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Welcome to the New Gaming Promotional Grant Round 1!

All users with at least 300 reputation are eligible to receive one free game from Gaming.SE. This round's featured games are Final Fantasy XIII-2, Soul Calibur V, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and The Darkness II.

The catch? Simple - ask 8 questions about your new game within the first 2 weeks of playing. After fulfilling your commitment, you are automatically selected for the next giveaway round. If you fulfill your commitments, you will be continually eligible for upcoming game giveaways.

Have fun while helping us create a wonderful database of information here for the new game.

How to sign up:

Fill out this form specifying which game you want. 20 users will be randomly selected from this pool and will get the game by one of these methods:

  1. Scan and email your game receipt to us; we'll reimburse through PayPal
  2. Steam Gift
  3. Ordered and mailed through Amazon.com (or appropriate national branch)

If you're selected, you'll receive simple instructions via email!

Entries will be open until Friday 2/3 at 12pm EST. Selected entrants will be notified promptly.

Update: Everyone should have received a confirmation by now. If not, please email [email protected]

21
  • Final Fantasy XIII-2 is also out on the 360, btw.
    – Ullallulloo
    Jan 31, 2012 at 21:31
  • @Ullallulloo Updated.
    – Seth Rogers
    Jan 31, 2012 at 21:36
  • How long is the entry going to be opened / when will folks be picked? I don't see it mentioned anywhere.
    – Raven Dreamer
    Jan 31, 2012 at 22:25
  • 1 week. Updated, thanks
    – Seth Rogers
    Jan 31, 2012 at 22:42
  • Not sure if my submit went in. Can you check? Don't want to put in twice if it did.
    – LessPop_MoreFizz
    Jan 31, 2012 at 23:52
  • @LessPop_MoreFizz Looks good.
    – Seth Rogers
    Feb 1, 2012 at 15:21
  • Ah, This explains why I see people mentioning they have the strategy guide but have been asking questions about one of these games none the less :)
    – James
    Feb 1, 2012 at 17:00
  • If we're trying to catch the initial wave for FF13-2, leaving this open a week will likely not accomplish that. The game released yesterday, and it would be about 10 more days before anyone got copies. Maybe we should shorten it to just a few days to enter?
    – bwarner
    Feb 1, 2012 at 20:23
  • @bwarner yes. Updated to reflected the deadline.
    – Seth Rogers
    Feb 1, 2012 at 20:46
  • @SethRogers Will you be posting the names of the winners here this Friday? I have been having issues with my e-mail and I'm concerned I'll miss yours.
    – Kotsu
    Feb 2, 2012 at 1:24
  • 6
    Even if you don't announce the winners by name here, at the very least you should post when all the winners have been notified so that we can have some closure for those of us who weren't selected.
    – Invader Skoodge
    Feb 3, 2012 at 17:14
  • 1
    @SethRogers, I got an email with some instructions, but the email address given bounced back. Can you confirm that the address sent was correct and is able to receive email?
    – agent86
    Feb 3, 2012 at 21:07
  • 2
    Will Steam gifts be regular copies or pre-orders? Both Kingdoms of Amalur and The Darkness II have some bonus content for pre-orders (hats and DLC, respectively), and there's less than a day left to pre-order both of them.
    – a cat
    Feb 6, 2012 at 12:58
  • 2
    Should I expect an email response to the email I sent with my details?
    – Mr. November
    Feb 7, 2012 at 0:30
  • 3
    @SethRogers - The edit yesterday indicates we should have received confirmations, but I got no such confirmation.
    – Shinrai
    Feb 7, 2012 at 19:45

6 Answers 6

Reset to default
20

I like the "catch" you've added, since it ensures users will add content to the site with the games they've added. My only concern is that you seem to be putting all the value on questions, and none on answers. If a user contributes great answers, shouldn't that also be considered?

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  • Also, what happens if you fail? Are you randomly selected again or required to sit one out or something?
    – Ullallulloo
    Jan 31, 2012 at 21:33
  • Questions should be answered naturally, by users who are truly best suited to answer them- and not out of any sort of commitment.
    – Seth Rogers
    Jan 31, 2012 at 21:34
  • 2
    @Ullallulloo Then you just sit out for the next giveaway round, but are eligible after that.
    – Seth Rogers
    Jan 31, 2012 at 21:36
  • 18
    @SethRogers I agree with you, I'm just stating that if a user contributes multiple great answers, but only asks one or two questions, it would seem strange to say "Sorry, you didn't bring enough good content to the site"
    – Wipqozn Mod
    Jan 31, 2012 at 21:38
  • 4
    I also agree. For example, my last promotional grant game, I didn't have a single question that I recall, but I did contribute enough answers, good answers, to be the top answerer on the tag for quite some time (and am still in the top 3, I believe). Does that mean I didn't participate properly? Should I have just asked and answered my own questions to get a question quota?
    – Shinrai
    Feb 1, 2012 at 16:11
  • 8
    we should definitely be factoring answers in here @SethRogers
    – Jeff Atwood
    Feb 1, 2012 at 20:27
  • 2
    @JeffAtwood There are upcoming promotions planned involving a couple of the same games around answers.
    – Seth Rogers
    Feb 1, 2012 at 20:38
  • 12
    @seth well just for the record, blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/06/optimizing-for-pearls-not-sand "Incoming questions are a universal constant, all around us in countless billions. But answers — truly brilliant, amazing, correct answers — are as rare as pearls"
    – Jeff Atwood
    Feb 1, 2012 at 20:48
5

It seems that the rules may have changed this time - in previous grants, selecting a game disqualified you from the next round of the grant. Has this policy truly changed?

I ask because I am terribly interested in Mass Effect 3, which I believe is "Coming Soon" (tm) (possibly during the next grant round?) and if I have to choose between that game and a game in this round, I'd rather wait.

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  • 3
    The rules have indeed changed. In fact, you are now encouraged to participate in multiple game giveaways! Post updated to clarify this.
    – Seth Rogers
    Jan 31, 2012 at 21:31
5

I like the idea, but this seems to close off or limit participation in future grants to people that do not participate in this one. I, for example, do not want any of the games for this month, so I will definitely not get a guaranteed spot in the next round. If the number of total spots is independent of the number of people guaranteed to get a game, I could have a much worse chance of getting a game in the next round because I did not participate in this one.

To avoid this, I would suggest that in future rounds we have 20 openings for random people to get the game in addition to giving the games to the people guaranteed to get them.

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  • 4
    Correct. New applicants for round 2 will not be negatively impacted if they do not participate in round 1!
    – Seth Rogers
    Jan 31, 2012 at 22:51
  • @SethRogers OK, thanks.
    – murgatroid99
    Jan 31, 2012 at 23:43
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Instead of a flat "ask X questions", the following also are important:

  • Asking good questions
  • Views
  • Good answers
  • other stuff...

Maybe have some sort of a "point system" where you need to hit X or whatever, asking a question perhaps gives a few, more if it gets some upvotes, a 1K view question yet more, an answer with some upvotes a few, being accepted maybe another...

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  • 1
    Absolutely, these are extremely important. However, currently the game giveaways aim to get new games to users and encourage questions. Future site promotions will reflect all of these things :)
    – Seth Rogers
    Jan 31, 2012 at 22:15
  • 4
    I agree that having an absolute minimum for questions is the wrong way to go with this. In a previous promotion, I was given a copy of Madden 12. I enjoyed it immensely and asked a few questions and answered a few others. It wouldn't have hit this requirement though - it's just not really a game that brings up a lot of questions. I'm worried this kind of requirement will make people choose games other than the ones they'd enjoy the most for the sake of getting the one that they can ask the best questions about. That, or people will start asking really bad questions to meet the requirement
    – Dave McClelland
    Feb 1, 2012 at 14:03
  • 4
    That said, I have an immense appreciation for all the work that the SE overlords and CHAOS have put into this and all the previous grants.
    – Dave McClelland
    Feb 1, 2012 at 14:03
  • 4
    @Dave The goal of the gaming grants is to generate questions, not to help people enjoy games (that's just a nice side effect). So I think it makes sense to steer away from games that won't generate any content for the site.
    – bwarner
    Feb 1, 2012 at 16:35
  • 2
    @bwarner you're correct that all the content on the site derives from questions, but nevertheless, all questions are not created equal.
    – Nick T
    Feb 1, 2012 at 19:48
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I followed the instructions emailed to me, but have not received any sort of contact to confirm that it's been received or processed.

Is there an easy way to find out?

(I ask mainly because I had forgotten if I chose Amazon or Steam and want to make sure I sent the right details along)

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  • Can you check your 'Sent' folder?
    – Ullallulloo
    Feb 8, 2012 at 0:00
  • 1
    I know I replied and it was sent, first to one address then to the corrected one. Choosing steam or amazon was done through a link in the original post here, so no, there's nothing in the sent folder which would give me the confirmation I'm looking for.
    – Tharius
    Feb 8, 2012 at 2:07
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Is it possible to be reimbursed for a game you've already pre-ordered on Steam, since there is no physical receipt to scan? Or is it simply not an option if you've already pre-ordered?

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  • GraceNote was saying last week to go ahead and order one, and they could reimburse you if you were selected.
    – Ullallulloo
    Feb 1, 2012 at 21:07
  • There is an electronic receipt you should get when making a purchase with Steam, Amazon, or any other online retailer. That will suffice for getting a refund, should you be selected.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Feb 1, 2012 at 21:26
  • Excellent, thanks.
    – Sterno
    Feb 1, 2012 at 21:35

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