Changes After the 1st Month

Welp, there were some hiccups. This is a rundown of what is being done to get rid of them.

• There will not be smaller groups limited in size in addition to the larger MvukeUnity group, there will only be the single, large group. Many members felt that the subgroups would destroy the sense of community that has developed within the larger group, so more copies of games will be posted to maintain higher odds of winning.
• Members will be expected to say thank you through chat/email/profile comments for any game won from MvukeUnity. Members who were posting giveaways were not being acknowledged for their generosity, which lead them to feel as if there were too many leechers in the group. No one wants to giveaway games to leechers. No "thank you"=permaban.
• If you own more than one game in a bundle, and that bundle is posted for giveaway, don't enter. It's not cool. And the whole re-roll process is a pain. Two violations=permaban.
• If you win a giveaway, activate the game. Sooner rather than later. If your profile is set to private, you've got to prove you activated your winnings. No activation within a week=permaban.

There'll probably be many more changes down the road. All changes moving forward will have a corresponding announcement so you're not left in the dark. Hope you enjoy the giveaways and I'll see you on Steam,

Stephen

What To Do

You need to do three things before you can progress anywhere with MvukeUnity:

• Get yourself a Steam account.
• Create a Kiva.org account through the MvukeUnity team invite link. It's pretty easy and made easier with the "connect with facebook" plugin.
• Lastly, connect Steam to SteamGifts.com and create your SteamGifts.com profile.

Once these three steps have been completed, you are then ready to Lend and Win.

1. The first step will be to lend at least $25 (this includes the bonus one gets when joining Kiva.org) through the MvukeUnity Kiva team page. DISCLAIMER: It must be through this team page link.
2. Then, once the loan has been completed, message me or the team on Kiva you're Kiva.org profile link, and you will be added to the MvukeUnity Steam group.
3. Lastly, win yourself a game.

Success!
I'll see you on Steam,
Stephen

What It Is

The foundation of this idea all started with Steam and the communities that live there. After spending enough time on TF2 and CS:Source, I eventually heard of a site that gives away games for Steam, SteamGifts.com. Free games for Steam?

The site is such a beautiful idea: you accumulate points as time passes, then you use those points to enter giveaways. AAA titles cost more points to enter, cheap-o indie games use as little as five points. Simple.

It wasn't long before I discovered my real draw to the site: giving away games. I bought games on sale and used leftover keys from indie bundles to create giveaways, then I thought of something.

Kiva.org is a microloan site that allows people to loan small amounts (as little as $25) to people who traditional banks won't touch: people who live in third-world countries or those who are here in the United States but deemed to risky to loan to (too 'poor').

MvukeUnity is an attempt to join micro-lending with free videogames. With so many people entering the public giveaways on SteamGifts.com, the odds are quite low to win. With a closed group, you can maintain much higher odds to win.

Will this spur people to loan more on the platform or will this create a group of one and done-ers? The hope is once people see how easy it is to use the Kiva platform, they'll become long-time users.

And that's it. Free games if you lend at least 25 dollars on Kiva.org. I hope it seems simple enough.
I'll see you on Steam,
Stephen

How It Works

Here's how it works:

• You lend at least $25 (you can even use the bonus you get when first signing up with Kiva.org) with the MvukeUnity team on Kiva.org, which then admits you into a Steam group that has at least one giveaway open on any given day.
• New giveaways will open, at the very least, once a week (probably more than once a week around payday).
• Multiple copies of games will be given away at one time as the group gets larger, to help keep the odds of winning high.
• Those who lend more than the initial $25 through the MvukeUnity team will be moved into groups with better odds (the system for people who lend more through the Kiva team is a work in progress).
• As the group ages, there will be a system instituted to incentivize loaning more than the original loan amount on Kiva.org.

So there it is. A system in its infancy is bound to have a hiccup or two, so if you have any questions or suggestions, please post them.

I'll see you on Steam,

Stephen