Maze wrote The benefits of being a gold member can be found here: Premium.html

A good way to be gifted gold is by being active in the shoutbox, a chat room for some of the active members you don't always seen in the forum. You can join and say hey here: www.thetechgame.com/Members_Shout.html

Warning: the shoutbox can come across as toxic or annoying to new members but I promise we're all just here for a good time(and to bully staff)

Reputation... honestly... I call them useless points. It doesn't mean anything. If you're active in the shoutbox when someone is gifted gold on the site you get a good chunk of rep. You also get it by having someone +rep you which can be done 3 times a day, as well as posting on the forums and news articles.

Every time you get 25 posts in the forums you'll receive one reputation power.
It takes 100 reputation points earned from others to gain one reputation power.

You can find more Information about Rep and it's limits in the FAQ, it could also help you get answers to other questions you might have. The FAQ can be found here: FAQ.html

You can also join the shoutbox to ask a message, post on the forums like you have, or feel free to message me at any time and I will try my best to help you out or point you in the right direction.

Hopefully you enjoy your time on the site, here's some rep for ya