FAQ

[Valex]

Giveaway time considerations:
All times listed are based on your own local time. :)

• Posted by..
  Must be posted by Dec 23rd.
  
  • I will remove people without valid posts from the group on the 23rd, so you should have all of the 22nd (and the first day of Steam Sales) available to you, regardless of your timezone.
  
  
• Start by..
  Must not start before Dec 25th 00:00.
  
  
• End by..
  May end any time/date you wish, but should end before Jan 3rd 23:59.
  
  
• Runs for..
  May run for any duration, but please be considerate of others.
  
  • Most of the end of month is holidays for people all around the world. Please keep that in mind and consider avoiding flash giveaways.

Giveaway formatting:

• What kind of giveaway do I need to bring?
  Any game is fine, so long as it is not poorly reviewed, and not heavily bundled. DLCs on their own (or in a package with a heavily bundled base game) will not qualify for participation.
  We may also request that you substitute your giveaway if you offer an extremely low-interest, bundled game, as the event isn't intended to be a place to get rid of dubious bundle games that essentially noone has interest in to begin with.
  
  
• How many giveaways may I post?
  You may post any number of giveaways to the subgroup, so long as you post at least a single giveaway that meets the event requirements. Additional giveaways past the first may follow any restrictions or setup you wish- only the first giveaway need meet event requirements [though please, don't start any giveaways before the 20th].
  
  
• What kind of giveaway should I make?
  You may post whatever game you'd like (so long as it meets the requirements detailed above), even if someone else is bringing the same game to the potluck. Just post whatever game you think'd be most fun to bring. :)
  
  
• May I share the GA with other groups?
  Please post at least a single GA that is for the subgroup only. For additional GAs, you may post to any combination of groups.
  
  
• What if someone owns most of a game package?
  Except as listed in this FAQ, your usual giveaway considerations (for things such as DLC owned for package games) apply- though please avoid level restrictions, as the main group already filters users in that regard.

Other:

• Can I enter/win multiple giveaways?
  Sure thing!
  Though lets put a soft limit of 'no more than 3 wins', solely so that other people in the group get a shot at a game to win, as well!
  Basically, no restrictions, just keep other people in mind and remember the spirit of this group :)
  
  
• About people removed from the group..
  I'll post a list after removals have been completed, which you can reference against your winners.
  While there's no way to force a refresh of someone's group status on SG, someone not being in a group any longer is guaranteed grounds for a reroll-
  Simply go to http://steamcommunity.com/groups/PosThoW/history and screenshot the portion where it states someone was removed from group, and add that to your support ticket.
  
  
• What if my giveaway ends with 0 entries?
  A small group giveaway like this always runs the risk of low entries, so if CV is a concern for you, it's worth finding a game to put up that's likely to reach 5 entries. On the other hand, if your game hits 0 entries, that indicates that the game may not have been suitable for the event group this year. If you haven't won anything, consider your obligation to the event fulfilled- but otherwise please try posting a new giveaway for the group.
  
  
• Once the event has ended, should I leave the group?
  I may throw a few more giveaways out after, you might wanna wait :)

[ShandyAndy]

GA Clarifications

I just wanted to make sure I was clear about the requirements before I post my GA
1) Must be posted up before Sat 19th Dec 00:00 GMT?
2) Most start AFTER Sun 20th Dec 00:00 GMT?
3) Must finish BEFORE Fri 1st Jan 00:00 GMT?
4) Is there any minimum length of time to run?
5) We can enter any/all of the GAs posted as long as we don't own the game?
6) No duplicates?
7) Must be posted only for PosWin group?

My intention was to post mine to run from Sun 20th - Fri 25th so it could be redeemed on xMAs day if that is OK? If I get confirmation I'll post it up this weekend once I have completed my weekly rainbow dancing .. ;)

[Gibor]

1) I don't know if it has to be posted somewhere, but you have to create your the GA at the latest on December 18th, so Valex can kick out of the group everyone who doesn't participate in the giving. (Sidenote here: Does that work? Couldn't I theoretically be in the group and getting kicked out but still take part in the GAs as long as SteamGifts hasn't synchronized the accounts?)
2) As I understood it, this is for the same reason, so only "not-kicked-out-"Users can participate.
4) Valex didn't say anything about that, but I think it would be good, to have some rule here. A 1-hour-GA on Christmasday wouldn't be very nice.

[Valex]

On the 18th, I close the group for new entries, and review the entrants, checking which ones still need to post GAs.

On the 19th, I'll go through and remove anyone not meeting requirements.

@Gibor Yes, you can still 'fake' group status, as we unfortunately had one person do with the main group for a while after being kicked [which is why there's no way in heck they're being allowed back in, ever].

However, if someone isn't in the group any longer when a giveaway ends, that's guaranteed grounds for a reroll:
Simply go to http://steamcommunity.com/groups/PosThoW/history and screenshot the portion where it states someone was removed from group, when making your reroll request.

I'm removing people a day early to make it explicitly clear to them that they aren't supposed to be participating, and thus there'll be no complaints when I boot them from the main group if they decide to cheat their way in.

But.. lets think positive and hope that doesn't need to happen :x



1) Must be posted up before Sat 19th Dec 00:00 GMT?
> I'll remove people first thing on the 19th, whenever I wake up. Since the cut-off day is the 18th, by removing people on the 19th I'm already making sure there shouldn't be any time-zone confusions on the cut-off.

2) Most start AFTER Sun 20th Dec 00:00 GMT?
> Must start after the 20th, your local time :) I'll trust you.

3) Must finish BEFORE Fri 1st Jan 00:00 GMT?
> Yep. Same as above. The goal of the date range isn't really strict restriction, but just to make all the giveaways end within a similar time-frame. So no real stress over a couple hours here or there.

4) Is there any minimum length of time to run?
> Nope. Given the small size of the group (though hopefully we'll get more involved by the time it goes live) the real risk is just not getting enough entries for CV, if you do something like an hour long giveaway.

Though, Gibor makes a fair point. Try and keep others in mind. And especially don't run short giveaways on Christmas, where most users won't be logging on, that's a bit harsh :X


5) We can enter any/all of the GAs posted as long as we don't own the game?
> Correct.

6) No duplicates?
> Hm. That's up to what you think is more fun, I think. There's no real restrictions on what you can give. So if everyone wants to give Fallout 4, everyone can give Fallout 4. *I* would personally find that especially dull, but I imagine plenty of people'd be okay with that :P

7) Must be posted only for PosWin group?
Yes.
If you'd like, feel free to refer people to the main group, so they can join the event, and we can get more people entering :)

But I'm not really sure where to draw the line on what groups/whitelist/etc can and can't be included, and I don't want the giveaways to feel too diluted in intent. :)

[ShandyAndy]

Cheers for the clarifications, I've added my GA. One more question that only occurred to me after posting my GA is whether members should be able to enter a GA that has a base game + DLC if they already have the base game? Do we leave it up to the individual members to decide?

[Valex]

Your usual preferences toward giveaways apply for all things not mentioned above :)

[Mskotor]

Can I make "placeholder" GA to confirm that I'm in for the event and make non-bundled GA during winter sale?

[Valex]

As long as the "placeholder" GA meets the GA creation requirements (not negatively or very negatively reviewed, not super heavily bundled) and you do let it end, you've got a valid event GA.
If you want to add more GAs than just one, you're totally free to post as many as you'd like. :)

[Valex]

Let me know if that condensed FAQ above is helpful or not :)

[Gibor]

It is helpful, thank you. Just one idea: Add a "at the latest" to the "End by" part. Although it gets clear in the "runs for" section, it still sounds as if all the GAs have to run until 1st of January.

[Valex]

Is that more clear? :)

[Gibor]

Originally posted by Valex:

Is that more clear? :)

Yes!
;)

[Barghest]

Little question - do all of the giveaways have to be created before the 18th, or can we add addition ones during the event's run time? Thinking about doing something nice for my WL but it wouldn't happen before the 25th and it crossed my mind to also invite this great group to it. ^^

[Valex]

Other than the start date, event rules only apply to the first giveaway. You can approach additional giveaways in any manner you'd like. :)

Pretty sure noone'll complain at extra giveaways, after all :)

[Yirg]

I think with 30-something members there's a serious chance of some giveaways not getting 5 entries. I've had that with another similarly sized group and a giveaway for Deponia. It's probably less likely to happen with the giveaway I created for PosWin, which is for the unbundled game Toren, but still, it's a concern. Is there any thought how to tackle this issue if it happens?

[Gibor]

Originally posted by Yirg:

I think with 30-something members there's a serious chance of some giveaways not getting 5 entries. I've had that with another similarly sized group and a giveaway for Deponia. It's probably less likely to happen with the giveaway I created for PosWin, which is for the unbundled game Toren, but still, it's a concern. Is there any thought how to tackle this issue if it happens?

I had the same question so I created a discussion thread to address exactly this question: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/PosThoW/discussions/0/485623406960776763/

If your games only gets like 5 or 6 Yes I would consider another group or place for the GA. But if you get like 10 Yes you can assume, that at least half of those users will participate in your GA. Of course, it is a risk and you cannot completely eliminate this risk, but it's at least a hint.
(Right now, I also don't know, if there will be enough users participating in this yes/no-poll, but no try no gain. :) )