They did a sale once that had games up for a limited time, and people could vote up or down to add or remove time to the clock, and that time was extended by a more than a vote if the game was bought. It was pretty awesome. If a game was bad, it tended to go away faster.

The Time Machine sale, yeah. Each user got a vote, could vote add or subtract one second, but each purchase added 3.

*looks up*

Deus Ex ran for 6:21:24, Space Quest 1+2+3 for a mere 0:32:46. Initial timer for each game was 1:30:00.

It's a shame the sale had to be ended, but it was still fun joining in the insomnia with everyone here. I ended up with just a couple of games (bought LoG II, was gifted Freedom Planet) and I did get to meet this fine community that I'll be lurking/talking with for the foreseeable future. Sleep well, you've earned it.

Yes please I vote to combine Time Machine and Insomnia for the fall - a Double Time Insomnia sale

It would be way too easy to abuse that sort of button. A better option I think would be more rounds, but with smaller numbers each round.

Really, though, the only way to not have slowdowns would be to have time based sales rather than number based ones as Steam does, and if they do that it kills the whole Insomnia sale.

Actually, another option that just occurred to me would be to have the site use an RSS feed to report the current game(s) , then we could use browser addons to send alarms if desired games come up. It doesn't prevent slowdowns, but it means you can sleep through them safely.

My haul:

Redeemed:
Dreamfall Chapters
Shadow man

Unredeemed codes:
Gobliins
Knights and Merchants
Another World

Gifted to Other People:
Little Big Adventure 2

Gifted to me:
Bard's Tale

Wow. I was sitting here watching the banner and there hadn't been any changes in a couple of hours and I didn't bother checking until now. They still had some selections left. I had hoped to finally get Signal Ops...

Just the same for me bye bye Signal Ops...

They should have changed sales even if games wont have been bought. After a certain time i mean.

I have bought a Lot of good old (and new) games. Thank you GOG anyway !

I had a sale idea, sent it to them last year, but in a much more gamified way which would have been an even worse pain to implement (though likely more interesting... if also annoying for some).

A slightly different (and less gamified) version of that would be (times and numbers are suggestions only):

- Time set to 20 min per game.
- Games repeat 3 times in one day, so a round has 24 games and lasts 8 hours. Game order within a round is random.
- New games each day.
- They set a sales target for each game, per day, then split in 3 to get 3 equal shares per round.
- In agreement with the rights holder, they decide base, minimum and maximum discounts, say 25-30% between min and max, base typically a step above min.
- A step is 5%.
- Every 2 minutes, the script checks number sold vs. number that should be sold to reach goal for that round, so for example if goal per round is 200, should be 40 after 4 min.
- An shrinking error margin is applied to the result, say +/- 20% after 2 min, 18% after 4, then 16/14/12/10/8/6/5 (since it looks better than ending in 4 :p).
- If number sold is greater than target + error margin, discount decreases by 1 step, until it hits min. If smaller than target - error margin, it increases by 1 step, until it hits max.
- If at any point during the 20 min, the target is hit, the game can't be bought anymore and a message to wait for the next is displayed, which remains on screen until the 20 min are up, to keep the schedule. Also, if this happens during the first two rounds, it remembers to start the game's next round with discount one step below base.
- The number sold and target is ONLY displayed during the final 2 minutes, if target still not reached.
- If target still not reached after 20 min during the first 2 rounds, it moves to the next game, adds remaining copies of the current one to its next round and remembers to start that one with its discount one step higher than base.
- If target still not reached after 20 min during the last round, it moves to the next game while the current one is moved to a secondary sale, say a list displayed under the current "featured" game, where it'll remain available at max discount until either the sales target or a set maximum duration of the sale is reached.
- So basically, for the users, it's a question of risk. Do you wait and hope others will do the same and you'll get a greater discount or settle for a lesser one so it won't go even lower or go away completely if others buy. Goes even more so once discount goes down, since it means game sells really well and unless everyone stops buying right away it'll either keep going down or, likely, vanish entirely before the time runs out.

Or something like that.

Huh.

I woke up and came back to see how things were going before napping again.

It just stopped suddenly? Weird.

Aaah, I missed Anomaly 2 :(

Well, I though I would have a chance at Banner Saga, but Anomaly and Lumino City completely keaned the sale...

Darn, all those time and zero critical hit. I guess it just wasn't my day... or week, rather :-).
Yet I did enjoy the ride, and managed to pick up X-Wing and TIE Fighter, so I'm happy. Thank you GOG!

So, the Insomnia are over ?
Just thank you to all the GOG community for its permanent activity, its kindness and its tracking which helped a lot.
Thanks to all the gifters (special mention to Tarnicus ; ) ) and thanks GOG for the crits system, that's why you are so special, regarding to Steam.