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[RexMundi]

http://steamcommunity.com/id/RxMnd/

[Elfeater]

I dont know if this counts, but my friend who suffers from depression, recently broke up with her boyfriend. So I've been talking with her, and trying to just be a general friend for her.
Dont know since its a friend and not entirely random.

[Sappho]

I'd like to add a game to be drawn, with a story explaining why. I recently discovered that Steam prices are not equal across regions. Living in Europe, I consistently pay higher prices than in the US. Sometimes the difference is small, but sometimes it's huge, like 50-75%. Very often, they just take the dollar price and stick a euro sign in front of it, increasing the value by 30-40% because euros are worth so much more.

In the midst of my rage, I decided I wanted to buy the Stanley Parable, but I didn't want to give Steam money. I wrote a lighthearted email to the developers asking them if there was any other way to get the game without Steam other than pirating it, and if I decided to pirate it, could I just send them money by PayPal or something so they get paid without Steam taking a cut. This was the response (edited for relevance):

Hi, we set the prices for US dollars, british pounds and euros. Steam's default price conversion charges more outside the US, but we ignored those and did our own based on google's currency conversion rates, it should have been a nearly identical cost across all of them.

Due to our contract and licensing issues the game is steam exclusive, so it's the only way to play. To ease the pain of using steam's DRM, let me just give you a code: (code removed)
Don't worry about paying me back, I'm sure you're already getting hosed on other conversion rates! Hope you enjoy!

Cheers,
Davey

It seems when they set the price, it was almost identical, but the currency exchange rates have drifted a bit since then, resulting in an 8% price difference between the US and EU. The real problem on Steam is when the developers decide not to bother setting their own rates, and the default by Steam is to replace the dollar sign with a euro one, as I described before, which results in the terrible unfairness. (By the way, there's no reason why Steam should have different currencies and different prices for different regions. When it comes to online business, they can just charge a flat dollar rate across the globe, and the banks can convert the currency when the payment is made. This is how Steam used to work, and it's how companies like GOG still work. Steam only added the regional prices as a way to increase their profits.)

I wrote back expressing my gratitude for their generosity and appreciation for their desire to set fair prices. I told him that I will purchase the game for myself on Steam, so they get some money from me, and give away the key they offered to someone who really wants the game but can't afford it. I thought about adding it to the Christmas drawing, but I'd rather see this one go to an act of kindness.

So, please add The Stanley Parable to the giveaway list. I hope it goes to someone worthy. : )

[RexMundi]

Kinda want ti, but I won something recently, and I'm sure someone else would get more fun out of it

[crazysheep]

@Sappho: (since Anvilfolk hasn't updated the OP yet)

Could I get that copy of the Stanley Parable please? I'm currently running a quiet Christmas giveaway where I give my Twitter friends one random game from their wishlist, and the Stanley Parable happens to be one of the games I'm looking for to fill stockings :3

[Anvilfolk]

Jeebus, this is becoming hard to keep track of!

I'll try to update the OP when I get some extra time.

I'd really like the thread to be more than just giving away free games, which while nice, isn't exactly what I was aiming for. There's already lots of those giveaways at Bay12. It'd be great if you could genuinely help someone... especially if they aren't expecting it. Something that makes a difference in that person's day, or life! There's some examples in the OP - and other amazing things people have done through the thread, like helping out homeless people, volunteering at various charities, giving blood, etc!

Don't get me wrong, you can still get the games... just do something that isn't giving them away

[crazysheep]

Fair enough then Anvil..

[Nighthawk]

Reporting in! I woke up early this morning and made a ton of pancakes for my whole family, then (utilizing that sugar-energy) went outside and helped people on my street shovel the snow off their driveways. I was sweating by the end of it, but it felt good to do some hard work, and they were really happy to have a helping hand.

This thread needs more attention. Christmas time is prime time to be doing random acts of kindness.

[aristabulus]

Reporting in! I woke up early this morning and made a ton of pancakes for my whole family, then (utilizing that sugar-energy) went outside and helped people on my street shovel the snow off their driveways. I was sweating by the end of it, but it felt good to do some hard work, and they were really happy to have a helping hand.

This thread needs more attention. Christmas time is prime time to be doing random acts of kindness.

The current Xmas thread is where most of the giveaway energy has been going for the last week or so.

[Vector]

Whoops, never mind.

[Vorthon]

Add a Steam copy of Hitman: Blood Money from me. Got gifted it recently, but I'm on Linux, so it's no use to me, and it's not really my kind of game anyways. Figured I might as well Do SOMETHING with it.

[dwarf_reform]

Last night at Kroger, upon opening the car door an older guy was there immediately saying he hated being a beggar but could he get something (Anything!) for gas money.. So we start digging out all the change (about three bucks worth) plus four or five ones we had.. Which is pretty generous in my world because we tend to go without the lights on and hungry pets and no adult here got anything (and I mean anything ) for Christmas.. Anyway, gave the guy almost ten bucks and then he takes off pretty fast (for a grey-bearded guy :> ) And I get out of the car and look around and can't see him anywhere.. So I start thinking "Wow, he disappeared! Hopefully he's an Agent of Gawd or a genie at the very least..", but then I spot him crouched down at a nice brand-new white car about five cars up, and then he's up and off again across the parking lot, probably the fastest older guy I've ever seen.. Long story short, he climbs into his nice copper-colored 2011 Mercedes and proceeds to zip right past the gas station and down the road to what I know is a huge trailer park of drug salesmen.. Merry Christmas!!

Either way, I gave in peace and good spirit, and that's positive karma, whether I just bought him a tiny rock of crack or not

My Steam-dreams are Spelunky, Rogue Legacy, Shadowrun Returns and Civ 4 or 5, if anyone has an extra and is willing.. My Steam ID is the_uncooked

[Anvilfolk]

Has it been almost a month?! Sorry! I'll try going through the backlog - I looked but it didn't seem like there were any games to send out. Please ask again if I have missed it!

Also added were the following:
- Takedown: Red Sabre
- Monaco: What's yours is mine (#1, #2)
- The Stanley Parable (thanks Sappho!)
- Hitman: Blood Money (thanks Vorthon!)
- Binding of Isaac + Wrath of the Lamb DLC (#1, #2, #4, thanks Humdilla!)
- Cubemen 2 (thanks bluejello!)
- Don't Starve (thanks bluejello!) Already sent!



And thanks to all those who went out and helped others!

dwarf_reform: shoot me your Steam ID Oops, you already did! You might also be interested in a copy of Warlock: Master of the Arcane, which is CIVish, though a bit more focused on combat rather than massive tech trees.

[dwarf_reform]

Hmm.. The system requirements thing says I probably wouldn't be able to run it due to my laptop graphics being Intel Mobile 4500mhd ( Granted, canirunit.com said I couldn't run Sims 3 but I can, and pretty smoothly at that.. Looks like an awesome game though

System specs are 2.20ghz Core 2 Duo, 4gb ram, and that intel card :| Only reason I even listed Civ 5 is because I can actually play the demo (would be sad to find out the demo was of much lesser quality than the finished product and I couldn't run the full game That's why I suggested Civ 4 also because it should be on par with the Civ 5 demo at least

Intel integrated graphics is the bane of my existence :>

EDIT: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA*gasp*-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO again

[HARD]

Hehe if we talk about something like that. There's a thing im proud of. Last summer in my neighborhood there was a homeless dog wandering around, first few times i saw him i just thought that owner is somewhere nearby and just let the dog run a bit, but after few days i saw him again and i noticed that the dog is totaly alone and whats worst he got a muzzle on, the one that covers all, so basicly he wasnt able to eat or drink, he began to be aggresive towards people but no wonder since he didnt eat or drink in days and it was really hot summer, everyone was just trying to chase him off instead of helping him, so when he stoped under my building i took a bowl, filled it with water and approached him slowly, at the start he was a bit aggresive but i managed to calmly put that bowl full of water next to him, then i took off muzzle, hardly cuz it was on really tight and basicly 'glued' to his poor nose, i took it off with some fur but man he was so happy, right away he start drinking and shaking his tail, then i had no problem to pet him, i took him to my apartament, gave him more water and some food, called animal shelter, after about 2 hours they came to take him. Well i guess i saved his live, two more days in that heat and he will die of dehydration.