Frankly, as you said you haven't been giving anything away. And I think its a bit rude to be questioning the motivations of many others giving games away that are usually paid for from their own pockets. If we go that far, why don't we consider your motivations for trying to shut down the discussion of bad actors in giveaways and trading, and why you seem to be posting similar concepts in a number of threads trying to blame those giving away games for all the problems in the forum...

And seriously, you are dead wrong when it comes to controlling the prize one gives away. If I, or anyone else, asks someone to redeem the games to one's own account for their own use, and we find someone traded it instead, we have every right to publicize that so that other givers can use their own judgment whether to gift another game to such a rule-breaker. I don't see how you can try to paint any of us as off-base on an issue that really doesn't concern you.

Furthermore, it sure comes off as sour grapes, your claim that you will run a giveaway on some other forum to spite us for not all jumping on your bandwagon and agreeing with you. As I said, I worry more about the "attitude" of some of the older members of the forum lately, than many of the newer ones.

Well, after my first giveway, I feel it is better to pass my codes to fox / chimp / sinister to do the hard work of gifting for me.

Or sneak gifting like what I did now in your chat

Motives revealed :p

Seriously, thank you for your continued support! :D

Here's a thought: If you want to keep scammers out of giveaways, simply turn those giveaways into actual competitions. Have people put in a little effort if they want those shiny game codes. Ask them to draw some fanart of your favorite game, have them write a poem/haiku or tell a gaming related joke. Anything that goes beyond simply yelling "I'M IN! KTHNX!" That way, only people truly interested in the game(s) will participate, plus you motivate the community to interact and do something creative/productive. And if some potential scammers want to participate anyway, at least they will have to put in the same effort as everyone else. And if they use alt accounts? They also multiply the amount of effort and time it takes to participate, since they'd have to create multiple artworks, poems, funny screenshots, or whatever. Seems fair enough, and a better system rather than relying only on join date or rep ( which is quickly losing importance, with all the rep manipulation shenanigans ).

I could post some long-winded response to you hedwards but I really can't be bothered.
Here is the short version instead, you are full of shit.

Gnostic, thank you for gifting me Samurai 4. I wasn't expecting it so it is doubly nice of you.

Not necessary to turn giveaways into contests. All that needs to be done is the community creates a verification system. that makes it so scammers can't participate.

Do you remember my art competitions?
Everybody said that it's a cool idea and nearly nobody participated.

Which means no one really wanted whichever games you were offering. If you offer them completely for free, sure, no doubt you'll get some people grabbing your game codes -- but if they have no real interest in the games, they'll just gather virtual dust on their computers or accounts, so what's the point? Or they'll grab them only to resell or trade them.

The way I see it, if someone is really desperate to get rid of some game codes, does it even matter if a "scammer" gets hold of them?

If there's not enough interest in codes for a specific game, that people aren't even willing to solve some simple challenges for a chance to win, then maybe just hold on to them and offer them again some other time, or just keep the giveaway/contest thread open indefinitely. ( Unless the codes have a time limit. )
Why not? As long as the giveaway or "competition" holder is being creative, it should turn out fun for everyone involved, and bring back some fun community interaction, in between all the noise we've had around here lately. Seems like a WIN/WIN deal for all.

Of course, if someone just wants to get rid of some cheap bundle codes or whatever, feel free to drop them in some game code thread.

How would such a verification system work anyway?

I haven't really put much thought into a verification system but a verification system will allow giveaways to remain giveaways. Contests aren't really giveaways, they are contests. Nothing is being given. The best of the best claim the prize. The best of the best earns the prize. If I had to explain how such a verification system would work now, I'd say this. Make it so people have to meet three or four requirements out of ten requirements in order to be verified as a non scammer before entering a giveaway. And then have all the verified members in a sticky thread for generous people to use so they don't accidentally give away games to scammers. The list of requirements could be X amount of high quality posts, X amount of rep, X amount of reputable members vouching for them, X amount of giveaways they have hosted, a screenshot of their game collection etc... And what is great about this system is it is not entirely dependent on rep so those who have been the victims of downrep bullying campaigns can still enter giveaways.

Probably because most people can only create stick figure style art. Artists are truly very skilled or gifted people.

I am happy about every stick figure, cheap paper craft, coded animation, 30second music track or whatever as long as people create something.

Ssshh you can't say that. You might upset a certain forum troll.

Seriously, though, it's common sense that if you just code drop or require somebody to just post that it's going to be caught by bots and alts more often than not.

Despite what certain mental midgets might have you believe, it's not possible to control what happens to the codes after they've been given away. Any contest that depends upon random strangers on the internet to not be trolls, especially when combined with lax standards for entrance is going to succumb to GIFT eventually.
Sigh, this kind of eloquence is why I love this forum. You might not like what I have to say, but I have yet to see anybody come up with a valid counter-argument.

Bottom line here, is that anybody giving things away in the forum needs to understand the limits of what is and isn't realistic to expect of entrants.

And BTW, I was considering giving something away in celebration of my motorcycle's title coming, but posts like this have really soured any interest I have of doing that here. I'm not interested in contributing to the problem.

I had 6 Steam keys to give away earlier today and I spent a good hour debating on whether I should drop them in the forums or not. I would have put them in the Ninja Giveaway thread but I am called a scammer and a liar when they get claimed and someone tries to retrieve them several hours after I post them (this has happened twice and that's enough for me). I try to be a positive member of this community, but I find that making the effort to do so is less rewarding than giving all six codes to my pushy friend who always wants to play Terraria instead. So I guess I'm going to stop being part of the problem as well :/

Well, I can give a prima facie testimony of what might happen with GA that are meant to be as open s possible to newcomes/low rep.... I personnally refuse to restrict any GA I would launch to a core audience, but I had to accept that not doing so makes your GA an potentially unpleasant experience both for the organiser and the participants. I drew my own conclusions from that.



Well, I'd have loved to, but time is sometimes the issue.

I tried enigma ( decoding) GA, and these were moderately successful. Somewhere the right balance between effort and reward has to be found... and that's difficult. Even more difficult since GOG's demographics have changed and are changing. In the end, the debate remains : do I want as many participants as can , or do I prefer a limited audience....
open question : Is having to consider implementing such control standards not depriving you, as an organiser, of a part of the fun of organising a GA ? As far as I am concerned, it would... and if I find no fun in doing that, then I don't do it anymore.