Topic: Secret Santa program

I've seen this work on other forums in the past, so figured I'd give it a go here.

Basically this is how it works - everyone who is interested will send me an e-mail with their Wii user code, and a list of games they already have, and a preference (WiiWare or VC). Once I have all the entries, I assign everyone involved a number at random (you won't know who you got), and their list of games. When it gets closer to Christmas (this works best on Christmas Eve, or Christmas day), you hop online, pick a game of your own choosing, buy it and gift it to that person.

This way, everyone will get a new game - one they possibly hadn't considered before, sitting on their console ready to play this Christmas. It's like an extra present! Obviously it works on a honour system, but for the most part the people on this forum seem really genuine people.

Anyone interested? For this to really work, we need at least 5.

You know, that sounds like a really cool idea. I'm afraid I won't be able to participate (not enough money ='( ), but I hope that others that are able to participate hop onto this.

But believe me, I would do this if I could.

I CAN but how much points dose the game got to be also that is cool and also how do we know who we get

can it be a new years thing and ill send my games in later good night

when is the last day

It can be any amount of points - the cheapest game is 500, right? So, if you want to give a 500 point game, you're quite welcome to. Alternatively you can give one of ther 1500 ones if you're feeling really generous.

The reason it's secret santa is you won't know who you got - I'll keep a list and give one to one to a non-participating mod to make sure there are no problems in the end (if they're willing), but I think it's more fun for everyone if it remains a secret.

everybody has to put a list of games they already have so there's no confusion or getting a game that you already have.

We could put wanted games per se? Also region specific problems may arise.

Hm, I hadn't thought about that. Can a US Wii gift to an UK one? (for example)?

Seems innocent enough, but there may be some logistics issues because the Wiis at both ends need to be registered with one another. So the "secret" part of Santa is out the window, in that sense. And such being the case, I suggest that if this moves forward, that you just collect all the names and respective Wii numbers in a hat, so to speak, and distribute them perhaps more openly to smoke out any potential deadbeats. ... or to prevent all the games form going to the same address. Just sayin'.

way to steal my idea
anyway, id rather not take part in the program, id be happy to help you with it though

That's perfectly fine (assuming you can gift games to different nationality consoles). The reasons I had for it to be secret were 1) to make it more fun 2) prevent any potential backlashes against people being perceived for being "cheap" compared to others if they gift a lower-pointed game. I was hoping to avoid people feeling discouraged from joining in by feeling they needed to send a 1500 point game.

I was assuming people's minds would be put at ease about the legitimacy of the program by having myself and a willing mod (assuming one can be found) keep track of things, while not participating themselves.

But yeah, if people genuinely prefer it to not be a secret santa program, then that's fine, we can do it another way (and I could join in in that case).

BTW, there is a way you can make it secret. if you add a list of all participants and everybody registers everyone else then the gift will be secret. sure its annoying to do all the friend codes, but it works

i rather not go through the hassle of freind codes and maybe not even end up getting a gift so ya

why did you even post then?

Why might you not get a gift? Most of the people on this forum seem quite reliable.

I'm pretty sure you can't gift games across regions... that's gonna be something else to consider for this kind of thing. :3

I remember we had a large thread about 1 month ago on this exact subject, the outcome was that people who want a new Wiiware or VC game should save the hastle and buy it themselves. Sorry to sound like the grinch but there are to many complications with a secret santa scheme over the internet.

While it would be cool, most people wouldn't do it and if they did, they would give each-other something like Happy Holidays: Christmas. Sorry if I'm a gamer that doesn't like horrible games, but no thanks.

You DEFINITELY cannot give a game cross-region. So IF you wanted to do this at all, you'd need two separate pools. That is, assuming you can find enough people who are interested in both America and Europe.

@V8 Ninja: I wouldn't even be worried about people intentionally sending crap games, but just games THEY like that I wouldn't. Like NES Final Fantasy. I like my PSP verison, thanks. Or Mario World, Link to the Past, any DK Country...I have them all on GBA. See what I'm saying? Go beyond that...somebody gifts me a Street Fighter game. Yuck, regardless of version!

It's not that I think this is a BAD idea, as such. It just has a LOT of inherent flaws to work around. I think a "wish list" to give the potential Santa would be better than a list of what you already have.