I probably should clarify what I mean by whining.

People pointing out that the F5'vers are ruining the contest. I can see that as a legitimate complaint. Now on the other hand, people shouting, "It's not fair, I deserve this game." with a sense of entitlement, that is one of the things I'd define as whining. The original post put it best. It all really depends on content and what tone you use in your post. At least in my opinion

As I can see this, there are two kinds of people in this thread. People who are upset because of growing amount of entitlement culture here, and I think they have every right to complain about it. Seeing posts like "give me moarrrrrr gamez you stoopid f---s!" "omg this contest is so lame gog, i haven't won anything!" is not a pleasant thing.

But there are also many people here who complain about F5-ers which I cannot understand. There are tons of reasons for people to sit here and F5 hoping for a free game, not only greed and grabbing stuff they don't even want just because it's free.

I managed to grab a code for Realms of Arkania 1+2 and even won Realms of Arkania 3 in one giveaway. I had to press F5 rapidly when servers went down to grab the code.

I'm so happy right now, because I know I will not have much money on Christmas. Around 30 bucks will be my maximum. Getting these games for free gives me an opportunity to wipe out two positions from my wishlist. What does it mean?

I was going to split my 30 dollar budget into half to buy games for my friends, and now I can buy them two more games, because I've already recieved my gift from GOG and TheGiftBot.

And when I see posts like Roberttitus I'm just pissed off. I haven't been able to even imagine thewishingwell can be such a bad person. And enjoy your trolling with fake game codes, if this can build up your ego a little bit more.

Actually people weren't whining about F5'ers but rather that one had to F5 to win the first contests, and they felt this was unfair vs other contest methods gog has used.

Some also complained then that many of those F5ing weren't true goggers but newcomers just in it for free games, but this thread isn't complaining about such people who won the game in such a way but is complaining about people who argued that contests employing F5ing as a valid contest method was unfair.

Congratulations to all those that managed to grab a free code. Enjoy your games!
(Life can really be quite simple)

I'm not singling you out here but your post explained that complaint pretty well so I'm going to use it as the foundation for my general reply:

Criteria for winning a contest are determined by the contest-holder. We see this all the time with user giveaways: Someone posts a random thread with a code just sitting there for the taking, someone else says "Make me laugh." Current giveaway: talk smack about the OP and the OP decides who wins. Previous contests: 'kill me off - creative person wins'. 2-month membership requirement. A whole mess of crypto-code puzzles. GOG itself has made contests requiring image-editing skills: one was based on the Marcin-mini-meme, and I recall another based on game card images or somesuch.

Most of them require something from the winner beyond good timing. I don't recall such a storm of whining about those, even though a person without a creative streak or puzzle-solving ability is often left in the cold for these contests. For those without image-editing software and the know-how to use it, let alone the creativity to make teh funny, they were essentially left out of contention for the image-editing contests.

And that's not fair! We simply can not have that because "fairness" is far more important than fun or creativity.

GOG, in the entitlement mentality that pervades the world, I DEMAND (as soooo many others do around here) two things:

1. all giveaways, be they GOG- or user-based, must last long enough that all members have a chance to enter, and then the winner must always be determined by a random drawing.

2. System Shock 2 XD

So look at it this way: GOG made a contest that any member could win. All it required was patience and / or timing. No better and no worse than a contest with some other requirement; no better and no worse than a GOG user posting up a random code free for the taking by the first person to open that thread (again, timing). If someone is going to whine about a contest based on timing, then I fully expect them to also start to whine about contests based on some sort of mental skill that not all of us are blessed with. I, for one, can not roll off creative prose like many others here; therefore, I am left with virtually no chance of winning those types of giveaway. And that's not fair! Boo-friggin'-hoo for me.

But HftB, it's GOG! EVERYthing they do should be equally fair for everyone! Umm, no. GOG is a private entity and they can do whatever they want when it comes to these contests, just like the individual user is allowed to choose her own method to determine a winner. If one doesn't like it, either go elsewhere, or wait around for the next contest. It's not like they gave away one game for the entire year...

As stated previously: "You came into the giveaway with nothing, and left with nothing. At worst, you broke even."

And then bitched about it.

Exactly!

And good luck / skill to everyone for the giveaways and contests to come, whatever may be the requirements for winning, including timing!

There they go again, keeping out the people who don't follow twitter feeds and don't have a facebook account. UNFAIR!

HereForTheBeer look at you, what a great post you made :-) +1

Well, I'm frankly baffled: they're giving people something for nothing. And they're going to give away even more over the next couple weeks, including a free a-list game, starting Monday, for anyone who shows up.

I'm sorry - maybe I'm thick-headed. 'Someone else won, it wasn't me, I'm not harmed by it, there are other current and upcoming freebies, and I still gotta gripe.' I just... don't... get it.

Good Post HereForTheBeer.

My View is this - I've won nothing but I have had fun trying and tomorrow I can download Empire Earth - FREE! If that isn't enough then what is.

Well done to all the winners and thanks for the freebie GOG, it is most appreciated!

You still got a chance! there's at least one more GOG giveaway as far as i know :)

Just you wait for people whining "I've paid for this game and these vultures get it for free! not fair!" and "it was only 48 hours long giveaway! Not everybody's checking gog website so often you bastard, you cheated me!"

and immortal: "I already have this game, give me something else you bastards!"

This happens pretty much everywhere that gives away free stuff. It's not unique to GOG; it's just self entitled people.

Unfortunately, and these people are louder on the internet

What's your guys opinions on the people in the 'Last chance to grab a code thread' theres loads of people with only 1-5 posts who are asking for $9.99 games and such, do you think they are Leechers? Do you think they are the 'Vulture' people you describe? Should they at least have 10 posts and have at least a productive post on these forums to qualify?

For all I know, they DO have xx number of posts. Since the Rep counter isn't an accurate indicator of forum activity (as pointed out in at least one other recent thread), it's not a good basis to determine one's activity. Or maybe the person is a frequent buyer and only a forum lurker.

Likewise, there's a saying that goes something like, "Keep a closed mouth and an open mind." Okay, probably dozens of sayings like that. Maybe, in their wisdom, they only speak when they have something worthwhile to say, which would make them valuable members of the community. Or maybe they truly are new and this is an early start to an informative, friendly, and helpful presence on GOG for years to come.

Either way, if that's how GOG wants to do it, then that's how it will be. However it turns out, free game for all on Monday. Woot!

If you decided to start official contest with "you have to write at least 10/20/100 posts to qualify" you'd have to be ready for SPAMfest. And nobody wants that.