Let's put the rewards in perspective:
On the one hand they decided to offer very nice daily buildings - we have no complaints about the prizes themselves. A Glossy Garden, for example, at a Level VIII is worth about 16 Princess Arwens. That's fabulous.
On the other hand they awarded these significantly valuable items based on luck. My fellowship mate got the equivalent of $64 via his Gardens. I got $16. This gives him a large population and culture advantage that I can't match without paying to "catch up".
Inno can't seem to do anything without shooting themselves in the foot - or in the gut even. They make this nice gesture and offer great prizes - things most of us would never have dared to hope for, really - and then screw with us by ensuring that the distribution is guaranteed to create ill will.
How could they expect us to feel totally happy watching other players get $50 in free stuff, for participation equivalent to our own?
If they were going to give away free stuff, why not use it as a chance to create good will with
all the players? The prospect of one Garden each (for example) would have been enough to keep us all motivated (since we don't ever get free stuff). If we'd been able to choose our own rewards (each with a different Splinter cost) - some players would have grabbed Runes they really need, some Spells, etc.
Just as a point of clarification, I'd be writing this same post even were I the one who'd won the most daily buildings. If I'd magically struck it lucky and won so many Splinters that I won the Third Venar's for free...I'd still be writing this post. Somewhere I think there's still some possibility...
Someone at Inno comes up with good ideas, sometimes even great ones. Then someone else starts tweaking the idea until it degenerates into an implementation significantly diminished from its original intent. Please just stop.