Be able to gift games you have never played or downloaded

[alkazar]

I would love such a feature, especially after switching to Linux. I have many Windows-only games I never touched. It's a shame for them to go to waste.

[RobinHoodxBlade]

why you buy the game in the first place tho? a bundle im guessing? but this is a good idea but on a hackable view it can have many ways to cheat steam by trading the game with others after still playing the game somehow(glitch)

[alkazar]

I planned to play them, but have now switched exclusively to Linux, so I can no longer play my Windows-only games. If they were ever to be ported, I would just re-buy them, but for now, I would really just like to clear out my account of some of these now-useless games.

I don't think it would be possible to hack if the feature was limited to games you have never downloaded. Steam *must* know if you've downloaded a game before. Although it's possible, if doubtful, that such information is not recorded.

This would essentially be a way to retro-actively choose the option available at purchase time to save the game to your inventory, but only if you haven't ever downloaded the game. Admittedly, the use case is a fairly niche one and I'd imagine there would be lots of corner cases to work out like how to handle bundles and such, so I don't really have very high hopes for this to actually be implemented. It would be cool though.

[Falro the Great]

If you have NEVER initiated a download or install, Support may be willing to transfer them into your inventory. But don't hold your breath. (mainly because you'd be holding it for 3-7 days, but still...)

[Shin Ramyun]

I think it's a good idea, I buy some games as gifts before and register them on my account when I get around playing it but I got lazy afterwards.

I can see the inherent problems of abusers and people that profit out of indie charity sites as well which you seem to have the same perspective.

Essentially what this is, is sharing games.

Here's an article I read from Kotaku:
http://kotaku.com/steam-might-soon-let-you-share-your-games-with-your-fri-514219133

Who knows maybe your games won't go to waste some day

[mèmz]

while it may or may not be a good idea for individual games, this will never happen on bundles, unless you transfer the entire bundle, otherwise we will have people exploiting them all over again.

EDIT:
future tip for anyone else, just buy the games as a gift and leave them in your inventory, that way, you can activate them when you go to play them, and if you never get around to it, you can shift it.

[alkazar]

Originally posted by JameS:

EDIT:
future tip for anyone else, just buy the games as a gift and leave them in your inventory, that way, you can activate them when you go to play them, and if you never get around to it, you can shift it.

Yeah, this is a good idea. Of course, that option was only added fairly recently and wasn't available at the time when I purchased the vast majority of my games.

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by JameS:

EDIT:
future tip for anyone else, just buy the games as a gift and leave them in your inventory, that way, you can activate them when you go to play them, and if you never get around to it, you can shift it.

Been doing that since last year summer sale.

[Grump]

That would be a really cool feature. Or if the games are just automatically available to gift until you've used/downloaded them. I have plenty of games I haven't touched that are in my inventory that I wouldn't mind having as gifts now.