Leveling hard or not

+1

Have a bump for being awesome,, Grez

Jeez-- level 4 is basic if you're grez! You rock.

I was also going to respond to OP with that type of stuff, so this is as much my own mileage for them as directly to you, but it's the same type of stuff so I'll just respond here. For me, I had a bunch of keys around from 9 months of learning to swap codes with folks on other sites for building my Steam library from zero. Level 2 was essentially automatic, as the FAQ docs linked already can explain, it's something like a single dollar of contributor value. I did that in like the last week of 2024 when I started actively using the site-- my first six months on it were pretty dormant, only participating in public GAs after having made like one GA myself.

(edits here are to make the dates and time frames accurate to how my CV history is displaying ATM, vs. the timeline that I can do off the top of my head from memory, which are probably both questionably accurate if my GAs' CVs have been adjusted ex post facto)

I then intentionally "grinded" to level 3 over the course of about 2 weeks (light use) because it's just such a smaller community than level zero or one or two or whatever. Statistics really don't hurt here, but to be frank you also have to think about heavy site users vs. essentially inactive users-- e.g., people with alcohol use disorder make up for most alcohol sales, etc.

Over the past year, I've gotten much more interested in the site and have joined some wonderful Groups which both have me using the site more conscientiously, but also increasing the sense of community about it, and of course pulling my heart strings to make the kind of GAs I myself would think of as unique and valuable. I've also tried... maybe twice?... to make my own Puzzle/Events in the discussion, and I try not to miss others' events, because they're so fun. Participating with the site like that made me naturally pass from level three to four early this year (May 2025, four months total), and then with the remainder of the year I am now at a point where I'm insanely close to level 5 (CL 4.95, five months later). Times are tough for me financially now, but I'd assume I might be level 6 within the next 18-24 months.

OP, I'd encourage you to think less about the concrete levels and more about what you want to give to the site in terms of your time and your keys and your wallet, as well as just liiiiiiiittle bit about what you want to get from the site. Just being natural about it is going to be more rewarding in the long run rather than coming to it with some machination or feeling like the grass is greener on the other side-- I'd hate for you to feel disappointed or unlucky or used and abused.