How a giveaway runs
- You start it in Discord with
/giveawayand specify the prize, the duration and the number of winners. - The bot sends an announcement with an entry button.
- Members enter with one click, the bot checks the conditions as they do.
- When the time is up it draws automatically and announces the winners.
Entry conditions
Without conditions, the person statistically most likely to win is the one who has only just joined. Three restrictions can be set:
- Specific role required, for example only for verified members or subscribers.
- Minimum membership time, keeps out accounts that join only for the giveaway.
- Minimum level, ties entry to actual activity. Requires the level system.
Anyone who does not meet a condition gets a short explanation when clicking, visible only to them, no public rejection.
Several winners
You decide at the start how many are drawn. The bot draws without repetition, so the same person cannot win twice. If there are fewer participants than winners planned, then everyone wins.
Redrawing
The most common case after a giveaway: the winner never gets in touch. Using a button on the announcement you draw a replacement winner, the previous one is excluded so that the same person is not drawn again.
Designing the announcement
Two messages can be configured separately: the announcement at the start and the winner announcement after the draw. Both as an image card, as an embed or both, see Image cards or embeds.
The image card is particularly worthwhile for the winner announcement: it stands out in the channel, and that moment is exactly the one where attention is wanted.
What you should keep in mind
- The giveaway keeps running even if the bot restarts. Duration and participants are stored in the database, not in memory.
- Deleting the announcement does not end the giveaway. The bot draws anyway, but then it has nowhere to show the result. Better to end it properly than to delete the message.
- Legal matters are up to you. We provide the technology; whether your giveaway is permitted in your country and which information it has to state is something you have to check yourself. That applies particularly to real monetary value and to minors among the participants.
Common pitfalls
- The entry button does not react. Usually the giveaway has already ended. The bot says so when you click.
- Nobody can enter. Check the conditions, a minimum level set too high quickly locks everyone out.
- The winner announcement does not appear. The bot lacks write permission in the channel, or the channel has been deleted in the meantime.