Engage the Poker Whales
by Keara22HI, HSM team writer
It started when some problems began popping up at the Casino poker tables that were disrupting game play. Disrupting a poker player when he is holding pocket rockets (a pair of aces) and savoring the number of ‘calls’ on his big raise is like telling the Energizer Bunny to go take a nap. He will hand your ace to you.
So, the idea came up: “What if we had a private poker club room where we could go to play whenever there’s a major problem in the VIP Room?”
As a result, some of the world-class leaderboard stars got a private club room space, put in three Brimstone tables, a dance floor, and some music. And a leaderboard of their own on the club room bulletin board. Not the best solution, but all that’s available at the moment.
The fun part about being a Home journalist for a respected publication is that you often get to field suggestions on how things can be improved. Some of those suggestions are worthless or unfeasible, but others actually have merit. And there have been some great suggestions, from some of the “whales” in the Casino, as to how Digital Leisure could enhance the VIP Room — and I mean enhanced quickly for low cost, without months of programming and a core change. The new Penthouse space that is definitely coming from Digital Leisure might be the perfect qualifier for membership in a third level of the Casino: the Penthouse Club Room. Once again, the group huddled and came up with ideas that would make such a thing irresistible to players while increasing profits for Digital Leisure. These leaderboard folks are smart. And they are mature adults. They realize that a company has to make a profit.
Over the usual Wednesday night poker in their private club, these are the suggestions they came up with:
ADD: A third level to the Casino: the Penthouse Club Room.
QUALIFIER: Owners of the new Penthouse qualify for membership in the Club Room. Only Penthouse owners could join the exclusive club.
CLUB ROOM FEATURES: High stakes versions of some of the games in the VIP Room level. For example, 4 poker tables, 2 with a high stakes buyin of 10,o00. to play. 4 BlackJack tables: 2 single deck with a higher max bet level and higher buyin plus 2 regular tables. High stakes slot machines. These are the three favorites followed by roulette. NO Keno, War, or Big 6.
LEADERBOARDS: New leaderboards for the VIP Room and for the Penthouse Club Room are needed. Similar to the way EA had green, red, and black tables with leaderboards for each group of tables.
ACCESS: Staircase (with rope across) from VIP Room up to the Penthouse Club Room.
DECOR CHANGE: Optionals – nice if you can do it but not a deal breaker: Maybe a different color scheme for the Penthouse Club Room. And a 100 chip-per-selection jukebox. Maybe a small dancefloor. Maybe some NPC cocktail waitresses. Bartender commerce point for Digital Leisure items (like they have in the X-7 Club). Maybe offer some really distinctive clothing items that can be purchased ONLY with large amounts of chips. (Look at how successful those cheesy gold and diamond suits have been). Weasel suggested fainting goats and dwarves.
REASONS WHY THE GROUP WANTS THIS:
Game disruption. Too many newbies are getting into the VIP Room. Overcrowded. Drama queens staging fights. Loss of prestige status because of these reasons. Server stretched to the breaking point resulting in poofs and freezes. Table payouts too low to be really interesting anymore.
REASONS WHY DIGITAL LEISURE SHOULD WANT THIS:
- Added incentive for Casino visitors to reach the million mark.
- Membership in a private club is more enticing than sitting alone in a new personal space.
- People who want to hang out the the ‘elite’ gamers will buy more chips and play more games to qualify.
- Higher buyins will breathe new life into the game for the players who have a lot of chips – and will draw those who want to play against the best.
- Shop located where the players are instead of lost in lobby.
- Impress everyone with another innovative move by Digital Leisure.
This is just a rough draft of the discussion and the consensus of ideas, based on input from the consistent revenue-producing poker players in the VIP room. However, it’s as good a place as any to begin a wishlist that isn’t so far into the stratosphere that it’s impossible to achieve. Hopefully, it proves of some use.
August 25th, 2012 by keara22hi | 2 comments
Keara is also known in Home as DarthGranny. She is a wicked little old lady with a wild sense of humor.
=)
we’re not sure dl will listen and the brimstone tables are not cutting it so we r playing on a by invite private server until something changes. we get all the advantages of playing in the casino w none of the hassle w noobs and terrorists. we got plenty of people wishing for a change but no one to hear our cries. finally i can play some vip blackjack without some noob drawing the bust card. play roulette without sharing the wheel with someone who thinks if they put a chip on every possible spot they may come out a winner. I got everything I wanted and dl didn’t have to do a thing. as long as i never have to see a gold hat again i’m happy. people shouldn’t be able to toss in 5 bucks to get in vip then come in and terrorize the regulars.