Not-So-Secret Santa Is Live!

Sign-ups for the group itself will NOT close and will continue to be available on an invite-only basis.

IMPORTANT EDIT: It is more than okay to join the group even if you do NOT intend to gift games to others! Please join if you want to receive games. Gifters love to have an eager audience to gift to!

For certain events (such as Not-So-Secret Santa) gifting is necessary for those choosing to participate, but these are always optional. Membership in the group and accepting freely given gifts requires no burden of gifting on your behalf.

ALSO IMPORTANT EDIT: Not-So-Secret Santa has a buy-in of under $5 USD. Though gifters can certainly choose to gift a more expensive game if they prefer, each participant is including at least one game on their wishlist that is less than $5 USD in order to minimize the people who are priced out of participating.

With @Deimos's permission, I have started the Tildes' Steam Game Gifting Group and am beginning its first event: Not-So-Secret Santa!

In proper Tildes' fashion the group is invite-only at the moment, so if you would like to join, please reply here or PM me with a link to your Steam profile or your Steam username. I'll have to friend you to send you the invite, but you don't need to keep me on your friends' list after you've accepted it if you don't want to (I promise I won't mind!).

I envision the group being used for specific events (like Not-So-Secret Santa), random giveaways, and group-limited lotteries (using the platform Steamgifts).

I realize this is a little early and that I've been doing a lot on Tildes lately, but I'm really into this idea and I know a lot of people will soon be busy with holiday plans (if they aren't already). As such, I figured it was better to go ahead and propose this now rather than wait:

What are challenge lists?

In reading circles, it's common for sites to put out yearly "challenge checklists". They are lists of different criteria with stuff like "Read a book published in the year you were born" or "Read a book with the name of a country in the title", and the idea is that you try to complete the list over the course of the year. Here are some examples from 2019:

• Book Riot
• Popsugar
• Omaha Public Library

The Idea

I think it would be neat if Tildes came up with a gaming version of one of these challenge lists for 2020. Why?

• It's fun
• It's great for diving into your backlog (if you have one)
• It gives you incentive to play games you might otherwise overlook
• It's fulfilling to work towards a goal
• I haven't seen a gaming version of this idea before, so we could (maybe) be trailblazers!
• But mostly it's fun

The Process

I was originally considering coming up with my own individual list for myself, but I think it would be neat if we did a community version instead. As such,

• If you are interested in participating in a 2020 gaming challenge list, let me know in this thread.
• If you have ideas for criteria for the challenge list, also let me know in this thread.
• If you have any other thoughts on this setup, let me know.

This is a brainstorming thread, so feel free to submit any and all ideas you have. Throw everything at the wall. We'll see what sticks afterwards.

To be clear, the challenges are more about playing certain games than they are about completing specific tasks within games. So "play a game in which you can pet a dog" works, while "pet the dog in Zork II" does not.

After we finish brainstorming, I will compile all submitted criteria into a poll and we can vote on the ones we most like. Then, after voting, the top [number TBD] entries from the poll will become our challenge list for 2020.

It's been a while since the last Steam key giveaway thread, so let's have another one! Post any extras you have (or are willing to buy for others if you're feeling super generous), and let's share!

I won't set thread-wide rules (e.g. first come first serve, one per person, random draw after a certain amount of time, etc.) and instead let will let each individual poster set the parameters for how they want to distribute.

For our first photo challenge, any equipment goes! Please participate regardless of skill level or experience. :) Be it an old Polaroid, a point and click, a phone cam, or a professional kit, capture those photons and post them here!

Our subject this week: between three to 10 images exploring a pastime of yours. For example:

Reading? Pics of stacks of books, libraries, e-readers, pages of text, people absorbed in the printed word...

Running? Your shoes! Legs blurring by, your favorite route scenery, your muscle rub cream, brand of sock you like...

As long as you can connect it in some way to your activity, it's fair game. Let's clean our lenses and get going!

Website: https://hacksummit.org

Honestly I'm not following this block-chain thing that much closely (apart from knowing the theory of how it works on a basic level) and I'm curious to see if this event can help me get what it is all about :)

Anyone interested in a free pass can send a PM to me (do not reply here please) and it would be interesting if we use this topic to talk about your previous experience with the event or block-chain in general.

If successful this will be Rocket Lab's first commercial launch and second rocket to reach orbit after Still Testing's successful launch in January. It's Business Time will carry a handful of small satellites including the IRVINE01 cubesat built by Irvine, California high school students; two Lemur-2 cubesats for Spire; and the NABEO drag sail demonstrator for end of life satellite deorbiting for Bavaria.

Rocket Lab launches their Electron rockets from Launch Complex 1 on the picturesque Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.

Rocket Watch page with some info and a countdown timer

Rocket Lab on Twitter

Rocket Lab on YouTube

It's business, it's business time!

Updates:
Launch bumped to 02:10 UTC
Scrubbed for the day for motor issue

Any concerts you guys plan on going to/went to within the last/next few months? Last Friday there was a Kendrick Lamar concert I went to, it was pretty fun, although there were a lot of "odd" people there. This Friday I'm going to attend a Journey/Def Leppard concert. I also plan on seeing Pouya this summer, he's an underground rapper that I like, I also want to go to an Iron Maiden concert in Germany with a close friend but I'm not sure if I should spend the money at the moment.