Before I leap into this one, I should probably explain what Winster is. ^_^
Winster is a game site that encourages players to work together to earn points through various games. The points can then be turned in for monetary prizes. Free players have to watch commercials and get only 200 spins a day. Paying members have no commercials interruptions and get between 300-800 spins a day, depending on the membership level. Got it?
For more details you can read a review of Winster on Free2WinGames.com. (Link opens in a new window.)
Now, several months ago Winster had to make a pretty drastic change to their bonus point system. (Often called "Cherries.”) They had to change it because players had figured out a loophole that turned the bonus game into an ever-winning slot machine. It majorly unbalanced the game!
Keep in mind that game sites with prizes have to maintain a delicate balance between the income generated by players and the amount of prizes they can award. Every gamer wants to win back more than what they put in. However, if every player wins more than they contribute, the site will collapse.
That’s a worst case scenario, mind you. In reality, even a minority of players can disrupt the balance! And when that happens, well.. No game company wants to piss off their players, but if the choice is between pissing off players or going bankrupt, there’s really no choice at all.
So! Winster braced for impact and announced that in order to rebalance the site, Cherries had to get a severe cut in points. Unsurprisingly, the feedback on the Winster Facebook discussions page wasn’t exactly positive. Many of the comments have valid points regarding problems on the site, but the key thing to remember is that Winster wouldn’t have knowingly enraged their customers without a damn good reason. In this case, income!
Here’s a little perspective for you: I read a comment by one outraged Cherries player who said that zie used to earn a $20 gift card on Winster every week.
Let’s do a little math. Winster offers tiered membership, and the top level costs $10 a month. Additionally, players at the top tier can purchase more spins, which at the most is another $40 a month. That means that this player contributed somewhere between $10-$50 a month and earned $80 in return.
That’s fantastic for the player! Not so great for Winster. To balance this one player out, they had to earn $30-$70 every month from other players, and that’s just to break even! That doesn’t even cover wages for the employees or the cost to keep servers up and running.
At first the dedicated Cherries players were a small group, and Winster actually could balance their earnings by using non-Cherries players to fill the gap. But as the number of Cherries players grew, it became an impossible task. I have no idea how long it took Winster to see the storm brewing, but from an outsider’s perspective… I think they could have moved on it quicker. Definitely before it became an integral part of the game for so many players! It went on for so long that people would put “Cherries” in their screen name so they could find other Cherries players!
What’s the lesson learned here? Well, for gamers, take it as a reminder that the games you play are supported by companies that must turn a profit in order to keep going. For casual game sites I’d say the lesson is, “Don’t ignore small problems!” They have a tendency to spiral out of control.
That’s my take on the situation. Do you see it differently? Do you have any suggestions on how Winster could have avoided the fiasco in the first place?
