Gift economics
How TikTok gifts turn into game effects without breaking the round
Gifts are part of the game loop in LiveHub. Depending on the game, a gift can reveal letters, save a player from elimination, knock back the leader, move a team rope, speed up a clue, or push a contestant higher in the queue.
This page explains what those effects mean when you’re configuring a game, why some games ask for one gift while others use a full gift map, and how LiveHub keeps gift mechanics from becoming either pointless or pay-to-end.
Competitive vs cooperative gifts
The first question is whether the gift helps one viewer or the whole room.
- Competitive gifts help the person who sent them. Examples: immunity, queue position, a score floor, an attack, or a claimed answer slot. These need careful balancing because viewers can optimize around cost.
- Cooperative gifts help the room. Examples: revealing letters, accelerating a clue, or feeding a shared board. These do not need perfect diamond-for-diamond fairness, but they do need caps so the round cannot be bought out instantly.
If a gift gives one viewer an advantage, treat it like game balance. If it helps everyone, treat it like pacing.
Why balance matters
TikTok gifts cover a huge price range: a Rose is around 1 diamond, a Hand Heart is around 100, a Money Gun is around 500, a Galaxy is around 1,000, and top-end gifts can be far higher. A naive “gift = effect” setup can break in three ways:
- Cheapest-always-best — spamming a cheap gift gives more effect per diamond than sending a large gift.
- Whale-auto-win — one expensive gift decides the whole game.
- Dumb tiers — a pricey gift does the exact same thing as a cheaper one, so there is no reason to pick it.
LiveHub’s built-in gift mechanics avoid those traps with a few recurring patterns:
| Pattern | Example | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Single gift | Chatexto / Flag hint, immunity, clue reveals | One gift means no tier to exploit; you set the price by which gift you pick |
| Best-of | LiveLocator score floor | Only the strongest gift matters; cheap spam cannot stack into the same result |
| Exclusive slots | Community Feud | Higher-value outcomes are reachable only with higher-value gifts |
| Priced in diamonds | Big Giftor queue jump | The effect is based on cumulative diamonds spent |
| Qualitative effect | Big Giftor lifelines | Different gifts do different actions instead of pretending to be the same scale |
| Hard cap | Immunity saves, Tile Rush wilds | Gift volume cannot carry someone forever |
Single gift vs gift map
Most game setup screens use one of two gift controls.
Single gift
Use this when the effect does not meaningfully scale.
For example, an immunity gift either grants a save or it does not. A clue reveal gift reveals the next clue. A letter gift reveals letters until the cap. In those cases, a multi-gift ladder would mostly create bad choices: if a Rose and a Galaxy both grant one save, the Galaxy is pointless.
With a single gift, you set the price by choosing which gift triggers the effect. A Rose makes the action easy to spam; a Galaxy makes it a premium moment.
Gift map
Use this when a bigger gift does meaningfully more.
Good examples are reveal acceleration, fruit tiers, knockback strength, or cost-ordered answer slots. The ladder should move in the same direction as gift cost: more expensive gifts should never produce a weaker or identical effect unless the mechanic is intentionally qualitative.
If you’re unsure which one to use, ask: “Would the bigger gift visibly do more?” If the answer is no, use a single gift.
Caps and maxed-out states
Some gift effects can run out before the round ends. When that happens, LiveHub tries to make it visible so viewers do not keep sending into a no-op.
For example, Chatexto and Guess the Flag can reveal only part of the answer by gift. Once the reveal cap is reached, the gift strip can show a maxed-out state.
Other caps are intentionally quieter:
- If the cap ends the round, there is no continuing state to show.
- If the cap is per viewer, like immunity saves, a shared on-screen strip would be misleading.
- If the cap is part of a queue or cooldown, the game UI usually communicates it through the next available action.
Per-game summary
| Game | What gifts do | Shape |
|---|---|---|
| Chatexto / Guess the Flag | reveal letters | single gift, reveal cap |
| Higher or Lower / Trivia Showdown / Recall / MemeSweeper | elimination immunity | single gift, small cap |
| Emojinary / Who Am I | reveal a clue | single gift |
| Guess the Movie / Guess the Song | speed up the reveal | cost-ordered ladder |
| TwistTok | unlock a word | ladder + per-round claim cap |
| LiveLocator | set a score floor | best-of |
| Community Feud | claim an answer slot | exclusive, cost-ordered |
| Gift Drop | drop a fruit tier | cost-bracket, cooperative |
| Big Giftor | lifelines + queue jump | qualitative + diamond-priced |
Host checklist
Before going live with custom gift settings, use this quick check:
- Is the gift effect competitive or cooperative?
- If it is competitive, does the mechanic prevent cheap-gift spam from becoming the best strategy?
- Does a bigger gift visibly do more? If not, prefer a single gift.
- Can one gift end or decide the round too easily? If so, lower the effect or add a cap.
- Does the round continue after gifts stop mattering? If so, make sure the game shows a maxed-out state.
The simplest healthy setup is usually: one clear gift, one clear effect, and a cap that keeps the game playable after the hype moment.