I have seen beta keys of games that are going free to play... witch make it poinless and exploit steamgift system to get levels.

2 years ago

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2 years ago
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if you try creating a new giveaway of that game you'll see that it has 2 red asterisks meaning it gives 0 value anyways
so there's no farming, it has no value

2 years ago
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Beta keys which do not provide unrestricted access to the full game in the future, guest passes, demos, and coupons cannot be given away.

From the guidelines

2 years ago
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Additionally:

Gifting Beta Keys, Guest Passes, or Coupons
Suspension Length: 3 days

from the bottom of any roles page.

2 years ago
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I don't see why not coupons but i gree with the rest.
i do look for coupons myself bit is extreamly hard to find them at times becuase they expiere.

2 years ago
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SG is about giving away games, not coupons ...

  • If you mean trading coupons well that isn't allowed (no trading is listed in the rules).
  • If you mean giving them away to anyone well there is a coupon thread somewhere in here (search for it, I'm not gonna do it for you).
  • If you mean giving them away in giveaways ... how would this be monitored? How many P (Points) to enter? CV .... that would be impossible, should be worth 0. How do you verify the coupon has been sent (SG isn't equiped to do this), etc.

If the coupon thread on SG isn't to your liking then I suggest:
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/coupondumpster
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Coupon-Trading-Group
or
https://steamcommunity.com/search/groups#text=coupon

2 years ago
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2 years ago
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why do you care anyway you never did a giveaway in your account's life

2 years ago
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And what kind of argument is that?

If someone would be complaining about not winning enough it would kind of make sense, even when it's rude. But here it doesn't.

2 years ago
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i meant what is the point of being bothered considering they don't make giveaways why be bothered what level others get too and how

2 years ago
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Even if one doesn't create GAs, why can't they be concerned about others potentially exploiting something?

2 years ago
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Well for argument's sake, I think wiggle's point was that someone making GAs to get to a higher level and better odds of winning could be concerned that others are just grabbing freebies and getting to the same level but for a user at level 0 who never made a GA, it makes no difference how other people are getting their CV

2 years ago
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Both are different.

someone making GAs to get to a higher level and better odds of winning could be concerned that others are just grabbing freebies and getting to the same level

That's, kinda, like, little bit of jealousy, and feeling like you put in a lot more effort and money than others, and maybe that you feel a bit like a fool.... something like that, can't really explain well.

user at level 0 who never made a GA, it makes no difference how other people are getting their CV
.
Kreegola
I have seen beta keys of games that are going free to play... witch make it poinless and exploit steamgift system to get levels.

imo, that's kind of a concern about there being an exploit and calling it out.

Not a great comparison, but it's like how people might feel if they found out that Olympic athletes used drugs to get, maybe not the gold, but the bronze, even if they were not participating in any of the games themselves, but simply watch it sometimes.

2 years ago
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Well there's always a big element of flag waving when it comes to international sports events so it muddies things quite a bit but I get it.
I'm usually more pissed off when people grab 10 free keys off limited devs giveaways just to make GAs that won't get them any CV here, preventing people from getting their own key with the devs.
The other stuff, it ends up on the no CV list at some point anyway so they won't get much out of it.

This being said, I do get it. I have been regularly pissed off by people climbing to level 8 in like 100 GAs with those fake games that go for 50 euros or more on Steam lately. But hey, I try to take it with philosophy.

2 years ago
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Well there's always a big element of flag waving when it comes to international sports events so it muddies things quite a bit

Yeah, I know. I just couldn't think of a good analogy for this situation.

This being said, I do get it. I have been regularly pissed off by people climbing to level 8 in like 100 GAs with those fake games that go for 50 euros or more on Steam lately. But hey, I try to take it with philosophy.

Level 8 in just 100 or GAs sounds amazing. Where can I sign up?
Kidding, I didn't know that it was so easy. But 100x50=5000, and I doubt that is how much these people spend. Do they get such keys cheap or something? I think I saw a thread here just a few days ago, addressing that exact issue. I think there was even discussion about such games existing specially for just leveling up on SG (and some arguments about it being related to money laundering).

2 years ago
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Oh yeah no it's a whole new way of scamming.

Yes, AlltracTurbo made a thread about it a few days ago

There has been a deluge of fake games (or how Masafor says "game-shaped objects") released on Steam since June, that look like asset flips or Unity demo modules, or flash games from the 90ies, and are priced over 40 euros.
They get sold for peanuts on a few shady sites and ofc are full CV because who's going to put that crapware in a bundle?
Multiple copies GAs and 50 giveaways later, boom, you're skyrocketing already.

Of course, like I already said, if you look at the number of GAs made over level 6 on SG these days, it's absolutely pointless anyway.
Still a neat scam.

2 years ago
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Yeah, that's the thread.
I see. It's a pretty nice scam, and they are not even breaking any of the SG rules. However, it cost $100/game to publish on steam. Is it really worth the efforts and money (assuming it's solely for leveling up on SG)?

2 years ago
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It's not just about SG. It's money laundering.
They just need a few sheep to buy it so that it doesn't look dodgy to Valve so they sell it for peanuts on a few dodgy sites.
I mean... people have it in their library so... must be a real game, right?
I even saw one sold for 300 bucks on Steam. Released this week.

If it was for SG they wouldn't price it that high.

2 years ago
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Yeah, that's right. $50 is more than enough for SG.

2 years ago
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It's a valid concern about keeping the rules of the site.

2 years ago
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This argument doesn't hinge on their giveaway history though, no?

2 years ago
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I, who received beta keys several times when buying a game on a fanatical:
-Okay, I understand you!
P.S: Keys "for beta testing" - often give access to the full version of the game. This flag is given to keys that were generated by the developer prior to the release of the game.

2 years ago
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The real question is why are people entering those GAs for a game that's going free to play in less than 24 hours.

2 years ago
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Gotta catch em all.

2 years ago
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2 years ago*
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lmao can't wait for the music video :D

2 years ago
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2 years ago
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maybe people didn't know that i didn't

2 years ago
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I didn't either until I saw all these GAs and checked.
Still, the game looks fun for a fighting game although I don't like MP games generally.
And anyway it's good that bots are spending points on freebies lol

2 years ago
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2 years ago*
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In my experience it's pointless to argue about BETA games on SG. When I received my first BETA game win, I argued that BETA games were not allowed by SG rules. That's when I realized that all you have to do is say that it's a full key anyways, developers just label them that way, and they probably won't get revoked etc, etc. One moderator even threatened to suspend me if I did not activate the BETA key. To me it appears to be an SG rule that's never enforced. Uphold the rule. Get suspended.

2 years ago
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You're mixing up two things:
1) games with "for beta testing" tag - they are keys that activate full game, but are generated before game is released.
2) beta games that are given to some people to test game, and then disappear after release

We did not have "for beta testing" keys before, as developers could generate as many keys for their games as they want. Now Steam added limits and devs generate keys before game is released. To have them for promotional reasons, make some bundle shortly after release etc.

It's not the developer who decides "how to label" - it's done automatically by Steam. Difference is if developer requested full game before release, or access to beta version that will expire on release.

2 years ago*
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I am aware of the distinction, however the issue is that there is no practical way to distinguish between them either with the wording that you provided or the actual rule quoted below. The games when activated say either "Beta" or "Beta for testing". Both can be described as your #1. They are not marked differently and there is no practical way to know in advance that a GA will disappear "in the future" or will not provide full access "in the future". Even if a key is later revoked, keys are often revoked for a number of unrelated reasons. As best as I can tell it requires some level of investigation of the game, the developer and how keys were released. Unless a developer has a thread/forum somewhere that says "I'm giving away Beta keys that I will revoke when I release the game" (and even this requires some research), it can't be definitively known. Yet, even with this, it may still meet your #1.

I believe that this is why there are so many questions about the beta game rule and why it was revised in my time here. In my years here, I have entered over 100,000 GAs and seen many that activated as beta keys. I have seen enforcement of many other broken rules, but I have never seen a GA deleted under this No Beta Key rule.

Moderators have a hard time and I am not intending to disparage. In my humble opinion it's an issue but I have concluded that moderators and senior staff here are more interested in defending the status quo (as you appear to) which is to require that keys marked as beta keys be activated.

(Actual current wording of rule).

"Beta keys which do not provide unrestricted access to the full game in the future.......cannot be given away"

2 years ago*
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They are not allowed already, you can see it here:

Beta keys which do not provide unrestricted access to the full game in the future, guest passes, demos, and coupons cannot be given away.

You can report such giveaways to support for them to be deleted, and if you did not get full game in giveaway - you should mark it as not received.
There are some exception though - some developers generate keys on early game stage that have "for beta testing" in package name, but actually give full game. Those are legit. And that's actually a problem, since at this point it's a matter of your trust to giveaway creator. I don't know official opinion of support on how to handle such cases. I usually ask giveaway creators, and decide if I trust them about the key, if giveaway creator seems trustworthy - I just mark such giveaways as received.

2 years ago
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