A little suggestion

Would you want to do this:

Donate towards purchasing The Witcher 2 at GoG.com every week/month. Giving it out free to people based on some fair distribution system?

I wouldn't mind donating, say, 5-10$ each month for something like that.

I'm just too lazy to set it all up - so maybe it could work through donating to the Watch?

Just a thought.

I think it would be better for the Watch to organize bi-monthly contests or something, related to RPGs with one person winning some game or a voucher for something.

Depending on the money gathered from donations. Like 5% of donations go towards contests or 10%. This might make the website more fun for people and attract some talent here as well.

The contests could be drawing contests or writing contests and so on…

It's just that I think TW2 is very good for the industry, from the perspective of Watch users - and I'd love to support it as best I could.

I can, of course, buy a few copies myself - but since the gog.com solution seems to be the most direct route to supporting CDPR, it seems an ideal opportunity.

However, I can fully understand if others don't think TW2 is worth it.

It's just a quick thought I came up with.

A very noble and generous idea…. maybe half could go to the watch and half to buy the game to people who are short on cash but rich on talent or some such ?

I don't like giving things for free is basically my point. When people get things for free they get complacent and start expecting things to come that easy.
Of course, a contest isn't like working in a factory for 4 hours at 12 bucks an hour and save to get the game, but it is better in my opinion than randomly giving to people…

You know ?

Hey, I know know, the best contribution to Tactica wins a copy of TW2?

I don't care about the particulars

It's also a selfish idea - because I want The Witcher 2 to succeed!

I really have no idea how to do it in practical terms, but it sounds reasonable to donate a portion to the Watch staff for their effort. Then give copies to people who want it on a first-come basis.

The thought is that buying at GoG.com is pretty hassle free for the people in charge of the account.

Would the Watch staff wish to do this?

People could just write in a thread - and the first to post would be the first to receive a free copy through GoG.com.

Originally Posted by Pladio
I don't like giving things for free is basically my point. When people get things for free they get complacent and start expecting things to come that easy.
Of course, a contest isn't like working in a factory for 4 hours at 12 bucks an hour and save to get the game, but it is better in my opinion than randomly giving to people…

You know ?

I love giving things away for free

But this isn't about giving people things for free, as much as it's about giving CDPR the support they might deserve.

To make this official you'd have to wait for one of the mods to have a look at this thread…. Also, there's a suggestion thread here:
http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61
And this is like one of the only threads that I know Myrthos actually reads too… So it would get the full attention of the Watch (admins and mods). Might be a good idea to park it there too ?

I made a post in that thread now

Okay - if you hadn't posted there I'd merged this one into the suggestions thread.

Although the server is located in Germany, the contracts for it and thus The Watch are under Dutch law. Under that law donations are free of tax when there is no benefit to be gained by those making a donation.
From that point of view this idea would be OK if not only those making a donation, but every visitor would benefit. It is a good idea, but I would have to look in to the practicality of things and also the possibilities of how people could access the game with The Watch paying for it from donations.

Let me know if there's something I can do to help.

Gog has a gift option. You would have to set up an account in the name of the Watch. The more difficult part will be how someone is picked and who will manage that list of names, criteria, etc. That could be very time consuming.

Yup, the gift option was part of the idea.

About names/criteria - I personally think we should just make a thread and announce a start date. Then people could receive their copy in order of when they make their post - if enough donations exist for a copy.

I don't think it's worth the hassle to try and "determine" who "deserves" the game, as if that was even possible.

Certainly to me, there's none more deserving than those who really want it.

Originally Posted by Cm
Gog has a gift option.

Just had a weird thought :

What about a "Gift Watch" parallel to the "Price Watch" ?

Or … Every month a small news item pointing out to a small studio to which gifts could be forwarded (through GOG or otherwise) ?

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
About names/criteria - I personally think we should just make a thread and announce a start date. Then people could receive their copy in order of when they make their post - if enough donations exist for a copy.

That would actually mean that people from the Americas, Europa or Asia/Australia have an advantage depending on the time the thread is started.
maybe it is better to have the thread opened for 24 hours and a random selection determines who gets it.

Originally Posted by Myrthos
That would actually mean that people from the Americas, Europa or Asia/Australia have an advantage depending on the time the thread is started.
maybe it is better to have the thread opened for 24 hours and a random selection determines who gets it.

I guess that's true.

Random selection would be fine as well

A random drawing like that for a winner is the best. Not everyone has the time or talent to enter contests that require them. Just give everyone a heads up as to the start and end time to enter. The posts are all numbered so could just pick a number from a hat. Double posting would have to be out. Then just delete the thread and start over next time.

So, Watch staff, want to do this?

I understand if you'd rather not deal with the hassle, and it was just an idea of how to "give back" to those who look upon PC as a serious RPG platform - and dedicate themselves to that, despite the current trend of going console/multiplatform.