SteamGifts account value

[UnknownEAK]

I tried registering, but it said my account didn't reach the 100 dollar account value despite me having games that would be well over that value. So I look into it, and apparently the site punishes you if the games you have are games that have been on sale or in some bundles. So the only people who can join the giveaways for free games are people who can afford to buy expensive new games before they go on sale. I really don't get this system. I have a lot of hours of playtime on my account, and my account is nearly 9 years old, but I can't join because I don't have enough "expensive" and "new" games.

I understand the need to prevent users from using multiple accounts, but surely users who have been on Steam for years and playing a lot, wouldn't need this requirement. If anything that should be more important, as again the rich can just open up a new account and buy some new games, and they would easily get multiple accounts, without even using them.

[Gwarsbane]

You require at least 100 dollars worth of stuff so that free bot accounts are not made to suck up a bunch of winnings and sent off to one main account.

You don't need expensive or new games, you just need games that haven't been given out free or ones that have been in bundles. There are lots of those games, but its up to you to find them.

Just because someone has been on steam for a long time, doesn't mean they are trust worthy and won't setup bot accounts.

[UnknownEAK]

Originally posted by Gwarsbane:

You don't need expensive or new games, you just need games that haven't been given out free or ones that have been in bundles. There are lots of those games, but its up to you to find them.

Still meaning, I'd have to spend a lot of money, just to be able to partake in giveaways, which was my point. I can't really afford to spend more than maybe 40 dollars a year on games, and so I am very selective on what I buy. I don't just throw that money around. Still, it's frustrating that all my purchases over the years don't add up to this only because the value keeps falling down, and so I can't join. It feels very elitist and discriminatory towards the less fortunate.

[Mr_C_]

According to steamdb.info, your account is set to "private" so I can't see what the issue is. The only other info given is that you own 21 games.

So, did you spend roughly US$5 each for those games? That's all that's required, and that they've not been given away at some point (easily researched) nor have they been in a bundle at some time (also easily researched).

I can understand how you feel - I prefer to buy bundles because they're cheaper. And who doesn't like a free game - that's what you want to use steamgifts for, right?

You also have to look at the flip side. If all you have in your account are free games, well, anybody could do that. Set up an account and load up on the freebies. Set up 10 accounts and load them up. Rotate through them, etc. They're still "alt" (or "sockpuppet") accounts, and you could enter giveaways more than once. How fair is that?

I think I had to buy a couple or three games to be able to participate, and I'm not rich. Nor do I regret it, because that's what I wanted to do. How badly do you want to participate?

[Gwarsbane]

Originally posted by UnknownEAK:

Originally posted by Gwarsbane:

You don't need expensive or new games, you just need games that haven't been given out free or ones that have been in bundles. There are lots of those games, but its up to you to find them.

Still meaning, I'd have to spend a lot of money, just to be able to partake in giveaways, which was my point. I can't really afford to spend more than maybe 40 dollars a year on games, and so I am very selective on what I buy. I don't just throw that money around. Still, it's frustrating that all my purchases over the years don't add up to this only because the value keeps falling down, and so I can't join. It feels very elitist and discriminatory towards the less fortunate.

Its not Steamgifts issue that you can not afford their method to protect the giveaways from bot accounts.

BTW its actually worse than you think, because in certain cases there is a lag to when games get added to the don't count list and it can be weeks or months. And I forget which ones but I think when either free or bundle games are added even if when you bought them they were not given out free or in a bundle they will no longer count (been a while so I forget which it is) so you need to keep buying games to constantly be able that 100 dollar minimum because once you slip below it, you can no longer take part in giveaways.

So ya just because you eventually get above that 100 dollar minimum doesn't mean its easy street from there, you have to stay above it and its constantly changing.

[UnknownEAK]

Originally posted by chyatt6385:

So, did you spend roughly US$5 each for those games? That's all that's required,...

I think I had to buy a couple or three games to be able to participate, and I'm not rich. Nor do I regret it, because that's what I wanted to do. How badly do you want to participate?

I am on around 49 dollars account value apparently, so it's just not realistic to get to 100, if I don't even spend 50 dollars on games a year, and meanwhile the value of my games keeps dropping down every year. Obviously, I can't afford that kind of spending at once, just to be able to partake in the giveaways, so I will have to live without them, but it is just sad to be missing out, because I am already less fortunate than others financially, and then I can't even partake in giveaways.

[UnknownEAK]

Originally posted by Gwarsbane:

BTW its actually worse than you think, because in certain cases there is a lag to when games get added to the don't count list and it can be weeks or months. And I forget which ones but I think when either free or bundle games are added even if when you bought them they were not given out free or in a bundle they will no longer count (been a while so I forget which it is) so you need to keep buying games to constantly be able that 100 dollar minimum because once you slip below it, you can no longer take part in giveaways.

So ya just because you eventually get above that 100 dollar minimum doesn't mean its easy street from there, you have to stay above it and its constantly changing.

Oh wow, okay. That means, I wouldn't be able to basically ever partake in the giveaways even if I could reach that value somehow. Though in a way that makes me feel a bit better, as that means that I am probably not the only one struggling with this, and the people who can partake in the giveaways have to keep buying lots new games on Steam to be eligible.

[DeltaBladeX]

Originally posted by UnknownEAK:

and the people who can partake in the giveaways have to keep buying lots new games on Steam to be eligible.

Not aware of people getting kicked unless they got in when they shouldn't. Once your account has signed up with $100 actual value, it is safe. As long as you would have $100 before you joined by the rules, it doesn't matter if half of them drop lower after. You only get removed if you shouldn't been able to have joined in the first place.

Joining isn't difficult, but it is limited after all the bundles and freebies in the last decade. Still, you can get various games on sale, and boom, you have joined. Get a non bundled US$60 game at 75% off, and oh hey, you can still meet the requirements. I managed to join when my own library was mostly bundled games, with only a few gifts and retail keys from physical games that weren't bundled at the time. Probably half my value was the Half-Life compilation I got from a retail Half-Life key with an old disc (turns out they redeem on Steam, I'd recommend trying one if you have an old copy around).

[alanbork]

I tried to join a year ago, and my account value has only gone down in the time between. I've spent at least $20 in that time. So I suppose I'm being hit by games that were bundled after I purchased them? in any case it seems like the requirement is too steep. even bundled games cost something, even if I only spent an average of 30 cents a game my collection of 369 games would have cost more than $100. Does that seem likely? I certainly think it's hard to get games for less than 30 cents a copy...

[alanbork]

also, compare to what steam db calculates: an account value of $681! that's high honestly, but closer than the $70 that your algorithm calculates.

[Thorgrimr]

Originally posted by alanbork:

also, compare to what steam db calculates: an account value of $681! that's high honestly, but closer than the $70 that your algorithm calculates.

and? its a diferent criteria. are really the requirements too high?

- you need to own $100 worth of games that were never free / super discounted / bundled

in exchange you get access to 1000s of giveaways, some of then AAA games.
- you dont need to pay a fee to register
- you dont need to pay a montly/yearly fee to use the site
- you dont need to help / give away games to keep using the site.
- you dont even need to join a group / like a facebook / watch a youtuve video / whatever.

i think is a good deal. also remember that this is a private web, and no one is entitled to its use.

[DeltaBladeX]

Originally posted by alanbork:

I tried to join a year ago, and my account value has only gone down in the time between. I've spent at least $20 in that time. So I suppose I'm being hit by games that were bundled after I purchased them? in any case it seems like the requirement is too steep. even bundled games cost something, even if I only spent an average of 30 cents a game my collection of 369 games would have cost more than $100. Does that seem likely? I certainly think it's hard to get games for less than 30 cents a copy...

First, yes, your value can drop lower before you join. We don't save what you had when you first tried.

Second, you can get games even lower than 30 cents each on certain sites, I've heard as low as a cent or 2 per game. Besides, even with regular bundles, if there wasn't that limitation, I could probably make a dozen accounts right now from just spare keys that could get past that. It would be very very easy to make 'valuable' accounts with just bundle keys with no limitations enforced. There are already people willing to break the rules even with that limitation, I can only imagine how bad it would get without it.

[UnknownEAK]

Originally posted by Thorgrimr:

- you need to own $100 worth of games that were never free / super discounted / bundled

The problem is that I have had games that were not discounted, but by the time I save enough money to buy another game, the previous game has already been in some bundle and the value has fallen. So there is just no winning, unless I were to spend 60 dollars at once on a new game, which I obviously can't afford.

[Dreamers]

Even if your value counts as 0, you need to spend only a little over 5 bucks on games once to get in and afterwards it isn't checked anymore. Add the fact that update for free/super discounted/bundled games isn't immediate it is even less, so rather trivial to make extra accounts for giveaways, using a VPN or the like.

Sure accounts will get banned as they don't activate wins, but people can just keep doing it over and over and there isn't really a way to stop them. If their main isn't on the site and kept private couldn't even track them down. Not that it would do any good anyway.

So 100 bucks for the sake of being easily accessible to people is also easily abusable and I have no doubt whatsoever there is people doing this already, community is simply too big for otherwise. So there isn't really any point in arguing it should be lower, if it is ever changed it will be up not down.

Your account is at 49, so you can just spend a few bucks on games with high discount if you care about joining the site. If not then stop wasting time on this and move on with your life.

[alanbork]

Originally posted by Thorgrimr:

Originally posted by alanbork:

also, compare to what steam db calculates: an account value of $681! that's high honestly, but closer than the $70 that your algorithm calculates.

and? its a diferent criteria. are really the requirements too high?

i think is a good deal. also remember that this is a private web, and no one is entitled to its use.

sure you could do whatever you want, including requiring $1000 worth of games owned. And you can use any metric you want to measure that. But I think the metric you use is *incredibly* conservative. difference between steam-db and the one used here is 10X! if the stated goal is true, just to protect against fake accounts, it's waaaay overkill.

[Korrd]

The method and means of screening new users are effective and as such unlikely to change. As with any website whose policies you disagree with, you're free to not engage. Carrying on about the requirements for registration is a bit like screaming at a brick wall to get out of your way.

The wall is unswayed. And you've both wasted your time and ended up looking a bit silly.