Rewards Program FAQ

UPDATE ON 11/2/2011

What’s better than free games and goodies? Free games and goodies + a lap dance (your choice of man or woman!) But since we can’t legally give out lap dances, we are giving away free games and goodies. “Swag” as those who are savvy like to call it.

Read on for more details on how all this works!

How do I win free sweet swag?
It’s easy, but first you got to register! Then you can earn points for various activities on the site.

Unlike that useless Gamerscore you racked up unlocking Achievements on your Xbox 360, we actually let you trade in your Points for goodies! The more you participate on the site, the more you can win. In 2010 alone, we gave away over 600 games and goodies. That’s a crap load of crap. Or as you like to call it: treasure.

How do I earn points?
Just do any of the following:

• Making a comment on blog (1 Point)
• Making a forum post (1 Point)
• Creating a blog – Limited to key members of the site

Are there any rules for earning points?
Damn straight there are. So take note. If we find that you are creating lots of useless posts and comments, you will be flagged. We have ways to tracking if you are jacking up your points artificially, so don’t even think about it. In the worst case scenario, if you are caught abusing our rules, you could get banned, and lose all your points.

Who has final say if any rules are broken?
Please note that any issues that arise from problems with posting or points, or if our Terms of Service is compromised, the site admin ultimately has final say on any actions taken. Please note that we reserve the right to update and change the rules, so you may want to double check this page every now and then so that you understand how things work.

Can I win multiple times?
Usually yes, but it depends on the promo. So make sure you read the rules!

When is a promo over?
Most promos will list when a promo is over. Some have mysterious endings to encourage you to enter quickly before time runs out. 

I won something! What happens next?
Once you bid on something, and won it, we then verify if you qualify to win (ie. we make sure we can ship it to you, we confirm that you did not gain points by posting up useless posts.) It could take up to 2 weeks to verify. Once that is all done, you will be contacted by The Godfather or an Admin person, and we’ll verify your contact details. Please do not give away your contact details to anyone else. We WILL NOT ask for your social security number, credit card number, or bank info. Items that need to be shipped can take additional time as well.

Who can enter to win? What if I live outside the US?
Right now, we mostly ship throughout North America, which includes US and Canada. A certain number of promos we run may be available to people around the world. There may be stipulations so please read the fine print. Generally speaking, most items available for international people are digital download products or merchandise (ie. T-shirts, bags). This is due to several reasons. First, shipping costs are high for big and heavy items, as much as $75 to some places. Second, certain items like console systems, and games, have regional compatibility issues. We simply don’t have the resources to verify which games/systems work where. 

Who pays for shipping?
At this point, we will try and cover shipping on all items. If there is a big ticket item that may be tricky to ship we’ll indicate that there may be shipping cost, and clearly mark how much it is. We’ll pay for shipping as long as we can. We prefer to do it this way. 

When we ship items out?
Please allow up to 4-6 weeks for delivery. We typically ship items out on a weekly basis, and it could take the US Post Office up to 3 weeks for delivery. However, because we are a small crew, if we are on assignment, ie. covering E3, we won’t be able to get items shipped out right away. So please be patient. If you don’t receive your item within 6 weeks, feel free to ping us so that we can check up on it for you. To reach us, just click on the Send Message link on the left.

What happens if you can’t send me something I won?
While we try to do our best to send you the item you won, various unforeseen issues could plague us. So we reserve the right to send you a comparable prize, give back your points, or send cash equivalent.

Please note that if the item you bidded on wasn’t delivered properly or was damaged, we cannot resend you another item. We do insure big ticket items, and for all smaller items we may provide delivery confirmation. We also cannot reimburse your points. We realize that this seems unfair, but so far, out of the +600 items we given away so far, there was only one issue that cropped up along the way.  In addition, if there are any issues with trying to fulfill prizes, we reserve the right to determine what is an appropriate course of action.

How long do I have to claim my prize?
You have 2 weeks from our initial contact to reply to us so that we can verify you as a winner. After that point, if we do not hear from you all winnings will be nulled. You will not get your points back either.

How do we decide what items to give away?
The Swag Auction was brought to life thanks to a donation of swag from John Master Lee. Don’t worry about him, he’s freeing up 4 closets so that his wife can finally store all her junk, so that makes for a happy marriage. We also proactively work with game publishers to get our hands on cool items as well. Some items are given away at tradeshows, and we hoard as many items as we can, so we can give it out to you guys.

In the long run, we want to give away items that a true gamer would love, exclusive items that you can’t buy anywhere. Perhaps they are items that are given to the press only. Or perhaps they are limited edition stuff. Every now and then we’ll give away a big ticket item, but for the most part, we find that gamers prefer a lot more chances to win smaller exclusive items, than have one generic big prize. We’d be happy to hear any suggestions you may have as well. Just ping us. 

How do I see who has won a prize?
We typically list who won various prizes in our Winners Circle forum thread. We don’t list everyone, depending on privacy issues, and such, but you can see a good chunk of stuff we given away.