BenKii: Hello Goglodytes! I have an idea for the CG that I'd like to get your feedback on.
It's come to my attention that many of you find the current system of the Community Giveaway to be unfair when certain titles get donated and then quickly snatched up within seconds. In the beginning of the Community Giveaway, there were far more donators than we had giftees. Sadly, this has now been inversed. With more giftees, the competition to get there first is very strong even to an unhealthy level of just pure stalking the giveaway. So in an effort to stave this competition and to keep more games on the CG list longer, I propose to add a 3rd category of games to the CG called the Starred ★ category. Much like how the Daggered † category was created to offload some of the low demand freebie titles that most people already have, the Starred category will contain high demand games but it won't be "first come, first served". Instead, anyone who requests a Starred game will be entered into a drawing that ends in 24 hours (I will have the exact date and time the drawing ends listed in parenthesis next to each Starred game). Active Forum members can enter in the short drawing as long as they haven't received a game for that month already. If the person wins then that will be their game for the month. If you lose, you are still eligible for more Star drawings or anything from the regular list which will still be "first come, first served" but now you will have to decide what to do. Do you take your chance in a drawing for Starred game "Skyrim" or do you grab one of the regular games like "Deus Ex", "Diablo", "Baldur's Gate", etc. and exclude yourself from the drawing. How I decide what gets labeled as a Starred game will generally be by average price and how recent it was released. If for some reason no one enters the drawing for a Starred game then it will get added to the "first come, first served" list.
This is an effort to not only give people a shot at the higher demand games but to also offload the demand from the regular category of games. Questions? Comments? What does everyone think of this? If folks like this change then I plan to enact this in the beginning of July.
Just my 2 cents.
I have no interest in lotteries. ie Doc did around 50 lotteries the last few months. I entered a handful of those lotteries for games I was interested in... and left alone the lotteries for games I wasn't completely interested in (why possibly take a chance away from someone who REALLY WANTS those titles... and I'm no hoarder, right?). In the end...
... with the luck of the draw...
... I came away with nothing.
Now, that's fine... but it's deflating -- especially when there are 5 copies available and only a couple of pages of entrants. It often felt like the chances were good... only to come away empty (and once a concurrent sale on a lottery title ended just prior to the lottery ended... so missed out on both)
What finally happened? I just stopped participating. Why take a chance that you'll probably lose?
Sure this is fun when there's a car or a huge cash prize on the line... or you're joining a lottery to help Girl Scouts... but for a game?
Now, first-come-first-served can be an issue if ALL available copies are dumped ALL at once and there's a feeding frenzy that's almost impossible to follow or enter, but...
... I will always think first-come-first-served is the most fair way to run the giveaway.
Why?
People who most want the games will pay the most attention to the giveaway. People who are indifferent, won't... or they'll learn to watch the giveaway more closely. And...
... even though some people are fast on the draw...
... they can only get one game per month; no matter how fast someone is -- or how closely they watch the giveaway -- they are limited to one game per month.
It just seems to me that the process is good and doesn't need any tinkering... except... spacing out the availability of donated "big" titles (maybe 2 or 3 copies available at a time?).
