As I mentioned in another thread, my background is in the gaming industry (computer/video games, not gambling). My company makes games that use what is called the "F2P" or "Free To Play", or "Free to Play/microtransaction" model. It has some similarities to MFC's token economy.
In my industry (and many others, so I am assuming yours also), whales are customers who spend significantly more money than the average customer. Whether you all use this term, I am referring to the people who drop thousands of tokens per month, often in large amounts (1000, 5000, 10000, etc.).
Most of the popular girls seem to have a couple of whales, and they definitely make their presence felt. Usually they are cheered on wildly by the other members, and of course they always get a big reaction from the models. I have some theories on the way they affect a model's community - both positive and negative. I'll hold off on expressing those theories until others have had a chance to post. I don't want to bias the discussion.
Ok, preamble out of the way. Onto the questions:
1) What positive effects do you think whales have on the rest of your members/viewers?
2) What negative effects do you think they have?
3) Do you actively do anything to accentuate the positive effects, and minimize the negative effects?
4) Putting aside the direct financial gain of the whales themselves, do you think they have an overall positive or negative effect on the token income you receive from other members/viewers/fans/customers?
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To get the ball rolling, I'll go ahead and answer these questions from the point of view of my company, just for the sake of comparison.
1) Whales tend to be heavily invested in the success of the game. As a result, they recruit new players, tend to be more helpful of new players, and generally have a positive effect on player retention as a result.
2) Some whales have an incredible sense of entitlement. They expect (or demand) special treatment, and often expect us to bend rules or violate our own policies for their benefit. This is particularly troublesome when we have to adjudicate a Player vs. Player conflict, and the whale expects their financial support of the game to be factored in. As a business operator, we try to be completely unbiased, but I'd be lying if I said it doesn't have SOME effect. In a pure "he said/she said" situation, whose side are we going to take? The guy who pays nothing, or very little? Or the guy who spends thousands of dollars a year on our products?
3) We try to accentuate the positive by giving whales more feedback and interaction from staff. We try to make sure they know that their voice is heard, and that they have a fast track to have problems resolved or their opinions or ideas listened to. Most importantly, we try to make sure they are getting GOOD VALUE for the money they are spending, so they never (or rarely) have regrets or buyer's remorse.
We try to minimize the negative by making it as close to impossible as we can for players to know how much another player has spent on the game. We also minimize the negatives by working hard to design good, iron clad policies and then stick to them.
4) For us, whales are definitely an overall positive. They are the ultra-loyal customers that help keep a player base together. The way most of them proselytise for the game is invaluable.
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Anyway, I look forward to reading your opinions and experiences.
In my industry (and many others, so I am assuming yours also), whales are customers who spend significantly more money than the average customer. Whether you all use this term, I am referring to the people who drop thousands of tokens per month, often in large amounts (1000, 5000, 10000, etc.).
Most of the popular girls seem to have a couple of whales, and they definitely make their presence felt. Usually they are cheered on wildly by the other members, and of course they always get a big reaction from the models. I have some theories on the way they affect a model's community - both positive and negative. I'll hold off on expressing those theories until others have had a chance to post. I don't want to bias the discussion.
Ok, preamble out of the way. Onto the questions:
1) What positive effects do you think whales have on the rest of your members/viewers?
2) What negative effects do you think they have?
3) Do you actively do anything to accentuate the positive effects, and minimize the negative effects?
4) Putting aside the direct financial gain of the whales themselves, do you think they have an overall positive or negative effect on the token income you receive from other members/viewers/fans/customers?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
To get the ball rolling, I'll go ahead and answer these questions from the point of view of my company, just for the sake of comparison.
1) Whales tend to be heavily invested in the success of the game. As a result, they recruit new players, tend to be more helpful of new players, and generally have a positive effect on player retention as a result.
2) Some whales have an incredible sense of entitlement. They expect (or demand) special treatment, and often expect us to bend rules or violate our own policies for their benefit. This is particularly troublesome when we have to adjudicate a Player vs. Player conflict, and the whale expects their financial support of the game to be factored in. As a business operator, we try to be completely unbiased, but I'd be lying if I said it doesn't have SOME effect. In a pure "he said/she said" situation, whose side are we going to take? The guy who pays nothing, or very little? Or the guy who spends thousands of dollars a year on our products?
3) We try to accentuate the positive by giving whales more feedback and interaction from staff. We try to make sure they know that their voice is heard, and that they have a fast track to have problems resolved or their opinions or ideas listened to. Most importantly, we try to make sure they are getting GOOD VALUE for the money they are spending, so they never (or rarely) have regrets or buyer's remorse.
We try to minimize the negative by making it as close to impossible as we can for players to know how much another player has spent on the game. We also minimize the negatives by working hard to design good, iron clad policies and then stick to them.
4) For us, whales are definitely an overall positive. They are the ultra-loyal customers that help keep a player base together. The way most of them proselytise for the game is invaluable.
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Anyway, I look forward to reading your opinions and experiences.
