Think you got a thumbs down for no reason? Think again

[Mandark.Superman]

Hi all,

I wanted to share something that I have come across over the past few days. One of my kids wanted a game on steam, so I bought it for them during the summer sale. Then I realized I had a stash of keys I've been accumulating for giveaways or trading, so I thought I'd fill up her account. Now most of these keys came from findings on places like reddit.com/r/FreeGamesOnSteam and the sites usually linked through there.

Something that caught me off guard... about 1 out of every 4 of the keys were no good. Most were "duplicate code", but I had several that were the wrong game. Also, there was definitely a cooralation, the older the key, the more likely it would be bad. Now, I can understand a transcribing error occasionally, but the multitude I found were beyond statistical probability.

You can't swear by keys gotten from giveaways, plain and simple. Lesson learned

 

[*****gamer2014]

Hi all,

I wanted to share something that I have come across over the past few days. One of my kids wanted a game on steam, so I bought it for them during the summer sale. Then I realized I had a stash of keys I've been accumulating for giveaways or trading, so I thought I'd fill up her account. Now most of these keys came from findings on places like reddit.com/r/FreeGamesOnSteam and the sites usually linked through there.

Something that caught me off guard... about 1 out of every 4 of the keys were no good. Most were

Simple.. Don't give away free keys.

 

[Denny]

Made a giveaway for PWN Stated on Giveaway (Beta Key Beta Key Beta Key GL+HF) Key was won by Wuwanda
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198271307470/ He Used the Key in Steam Libaray then gave me a Thumbs down Reason Beta Key. But why the Key works ok and he gets to play the game. What a Cheek. Decided to just Ban him from Future Gaveaways as support dont help.

Did you pay for that key? Will the game stay in his library after beta period ends (=will he get the full game)? I bet the answer to both is "no".

You did nothing different than cheaters that create GTA V giveaways with random Digital Homicide gleam.io or free dlc garbage. All you did was waste this poor guy's points and rob him of a chance to win the full game once it comes out (one can't enter giveaways for already owned games).

 

[AlexBear123]

Made a giveaway for PWN Stated on Giveaway (Beta Key Beta Key Beta Key GL+HF) Key was won by Wuwanda
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198271307470/ He Used the Key in Steam Libaray then gave me a Thumbs down Reason Beta Key. But why the Key works ok and he gets to play the game. What a Cheek. Decided to just Ban him from Future Gaveaways as support dont help.

Did you pay for that key? Will the game stay in his library after beta period ends (=will he get the full game)? I bet the answer to both is "no".

You did nothing different than cheaters that create GTA V giveaways with random Digital Homicide gleam.io or free dlc garbage. All you did was waste this poor guy's points and rob him of a chance to win the full game once it comes out (one can't enter giveaways for already owned games).

didn't he state on his giveaway that was a beta key? if he wrote it, then is fault of that guy if he just put a thumbs down

 

[Denny]

didn't he state on his giveaway that was a beta key? if he wrote it, then is fault of that guy if he just put a thumbs down

By that logic you can create a giveaway for XYZ, write "ATTENTION: THIS IS A TORRENT", paste a piratebay link into key field and everything is ok, there's nothing wrong because of the description. Giving an alpha/beta/demo key outside of Keydrops Go Here! thread is simply misleading and should be punished...if someone does that on Steamgifts, they give him a week to provide the full game to the winner and if he fails - ban. Sometimes i wish IG mods wouldn't be so tolerant.

Oh, by the way - everyone with a minute of time can get a PWND key. Just go to http://pwnd.com and submit your email, that's it. And this should be rewarded by exp and help the site abuser reach higher levels?

 

[AlexBear123]

didn't he state on his giveaway that was a beta key? if he wrote it, then is fault of that guy if he just put a thumbs down

By that logic you can create a giveaway for XYZ, write "ATTENTION: THIS IS A TORRENT", paste a piratebay link into key field and everything is ok, there's nothing wrong because of the description. Giving an alpha/beta/demo key outside of Keydrops Go Here! thread is simply misleading and should be punished...if someone does that on Steamgifts, they give him a week to provide the full game to the winner and if he fails - ban. Sometimes i wish IG mods wouldn't be so tolerant.

Oh, by the way - everyone with a minute of time can get a PWND key. Just go to http://pwnd.com and submit your email, that's it. And this should be rewarded by exp and help the site abuser reach higher levels?

ahh i thought it wasn't banned to put beta keys (i'm new here)... ok sorry then!

 

[GoldenDancingAmulet]

didn't he state on his giveaway that was a beta key? if he wrote it, then is fault of that guy if he just put a thumbs down

By that logic you can create a giveaway for XYZ, write "ATTENTION: THIS IS A TORRENT", paste a piratebay link into key field and everything is ok, there's nothing wrong because of the description. Giving an alpha/beta/demo key outside of Keydrops Go Here! thread is simply misleading and should be punished...if someone does that on Steamgifts, they give him a week to provide the full game to the winner and if he fails - ban. Sometimes i wish IG mods wouldn't be so tolerant.

Oh, by the way - everyone with a minute of time can get a PWND key. Just go to http://pwnd.com and submit your email, that's it. And this should be rewarded by exp and help the site abuser reach higher levels?

What if you paid for the key and the game is still in early access? Steam's early access faq states that "Early Access is a full purchase of a playable game. By purchasing, you gain immediate access to download and play the game in its current form and as it evolves. You keep access to the game, even if the game later moves from Early Access into fully released."

Doesn't this mean that they keep the game afterwards? I'm honestly confused here so can you or anyone else please elaborate?

 

[Denny]

What if you paid for the key and the game is still in early access? Steam's early access faq states that "Early Access is a full purchase of a playable game. By purchasing, you gain immediate access to download and play the game in its current form and as it evolves. You keep access to the game, even if the game later moves from Early Access into fully released."

Doesn't this mean that they keep the game afterwards? I'm honestly confused here so can you or anyone else please elaborate?

Early Access doesn't equal beta; it's just another name for "the game is nowhere near finished and we still want to make money out of it". You won't ever lose a purchased game, even if it gets removed from the store. Once added to library (via Steam purchase or key activation, doesn't matter), it will always stay there. A good example are Digital Homicide games where the devs got completely banned from Steam and we kept their showelware.

The "betas" we're arguing about are closed alpha/beta keys you can get from Alienware Arena, MMOBomb, MMORPG.com or directly from developer mass giveaways and are usualy meant for multiplayer tests (so they can see how much players their servers can take). Those keys can last from some days to until the game is released and afterwards they get revoked. Most of them are mmo's and multiplayer-only games, single player stuff is usually labeled as "demo key" (like this).

 

[GoldenDancingAmulet]

What if you paid for the key and the game is still in early access? Steam's early access faq states that "Early Access is a full purchase of a playable game. By purchasing, you gain immediate access to download and play the game in its current form and as it evolves. You keep access to the game, even if the game later moves from Early Access into fully released."

Doesn't this mean that they keep the game afterwards? I'm honestly confused here so can you or anyone else please elaborate?

Early Access doesn't equal beta; it's just another name for "the game is nowhere near finished and we still want to make money out of it". You won't ever lose a purchased game, even if it gets removed from the store. Once added to library (via Steam purchase or key activation, doesn't matter), it will always stay there. A good example are Digital Homicide games where the devs got completely banned from Steam and we kept their showelware.

The "betas" we're arguing about are closed alpha/beta keys you can get from Alienware Arena, MMOBomb, MMORPG.com or directly from developer mass giveaways and are usualy meant for multiplayer tests (so they can see how much players their servers can take). Those keys can last from some days to until the game is released and afterwards they get revoked. Most of them are mmo's and multiplayer-only games, single player stuff is usually labeled as "demo key" (like this).

Ok, I think I got it now. Thank you for explaining it to me!

 

[shspvr]

Did you pay for that key? Will the game stay in his library after beta period ends (=will he get the full game)? I bet the answer to both is "no".

That not always ture Denny I got beta I end up with for free even one I haven't played on.
I see nothing wrong with give away a beta so long as that user tell every one up front that it a beta.
Oh by the early access does equal beta with just one diff with early access you can buy the game up front and start playing.