I agree that rules should never cause keys to expire when there's people who'd want to claim them, but I don't think there's much risk of that with my proposal. What I've seen BenKii do so far is to move them to daggered something like 2-5 weeks before they're set to expire (depending on interest shown? or probably just his own available time), and then if needed, mark them "no activity required" when there's less than a week left.

Reconstructing it for the last batch: on 1 nov the following keys were moved to daggered: 15 thronebreaker (exp: 11 nov), 2 lego hobbit (expiry: 22 nov), 11 greedfall and ~20 tomb raider: legend (exp: 6 dec). Of that batch, all keys except for tomb: raider legend were gone swiftly, and had people requesting them when they were already gone (so there definitely was more interest than availability), while a few early birds requested multiple of these keys.

I'll think about it but I'm kinda with AlexTerranova on this one. Currently people have to make 1 post per request which already makes them have to wait 10 minutes (or someone else post after them) before posting another request leaving the door open for other potential requesters. Since the codes first go up as Standard for awhile, anyone that was interested in them would be waiting on the first of the month ready to request them when they go Daggered.

You must feel a bit like Santa Claus dishing out this many gifts. Thank you for your continued efforts running the community giveaway.

HO HO HO! And so much more to give! :D

The idea to no longer list the number of available standard Prime keys strikes me as bad. Yes, it does make things easier on the admin side, but if there's any other request for one of the titles since the last update, you can't know whether you can request that same game or not. Granted, with such keys trickling, or sometimes even flooding, in for quite a while, there's always the chance that another shows up between updates and you would be able to request even if the current list would say otherwise, but there's also the situation where someone may be interested in multiple non-daggered games and prefer to go for one they know they can get when it seems like another may be no longer available instead of possibly making an invalid request and maybe having someone else request the other game(s) before they're made aware of it and can change their selection. Admittedly, this scenario does go into the "nobody's entitled to a game" territory, and that's a fair argument in favor of this change, which would just leave the fact that the sheer number of available games isn't shown anymore and it was a nicer feeling to see that there are so many, but just wondering what the rest think about it.

I was just thinking how much work it must be to manage so many codes and requests. I can't say I really mind if it makes things easier to handle.

So this is sort of a two-fold problem for me. By not listing how many are left, it not only makes it easier for me to maintain the list but it also prevents people from strategically requesting games that they think won't be available next month. It's the same reason that I don't disclose the expiration date on those codes as well. I've noted a few people (who won't be named) that are, so to speak, "gaming" the system by holding off asking for some codes because they think it will go daggered next month. And for games that have limited quantity, those same people aim to request those first as a standard key if there are much fewer in inventory. So the idea behind the decision to remove expiration dates and quantity from the standard section was to encourage folks to ask for what they want to play rather than to get as many as possible.

Now once I put them up as daggered, then yes, I put the expiration and quantity back in because I wish to dish them out quickly before they expire.

Well, the expiration date is readily known. But yes, if you put it that way, there is a point to it. It does feel like "punishing" everyone because of some bad apples, but...

Hello everyone!

I do understand the mixed feelings about the obfusecation of the actual amount of still available keys for a given game in the community giveaway.

Nonetheless, I think it may have another benefit, though: Not knowing anymore exactly how many keys are currently available might be an incentive for those who got accustomed to "gaming the system" or waiting for the corresponding leftover keys becoming daggered ones to instead choose a game they actually are really interested in right now.

On the other side, it could lead to more community members asking and requesting potentially remaining keys of the same game(s), thus resulting in an extra amount of non-approvable requests for BenKii to sort through.
(Or maybe, doubts and questions whether or not he forgot to remove a game from the list can become more frequent to respond to.)

I would say, let BenKii try it out for some time and let him evaluate the advantages and disadvantages.

Kind regards,
foxgog

I understand the reason for not listing the number of Amazon keys left. Just keep in mind that there are also quite a few people who won't ask for a key if they see someone else has already asked for it, so it goes both ways.
The benefit might outweigh the downside though, you just have to encourage people who really want them to request it even if they see there's only one left and someone has already requested it.

Although I think that there may be some drawbacks, I agree with foxgog on letting BenKii try it out for some time and let him evaluate the advantages and disadvantages.

I agree, it will only discourage users from getting standard keys.

Moreover, updates in current iteration of giveaway are rare, thus the problem will occur quite often.

In addition, it will cultivate a bad habit of not checking, if the game has already been requested, before posting yourself.
People, who want to take as much Amazon keys as possible, simply post walls of "[WANT]" requests in the The Expiring Codes Clearinghouse Thread on the very day those games become available at Amazon. And keep reposting their wishes until they are fulfilled.

There is no need to wait for months for games to become daggered, if you can get the keys from Clearinghouse right away, and retain monthly limit in the Community Giveaway at the same time.

And some games are not going to become daggered at all, like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Yet users are not actively asking for it, proving your theory wrong.

I guess, users tend to ignore games either because they already own, or are not really interested in the title.

***

As a compromise solution I would suggest to show exact number of keys, when there are 5 or less available. And keep the number hidden, if there are more than 5 copies on the list.

I was wondering why people do not ask for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided but I have to say the game has been given for free on Epic for everyone and it is also a DRM free copy which makes it great even there! So this may be the main reason why people do not ask for it. Still a very very good game compared to most other prime games.

Seems a waste of codes, only showing one. People wont ask, even when they legit want to play, because the good guys actually obey the rules. Thus letting a few people behaving poorly, ruining something that would make someone happy.

...ok,on a side note, This last month I did request a game, someone was requesting. But the dude didnt seem to have any forum activity. So in the event, anybody noticed. It may make me seem contradictory here. But I figured, why not ask, just in case it went back into the pool. I dont normally ask for something someone already requsted. I just dont read the requests.

I never thought anyone was entitled to anything. Its a nice thread Ben maintains. Its my 2 cents on current topic.