No, It’s nothing like cow tipping. Kongregate has just released a new way flash game developers can earn a little extra cash… with tips.
Kongregate is a site devoted to online games, unique in that it doesn’t allow developers to submit games that have in-game ads. It supports game makers through a revenue share model based on ads surrounding the games on the site. Developers can increase their revenue percentage up to a maxium of 50% by including Kongregate’s statistics or high score API’s.
Tipping is exactly what it sounds like. Players can tip the developers of their favourite games a monetary value of their choosing using the new on-site currency aptly named Kreds. Players can purchase Kreds with their own ‘real world’ money and use them on tipping as well as ‘virtual items’ in upcomming Kong produced muliplayer games.
This is certainly an interesting move by Kongregate. There is a stigma with casual gamers (and the internet in general) that things should simply be free. This is a common problem for casual game developers trying to make a buck. While it’s a generous move for Kongregate to give 100% of tips to the developers It will be interesting to see how many players jump on board and are passionate enough to hand over money for something they’ve been getting, and will continue to get for free.