Suggestion to make Team Fortress 2 Premium giftable

[Dando Real ITA]

As now, Team Fortress 2 Premium is the only "game" not giftable on the whole steam. My suggestion to make this possible is simple:

1) Make in Mann-co store an item, called "TF2 Premium" or like so
2) Allow an already Premium account to buy this item even in multiple quantities
3) This item is tradeable only once ( like gift wrapped items ).
A F2P account who receives this item, gets upgraded to Premium and the item disappears.
OR the item can be traded multiple times, until it is "opened", then it disappears ( like keys after use ); the F2P account which opens it becomes Premium. An already Premium acc. can't open the item.

This is guaranteed to work, because F2P can (only) receive in-game items, so giving this gift would be the same to give any game item as gift.

Also, I think the mechanic which allows a F2P account to become Premium after buying a mann-co item can be used here without much effort, because open the "TF2 Premium" item would trigger the same process that happens on accounts after buying like if it was in a time-shifted way ( in my simple mind, opening the item would be the same to send a message to steam servers "hey, I am a Premium user now! )

I hope to see this, I would use it

[Bilateralrope]

I like the idea. But I'm going to suggest an addition: If a premium player is trading with a F2P player and puts the "TF2 Premium" item in his offer, then the F2P player is allowed to give items to the premium player as part of that trade transaction. That way an F2P player can use items to buy a premium account from another player. At the conclusion of the trade, the "TF2 Premium" item is automatically consumed, upgrading the F2P account. The premium player gets some stuff that he wanted, the F2P player gets an account upgrade and Valve still gets their money.

Should the premium player remove the "TF2 Premium" item from his offers, that forces the F2P player to remove any items he is offering. The only reason the F2P player gets to offer anything in the trade is because it would make their account premium at its conclusion.

Also, it might be useful to make the "TF2 Premium" a misc item that can be worn in-game until it is consumed, so that premium players can advertise that they have one. Maybe a Saxton Hale doll, or a copy of his chest hair.

[Dando Real ITA]

To allow such a temporary upgraded trade abilities, I would say that the "TF2 Premium" item should have an isolated slot ( maybe in the middle of the chat ). So, if someone puts a "TF2 Premium" item in this special slot, that trade window becomes "unclocked", and a F2P can place items; if the item is removed, the trade is cancelled/resetted.

This could even open the chance to make some "TF2 trade" items, which are cheaper than the "TF2 premium" and allows 1 trade window to be unlocked. After trade, the F2P is still F2P.

So for example if a F2P has some Refined, instead to give him a whole 5$ Premium, you would just unlock 1 single trade for 0,50$, then you can give him 1 hat ( which F2P can't get, IIRC ) and he trades his refined, but his status won't change.
This means that whenever someone wants to trade with the F2P, 0,50$ must be spent each time and still when/if he wants to upgrade, to get full drops, backpack and trades, he has to make a buy in mann-co or ask for a "TF2 premium" item. This means surely more money to Valve.

This way, maybe some F2P can get amused by experimenting a full trade: as now, they are completely out of this world and have no option to "try before buy" the trade system ( the game engine is itself free, so F2P who upgrade don't buy the "game" in itself but it's trading capabilities ).

This can led to an increase in the rate of F2P -> Premium, which is still more money to Valve.

For the advertisement, sure it is a nice add on and can be helpfull

[Bilateralrope]

One possible problem with the "TF2 Premium" item is the possibility that the market price could exceed what an F2P player could afford*. If that happens, my suggestion would be useless as none of them would by able to buy their way to premium using only in-game items. "TF2 trade" items offer a solution.

Include a counter on F2P accounts. Every time they get a "TF2 trade" item in trade, the counter goes up by one. When it gets high enough, the account goes premium.

You can still gift premium by someone by giving them enough "TF2 trade" items in one go. But, by splitting them into smaller units, each individual unit becomes affordable to a F2P player. So they can work towards a premium account by buying it piecemeal. I'd suggest Valve attempts to price them so that players trade the "TF2 trade" items for 1 scrap each.

This has another advantage for Valve: There will be people who get some, but not all, of the trade items before giving up. All of these partial account upgrades have still been paid for.

*They only get 50 slots, and they will want to use many of them for weapons. Take another 9 slots for spare weapons (1 of each class) that can't be turned into scrap yet, and there isn't much room left.

[Dando Real ITA]

Well, I would leave the TF2 Premium item because it still makes simple the gifting - I have to buy 1 item and give it instead of counting how many smaller items are needed.
It's a little as what happens with money, if you have to pay 1€ it's simpler to give out a coin instead of counting 100 cents.

So both of them can exist:

TF2 Premium for gifts fast and reliable.
This could also be made the only TF2 item treadable through steam trading by F2P, so a F2P with a double copy of <game> can just exchange it for TF2 Premium, as now is happening with all other games who get exchanged one for another

And, TF2 trade item for simple 1/few times trading and for grinding / unlocking the premium as you suggested

All this sounds very nice to me

[Dando Real ITA]

Is there a slight chance for such a simple thing to happen?

[nebojsa986]

Ten months have passed since this email, any progress update ?

http://i51.tinypic.com/2504kxy.png

[Kidofthecentury]

Sadly no, and I guess the "oversight" mentioned in the email was/is actually useful to Valve to encourage people using the Steam Wallet/Mann Co. Store by themselves...

I definitely think it might not come at all.

[nebojsa986]

I dont really see how they would have any reliable info that it somehow nudges people to go premium, all they can do is presume that it does, where on other hand they would have real stats (and money) if they would allow purchase of tf2 premium, so im gonna go with them being plain old lazy to fix this problem.

[bonzaiatak]

This should be a real thing. 10/10

[Tito Shivan]

Originally Posted by Dando Real ITA

Is there a slight chance for such a simple thing to happen?

Highly unlikely.
There is a reason for Premium being only obtainable by purchasing it yourself.
It means you have the way of spending more money on the game.

By making the purchase for yourself you confirm you have:
-The Will of spending money in the game.
-The Means of spending money in the game.

[stevethepocket]

What if you gift someone a copy of the Orange Box? I know for a fact that buying the Orange Box for yourself automatically unlocks TF2 premium mode and gets you a Proof of Purchase.