18
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How would you present a digital gift to someone?
In one of my secret santas this year I have bought a digital copy of a solo RPG to give, however as it's only a PDF I'm not really sure what the best way to go about presenting this on the day of the exchange would be. I want there to be something for her to open, I know that much. In an ideal world whatever she opens will link to a download of the PDF or something, so maybe a QR code situation of some sort?
My priority would be to avoid any confusion or friction that could mar the social moment of opening it. The recipient should go smoothly from anticipation to "oh, game XYZ, thank you!"
I'd probably make a folding card that has the QR code, an image from the game, and text making it clear that the QR gives this game, by name. That way it can be understood immediately and unambiguously without pulling out a phone.
Second priority is to make the other people in the room envious even if they've never heard of the game.
Maybe a steam review score or accolade that your recipient could reference when explaining to onlookers.
Then add some decoration and light personalization. Edit: I like the scroll idea from gryel!
This is exactly how I do it, print out a card and if I really want to get fancy, I’ll use the Circuit for a little paper pizzazz. I just want the recipient happy though, I don’t care what others in the room think, lol.
Ha, fair point! Are you referring to something like this? https://cricut.com/en-us/cutting-machines/cricut-maker/cricut-maker-3/cricut-maker-3/2008334.html
Never heard of them, looks fun
So she's 29, and I only want to spend a maximum of £10 or so on any presentational goodness, since the RPG itself took up the bulk of the agreed budget for the secret santa. I'm happy to invest a bit of time and effort into making a nice thing, but to be realistic I'll probably have about maybe 5 hours of time that I can exclusively put into it before the exchange on Friday (though I can probably get away with some while I'm meant to be "working" during the Winterval).
I like the idea of a scroll a lot, thanks! I've never made one before but it looks like a fun little project that shouldn't take too long... I have dreadful handwriting, but fortunately a know a calligrapher who can help me out!
There are hundreds of ideas out there for decorating Altoids tins. They're inexpensive, useful, and work well for presenting token gifts. A printed QR code for the game and a couple of fancy dice (if needed), will fit nicely.
For my kids I usually make printouts or write on cards. Depends on how much time I have and if I have a printer. I’ve made images in photoshop and printed those out with codes, drawn crudely with crayons, and this year writing the codes directly on Christmas cards.
I did a digital gift this year and used this stable diffusion trick to make a fancy QR code: https://huggingface.co/spaces/huggingface-projects/QR-code-AI-art-generator?ref=futuretools.io
Just print out the whole .pdf! /s
But seriously, before, I've gone a little overboard with my friends secret Santa lmao, photoshopping a fake game cover art that's just super ridiculous, and sliding the print into a 360 game case, and then including the download code on the inside.
The cover art was like, the epitome of r/montagememes when it was in its prime. I miss those days 😞
Another one of my friends took a box that their standup freezer came in, taped a Steam gift card on the inside, and then wrapped it. It's incredibly stupid but amazing to see initially lol
I just realized the sub was r/montageparodies not r/montagememes lol
You could do it as an online surprise, depending on if you have a website or not.
You could give a link that had a countdown timer on it and eventually display the PDF, with only a link to that person.
Go for a view-only presentation with some fun animations, video, etc on the pages, with the PDF code being the final page.
There are companies that do the first option, but they're aimed at corporates and are usually expensive ($30+ a month), but maybe land a 7 day trial seeing as the big day is pretty much now.
If it's print-it-yourself, how about printing it on some good paper/cardboard, cutting out pieces, etc?
make a puzzle hunt & print it on a piece of paper at the end location