be required to repurchase for a new winner? And what if Steam wont allow the gift to be sent to the winner because of regional pricing? Hopefully the powers-that-be are thinking about this.
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Replying to myself that cg addressed this very issue, in a favorable way IMO, in another thread.
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This sounds like a good solution for the time being, I would just change
if the GA creator gift is rejected by Steam due to the new price-based region locking, it's on him/her to find a solutionInstead of that, allow deleting a GA post-completion for the reason "Steam pricing poopyness" which gets automatically resolved like deletion pre-completion. It's up to the gifters to calculate & figure out if they can send the game now unfortunately, there is no fair system possible which can help with gifting selection from SG's side.
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Instead of having two unselected options Gift then Key, I suggest the following changes:
O.GA
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