Trade items and win with SwapGaming

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

SwapGaming and onGamers come together for a community giveaway. For those unfamiliar with SwapGaming, below, we will detail what the busy bees behind the website can offer you. The website is dedicated to helping people swap in-game Dota2 items for free and works by following these four easy steps:

1. Request items - simply request the items you want
2. Offer items to swap - tell SG what you offer for them.
3. Submit your swap - you give your offered item(s) in escrow
4. SwapGaming makes it happen - request is matched and a swap is successful

More information regarding the process can be found on SwapGaming's official website.

Here is where we come in. From Monday, 10th November until Sunday, 16th November, we will run a giveaway. All those who complete a swap on SwapGaming while the competition lasts will enter our giveaway and ten of them will receive Treasure of the Rotted Gallows, the newest bundle, containing sets for 8 heroes. In addition, you can win a Shadow Fiend Arcana item by following our Twitter (@onGamers) and retweeting this giveaway tweet. The winners of both competitions will be chosen at random and announced via Twitter so make sure you stay tuned. A summarized version of the rules of entry can be found below:

• Dates: 10th-16th November
• To win a Shadow Fiend Arcana - Follow @onGamers_com and retweet this tweet
• Win 10 Treasures: Submit a swap through this link (Register, make your backpack public and swap)

Finally, we caught up with SwapGaming's CEO, Robin Alter, who gave us some insight on the website, its purpose and his plans for the future.

Greetings Robin! Do you mind sharing with us a little bit about you and SwapGaming to begin with?

Sure. I am what is referred to as a gaming veteran, which references that I have founded gaming companies in MMO publishing and game development and that I love playing games.

But let us move straight to the point - we built this item trading platform to help less experienced Dota 2 players get items in a safe place, without fees for trading and without having to negotiate with other players. We are not a forum or bulletin board. SwapGaming is a robust application with search engine. We want to build a product that players could trust and that could make trades happen faster.

Can you tell us a bit more about the trading? You say that players don't need to spend money on items. How does that system actually work?

Players just click on items in the entire Dota 2 catalog that they want, and then click on items in their backpack that they feel are a fair trade. SwapGaming does the rest. We make the trades happen by matching those item requests with others. Players don’t have to set prices and don’t have to negotiate, they just offer what they feel is a fair for the items they want. Other traders are likely to have those items or are willing to swap for them. Basically, your items are your currency and no money is needed to complete a swap.

Everyone values items differently. How will you overcome that obstacle?

That is the key point, since every player places different value on items (subjective value), they will be willing to accept items that may not be exactly equal (in market value), but each player can get swaps they feel are good for them. Players are often willing to swap simply as long as they get the specific item(s) they want in return and we make that happen. The fact that zero currency of any kind is involved is also a big plus.

What happens if a player receives an unfavorable, in his opinion, swap?

If players try to make unbalanced swaps or ask for items that are of much greater value than what they are offered, then SwapGaming tells the player that the trade is very unbalanced and unlikely to happen. Reasonable differences between item values will probably happen, but extreme differences are unlikely, so in that way, the system makes sure trading is fair for all.

Do you have a starting base of items from the Dota 2 catalog or are you strictly focusing on player to player trades?

We started by enabling people to ask for any item in the Dota 2 catalog. They can browse at SwapGaming the entire set of available items in Dota 2. Over time, as more people start swapping, we will focus on items that all players have in their backpacks. If players click on items from the catalog, and no one has offered it, the system will recommend items that others are interested in. We take pride in our recommendation engine and more features are being added.

What happens if the player is not satisfied with the offer or simply wants to withdraw the items, in case the trade takes more time than the player expected?

They can cancel the swap at anytime, and the item is returned to them.To ensure that players don’t cheat each other when they submit a swap, the items comes to SwapGaming escrow. But players can always cancel and get their items back.

The main philosophy around which we built the site was trust. We want players to know we are a real company that they can trust with their items and that trading with SwapGaming means that their items are safe. We make the swapping anonymously so players never have to negotiate or even speak to each other. They just swap - pure, safe and simple. We hope that the millions of players that are worried about trading will know that SwapGaming tackles the problems they had heard about.

SwapGaming is not designed for players who want to make money from trading - it is for everyone else. Just make your backpack public and log through steam to start swapping.

Where did the idea to launch SwapGaming come from?

SwapGaming emerged from a technology from Swapdom.org which makes bartering systems in other markets. We wanted to use the power of this system to help gamers. I had heard so many stories about kids being cheated, even the son of a friend of mine lost an $800 item in a scam. We wanted to remove this problem and we had the technology to do it. We knew it would take some time for people to hear about SwapGaming, but we believed if we just started and solved some real problems that the players have, people would appreciate it. SwapGaming makes it safer and fun to trade again and we are not charging for swapping. SwapGaming is about a passion for making playing more fun and safe.