Santos L. Halper on 26/11/2012 at 10:12

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Right then, the mantle falls to me this year to co-ordinate this thing so here's how it's going to break down.

UPDATE

Lowered minimum spending limit to $10.

WHAT IS SANTA?

This is the 2nd year for the TTLG Secret Santa program. Basically you get assigned someone and you have to buy a gift for 'em and it's a big secret. That's pretty much it. Pretty much anyone can participate, within reason (see bottom of this post for caveats.)

However, this year I'm simplifying things. No more mussing about with hefty packages and costly shipping fees. Those days are over. We're doing everything by digital distribution platforms such as Steam, Origin, and GoG. Unfortunately this means no console games since those are on physical media -- whoever does this next year will have to figure that out for themselves because I simply can't be bothered and really, neither can you. In order to avoid cop-outs I'm not allowing the buying of gift cards, either -- don't be lazy!

The last day to sign up is December 10th. NO EXCEPTIONS -- come December 11th, no more names will be accepted. Shortly after the cutoff time, names will be picked at random and assigned to other names, one name per entrant. The name you get is the person you'll be gifting. Don't tell anyone who you're gifting! It's supposed to be secret!

HOW DO I SANTA?

You simply send me a PM with vital information described below, and I assign you a name. Then you buy them a game. With the shipping issue mooted the deadline to get a gift is until January 1st, pending how long sales periods last. But don't wait until the last minute!

BUT WHAT DO I BUY?

Think it through. We all have different tastes, and I like to think most of us know each other well enough to make educated guesses, but I still want you to include your preferences. You are free to use your discretion and judgement but please however bear in mind what your Santee wants. Thief gamers may not necessarily be interested in Borderlands 2 or even Dishonored, so something off GoG might be more palatable to them. You don't want to send dethtoll Dear Esther any more than you want to send Koki Fallout 3. I suggest you shoot for a minimum price of around $10US/£6/€7, though if you get lucky and score something in a Steam Daily Deal or the like, feel free -- and of course there are plenty of games that cost less than that, so if you want to scoop up something cheap, feel free to do that too. Basically this is all built on the honor system, so don't cheat! And remember, there is no maximum spending limit, either. But do us all a favor and try to limit your purchases to platforms your giftee actually uses. Not everyone wants to set up an Origin account for just one game!

CAN I PLAY DADDY?

Entries are not considered official until I -- Santos L. Halper -- receive a PM from you containing the following:

1. Your TTLG username
2. Your preferences regarding platform (Do you like Steam? GoG?) and preferred genre (do you like 4X games? Are you crazy and like train simulators? Or maybe you just like guns/conversation games?)
3. Your email address and your usernames for whatever platform you use.

If you do not send this PM, you will not be entered in the event!

DO NOT SEND ME A PM JUST SAYING "I'M IN". I need the information listed above, because it will be forwarded as-is to the person who will be getting your gift. I also want to make sure I have up-to-date information.

When you sign up, make sure you have money for it then and there! If you can't pay, don't play. I don't want to hear excuses about not having the money, because what if you got called up and told to spend money right then? You'd better have it or someone's going to play baseball with your kneecaps! On the internet! So do this right and put aside the minimum price in whatever currency you use the day you sign up.

After you've sent the PM, I'd recommend you post the games you collect or are interested in in this thread, as well. Too specific makes the gifting process a bit silly. List the games you wouldn't mind receiving, as well as genres you might already collect, so your gifter will have some starting point.

THEN WHO WAS SANTA?

Secret Santas will be assigned through the scientifically proven method of bunging your name on the back of a scrap of paper and throwing that shit in a cardboard box (I got lots!) and picking them out at random. I don't tamper with it in any way (unless I have to, like I get two people who really don't like each other, I'm probably going to swap that shit around so nobody's crying.)

Make sure you check in with your giftee via PM to make sure they got it!

NINTENDO SIXTY FOURRRRRRRRRRRRRR

When you get your gift, let your Santa know you got it! One less thing they have to worry about. VERY VERY IMPORTANT: Post in the thread that you got it! Include a screenshot if possible!

ARE WE THERE YET

While lurkers are welcome to participate, I reserve the right to use absolute discretion in ruling people out of participation. If you have absolutely zero posts or a bare minimum number and you register on the boards to try and take part in this, I probably won't let you participate. I'm given to understand these folk are unreliable, so fuck 'em.

And if you DO try to mess around with the system, I know where you live. And I'll tell everyone what you done, boy.

SECRET SANTA IS BEGIN!!

henke on 27/11/2012 at 04:58

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Pretty sure this falls under the category "Christmas Shopping" and as everyone knows the best possible time to do your Christmas shopping is on the very last day.

Yup. Pleeeenty of time. December 10 is like months off, right?

henke on 30/11/2012 at 06:42

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Yeah I'm in, sent the deets a few days ago.

Santos L. Halper on 30/11/2012 at 07:26

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I have yet to get your PM, however!

gunsmoke on 30/11/2012 at 21:28

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Man, this leaves me out unfortunately. I am not going to be able to pony up for a game that is a minimum of $20. Maybe you guys are just less blue-collar than I am, but that seems like a steep min. for forums mates. I was kinda rooting for $5-$10 min. If someone were smoking generous, they can do whatever, but I thought it was basically the thought and overall gesture that mattered.

Like 'hey I bought you something I think is cool and thought of you when I saw it was on sale', not 'shit this game I want to give suchandsuch is only $12 so I have to hit GOG and find him something else', that may not even really mean much to the giver or givee just for the sake of meeting that minimum.

Anyway, if someone out there wants to do a personal GOG.com gift exchange with me, PM me or something. I'd be all over it.

sorry...:(