Point Distribution

Hi SG,

I'd like to get some community feedback on the point system. I attached a graph illustrating the number of points users have received monthly, since the site started. As expected, it looks very similar to the graph of giveaways per month, since points are currently distributed based on the number of giveaways being created on the site.

I think the downside of the current system is that we have a very high number of giveaways being created in recent years (this month is the highest on record, with over 4,500 daily giveaways), and this causes some adverse affects towards user experience on the site. In 2013 and 2014, users received an average of 7,500 points per month. This month users will receive over 45,000 points. That means users need to now enter 6x as many giveaways, and visit the site 6x as often just to use all of their points.

I see this as an issue, because users should not need to invest this much time into entering giveaways. People should also not need to wake up in the middle of the night to avoid hitting the point cap. It encourages people to look into scripts for entering giveaways, it takes some fun out of the site, and it turns entering giveaways into a part-time job (we have over one million giveaway entries daily). I'm proposing that we set points at a fixed rate of 14,400 per month, which means 480P per day, or 5P distributed every 15 minutes. With the average giveaway being 10P, that means users would still be able to enter roughly 48 giveaways per day. They would also reach the 300P cap after a reasonable 15 hours, so they do not need to consistently check back to avoid idling at 300P.

This would not impact how often a user wins (gifts are not disappearing). Users would have less points and enter less giveaways, but those giveaways would have higher odds of winning. In short, users would win the same number of games, but need to invest less time into joining giveaways. Fixed points would also come with a couple of other advantages. In the past, points would increase out of control when there was a bundle for a high point game, such as Clickteam Fusion (100P). Instead, points would now remain consistent and predictable for users. The change would also encourage users to focus their points on games they would like to play, which hopefully means users are more happy with the gifts they win in the community.

Please share your thoughts. Thanks.

View attached image.