My 2 cents - taking into account my previous post (yes, I know, but still):
A. I think that there should be 3 star listings, none of which work on a first asked first served basis :
1. One star - games that didn't come from a known freebie - obtainable by all - draw @ end of month.
2. Two star - same as above and considered "better" - only for reputable, counts towards monthly limit - draw @ end of month.
3. Three star - same as above and "much" better (GOTY Bundle for example) - only for reputable, counts towards monthly ( & Yearly, when applicable) limit - one can participate only once every 4 months - draw at the end of a two months period.
- Obviously not every month will have games in every "star" category - as it depends on availability.

B. Most* games that didn't come from a freebie should go into the star category rather than being handled "first served".
1. The visibility factor alone should be much more important than feeding the thread lurkers.
2. Nominating for a Standart game should be favoured for any regular request (like if 3 are sequentual, 2 keys avilable).
3. Nominating for a regular game (from a "past freebie" - aka not top list) should have preference over any regular request.
4. Nominating others to the draw should be encouraged - for instance clearing a monthly limit for the nominee every nth time his nomination accepted.
- NOT all nominations should be automatically accepted, and regularly one can only nominate once per month.

* While Standart keys list is not empty, Starred should host Anything of "higher" value that expected to be taken quickly.
- A good approach will be to always add a couple of keys to a drawing first, and only if the drawing did Not gained much traktion, add the reminder of keys to Standart pile. Otherwize Giveaway again.
- When only having 1 key to Giveway, perhaps wait a bit to get some more? Otherwize decide if it's a Starred or Standart depending on presumed "value".

There are only three categories of consequence: Starred, Standard and Daggered.

The daggered keys are only separated into sub categories for ease of reading.

The keys generally NOT from a freebie are standard keys (aka non-daggered). Some giveaway keys end up as standard only when they are in high demand and not in danger of expiring.

The starred category is on another plane altogether, being high-value and/or highly sought-after items a larger number of users might want thus meriting a raffle.

There is really nothing to ponder about. The first post describes things adequately, and the host determines what game code ends up in which category.

Thanks, It is more clear now.
I still don't follow where Quake 4 (and other Amazon Prime / etc. with much longer expiration dates) should initialy be?
In the Daggered - But not top list due to long expirary, Or in the Standart (as they were not free to begin with)?

Iirc BenKii usually puts them in standard first (his discretion depending on the title and amount of keys he receives), but later on if he has quite a lot and the expiry nears he makes them daggered.

Daggered is just a request category. It doesn't really matter where codes come from to be categorised.

Since a new month started and the starred category was announced as still being "tested", I'm just expressing my continued and unshakeable opposition to it. That is all.

Star system is a good idea and seemed to work well. Helps with people rushing to get the good games and gives everyone a reasonably equal chance even if they can't log in to check multiple times a day. I did see a tile on GA that perhaps should have been starred. Not clear on what qualifies a game for starred.

On another topic, might we bring back Steam key donations? Generally there are few ways for people to have Gog keys to get, mostly amazon, gog GA, or someone directly buys specifically to give away. Mostly Doc.

But there are lots of ways to get extra Steam keys. Maybe too many in the sense it creates lots of work and it is true that there are alot of bad Steam games one can get for free that people then give away and thus the daggered list becomes more subjective as well. Regardless Steam keys is where it is at for active GA

Whatever title BenKii decides is worthy. That's the qualification.

The Non-GOG GA remains without a host. If you or anyone else thinks they have what it takes to run it, and can get the community support behind them to start donating, then by all means do so.

I'm sure if BenKii wanted to run the Non-GOG GA as well, he'd already be doing it. But I'm pretty sure he's got his hands full with running the GOG one AND his YT channel AND his real life to take on even more work.

We could have a restricted combined GoG Steam list. Like no donations for any games that are particularly bad. Like games where reviews are just full of people talking about how it's just a cheap half done rip off of another game and so on.

And Steam games gotten would also count towards Gog games gotten. Still only 1 a month.

Perhaps after having enough games donations close till the list gets low again.

I wonder how anyone would know if people would get behind them to run a group GA.

Imagine both the amount of work and the controversy of trying to curate donations...

Earning the trust of, and making friends with those willing to donate is a good start. If you can't get enough keys donated to run something then chances are you don't have wide community support.

A very highly active and constructive presence on the forum would be good too.

Games already have a rating system. You can set a minimal rating for any donation along with no games with multiple reviews talking about it being a scam entry type.

Bingo! Trust is everything, as in control-free digital ownership
that many of us pursuit

Personally, the convolute process of "ranking" donations
among "bad" & "good" its a clear signal to me to stay away (donating & taking)
Why? I consider ALL donations valuable: Remember, trust!

Is not the primary goal of a donation based giveaway to SHARE?
I trust people are sharing what they can, when they can,
always with constructive reasons to donate (not necessarily public to be valid),
& everyone of us being happy on every moment:
Damn, even when we are not the direct receivers of the gifts!
Besides: What the hell defines "bad" & "good"? Price tags?!
The stores-manipulated rating systems?! Come on, give me a break!!

BUT, If envy, comparissons & decline of donations show up,
well... to me its a signal the primary goal is not happening
Better to ask everyone to be honest themselves in their own privacy
with the misalignment of expectations:
("I must receive the same $ amount than the $ amount I donate!"
"I am entitled to be the first to pick!"
"A month must be closed/opened using my home city Kathmandu timezone!
and make as many exceptions as the hiccups happening ONLY to me!"
"Bahh, remove all that crap vgames offer from my sight & give me the good ones!"
"I am entitled to receive more vgames than anyone else:
I belong to the select founders group of this forum!"
"Why am I receiving less vgames than XuserX?"
"Why are newcomers accepted & worse: Let them request vgames?,
They should prove their worth Nx5 times first!"
and so forth as examples...)
Better, take self-responsibility:
Stop pretending to be part of a trust/generosity/donation community movement
& purchase your own vgames!
There you will find absolute pleasing of yours
about the genres, titles, pricing, time to research your picks...
hell... even control the exact date & time of reception!!
BUT of course: It requires the personal money to pay the caprices!! XD
AND it does not open your heart nor builds friendship: Loneliness at its prime
ANYWAY, on the other side:
Whoever willing to donate, can organize their own GA quick thread
so not a total show stopper to the generous people really willing to share! :D


Yep people, you can call me a weirdo for thinking that way


About the Syn-Vapor & non-GOG keys

TLDR: The non-GOG GA would be a risky move
It could be deleted/locked by arbitrary criteria
applied based on the "advertising" CoC rule

Long version
I let myself to remind this discussion
the story of why it got an exile:
In an irrational furious move, the forum OWNERS (you can figure who)
unilateraly decided to delete threads, lock threads,
silently adding a new rule to the CoC without promptly notification
"Selling (including real-life or in-game trading), advertising, referrals, links to other stores, auctioning - unless this applies to giveaways."
And enforce it arbitrarily under a campaign of banning menace
to whoever not following the CoC

finkleroy (the GA host at that time) did not take long
to notice the non-GOG GA would become -an easy target- to the new "CoC rule"
& moved it elsewhere (Discord) before the irrational furious move touched it

What?! Is not that the way the story goes?
Alright, dont believe me, forge yourself an opinion going back
checking the forum activity especially between 01Apr2022 & 08Apr2022

A few relevant threads to me:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/epic_store_games_you_can_play_without_the_epic_launcher/
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/list_of_drmfree_video_games_digital_distributors
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/gaming_deals_thread
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/rip_gaming_deals_thread_20092022
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/zoom_platform
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/the_community_giveaway_nongog_edition_remastered_redux/post14072

If you belong to the priviledged ones receiving PM replies
from the moderators, you might even discover the coherence
of why some offenders got locked, why non-offenders were also locked,
why some got a reason while others not, etcetera


About the community GA organizer/host

For the consideration of all of you
I have learned the community must evaluate the candidates. I know,
-when a fellow offers as a volunteer is a huge valuable act
considering the hosting is a non paid DAUNTING labor-
and all the candidates & hosts past-present&future
have my full respect & gratitude starting right there
My point is: The community is providing the organizer
the control over the future of the GA & its full support (because we do, right?)
WHICH is huge valuable as well. Ergo,
We must dont fear/hesitate to wait/evaluate until finding the perfect host

We had non-Gog giveaway in the past, it was not locked by Gog staff. That isn't a issue.

That rule hadn't been enforced at that point, then they all of a sudden decided to make it a thing and locked many threads for falling foul of it. I mean, we also had a thread for good gaming deals on other stores before, with links.

Quoting from the Forum Code of Conduct (https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001814049-Forum-Code-of-Conduct?product=gog):

"WE DON’T TOLERATE... advertising, referrals, links to other stores... unless this applies to giveaways"

[My highlight]