Report Giveaways Here

[WizardStan]

This would all be solved if we could have a button "hide this game", either because we already have it or are not interested.

I do not think you know what the problem is. Someone put up a key linked to the full game but it was, in fact, a beta key they had acquired for free, and is now absolutely worthless. It doesn't matter whether the person is interested or not, the key is completely useless: should the person be allowed to leave a negative review? Or should they be required to leave a positive review because the key was, technically, activatable?
The other problem is people putting up keys for the full game, but the keys were given away free and have an expiry date: ie, see all the current F1 2018 giveaways: those keys are being given away for free by Humble Bundle, anyone can get them but they're only good for a brief window of time; if someone wins but doesn't actually check for a few days the key might expire. Should the person who won be allowed to leave a negative review? Or should they be required to leave a positive review because it was, technically, a valid key at the time of auction?

You think people should be able to offer up whatever they want? Then they need to also be willing to accept that others won't like it when they put up codes which aren't 100% what they claim to be.

 

[Bestacinza]

i think you give the review you want. Did they wrote on the giveaway it was a beta? lot's of giveaway say that. If you open the giveaway you can see what the creator wrote about it. You can also follow the steam link on the giveaway and see if game is released yet.
I don't know the rules, are betas allowed?

the f1 thing my key (i made no giveaway, i went to see the key i activated) is valid until the 17th and i got it day one, i think that's time enough.
Also think that should me mentioned in the giveaway, but that's up to the creator i guess. People may not know about the giveaway and get a key this way, that otherwise they would miss out. The fact is they all have entries.

That's why i gave my suggestion. But it's just that a suggestion.

People may want the betas, may want the f1's.

Maybe i will add a beta button when you are creating the giveaway, and an option to hide betas keys when you are searching. My point is more choice not less, people may want betas and f1's.

There are games that beta keys are more valuable then lots of full games that are offered here.

 

[Old Nick]

I don't know the rules, are betas allowed?

No, they're not. Read the post by mseals that WizardStan linked to:

Rule #1 If the key is not for a full 100% copy of the game for example a beta it is NOT allowed to be given away.
Rule #2 IF the game is given away for free on any website OTHER than Indiegala it is not allowed to be given away!!!
Rule #3 You are not allowed to Give away high end games(or Software including DLC's) unless you have a copy of said game in your Steam library

 

[Zeph4Sure]

My opinion has always been that people "should" be able to give whatever they want.
However, everything about the giveaway needs to be fully disclosed if it's not a full game that can activate worldwide.

Does it have regional restrictions? The giveaway should note that.
Is the key for a BETA? If so, it should note that and probably also when the BETA starts and ends.

If nothing else is listed, the assumption HAS to be that it's a full game, redeemable worldwide, with absolutely no restrictions.
The reason it even came up initially was that it was a limited beta, which was ending the day AFTER receipt, was known to be a beta with a imposed time limit, and nothing at all was disclosed about it.

He fully deserves the negative review. I can't possibly foresee it going any other way.

Plus, as I had mentioned as a comment previously, the old "rules" don't appear to have migrated to the multiple changes to the site.
BETAs were actually never actually allowed (though I never personally minded it). However, not disclosing information known to the giveaway holder is pretty much a half-truth, which may as well be a lie.

 

[Bestacinza]

so no betas, no cuzader dlc, no f1, by those (old) rules

make rules clear and enforce them

 

[Simvol]

No, they're not. Read the post by mseals that WizardStan linked to:

These rules do not look very official. Should I make my own post so people can link to it?

 

[Old Nick]

These rules do not look very official. Should I make my own post so people can link to it?

Sure, go ahead. Might wanna get yourself a time machine though, so you can post it a couple of years ago...
(BTW, the person who posted them is the same person who made this thread )

 

[cheerie132]

No, they're not. Read the post by mseals that WizardStan linked to:
(...)
Rule #3 You are not allowed to Give away high end games(or Software including DLC's) unless you have a copy of said game in your Steam library

What's the point of rule Number 3 if someone can explain? I could buy e.g. a Humble bundle with 3 AAA games but I'm only interested in 2 of those games and the third one is useless for me, I'd never play it so I wanna give it away. The game is obviously NOT in my library because I don't want it. Furthermore, how could anyone check this? I don't have my Steam account linked to Indiegala, so how would mods know I have/don't have something on Steam that I'm giving away?

Thanks for an answer in advance.

 

[Keeper Of Monsters]

I can see one huge problem with all that - rules are simply not enforced.
If giveaways for CK DLC were cancelled as soon as they appeared en mass and banned for creating - we wouldn't have the problem with them now.
If giveaways for F1 were cancelled - ALL OF THEM! - and banned right on day one - we wouldn't had to talk about it now.
Same goes for beta keys - usually those appear en mass too when they are given away somewhere (like one I reported last week - came from Alienware Arena).
And usually they got reported first day too - but no action is taken by moderators/admins.
If there was monitoring indeed, if rules were enforced - we wouldn't have many problems that plague IG giveaway section right now.
I don't remember for sure but I think mseals isn't an IG employee - he is (was?) just very active, very passionate member of the community who took on himself role of moderator. He was quick to act on those issues and - either he got power from IG staff or had a way to contact them quickly directly - but those mass giveaways were removed and banned quickly, and there was more order. But also there was an easy way to check giveaway creators and traders for their reputation, easy way to check their Steam profile (if it was indeed linked - if not it's a red flag right there). We could ban users preemptively (even though ban list was quite small).
Right now IG stuff, I guess, have more issues than to deal with something that doesn't quite make them money.
And I don't think there are many users who would want responsibility of doing what mseals did - in his free time!
So we have a situation here which can be solved by taking an action - but who is willing to do that?
I can say I wouldn't - I don't have no time nor needed technical knowledge/capabilities, sadly. I know some people who can - but again, they need to work to earn a living and don't want to go for such a massive undertaking in their free time.
Stillmate?

P.S. Can someone tell me how to check reputation and Steam profile for giveaway creator if this person isn't one of winners for my giveaway and he's not active in trade section? I can't see it from the giveaway page - their name is linked to forum profile (why - I wonder).

 

[Keeper Of Monsters]

What's the point of rule Number 3 if someone can explain? I could buy e.g. a Humble bundle with 3 AAA games but I'm only interested in 2 of those games and the third one is useless for me, I'd never play it so I wanna give it away. The game is obviously NOT in my library because I don't want it. Furthermore, how could anyone check this? I don't have my Steam account linked to Indiegala, so how would mods know I have/don't have something on Steam that I'm giving away?

Thanks for an answer in advance.

There was a problem with people creating giveaways for some software (don't remember which one - but it was something very specific) that cost huge money on Steam - just to enter one of those giveaways you needed more than 100 GS. And a lot of those were just bots/cheaters, and entries were also mostly from bots/alternate accounts of those cheaters, so winners would knowingly put positive for bad giveaway or it would be auto-positive after a few days, and creators would rise through levels really quickly. We had a situation similar to what is going on now with all the betas and such - just much worse because of how much point they were getting.
Obviously they wouldn't own that software - that wasn't something anyone would buy without a need to actually use it.
It was a couple of years back, so my memory can be hazy. If someone want to correct that - go ahead.

 

[Kyoshiro]

There was a problem with people creating giveaways for some software (don't remember which one - but it was something very specific) that cost huge money on Steam - just to enter one of those giveaways you needed more than 100 GS. And a lot of those were just bots/cheaters, and entries were also mostly from bots/alternate accounts of those cheaters, so winners would knowingly put positive for bad giveaway or it would be auto-positive after a few days, and creators would rise through levels really quickly. We had a situation similar to what is going on now with all the betas and such - just much worse because of how much point they were getting.
Obviously they wouldn't own that software - that wasn't something anyone would buy without a need to actually use it.
It was a couple of years back, so my memory can be hazy. If someone want to correct that - go ahead.

Thank you, I knew there had to be some specific case for such a seemingly arbitrary rule to exist.

 

[Michel]

hi, i was wondering this for a while now, but how come giveaways for "the night of the rabbid" and "Annas Quest" cost so much IC.
and i just saw new giveaways where the cost even increased from 103 to 129 IC.
Whats up with that?

 

[FreaKill]

hi, i was wondering this for a while now, but how come giveaways for "the night of the rabbid" and "Annas Quest" cost so much IC.
and i just saw new giveaways where the cost even increased from 103 to 129 IC.
Whats up with that?

This is a well know steam API bug with Daedelic games. Whenever the Gigantic Bundle is at 90% discount, its price after discount is applied to all the apps in the package. It's a Steam API bug, you can see how the price is applied if you search on Steam for one of the package items. The price on the store page is not affected because it probably takes its price from the corresponding sub, while the search displays the price of the individual apps.

Its a problem on steam side not with indiegala or steamgifts if you use steamgifts also.

 

[Bestacinza]

the facts are after reading all this:

there actually is no rules as to what can be in a giveaway, all there is some dudes rules made up by him long ago, and he's gone

there should be but there aren't so, actually people can enter all they want and we have to deal with it. No one is doing anything wrong entering a beta if there aren't rules against it

also no one enforces nothing or corrects bugs like mentioned above, a bit abandoned

 

[Zeph4Sure]

Those rules WERE enforced before. I know that much because when I had started years ago, the humble bundle giveaways were pretty much canceled within a couple of hours and the game was put on some list that made it impossible to be put in a giveaway for some time.

Coincidentally, that stopped when the new layout was made.
It's actually harder to page through the giveaways now since they are like embedded JSON objects or whatever, so if there is a timeout, you have to redo all your filters and then go back to the page.

I feel as though there used to be volunteers or mods or whatever, but not entirely sure about that now.

 

[bottledinbond]

Beta keys

https://www.indiegala.com/giveaways/card/marvels-avengers/643360

https://www.indiegala.com/giveaways/card/marvels-avengers/643465

https://www.indiegala.com/giveaways/card/marvels-avengers/643468

https://www.indiegala.com/giveaways/card/marvels-avengers/643469

 

[Fractard]

Those rules WERE enforced before. I know that much because when I had started years ago, the humble bundle giveaways were pretty much canceled within a couple of hours and the game was put on some list that made it impossible to be put in a giveaway for some time.

I feel as though there used to be volunteers or mods or whatever, but not entirely sure about that now.

I agree, I was active some time ago and there one or two modo checking GA to remove obvious fake, 10 149IS softwere/AAA game/DLC from the very same user or games given for free, plus regular users reporting fake, people aying the game is a beta key or a cheaper game.
The capcha is nice but won't stop abuses unless they ban accounts.

Edit: no more blacklist?
I see lots of Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods DLC, is it still given for free on game site?

 

[WizardStan]

I see lots of Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods DLC, is it still given for free on game site?

Yes. All you need is an email address.

 

[Zeph4Sure]

I agree, I was active some time ago and there one or two modo checking GA to remove obvious fake, 10 149IS softwere/AAA game/DLC from the very same user or games given for free, plus regular users reporting fake, people aying the game is a beta key or a cheaper game.
The capcha is nice but won't stop abuses unless they ban accounts.

Edit: no more blacklist?
I see lots of Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods DLC, is it still given for free on game site?

I never understood why they never tied it to Steam Accounts completely. It should be a requirement, not a recommendation.
Also if they locked it to particular steam levels or those that have access to the marketplace, it would cut down on a lot of fake accounts.
You'd be surprised how many people don't want to fork over $5 to unlock the marketplace.

 

[syleox]

I agree, I was active some time ago and there one or two modo checking GA to remove obvious fake, 10 149IS softwere/AAA game/DLC from the very same user or games given for free, plus regular users reporting fake, people aying the game is a beta key or a cheaper game.
The capcha is nice but won't stop abuses unless they ban accounts.

Edit: no more blacklist?
I see lots of Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods DLC, is it still given for free on game site?

some months ago mrseals has talked about recent surgery...at this time he was a voluntary official mod...if he's not here, i suspect he can't...unless he quit for more interesting activities... i only hope he's well