Greetings community,

Due to the enormous amount of bundles lately, I want to revisit this very old policy. A lot of people try to gift bundle keys, and it's not as if they have bad intentions, they simply have no use for leftover Steam keys. Considering the amount of bundle related giveaways I remove a week, and how many people are truly upset when they're removed, I want to open the floor for suggestions on how to better handle these giveaways.

We have some ideas ourselves, as we've mentioned a couple of times, but what do you think would be fair? For each previous suggestion, we have follow up questions. If games that go Bundle no longer count towards feedback (which would be an incredible amount), what if the game goes on sale and people have giftable copies? How about a "separate section" for giveaways that is bundle key only that doesn't affect points or feedback, just as a way for people to generously gift their leftover keys.

Many people try the forum route, but that only lasts for a couple of seconds and too many can clog up the pipes. Even if we had a subforum for "gifting bundle keys", it could be messy. We're open to any suggestions and feedback.

-best regards

1 decade ago*

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Indie gala 4-$5 bucks on S.Gifts.....
Indiviual price of indiegala pack on S.Gifts -$15
See the difference. I only put them here because i have so many. I mean....who else do you give them to lol. There should be a separate section for bundles and such.

if ($userid$ = $steamappid$ . $steamappid2$ . $setamappid3$.)
$contributionbundle == ($steamappid$ + $steamappid2$ + $setamappid3$) / 3
$contributiontotal$ = "$".$contribtutionbundle$ + $contribution$
Use some code of that sort :)

1 decade ago
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That's the problem, there are so many bundles with a huge variety of games available. It's becoming increasingly difficult to police this policy with at least 50-100 of these giveaways being created per day.

1 decade ago
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How about a way to limit the amount of the same games at a time, E.G. only 10 of the same game are allowed on he site at a time, But keep the rule of not submitting keys while the bundles are ongoing?

1 decade ago
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OK how about adding a clear disclaimer asking if it was from a bundle, if they add a contest from a bundle that isn't listed as such that is grounds for immediate banning.

Keys from bundles may be gifted easily and clearly labeled as such, and they come with limited contributor status and increase in points

You could also make games be listed as a tradeable copy or key, to more easily police the keys/bundles.

If someone gifts a key as a tradeable copy it does not count as received.

1 decade ago
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Go read my solution, no policing needed.

1 decade ago
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1 decade ago
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?

Edit: keep talking in this thread so people will look at it :P

1 decade ago
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whadafug?

1 decade ago
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It's php for crying out loud.

1 decade ago
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What about seperate bundle and bundle BTA, while we're on it?

1 decade ago
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A subforum for bundle keys would be filled with lurkers, I think.

I think a separate section would be nice.

1 decade ago
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Lurkers, definitely. When a certain user created a couple of threads with "random choice" key giveaways, it would shoot up to 1,500 comments in an hour. Mind blowing lurkers, for sure.

1 decade ago
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Now that I think about it, a separate section may require more...careful handling. It might require overseers (their sole purpose being to watch over this section).

Also, if you make them no longer count as feedback, it may deter some people to giveaway gifts...though it may be for the best if you did.

1 decade ago
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+1

1 decade ago
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Perhaps that sort of section might work if it were non-public: A condition of access might be to have given away a minimum value of games, and to have a qualifying comment entry ratio?

While not a perfect system, it would weed out the vast majority of lurking leechers whose only contribution is to silently snaffle keys the moment they are posted...

1 decade ago
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RR's Free Key Giveaway :D

1 decade ago
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I...uh...had some experience with that.

1 decade ago
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+1

1 decade ago
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Maybe make an option to giveaway the game but have it marked as bundle key or something like that then make it worth only like a point

1 decade ago
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I think an issue with that is that some people may not bother spending the extra second to mark it as a bundle key.

1 decade ago
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Well at least it would help those who want to get rid of their keys and know the rules.

1 decade ago
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Then make it obligatory, but I still think it's a bad idea (some people want to cheat the system with those keys).

1 decade ago
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Just what I was thinking, example of a game in the list:

Bunch of Heroes

Bunch of Heroes (Bundle key)

1 decade ago
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Yeah, like that

1 decade ago
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Except, with contributer giveaways now, people would be even less likely to answer that honestly.

1 decade ago
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Yep. That, and some people would be too lazy to click that "key" button.

1 decade ago
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^ This.

I've even seen users with 6-7 games gifted, all games that were in bundles, who had a nice little story about how they obtained each game from something other than a bundle. They even tried to say that they bought the Itunes & m4a support DLC for Beat Hazard from another site, when the only time you could buy a key for that game was when it was in Bemine >.> /endrage

1 decade ago
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I think you don't see the point of GIFTING. It is not about the price, nor the game. It is about the GIFT. I finally won a giveaway and I am happy with it.

1 decade ago
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I don't even know what you are trying to say say. Do you even know what this thread is about?

1 decade ago
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He tries to say that ppl don't give a sht if its bundle key or not. Game is a game

1 decade ago
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Yup >:D

1 decade ago
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too bad it's against TOS of the bundle itself. her derp

1 decade ago
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I understand that...

1 decade ago
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but like i said "Well at least it would help those who want to get rid of their keys and know the rules." I mean it would help a little, I mean its not like people can't be unhonest right now. Might as well let some be honestly generous. I think making a separate section might be better though.

1 decade ago
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Or they are lazy, or didn't notice, or wasn't sure (I gave away L.A. Noire Complete Edition but it was saying it only in description, I've heard some stuff about two versions, wasn't sure if it was enough so I marked it just as L.A. Noire).

1 decade ago
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Reporting a giveaway should allow the moderator(s) to "freeze" the giveaway and request proof of purchase if they are giving a game away that is in a bundle, and they didn't select bundle. If they don't have proof, they shouldn't be allowed to make giveaway for a game in a bundle anymore. (Doesn't matter if they select bundle or not bundle)

1 decade ago
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Don't make it a bundle button, make it a key yes/no button

1 decade ago
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I support this idea.

1 decade ago
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No need to make it a separate section, once a game has been in a bundle with an individual key - discount that game based on demand. Who cares if the person giving it away bought it in a bundle or not, or has a key or not, it's worth the same value to the people entering the giveaway. If you were to to try to trade the game or key, people wouldn't trade you something different based on the form of the game activation.

1 decade ago
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Lol you don't do a lot of trading haha, people will trade you something different based on the form of activation. It does effect the value heavily. Bad analogy there.

1 decade ago
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I hear you - trading is a whole economy in itself - straight up no rules trading (i.e. you can trade away the game as you see fit) is a bad analogy. But on a site like this where you are required to activate the game right away - the form of activation shouldn't matter much, it's going into your account (and has no trade value from that point forward) regardless of how it's activated - that's the point I was trying to make.

1 decade ago
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It does when it states in the TOS of these bundles not to distribute or they keys or share them with others beyond yourself. That is why Steam Gifts made it against the rules and that's why the form of activation matters.

1 decade ago
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Indie Gala wrote it on Twitter & Facebook: "Btw keys are unique per game in the bundle so you can gift the ones you already own."

Bundlers like Humble Bundle that care about this have started making one key to activate all games.

1 decade ago
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Regardless so long as it's against the TOS, I doubt Cult will be changing that rule anytime soon especially with contributor giveaways.

1 decade ago
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Maybe you should update Steam Gifts database every day with the games that appear in the different bundles (bemine, indieroyale, etc.) and changing their values to 1$, for at least 3 months or more. Thanks to that people won't buy lots of bundles and create giveaways just to increase their contributions.

Also I have to say that it's difficult to control the bundles because some use only a key for the whole bundle, but others give one for each game.

1 decade ago
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Was the original issue being that bundle policy disallowed giving away individual keys? If so, I believe that should be honored with an effort, but of course impossible to completely eliminate.

If not, the other issue is because it spams the public giveaways or inflates user points for less than credited value. If so, perhaps a special kind of giveaway such as contributor, private, and group that is marked as Bundle? It would go for a lower value than the actual game and actual gifted copies can be differentiated. Using a filter can also remove these giveaways from someones page.

1 decade ago
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this i like.

1 decade ago
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To develop an unexploitible system for this will be difficult :/ . If I get any ideas to help out I will come back and post it here.

1 decade ago
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At this point, any other system might be better than just removing several hundred a week. It's becoming a large block of time I have to spend on these giveaways.

1 decade ago
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On giveaway creation there could be a choice for if it's either a bundle key or a gift. That could determine how the giveaway is being handled (and if there are categories, it would be put there) and if it affects feedback or not.

I understand that not all people are just naive and haven't read the rules. Some will just bypass that and pretend it's not from a bundle anyway to get the feedback. There could be an extra verification on the winner feedback, to check if that was a key after all or not. (Most keys that come from bundles are quite known already and I've seen people pretend they are from unknown sources too many times, even in closed groups)

Not sure if that makes sense. It would be a bit hard to implement though and needs more variables. Other than that, there could be extra people handling removing those? Or have a huge warning in the creation page about bundle keys for a start, though as I mentioned lots are doing it knowing the policy thus it won't make a difference.

sigh
/pat

1 decade ago
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The other problem with this scenario is spam. Previously, when we actually allowed bundle keys, we'd have up to a thousand a day. It was really intense. It would have to be a completely separate section, so the front page would remain unsoiled by these giveaways.

1 decade ago
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Indeed, there would be tons of spam if allowed :/ . Still some extras to handle bundle keys/keys tickets might be a choice if the policy still remains.

1 decade ago
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There could be two versions for games in bundles, like:
Puzzle Kingdoms
Puzzle Kingdoms Key

Or kinda like Rin said, maybe just like a checkbox for the known bundle games.
A checkbox that isn't always there, like if it's a key for say Fallout 3, it won't be there.

1 decade ago
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Most definitely. We wouldn't want to run into a situation where someone accidentally submitted Skyrim as a bundle key. :)

1 decade ago
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Oh man, if they gave out Skyrim in a bundle...it'd be the new SMNC.

1 decade ago
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I don't know if it'd work but perhaps you could try making a subforum where keys can be handed out and only people giving keys out can post. For example when the person giving the keys creates the topic it is set so that no one can reply, it would just be the original post. That could keep the begging down but then there's always the issue of people creating topics just to beg...

Hopefully that makes sense.

1 decade ago
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One word: Lurkers.

1 decade ago
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Deleted

This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

1 decade ago
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Horde/mass of lurkers > group of siege tanks.

1 decade ago
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Carriers/probe>group of siege tanks & lurkers.

1 decade ago
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nuclear launch detected

1 decade ago
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Hmm yeah it would be lurker central and with my idea no one could say thank you easily. Bad idea really, I tried.

1 decade ago
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Maybe make bundle keys Few points or 0 points to enter?
And maybe a separate part of steamgifts? Like it's own little section, but not it's own site.

1 decade ago
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The first is bad and the second is considerable. If you made low points to enter, that doesn't help much.

1 decade ago
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How about when a new bundle is launched, all giveaways created with Steam games in the bundle will automatically be put into a special section. The only way to get it out is to prove that it is not a key from a bundle, i.e. showing that it is in the user's Steam inventory. And the special section makes it so that any giveaways there give either less points than normal or no points at all, due to the fact that it would be flooded with giveaways.

1 decade ago
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Wouldn't the proving require manual checking of the inventory/screenshots of it? That's almost the same amount of trouble as it takes to remove giveaways.

1 decade ago
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You could be required to submit a screenshot when you create the giveaway, and if you do provide a screenshot, it would go in a review thing, and I don't know. :S

1 decade ago
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Review thing: More time needed to review it.

Submit screenshot: Junk screenshots? More trouble again. :/ Man, this is an annoying problem to solve...

1 decade ago
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We have a TF2raffle which checks you inventory and you post items and games (it happened when the new year event was on steam).So it could be done automatic, just drag and drop for game from inventory as gift or manually select for the key.

1 decade ago
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An automatic inventory check might work when you select "the game marked to be in a cheap bundle" and if you don't have it on your inventory, it could mark it as the bundle version cost 5 points to enter with no points added to anyone to spend.

1 decade ago
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THIS.

1 decade ago
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steambundlegifts.com

1 decade ago
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-1

1 decade ago
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xD

1 decade ago
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lol

1 decade ago
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I like the idea of a "separate section" for giveaways that is bundle key :)

1 decade ago
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Chat giveaways is the best solution.

1 decade ago
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If you will be online 24/7...

1 decade ago
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so you are suggesting all giveaways be minimum of 24 hours?

1 decade ago
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Separate option when you select a game that's been in a bundle allow people to choose: "Bundle key" instead of regular game giveaway.

1 decade ago
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Perhaps a popup or extra step specifically for games that are known to be bundle keys. It won't stop those that exploit, but could weed out a certain amount.

A penalty system if one or more giveaways are cancelled. Perhaps a tiered penalty, probation stuff. Examples: Locking an account from making more giveaways (limited time?), or reducing total amount of available giveaway entries, or locking this user from using their own points.

Maybe forcing known bundle keys to have a minimum amount of time to be put up, giving it ample time to be found, and removed. Maybe having the "Report" system effectively drop the Point worth of the item the person is giving away (While not altering the entry point requirement to avoid exploiting).

No way to stop this all together. I don't envy your task.

1 decade ago
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I like the pop-up idea... a big banner would be nice too (as ET said before).

I'd probably just take out the games from the bundle for the time being, and put them back up... though I'm wondering if this is easier said than done.

1 decade ago
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"How about a "separate section" for giveaways that is bundle key only that doesn't affect points or feedback, just as a way for people to generously gift their leftover keys."

A system like this is what I had in mind. The only problem however, is that there has been a rise in bundle key giveaways recently since the contributor giveaways have been announced. I don't think adding this system will stop the people who have just recently started making giveaways from continuing to make them as normal giveaways.

1 decade ago
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This.
Even people not making public ones sometimes do that, which is really puzzling (not all realise but some do and don't mention it's from a bundle). I've noticed how the bundle key spam is too much to handle lately, not only because of the rate of points being generated but because most of the giveaways I report cannot be handled in time (I am not blaming support or anything just trying to give an image of the spam). Contributor giveaways have indeed made this rise, considering people are deliberately doing bundle key giveaways to get sent value.
What I want to say is, a separate section would still require someone to move them to that section, considering people would submit them as giftables. Hope I am making sense.

1 decade ago
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A separate section would be better indeed. No point generation, just a way to avoid ninjas and just have a normal draw of the winner. :)

1 decade ago
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This is the nicest idea here

1 decade ago
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Increase the entry amount to absurdity and have a seperate section.

Regular Section and Bundle Section and double the point requirements.

Need to use 150 points to post bundle giveaways muahahah. (easily cut it down by 90%)

1 decade ago
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yeah cause we want to punish the client, not the dealer =P

1 decade ago
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Sounded fine either way. If it was a one time cost.

1 decade ago
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Why are the giant key giveaway threads bad?

1 decade ago
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Key giveaway threads?

There is no problem with that. the problem are those who buy many bundles to 1 cent and open giveaways (i think =P)

1 decade ago
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Well last time there was one of those, they closed them and i think even suspended some accounts.

1 decade ago
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Those have been happening every single day, including right now. Search for any game in a recent bundle and you'll find a few dozen active giveaways from said bundle.

The "last time" is literally right now.

1 decade ago
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The only problem is the people who buy 10 packets per 1 cent

I have many keys of games that already had

but I'm not sure which would be a good solution for this problem

1 decade ago
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I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that most of the bundles have a minimum price...

1 decade ago
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Rule was applied because of the humblebunde, that had a minimum price of 0.01
Then was changed to a dollar, but still unfair for someone to pay $ 1 and receive 20 in value sent
and those who pay 20 to receive 20 value sent

1 decade ago
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What about games ppl buy on massive sales at 85% off but receive 100% value sent?

1 decade ago
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Is this a notable problem? Because I've never even seen this as remotely significant while I see dozens of people every day doing it with bundles.

1 decade ago
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Just pointing out to the above reply that the worry/unfairness of ppl having 100% amount of $ given away shown on their giveaways/profiles is most usually more than what they actually paid for them.

1 decade ago
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Given that we are capped at 300 points and the volume of users has increased dramatically, I think allowing them in as-is seems reasonable. Maybe a separate section so those entering know it is for a key, but I don't see any imbalance in letting their full value count. After all, sale games go for retail which is ofttimes even a more dramatic % off than the bundle keys. I can see some issue with contributor giveaways, but maybe just tweak those requirements to solve that lone issue

The more giveaways, the better.

1 decade ago
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I agree with this

1 decade ago
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I know some other sites have been able to use the Steam API to confirm the contents of someone's inventory - for example, last time I used steamexchange.com I was only able to make offers with items in my public inventory. Perhaps something like that would have merit in cutting down both bundle keys and fake giveaways, even if it only required setting the inventory to public long enough to create the giveaway?

Disclaimers: I don't know how much of a burden creating such a check would be for the administrators. Some other measures would probably have to be put in place to deal with legitimate, non-bundle key giveaways (e.g. Amazon keys). And there are probably other unintended consequences that I'm not even thinking of. Just throwing it out there as one possibility, in case someone smarter than me sees a way to make it work.

1 decade ago
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1000th comment.
I support allowing keys to be submitted, however at a price. They should NOT add anything to a person's stats, no increased giveaway count, no raised "donation" amount, nothing. Your not suppose to get anything for submitting bundle keys now, why should that change? They should cost points to enter, but generate no points for users.

Currently active bundles could be removed from the game selection menu. IE indie gala is active so Razor, Bad Rats, Iron Glads, etc would not be selectable in the giveaway menu.

The report system should be changed. Instead of only being able to hit report, there should be several types of reporting to allow easier handling for the mod/s. 1 for invalid giveaway (IE user does not have it), 1 for bundle key, and 1 for other issues that the first two dont cover for some reason.

Having a reported giveaway turn red or be highlighted in some way on the home page (for the user that reported it) would be nice and speed up users that are diligent and report giveaways they find. I often run down the entire menu and report giveaways.

The submission system should be changed. When you create a giveaway, a separate tier should be given just for keys or for steam tradable games. Have the option right above the current game selection menu, and have users select if its tradable or a key to unlock the game selection. Currently its just the one scroll down menu, have this one grayed out until the submission status is selected. A third option perhaps would be to have "Key - From a bundle". If a user selects this they should be informed that they will not receive points for these. How to handle users simply selecting a normal key and lying its from IGN or something no idea, though there is no way to really know now so...

Also allow users to flag individual accounts for review.
Users found to be in violation of this should be instantly banned OR have their account reset instead of a suspension or something. With 7-16k accounts, a few dropped for not following the rules wont be missed. IMO.
All giveaways that have ended should be visible on a user's account, this would prevent people from padding accounts privately. This would allow those in violation of the bundle policy to be found a lot quicker unless of course they do nothing but private giveaways...

If you really want to cut down on violations, you might want to consider having people leave their inventories open and or have gifters submit some kind of screen shot along with their key giveaways to show where the key came from. The screenshot would be viewable only to a mod IF an account or giveaway is reported enough to draw attention.

Having a separate section or a way to hide key giveaways would also be nice if not required.

1 decade ago
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What a terrible comment.

1 decade ago
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The report button with different reasons for reporting actually sounds good, however most reported giveaways are for bundled keys I believe not for the other reasons, so that wouldn't really make a big difference.

The users' ability to flag individual accounts however could be heavily abused for harassment. You can create a list out of those and make a ticket to support if you want. If people just have the ability to hit a report button I am pretty sure lots will misuse it.

The private giveaways being visible I don't mind. However only if closed as you mentioned.

The inventory open is not a good idea only due to random friend adds and beggars. I used to always have it Public and made it private after a massive wave of those.

The rest I mainly covered on other posts.

1 decade ago
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From what I gathered, most people dont bother to even flag giveaways, so this also translates to most people wouldnt bother to flag accounts. However, say I rub someone the wrong way and he flags me, the current standard is that mods only check on something if it has a large number of flags, lets just say 5 is the cut off point. So he and his group flag my account 12 times, the mod checks my account and sees nothing wrong with it, mod moves on. Its not that much different then if 12 people created a support ticket about me currently.

On the back end, a mod could be given tools to separate and green light giveaways already reviewed or accounts. Such giveaways would then have their report function disabled and maybe changed from red "report" to green "reviewed" on the user's front end.

If someone is found to be adding to beg, then they should be reported and banned from the site. Hell I get random beggars with my inventory closed, profile private and almost no giveaways. Frankly we need more ways to remove people from the site that refuse to follow the rules. IMO.

1 decade ago
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Still it would bring unecessary reports. Reporting users via tickets is better because it has the user explain everything and not just hit a button, if you get what I mean.

1 decade ago
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Perhaps you could allow a ticky box "this is a bundle key" which would make the identification sort of self-policing, and then have those be worth the amount of points for entry/earning that would be reasonable to curb inflation?

I would think most folks would honestly identify the bundle keys, and it'd be great to give them away. Sometimes, I don't have any friends who want a certain key, and then I just add it to my account even though I wouldn't play it. And that's without getting into doubles.

1 decade ago
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I was under the impression that individual keys from bundles were not giftable because bundle creators wanted them to be a... bundle.

1 decade ago
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Simple solution:

With the extreme commonness of people trying to make giveaways of bundle keys, and the relative rarity of people making legitimate giveaways for those same games, the easiest thing to do would likely be to simply change the status of giveaways of those games to being bundle keys by default and have no impact on points or feedback. In the event someone actually wants to make a legitimate giveaway for the game, they must submit a support ticket and provide proof to have the giveaway made. This way, people are prevented from exploiting the system and even people making legitimate giveaways are not prevented from doing so. People who can't be bothered to read the FAQ or otherwise learn policy just don't get their feedback, etc., which seems a reasonable and fitting outcome. If they can later provide proof after learning about it, it could always be changed with a support ticket. This should streamline and reduce the workload considerably while allowing people to freely give away their keys while minimizing the potential for abuse.

Edit: I forgot that this would be instituted on a time-limited basis. Should it run from the launch until one month after the bundle ends? Three months? Six months? I don't have a definite suggestion there other than to say I think two months would probably be sufficient to prevent most of the problems.

Second edit: These could all, of course, be in a separate bundle key giveaway section to cut down on mass giveaway spam.

1 decade ago
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This actually, though incredibly restraining, sounds like a good solution. It would get a massive amount of tickets though.

1 decade ago
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As massive as the amount being generated currently by people reporting invalid giveaways and other people complaining about them getting deleted? That was actually one of the main things I was considering: reducing workload. I think there are far fewer people making valid giveaways for games from recent bundles than the opposite. I have no research to back that up. It just seems likely.

1 decade ago
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No, of course not. That's much greater.
And that seems to be true as well. Can't back it up either, just speculating.
Still, simple and good solution overall, just a tad restraining.

1 decade ago
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Hmm to get rid of tickets, I wonder if it's possible if this system was in place, that if you wanted to make a giftable one (lets say there are two entries or a place to check if it's giftable) that you have to make your inventory public and sync your account, and adding code to the sync that scalps the inventory for what gifts are in their inventory. If it's in their inventory they can create the giftable giveaway version.

This would cut back on the support tickets, and only a few people would be left out of this (those with legitimate keys from other sites and people who have not yet bought the game but intend to (like those who do the "if there are 0 entries, I make a better giveaway"))

This way people don't have to leave their inventories open for any length of time, just when they do the sync to create the giveaway. It's a bit of effort, but with the site staff we have now, it's kind of needed as you mentioned^^

1 decade ago
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I approve of this addition.

1 decade ago
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No idea if this is possible but it sounds good.

1 decade ago
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Well, first I wanted to write what Wbarton wrote. Then I read his post, and I started writing the addition, which happened to be exactly what you've written. So now, I'll just +1 the suggestions of both of you. :-)

1 decade ago
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Pretty much this. There is also a way to confirm if you have a tradable copy of the game in your public inventory via Steam API. That would reduce the workload as well.

1 decade ago
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Ah, didn't see your post before typing the above. Didn't know that. It seems to be a very good way to avoid lots of those submissions.

1 decade ago
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I made a very similar suggestion in one of the previous related forum threads. So I'm supporting the same idea now +1

Simply: No value for bundle games by default and you have to contact to mods via steam or tickets if you're actually giving away a tradable copy

1 decade ago
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This. I have read the whole thread and for what it is worth, my thoughts are that this idea seems like the best solution out there.

1 decade ago
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This and Caspian's, nothing to add actually.

1 decade ago
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I think I 95% agree with this.

1 decade ago
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Why do we care how someone purchased a game? If I were to trade games with another person, I would trade based on the quality of the game and how easy it is to get (how many people have copies to trade). I wouldn't care how it is activated. As such, all games that have been part of a bundle where individual keys were given away, should be tagged as a past bundle game and the price should be fixed based on what the game is worth. Whether you bought it at full price, or as part of the Steam Summer Sale, or as part of a bundle shouldn't have any bearing on what the game is actually worth now.

1 decade ago
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"There are too many giveaways for that game right now, please wait until a few of those giveaways have run their course or maybe gift a different game, or give it away in the forums!"
That's the best suggestion I can think of. It would mostly work automatically, administration would be easier (up to you if you decide to respect individual Bundle site policies disallowing multiple users per purchase), although it would have its fairly straightforward down sides.

Possibly tie it in with the existing giveaway limits such that users who've given away many games don't hit the limit as quickly as a new user would. (This would assume the no-bundle-keys policy would still be in effect and just respects that long-time gifters not giving bundle keys would otherwise hate the limits.)

1 decade ago
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This is a good idea, helps cut down the greedy people from getting the contribution meter raised high in a short time.

1 decade ago
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I agree, a cap on the number of a title would work well and be easily adjustable, and you could assign the cap to only check games that are or have been in bundles. You could set a cap for key games and a cap for inventory games that way. I think the millions of Lucid and Faerie Solitaire keys are more annoying than any of the bundle stuff, personally.

1 decade ago
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Thanks for the vocal support on this one, all two of you! :D
Now that I have a real keyboard to type on instead of my phone...

Advantages

  • Bundle agnostic: This system never needs to know about any bundles. No one has to mark games as being from-a-bundle. Most of the flood of against-the-rules submissions happen in the first moments after a bundle is revealed, which may not be a large enough time window for a site admin to manually mark games as being from-a-bundle before the support requests get out of control.
  • Mostly automatic: Similar to the bundle agnostic point, put in place, this system curbs the excessive submissions automatically. Once in place, mods can continue reviewing the offending giveaways, but they can do so on their own time, with little fear of the giveaways growing out of control.
  • Mostly friendly: It sucks to say "no, you can't do that" to someone who's trying to be generous. Having their giveaways cancelled is probably pretty disappointing for someone new to the site who hasn't yet read the FAQ and is just eager to give something away. At least with this system, the "error" message is able to suggest other ways to be generous and give away the game (or another game) without the user having to feel personally reprimanded.
  • Easier on the mods: The mods will only ever have around X number of issues per game at one time (X being the site admin's set flood limit number). The number of issues may remain constant, but it will rarely ever go above that.
  • Easier on the users: You don't have to stare at a pages full of the same damn bundle games. Also, for the report-happy people, it should be easier to do that too.

Disadvantages

  • Limits: Especially during Steam sales, people can be generous with their very legitimate giveaways. This might mess with that a little, which is unfortunate. (On the other hand, the existing number-of-giveaways-you-can-create limit is already a similar roadblock to generosity.) If the submission flood cap is run in parallel with an individual's giveaway limit as suggested in my original post, users who've already proven their generosity will have less to worry about here.
  • Doesn't eliminate manual review: I doubt that there is any system that can, unless SG moves to inventory-only submissions, which would kinda suck, especially if that requires a public inventory. Personally, I'll never make my inventory public. The in-game requests for my Max hat in TF2 are annoying enough already.
  • Gaming the system over time: If a person has enough patience, and flies under the radar, they may still be able to submit bundle keys and accrue a positive contributor rep over time. Still, this is no different than the way things work already.
  • Whack-A-Mole: If the mods are really on top of it, this system would do exactly nothing to improve the current situation (assuming that cancelled giveaways make room for new ones). As soon as one is cancelled, another may immediately pop up. However, realistically, I don't expect the mods to be that fast, and this gives them time to review each submission for as long as it takes without panicking over all the other submissions of the same game growing at a frightening pace behind it.
  • The Ol' Switcheroo: Hopefully submitters won't be this asinine, but they could "get around" the limits by submitting keys for one game under the guise of a different game. Obviously, this (and the offending user) shouldn't last any longer than the way things already work.
  • Abuse via long giveaways: People might start creating 30-day giveaways with the intention of blocking further giveaways of the same game (and possibly with no intention of fulfilling the giveaways...). Yeah... not sure how you'd want to deal with that one.... [edit] Possible workaround (additional code, unfortunately): Do inventory checks for giveaways longer than N days. [/edit]

All that said...
When allowed by the bundle sites, I do definitely support the allowance of bundle key submissions. Bundles in general have altered their Pay-What-You-Want policies as a result of mass-$0.01-purchases already. And they seem to be acutely aware of the surprising generosity of bundle gifting. So please definitely take the other suggestions in this thread into account as regards allowing bundle keys with a modified feedback system. Although, to me, that sounds like a lot more backend work than the fairly simple cap system I've proposed.

1 decade ago
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holy lord. well said and planned out.

unfortunately i don't really have a strong opinion either way. although the one thing i have noticed on all the bundle sites is something you mentioned in your post above. "... they seem to be acutely aware of the surprising generosity of bundle gifting."

so, i guess my two cents would be that the mods take that tidbit of information, do their own research with it, and take it seriously into consideration on how to go about this.

1 decade ago
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Closed 1 decade ago by lokonopa.