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Braggadar: You make it sound like a Black Friday sale where everyone just grabs stuff on the shelf because it says "on sale".
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AlexTerranova: Yes, I think it will cause similar effect. You might not behave that way, but many others will.
Yes, so 20 people enter in for the draw for starred game "Skyrim" because they've just got to enter in just because they can but look at it this way. That's 20 people that are not taking a key from the regular "first come" list. It can also work vice versa. 20 folks grab regular keys and that leaves more entries open for a Star game drawing. Meaning more games up on the list for a longer period of time. It will literally offload the demand for both categories.

Now I've always been a fan of the original CG's "first come, first served" rule. Back in the beginning, we had way more donators than we had giftees. Heck we had to go out of our way to find people for gifts. But as time goes on, more and more people are finding out about the giveaway and now it has become sort of a rat race to see who gets what first. As with anything when you have more people, more rules need to be created to make sure it is fair for everyone involved. I truly believe that making a mini-draw-giveaway for a few select titles will greatly enhance everyone's time with the CG.
I've always preferred themed, one-off giveaways that offer some kind of creative effort or game for participants. A fun mini-event for the community to interact. Where the prize is just a vehicle for people to get together.

Nevertheless, I'd say if forum users are still enjoying the community giveaway distribution model, let it continue of course.
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Braggadar: Braggadar: You make it sound like a Black Friday sale where everyone just grabs stuff on the shelf because it says "on sale".
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AlexTerranova: Yes, I think it will cause similar effect. You might not behave that way, but many others will.
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BenKii: Yes, so 20 people enter in for the draw for starred game "Skyrim" because they've just got to enter in just because they can but look at it this way. That's 20 people that are not taking a key from the regular "first come" list. It can also work vice versa. 20 folks grab regular keys and that leaves more entries open for a Star game drawing. Meaning more games up on the list for a longer period of time. It will literally offload the demand for both categories.

Now I've always been a fan of the original CG's "first come, first served" rule. Back in the beginning, we had way more donators than we had giftees. Heck we had to go out of our way to find people for gifts. But as time goes on, more and more people are finding out about the giveaway and now it has become sort of a rat race to see who gets what first. As with anything when you have more people, more rules need to be created to make sure it is fair for everyone involved. I truly believe that making a mini-draw-giveaway for a few select titles will greatly enhance everyone's time with the CG.
AlexTerranova: Forget the fear of gambling
and prioritize the very addictive FOMO
BenKii is pretending to introduce

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_missing_out

Which goes totally against the solution to
the BenKiis self described situation (qualifiers quoted)
"unfair", "snatched",
"unhealthy level of just pure stalking the giveaway",
"by average price and how recent it was released"
Diagnostic based on zero evidence provided, I must say

I also suggest to you scrutiny to the non-transparent randomness
his solution proposal includes



PS - Hey Braggadar! What a small the world is!
This time you were completely justified
to participate on my reply BUT I the limited forum software
removed your quote from my reply...
Dont worry, I forced your addition :)
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BenKii: What does everyone think of this?
Nice idea !
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BenKii: 20 people enter in for the draw for starred game "Skyrim" because they've just got to enter in just because they can but look at it this way. That's 20 people that are not taking a key from the regular "first come" list. It can also work vice versa. 20 folks grab regular keys and that leaves more entries open for a Star game drawing. Meaning more games up on the list for a longer period of time. It will literally offload the demand for both categories
That will make both the actual process and giveaway rules unnecessary complicated, significantly increasing workload on maintainer and causing frustration for users.

I suggest you simply start a different starred-random giveaway in a separate topic, with it's own set of rules and list of games.

Benefactors will decide to which of giveaways they want to donate, and giftees will choose from which of the threads to ask a game.
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chevkoch: I've always preferred themed, one-off giveaways that offer some kind of creative effort or game for participants. A fun mini-event for the community to interact. Where the prize is just a vehicle for people to get together.
I like this format most too.) But it requires a lot of effort to organize, therefore is not suitable for an ongoing monthly event.
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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?).
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BenKii: Hello Goglodytes! I have an idea for the CG that I'd like to get your feedback on.
I think it's a great idea, BenKii, and it'd be good if the Starred category upgrade could take place in the upcoming month. Any change that makes the CG thread more equitable to all active forum users is always welcome.

I'd like to suggest that a Starred game winner could only be granted another ★ gift after two months. However, after one month of having received a highly wanted game, the same user would still be eligible to ask for games that do not belong to the Star category. I believe that with this approach more active forum users will have their chances increased in order to grab games that most people want to play. What do you guys think about this suggestion?
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Rep7icant: [...]
I'd like to suggest that a Starred game winner could only be granted another ★ gift after two months. However, after one month of having received a highly wanted game, the same user would still be eligible to ask for games that do not belong to the Star category. I believe that with this approach more active forum users will have their chances increased in order to grab games that most people want to play. What do you guys think about this suggestion?
Quite interesting idea, though isn't it a little too complicated to easy manage?
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KillingMoon: Quite interesting idea, though isn't it a little too complicated to easy manage?
Not with a spreadsheet, which is something BenKii uses as a means to safely manage the CG thread.
I only suggest that whatever you do make simple, the simple the better.
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AlexTerranova: I suggest you simply start a different starred-random giveaway in a separate topic, with it's own set of rules and list of games.

Benefactors will decide to which of giveaways they want to donate, and giftees will choose from which of the threads to ask a game.
So would you be ok with having two such giveaways, with participants choosing which to join, one or the other, but not both?
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mrkgnao: So would you be ok with having two such giveaways, with participants choosing which to join, one or the other, but not both?
^ Precisely.

@AlexTerranova The point of running the draw inside the current GA is to link it to the cooldown system. Running them in parallel and allowing some users to potentially 'win' a starred prize and request a non-daggered key as well in one month runs against the purpose of doing the draw in the first place.
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AlexTerranova: I suggest you simply start a different starred-random giveaway in a separate topic, with it's own set of rules and list of games.

Benefactors will decide to which of giveaways they want to donate, and giftees will choose from which of the threads to ask a game.
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mrkgnao: So would you be ok with having two such giveaways, with participants choosing which to join, one or the other, but not both?
If a draw absolutely must be introduced, I for one would consider this the lesser evil...
But will keep stressing that there should be no draw involved in the Community Giveaway, period. And you should know how long and how tightly I hold on to such things, and keep saying them whenever the matter comes up, and sometimes even when it doesn't...

Meh, wrote something more (starting with repeating to increase cooldown and activity requirements, maybe even quite sharply, before even considering other solutions), but so be it. When I first saw this I was surprised, and even more so at the support the idea got from "old guard" users. Now I'm just disappointed. And really do make mental links to the "good news".

That said, haven't requested anything from the community giveaway since Feb 2022, which is perfectly fine, but if draws will start appearing I'll likely end up entering any for any title I'll have the slightest curiosity about... And then feel even more awkward if I'll win any. Meh.
Post edited June 23, 2023 by Cavalary
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mrkgnao: So would you be ok with having two such giveaways, with participants choosing which to join, one or the other, but not both?
Sure, anyone can create a giveaway with format, rules and source of games of their choice. Including the restriction to join only one of ongoing giveaways each month.
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Braggadar: The point of running the draw inside the current GA is to link it to the cooldown system.
Rules of any giveaway may refer to cooldown systems of any other giveaways. It is absolutely unnecessary to pack them all into one thread.
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mrkgnao: So would you be ok with having two such giveaways, with participants choosing which to join, one or the other, but not both?
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AlexTerranova: Sure, anyone can create a giveaway with format, rules and source of games of their choice. Including the restriction to join only one of ongoing giveaways each month.
I now realise that my post perhaps was not clear. Sorry.

So I'll ask again.

What I meant is two open-ended community giveaways:
1) the current one, unchanged
2) a new one with only "starred" games, using random draws, more or less like BenKii suggested

And you can only join one of these two. Are you ok with that?
Post edited June 23, 2023 by mrkgnao