I will join you in this. And the Anniversary Update is just Creation Club mods. Everything from the original Skyrim content is in the SE already.

The question went unaddressed, but the person who asked it was allowed to enter the draw, so I suppose that's an answer in itself.

We've had this situation already, last year: #1089, July 6 2023. Three copies of Weird West, one drawing, with the three highest rolls each getting a copy.

Oh, nice find. Thanks. :)

Starred games should be especially desired, especially with having to wait 3 months to ask for another game.

Delta Force + Delta Force 2
Meridia New World + Meridian: Squad 22 + OST

i don't see how either of those games qualify. Neither costs much even at regular price much-less on sale (very cheap on sale) and Meridia doesn't even make 50% likes on Steam. I'm guessing because neither game is for sale on gog? That is the only thing the two games have in common.

Wildermyth with expansion for example, could have been a starred game. I would have thrown in for it. (of course I would have gladly just asked for it if someone hadn't beaten me to it)

On the other hand I doubt anyone is going to ask for Meridia as a starred game Doubtful many requests even if it wasn't starred.

A game being delisted is probably the one objective criteria for making it starred that's been adhered to. And I'd say the one that makes perfect sense. Someone bought that code before the game was delisted and is giving it away later, offering an opportunity not otherwise available at all on GOG. That copy is one of the last, and possibly the very last, one anyone will ever be able to obtain on GOG. So it should go to someone who really desires it, even if it takes longer for such a user (that's also eligible) to show up and ask, being willing to accept the longer cooldown for it.

Still available on Steam, both of them.

If someone with very specific tastes wants either game, I see no reason to further punish them for it with cooldown as well.And of course the lottery is meaningless since if someone wants either game, it will be one person. Why do we need to make sure people who get either game super want it? Questionable rarity (again, both for sale on Steam) does not seem a sufficient reason.

There are some particularly terrible games that you can't get on Steam or Gog anymore, sometimes the reason a game is taken off is because it wasn't good.

What if a extended period of time passes with no one asking for either game? Do you keep on putting it up as starred? That seems like it would get old for everyone.

I respect the decision of keeping delisted games in the starred category. Otherwise, those games could easily be gone without real recognition to the donation. A donation that somehow tries to preserve GOG's catalogue. And they remain available for anyone that has true interest on them, and couldn't get them otherwise.

From what I've observed so far, I seem to recall that if a starred game hasn't had any requests in the second round either, BenKii then moves it to the regular category. I don't know if that's 'policy' as such, but it seems to me to strike a good balance.

That and the rest make it sound more like collecting than something to be enjoyed.

Someone already wanted Meridian New World as a Starred game back in June, and that was just the one game, not the bundle of two games plus the soundtrack. Just because a game isn't worth the longer cooldown for you doesn't mean that's true for everyone else.
And just because delisted GOG games doesn't have extra value to you, because they're still available on Steam, doesn't mean that's true for everyone else either. Many others prefer to get all their games on GOG no matter what's available on Steam, since you don't own anything you buy on Steam.

This is the GOG community giveaway. What's available anywhere else has absolutely zero relevance.
A game that can't otherwise be obtained here has a higher value than any that can be obtained pretty much by default, because real scarcity comes into play, you compare one or at most a few available copies, possibly for ever, with an infinite number for any title that is still available for purchase here.
In case of such delisted games, I'd even go for the bidding idea that's been suggested at some point. Instead of the normal starred rules (which I still firmly oppose), leave such delisted titles open for bidding for a longer time, maybe even a full month, and say that whoever makes a request should state what cooldown they're willing to trade for it, with 3 months being the minimum. Highest bidder wins.

Sir, this is a GOG forum.
It can be both. My blu-ray collection is testament to this.

I was under the impression the giveaway is to provide joys of gaming that might be otherwise denied because of financial issues. Am I wrong? Many arguments against my point imply this is wrong.

It is absolutely relevant to the argument of whether someone can get the game or not. If the game is available on Steam, that means the game is available to buy and thus the argument "otherwise people couldn't get this game" (outside of piracy) is destroyed.

If we were buying and selling games and it was all about getting the biggest gog collection of games we never play, your argument here might make some sense.

If the point of giveawaysis to bring the joys of gaming, this argument makes no sense. Generally gamers don't care about the rarity of digital copies of games but of how fun the game would be for them, which again is presumably the point of a game Giveaway.

In order for rarity of a digital copy to matter, you'd need something like NFTs. Which seems to me crazy off point and massively far from the purpose of a game giveaway.