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General discussionHow not to make a corporate giveaway(38 posts)(38 posts)
(38 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted March 25, 2021
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SmollestLight: The current Spring Sale Contest goes on for over a week, so there is still plenty of time for everyone to participate :)
In general I think there is space for creativity contests, but the specific topic of the Spring Sale Contest may not fit it well: the contest asks participants to "Let us know what have you learned from a video game that has helped you in real life?", however, answers are "selected by a panel of judges based on creativity, originality and the highest quality".

This is potentially problematic, because if the participants are describing real-life experiences, it is hard to judge the value of one person's life experiences versus those of another. The criteria (creativity, originality and the highest quality) may also better fit a fictional creation rather than real experience.

I participated in the contest, and wrote my entry in good faith as a real description, but the ambiguity described above was a concern for me.
Posted March 25, 2021
Exactly. That even strengthens my point. Judging the quality of creative entries is always arbitrary. Which may be OK for fictional creations. But even then one needs to be aware, that it will always be debated.

But judging the "creativity, originality and quality" of real life experiences is highly questionable. You (GOG) can either ask for creative (made up) stories or for real stories, where actual facts take precedence over creativity. Asking for the one and then judging the entries based on the other is a recipe for unfairness and annoyed customers.

@SmollestLight: please get rid of the panel of judges and change to rule to a random draw of the winners! Otherwise you will probably have to lock the thread quite quickly after all, to end the negative feedback that is quite sure to follow any 'panel of judges' decision.
Posted March 25, 2021
Don't worry we are keeping it in mind when picking winners that prompts can be differently answered. :)

As for picking people randomly, the local laws of Poland, where our company is based, prevent us from organizing random raffles of any kind. These are considered gambling and that’s why we make sure to have a jury.
Posted March 25, 2021
Another bit of advice ... actually finish the contest and award the prizes.

This one's been going on for five years...
Posted March 27, 2021
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SmollestLight: Thanks for your feedback. We're continuously working on improving our contests (among other things) and will keep it in mind for the future.

We've decided to lock contests after winners were announced as in the past there were occasions with many negative comments as to who should have won instead and how the winning submissions weren't that great. It's hard with creative contests like these as everyone has their own subjective opinion but we thought it's best to avoid such situations. Perhaps this was a hasty decision, so we will not lock the Sping Sale contest thread and see what happens :) Again, thanks for your feedback!

Also, all contests and promotions are planned in advance, and occasionally events like contests are channel specific - be it the forums or social media. For example, the contest for the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Cyberpunk 2077 Edition graphics card was only held on the forums. This also applies to the contest's timeline - some are longer than others. The current Spring Sale Contest goes on for over a week, so there is still plenty of time for everyone to participate :)
Thank you for your reply. Especially for the candid account on why some decisions were made, including the impossibility of making random giveaways due to Polish law. Sometimes it is easy to misunderstand. Congratulations for a very clear and well natured explanation. It is really nice to see initiatives like contests, articles, interviews and other stuff coming from GOG. Contests can be very fun. Thanks for making the effort to do all this.

The current contest poses an interesting question. Very enjoyable to participate and to read the entries. Well done.
Posted March 27, 2021
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SmollestLight: The current Spring Sale Contest goes on for over a week, so there is still plenty of time for everyone to participate :)
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DiffuseReflection: In general I think there is space for creativity contests, but the specific topic of the Spring Sale Contest may not fit it well: the contest asks participants to "Let us know what have you learned from a video game that has helped you in real life?", however, answers are "selected by a panel of judges based on creativity, originality and the highest quality".

This is potentially problematic, because if the participants are describing real-life experiences, it is hard to judge the value of one person's life experiences versus those of another. The criteria (creativity, originality and the highest quality) may also better fit a fictional creation rather than real experience.

I participated in the contest, and wrote my entry in good faith as a real description, but the ambiguity described above was a concern for me.
A very legitimate concern. I have taken the liberty to comment on this question with some thoughts of my own. They seemed to be more fitting in the contest thread itself. You can find it there if you wish so.
Post edited March 27, 2021 by Carradice
Posted March 28, 2021
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SmollestLight: Don't worry we are keeping it in mind when picking winners that prompts can be differently answered. :)

As for picking people randomly, the local laws of Poland, where our company is based, prevent us from organizing random raffles of any kind. These are considered gambling and that’s why we make sure to have a jury.
Ah, I understand. That's unfortunate, but I'm that case you can't do anything about it.
Posted March 28, 2021
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Sachys: Well heres a new one - immediately lock it. :D
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Carradice: Now that's an idea! Locking the thread before anyone joins! :D

EDIT: Guess what? They would successfully lock the thread! The contest is only for Facebook and Twitter.

So GOG found another way of perfecting the giveaway: not including its own forum!! If this thrend goes on, soon new contests might not even get a thread in the forum. Definitely a downer. It feels like GOG was considering stopping to provide this service to the community that is the GOG forum.

EDIT 2: Locking the thread after the announcement... Really, that is too bad.
A stealth giveaway for the Metal Gear series...
A locked giveaway for Silent Hill 4: The Room... a game about being locked in a room...

Maybe you all should just appreciate the effort GOG staff puts into making themed givaways.
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General discussionHow not to make a corporate giveaway(38 posts)(38 posts)
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