There Came an Echo (5 Copies)
https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/IPQVi/there-came-an-echo
Ends Saturday, July 30 @ 10 AM EDT

Just bumping https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/Sm4Hq/cosmic-rocket-defender because it's now at half time.

Hi guys,

You might have had this talk before and I probably missed it and I am making me an arse now but are we gonna talk about this group?

Right now there are 13 giveaways running.
A total of 20 entries. 7 in one, 13 in the rest 12 giveways.
6 giveaways have no entries.
Latest ended giveaway also had no entries.

Yeah, I think there's a problem here. I mean, I know a lot of games we give away were bundled, but I noticed even for very good titles sometimes there are no entries, or 1 entry, maybe 5 or 6 if I'm lucky and the game is very new or included in higher tier bundle.
I don't really know what can we do about, maybe the rules are too restrictive? But there should be rules, otherwise people will keep entering for games without never giving back, so I don't really know :S
Personally, I just enter when a game really interests me, and often I retire my entry if I saw a game is really requested (aka 5 or 6 entries at least), because maybe there are people willing to play it more than me (my backlog is huge etc, I keep playing games, of course, but since I also buy others, my backlog is always huge. Like, I played some days ago grimrock 2 and I installed it last year).

Can you be clearer - what's the problem specifically? I'm happy with the way things are and I think the group is great.

If nobody enters your giveaway, just use the key/gift again in a public giveaway or in a busier group.

If less than five people enter it's really not a big deal, because this group has always been about gifting games to each other, and not about raising your Steamgifts CV.

What's so restrictive about the rules? They look just fine to me. Less entries means that giveaways are joined by mostly people who are interested in the game rather than hoarders who just want to get as much free stuff they can get their hands on regardless of whether or not they'll actually play it. That seems perfectly fine to me.

I mean, about the won/giveaway ration. But as I wrote, I agree there should be rules to prevent stuff happening like in the past, so I can't provide a valide alternative.

Less restrictive rules in that respect will mean more people entering more giveaways that they don't actually care about rather than posting more of their own.

Also, I like that with this group you actually have a chance of winning something (of the 21 gifts I won on SG yet, 20 were in this group!) it's next to impossible (at least for me it seems) to win stuff outside of the group, although I do give (75 given: mostly bundle stuff but there's been a few good ones in there, too.) So without this group I probably wouldn't bother with steamgifts....

I really like the group to stay the way it is. If noone enters, I just give it away publicly (or on the forums here) but if someone is interested in the meager stuff I have then at least he has very good chances of winning :) which I find great!

I am going to holidays on friday for a month (first time in years) and I am going to have very limited access to internet. But before that, a great game so one of you can play this summer:

https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/JjjkR/transistor

Good luck!

Edit: is a Steam gift. If we are not "friends", we will be...

True, but it's nice to get some CV out of it, since CV is constantly decreasing over time. Low participation is also a bit discouraging, from a gifter's perspective, nobody wants to feel unappreciated

The group surely has its limitations and problems though. One indication is for example that there have been only 31 giveaways in July so far. With some few days left to go, this might be the all time low record for this group. The record high were 20x as many giveaways in one month.

Similar could be said about the quality, though preferences will naturally vary. But within the last 2 months only few games really interested me: Hand of Fate (bundled, didn't win), Dungeon of the Endless (didn't win), The Night of the Rabbit (won this 2 entries GA)
And I won Sorcery! Parts 1 and 2, where I participated to get anything of some interest at all.

When you combine fewer giveaways, fewer entries and less quality, you can't really suggest that this is a positive development.

well, ok. But being even less restrictive in entering the group or giveaway ratio probably wouldn't make it any better. (and I find it isn't restrictive at all! I mean 50 rep and 3 month on gog isn't hard to reach. and you can always win more than you have to give.) I think it's just the usual summer hole what with everyone being on some beach somewhere instead of making Giveaways ;)

which reminds me:

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

Freedom Force

Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich

Railroad Tycoon 3

I think we are eternal enemies now. :p