VVVVVV for free - charity Ebay bid

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

Jimlad

CAG Veteran
There's currently a charity promotion, where if you bid on a pair of socks you get the indie PC game VVVVVV for free on Steam, even if you don't win the auction! The bidding ends in over a week, but get in quick if you don't want to end up as the one with the hot potato on the last day.

All proceeds go to the Child's Play charity. Keys will be sent to bidders when bidding closes.

Blog post:
http://distractionware.com/blog/?p=1501

Ebay link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300491205217
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hilarious! I'm glad to see the only people that will be getting this free offer, will be the people beneath the high bidder who actually pays this auction.

Seeing that the other "socks" this seller is selling towards charity are going for about $10-20 dollars http://shop.ebay.com/e.saint/m.html , it looks like 300+ people at this point will not be getting the game :applause:
 
I have to say, though, that while he's technically right about eBay's policies, the fact that he's putting that there casts doubts on myself as to whether it's truly for charity given that he's offered a copy of the game on Steam for free just for bidding. Generally people who want to do something for charity don't need enticing, and by making the offer he is enticing people to bid on something I think he knows they won't buy, then saying since he knows that he will leave everyone an unpaid item claim. Just some thoughts.
 
[quote name='nbajammer']I have to say, though, that while he's technically right about eBay's policies, the fact that he's putting that there casts doubts on myself as to whether it's truly for charity given that he's offered a copy of the game on Steam for free just for bidding. Generally people who want to do something for charity don't need enticing, and by making the offer he is enticing people to bid on something I think he knows they won't buy, then saying since he knows that he will leave everyone an unpaid item claim. Just some thoughts.[/QUOTE]

I'd imagine someone with intent to give to Charity, a good minded person, wouldn't have expected his auction to be hi-jacked by a bunch of people thinking only about themselves vs the children for whom he's giving the money to help.
 
[quote name='DizoAZ']I'd imagine someone with intent to give to Charity, a good minded person, wouldn't have expected his auction to be hi-jacked by a bunch of people thinking only about themselves vs the children for whom he's giving the money to help.[/QUOTE]

I suppose so. It just has an eery feeling to me.
 
Last night I bought VVVVV for 5, which is currently 6,995 less than the current ebay auction. I have very much enjoyed it so far.
 
[quote name='nbajammer']I have to say, though, that while he's technically right about eBay's policies, the fact that he's putting that there casts doubts on myself as to whether it's truly for charity given that he's offered a copy of the game on Steam for free just for bidding. Generally people who want to do something for charity don't need enticing, and by making the offer he is enticing people to bid on something I think he knows they won't buy, then saying since he knows that he will leave everyone an unpaid item claim. Just some thoughts.[/QUOTE]To be fair, the owner of the auction never originally intended to give out a free giftable copy of VVVVV. He was just selling some socks for charity. It was Terry Cavanagh, the creator of VVVVV that found out about this charity auction and decided to offer up his game as a way to give back (link). Unfortunately, Terry's generosity has backfired, and caused the auction to be what it is now.

Also, the tags for this thread are hilarious.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']Or you could donate to the charity. Just donate $20 to childs play or something.[/QUOTE]

Actually, I think I'll do both.
 
[quote name='TheDeadEye']Hey, with 6 days left on the auction, there will be plenty of bidders to outbid each other. I wouldn't wait till the last day tho...[/QUOTE]

lol not really, bidding has really slowed down. No one has even bid today:lol:
 
Ya just looked and its the same price now as when I woke up this mourning. Whoever has the top bid is either really sweating, has a lot of money...or I guess could just be a douche who will cancel is bid!
 
I would find it interesting to see how this would turn out if the winning bidder was legally obligated to pay and couldn't back out. That would make for a good experiment.
 
[quote name='lolmister']I would find it interesting to see how this would turn out if the winning bidder was legally obligated to pay and couldn't back out. That would make for a good experiment.[/QUOTE]

I would find it equally interesting if they contacted each and every single bidder and told them that everyone above them backed out and they were now the high bidder. I wonder how many people would pay and how many would back out, I also wonder what the first non backing out bid would be.
 
With the bidding stalled at $8,400, I'd like to see if this topic stays active for the final 5 days.

How much is there left to say about a charity auction for socks?
 
[quote name='EliotAndrews']With the bidding stalled at $8,400, I'd like to see if this topic stays active for the final 5 days.

How much is there left to say about a charity auction for socks?[/QUOTE]

I don't know, I do not think we have talked much about the socks themselves. I think they look pretty warm and I do need some good socks for the cold Ohio winter! Is $8,400 a good price for socks?
 
^^haha, not much left to say but see what happens, should be interesting! My guess right now is that they won't go thru every bidder and just pull the product and say 'thanks guys!' if something like that is even allowed. They may have to pay some eBay fees, but it shouldn't be that much (right?)

If anything, this topic made me watch the video on steam and flip thru all the stills. I am thinking about just paying the $5.00, but the game looks so horrible graphically (I'm sure I know that's the point) but I'm sure it will be on sale for $2.50 one day..
 
[quote name='token2k6']^^haha, not much left to say but see what happens, should be interesting! My guess right now is that they won't go thru every bidder and just pull the product and say 'thanks guys!' if something like that is even allowed. They may have to pay some eBay fees, but it shouldn't be that much (right?)

If anything, this topic made me watch the video on steam and flip thru all the stills. I am thinking about just paying the $5.00, but the game looks so horrible graphically (I'm sure I know that's the point) but I'm sure it will be on sale for $2.50 one day..[/QUOTE]


Yeah, it will probably be ridiculously cheap during Steam's Black Friday week sale or the winter sale. As for the game itself, the graphics are, indeed, terrible, but the game play is pretty addicting after maybe 5-10 minutes of play time.
There's a free demo on the steam store page. It's a very small download, so I highly recommend downloading it (the demo) :D
 
[quote name='Violentcolin']There's a free demo on the steam store page. It's a very small download, so I highly recommend downloading it (the demo) :D[/QUOTE]

oh yeah duh! I did see that but didn't click on it. doing it now! thanks :)
 
[quote name='sgr76']Ugh! I feel sorry for the poor sap that gets stuck with the hot potato and i suspect they will not pay for it.[/QUOTE]

More than likely. Doubt a new user is going to pay ~$9k for a pair of socks.
 
[quote name='dabamus']Can we nominate this for the CAG Award in the category of "biggest promotion backfire?"[/QUOTE]
Do we have a yearly CAG Awards series?

I'd totally be down for that.
 
[quote name='EliotAndrews']Do we have a yearly CAG Awards series?

I'd totally be down for that.[/QUOTE]
We do, but if I remember right it is usually awards positive things...

I agree this was a huge promotion backfire. They should have just done a team up of Child's Play with Steam where you pay what you want (or charge the standard price) for VVVVVV and all the money goes to the charity.
 
[quote name='lilman']We do, but if I remember right it is usually awards positive things...[/QUOTE]
Negatives are also thrown into the mix.
 
[quote name='lilman']We do, but if I remember right it is usually awards positive things...

I agree this was a huge promotion backfire. They should have just done a team up of Child's Play with Steam where you pay what you want (or charge the standard price) for VVVVVV and all the money goes to the charity.[/QUOTE]
That would probably be a better idea but "pay what you want" I don't think would work. You're talking to a bunch of cheap ass gamers here lol nobody would pay anywhere close to the retail price for the game. Still, it would be nice to send the profits straight to the charity instead of doing this and hoping some gentleman with a deep pocket will save them in the end. I'm starting to think a lot of last minute bidders are not going to pay for this.
 
[quote name='Tsukento']Negatives are also thrown into the mix.[/QUOTE]

Exactly. Without negatives Hal Halpin wouldn't have garnered an award last year.
 
[quote name='IronZombie']That would probably be a better idea but "pay what you want" I don't think would work. You're talking to a bunch of cheap ass gamers here lol nobody would pay anywhere close to the retail price for the game. Still, it would be nice to send the profits straight to the charity instead of doing this and hoping some gentleman with a deep pocket will save them in the end. I'm starting to think a lot of last minute bidders are not going to pay for this.[/QUOTE]

http://www.wolfire.com/humble
 
The auction owner just updated with this:
On Nov-15-10 at 08:53:00 PST, seller added the following information:

Update

After some communication with bidders, Terry and general people wanting to help out, I have decided to change the plan for this;

Should the winning bidder decide to drop out, the following 9 bidders will be offered - in order - to buy the socks at their bid. If all of the 10 highest bidders retract their bids, I will cancel the auction and relist the socks without promising any free copies of VVVVVV to every bidder.

Hopefully, it will not come to that and I am deeply sorry that this would mean Terry's offer will be retracted. Should it happen, however, resolving who actually wins the auction would take a lot of time - more time than I have, and no-one would be able to take advantage of the offer during this time anyway.

So please, bid responsibly!
Click to expand...

So, what I think the auction owner is trying to say is that the last 10 bidders will be offered the socks; if all 10 retract the bid, no one gets the game and the auction is re-listed, this time without a free game offer. If one bidder does actually commit to their bid, then everyone gets the game.
 
[quote name='VidPower']The auction owner just updated with this:


So, what I think the auction owner is trying to say is that the last 10 bidders will be offered the socks; if all 10 retract the bid, no one gets the game and the auction is re-listed, this time without a free game offer. If one bidder does actually commit to their bid, then everyone gets the game.[/QUOTE]

Looks like no one is getting their free game, then.

This whole stunt seems very poorly planned.
 
I suggest marking this "deal" as dead or closing this. Encouraging another CAG to bid at this point could be doing them an extreme disservice.
 
This really is sad, but I'd say the outcome is good either way: either some generous person drops a decent amount of cash on the charity and everyone gets a game, or a bunch of losers get unpaid item strikes for trying to falsely bid thousands of dollars on a charity auction for a $5 game.
 
[quote name='Guerrilla']This really is sad, but I'd say the outcome is good either way: either some generous person drops a decent amount of cash on the charity and everyone gets a game, or a bunch of losers get unpaid item strikes for trying to falsely bid thousands of dollars on a charity auction for a $5 game.[/QUOTE]The only person to get a strike would be the top bidder. After that, everything is just "second chance" offers and as a bidder you are not required to buy it.
 
Did anyone notice that only a couple of hours after the guy posted his thing about just the top 10 bidders being eligible, there was suddenly a string of zero-feedback bids?
 
They should have edited their listing to not accept bids from people with zero feedback. If I was the guy donating the games, I wouldn't give the game away to anyone with a feedback of less than 10.
 
[quote name='avwjase']They should have edited their listing to not accept bids from people with zero feedback. If I was the guy donating the games, I wouldn't give the game away to anyone with a feedback of less than 10.[/QUOTE]

Jeebus oh Jeebus.

We are on the 13th page and there are still people who don't know that the developer is giving away the games?

He could always just say "No."
 
[quote name='mrosnwo']I suggest marking this "deal" as dead or closing this. Encouraging another CAG to bid at this point could be doing them an extreme disservice.[/QUOTE]

Agreed.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
bread's done
Back
Top