GurushotsReviews 72

It was a fun game to show our photos to other people.
The arrival of the turbo a year ago makes it completely uninteresting. No need for good photos, you just have to win the turbo which is a purely random gimmick.

I have been a serious Gurushots player and customer for more than six years. Up until the last couple of years I got a lot more from it than I put into it. I learned how to play and I learned how to win. I am currently a high level "Guru" (level VI with VIII being the highest level), I improved my photography skills directly because of my involvement with the Gurushots system, I had a lot of fun, and I still enjoy and am inspired by much of the great photography I see from other system participants. But the game has been self-destructing now for the last couple of years. It's not what it used to be. The new system owners (Zedge) has implemented several new "features" they claim are designed and intended to make the game more fun. But the real design and intention is to con as much money out of the players as possible. The game is no longer fun or entertaining, and I have gotten tired of the multiple ways the system attempts to squeeze money out of its players. It's free... but not really. And it now sucks.

You have to constantly be voting on other people pics to get your pics noticed by others. Complete waste of time.

You also have to purchase items to increase your ranking

All photographers voting on photos are using different evaluative criteria - no consistency. Weighted voting helps a little. Too many submissions are off topic; for example, participants don't seem to know what complementary colors are or the difference between a profile and a full front or 3/4 view. Contest designers frequently ask participants in their contests to "be creative" but the more creative your entries are the fewer points they score. I am both a professional artist and an advanced amateur photographer.

I was entering challenges on GS for a few years. I saw they were not treating everyone the same. I won a challenge with a bird looking straight ahead. A few weeks later I won a contest with the same bird but it had its head turned 45 degrees. This is the rule from their web site: "Once a photo has won a challenge it can't be used again in future challenges. This includes any revised versions with a crop, flip, or hue changes." I used a different photo. The photo was very obviously a different photo. GS sent me an email and threatened to ban me for winning with a similar photo. There is no rule against winning with a similar photo. I was seeing a lot of people winning with similar photos, so it made me mad and I deleted my account. I quit for over a year. A couple of months ago I decided to get a new account and just play some 1 photo challenges and not spend any money. Not long ago I received a notice that GS closed my account and said it was because of copyright infringement. I sent GS several emails and told them I have the RAW file for all my photos. I would never steal a photo. I told them to let me know which photo it is and I will send them the RAW file. GS deleted my account and said because of copyright infringement but would not let me send them my RAW file to prove it was mine. I'm guessing someone on GS is using my photos.

Basically, a scam(ish) game designed to make money out of its players

I must say the idea is great and it would be unfair to say it is not about photography. It is just to some degree, and you get to see some really great shots.

Unfortunately, challenges are boring and repetitive. They seem to be proposed on a cycle basis. And, worst of all, most peopledon't care about them. Tons of crappy bad amateurish photos are thrown on each challenge, many of them only loosely related to the proposed theme (Things get even worse since many challenges are very loosely defined and almost everything could fit in)

Most people don't even care about other pics. It's all about beating the game and reaching levels (there are even onlineguides about how to hack / beat Gurushots) and you end thinking you can only do something using the game tokens (fill, swap, keys)with eventually you will have for (I never did, of course)

I could somehow cope with all this, it was just a time killing app I logged in to from time to time, just to pass time. It was about a year ago since I uploaded my last photo there and I only logged in this week just to browse around and see only the same old boring
Challenges were available.

To my surprise, my account was deleted this week due to "content violation" without previous warning or appeal mechanism. Now, I am usedto some very prudish platforms such as Instagram and even there I know how to appeal and what.

Here my work, which had been online for some years, was deleted because suddenly some bigot took a male nude with "pornography" and all my photos (just some of them were about the male nude) were down and my account deleted.

OK, of course I won't download this app again, you actually did me a favour. I am in no need to take part in a so-called "photography" contest where some idiot can't tell apart between photography and a male nude.

Eventually I will look for some interesting photo contest online, if there is one.

One Star is very high for this game. It's just a game. Nothing morethan that. Privacy is very very low any one can access our photos and use them or their own. They access our photos and IP address and all the details including with FB. Very recently FB blocks the access to Gurushots becoz of the privacy issues. Not a Geniune voting. Completely a Meaningless algorithm voting system. Quality of the app very low. Time waste app.

I am a professional photographer, & I've been on Guru Shots for years. I have not ONCE won a challenge, & all I see are crappy photos winning & getting more views than any true photographers. A terribly edited snapshot will win over any real talent, and that's sad. This is a site that has potential, but you won't get anywhere unless you're paying.

You can boost your photo! This way not so good photos get on top. While better photos don't get much attention, unless you're a pro. It's a pay to win game. Disappointing.

Admittedly I have enjoyed the app, but find it grossly unfair that Guru's are allowed to play alongside ranks beneath them.

As soon as a Challenge is over, I've checked into the winners including Guru Picks and, lo and behold, over half are Gurus.

My belief is that once Guru status is achieved, you should be sent to a level for Gurus only.

Fills Vs Voting. You get a warning if you vote for too many shots in a row yet a fill allows you to do a blanket vote of all shots without actually voting yourself.

This is unfair as if a photographer has a particular passion such as landscapes etc, they have to discriminate in which shots they don't vote for even if they are great shots.

I have taken this up directly with the company but they won't reply, instead passing the buck to their 'Product Manager' who's area this is.

All in all, it's a cash grab on a grand scale, you've got to pay to raise your status.

Like many have said, the more you spend, the better off you are in the "game" It started out being fun but has slowly become a chore.
I'm in the Champion rank and I will never get to Master. I need two more 5% ratings which I'm sure I have and I have emailed them asking them to explain to me the 5% rating and of course, no reply. I thought if your rating was in the top 5% of the level your in but it appears not.
Yes, I've spent money but once my swaps and fills are done, I'm out of here.

I have ended as #1 photo in one challenge. I have received perks dlfor the win, but I was not listened as a winner of top photo and I was not promoted to the guru status. I have asked support several times why, but the support just ignored my emails, tickets. Based On their FAQ "According to YOUR FAQ "Top Photo: the participant whose single photo received the most votes in the challenge." I have the most VOTES ON one photo, but they just ignored that fact. Shame On you gurushots.

Because, in the end, it's all about the feeling pictures bring.
For me, it's a great social way -not technical- of sharing and improving based on feelings. All levels are present (that's what makes it great), yes, you can buy boosts and increase exposure but, at the end, I agree with all the challenges results I have seen so far. Anyway, I haven't spent money on it and I like it: I participate when I want, I see great pictures and surprises and the fact it's mixed gives it a flee market feel that I like!

I never had any intention of paying for Gurushots, and when I started it was quite fun. You could progress up the levels and in general the strongest shots got highly rated. But they seem to have changed things so it is much more difficult without spending money and some blatant abuses of the rules are ignored. If you have to spend money to get better results, I don't have a problem with that since Gurushots is a business not a charity. But for me it's too time consuming and not rewarding now so I'm out.

I have started with GS just for fun as one of my hobby.
One of the requirements to become Guru is to win a challenge. And every challenge is advertised to have some prize, so when I became a guru (in other words when I won a challenge) I contacted the customer service asking what would happen with my prize. That kept telling me other things and never answered my question, after I asked for like 4 times.
I think is not a big deal, overall is just for fun, but I just wanted some clarity.
Recently my account was suspended for as someone claimed 3 of my photos were not mine. Then I contacted the customer service again asking for some explanation. They asked me to provide the raw files to prove the pictures were mine, and I did. I provide the raws I had plus the original files.
After a week they told me I had to remove those pictures or my account will be deleted forever. I asked other clarifications, such as how can I do that, as my profile is blocked and I cannot access. And they keep repeating the same thing over and over without answering to my questions...
Now, I proved those are my photos, why do they have to delete my account?

The initial idea is that this online photography game can improve your skills or even make you some money. You advance in levels by entering "challenges" and accumulating points/levels. If (and that's a big if) you achieve "Guru" status you have "prestige" status and can then run challenges. This all sounds good to the first-time visitor but the reality, in the end, is far different. The first issue is there are now so many expert photographers (aka "Gurus") playing the game that the beginner, intermediate and advanced level photographers have about the same chance of winning a challenge as a lottery. In my opinion, the biggest issue is "random" voting. To get "exposure" to your photo in any challenge you must "vote" often and frequently. Yes, you can also use "fills" instead of voting which certainly saves time. Yes, you can "earn" these fills by entering as many challenges as you can thus gaining "achievements" which will give you free "fills", "boosts" and "swaps" which are all intended to assist you in winning a challenge. You can also "purchase" these tools which will slant the game towards people with money. In all cases, however, there is a tendency of all challenge members to vote randomly for bad photos, especially under time pressure. I am not saying that "bad" photos win the challenge. In my roughly two years playing the game, I cannot say that a challenge was won by a poor photo. However, the number of "good" photos to choose from are many more than the "poor" ones so it is inevitable a good photo will always win but it probably will not be "yours" because most of the participants never even see "yours". The bottom line is the creators have designed this game to make money off your time and effort you need to decide whether it is worth it. As far as the "make money off your photos" part. On that, Guru has partnered with "Peecho" which is one of many many online stock photography venues now available. You do not need "Gurushots" to signup for Peecho and usually "photographers" (which is Gurushot's targeted audience) do not buy other photographers' work. Yes, you can use Gurushots as a "free portfolio" site but so can the other million photographers so your stuff better stands out from them. You are much better off with a real stock photography site with high standards like "Shutterstock" or even 500px which has a deal with "Getty Images". One last comment about the "exhibitions" feature of Gurushots. Again it sounds like a great idea and the cost seems reasonable and your work may finally get the exposure it needs but only to a few very picky people. My opinion is that your time would be better spent making sure that your great photography is on a good stock site. I believe this review is fair and reasonable and curious to see if Gurushots does a "rebuttal" n the criticisms brought forward.

If it is a game, it is an annoying one. I constantly see a flood of terribly bad photos that are doing well. Originality, knowledge and real skills are not what matters there. Vox populi drags all fine works down, putting on top boring cliche photos. In theory it could work and be fun. But it would require some sort of moderation. As it is, it really is useless, sorry to say.

Poorly kept up site that is very expensive for no value received. Basically you are shoveling money to them to improve your rating. No actual feedback of helpful guidelines.