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Can you imagine working on Farmville? I mean, it would be like going into work every day to refine the equivilent of the Fisher Price moo farm toy [1] except a

Can you imagine working on Farmville? I mean, it would be like going into work every day to refine the equivilent of the Fisher Price moo farm toy [1] except a) for adults and b) relatively juvenile. Imagine the meetings, mostly run by marketing idiots. "Okay, we need the new chewy coco grove coconut tree special item out by next Monday. So that means everyone's coming in on saturday." But how can you argue with 85 million users and a billion in revenue? Google sure can't. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek_qxoGDyAw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek_qxoGDyAw

code_duck 16y ago
How is this different than the rest of the game industry?
- alnayyir 16y ago
  Replace moo moo with desert eagle. People have an easier time taking themselves seriously when guns and demons are involved. Cf. comic books, authors, goth teenagers
  - WesleyJohnson 16y ago
    You can also get a large mix of both. My brother works for a studio that, until recently, only developed racing games for the DS. So they might be working on the next Need for Speed and Barbie racing at the same time.
    - thwarted 16y ago
      With the right engine, that should be a matter of theming.
- traskjd 16y ago
  Exactly right. I present on game development to local user groups in New Zealand and I always get a good response when citing "It's fun to write games - wouldn't you much rather be writing a class called SuperLaserWeapon than MembershipIdentityProvider" :-)
  - bpm140 16y ago
    Maybe we should just rename the "MembershipIdentityProvider" method to "SuperLaserWeapon"?
    - MartinCron 16y ago
      I haven't gone into SuperLaserWeapon territory, but I try to have a little (appropriate) fun with naming.
  - cageface 16y ago
    I'd never go back to the game industry. Low pay, long hours, and a pervasively juvenile mentality that just keeps getting more annoying with every birthday after 17. If you like doing bare-metal high performance coding it's one of your best chances to test your skills though, unless you're doing lolgames.
    - FlemishBeeCycle 16y ago
      I hadn't heard of the term "lolgames" before, it is quite apt.
- mynameishere 16y ago
  You have to play farmville, first of all. It isn't a game. It's just as I described it--"cow goes moo" and that's the extent of it.
  - code_duck 16y ago
    I'm quite willing to believe this. But then, I played Animal Crossing for a while and that involved mooing, as well (... if I recall correctly). I'm willing to believe a game can be made out of mooing, however I would assert that a Japanese game about mooing is almost certainly better than one owned by shady Russian investors, or whatever Zynga is.
- patio11 16y ago
  I hate to say it for fear of giving aid and comfort to my Gender Studies professors, but I think a major portion of the reason why Blizzard et al get geek cred and FarmVille does not is because FarmVille is played by women.
  - orangecat 16y ago
    I'd expect Mafia Wars to have mostly male players, and I'd put it in the same category as Farmville, i.e. time sinks with virtually no skill or strategy components.
  - nostrademons 16y ago
    I think that's only true in the sense that people always give more cred to products that they, personally, use. It's the same reason that Google = sexy while enterprise software = not sexy. Almost everybody uses Google, but very few people use any given enterprise software package (and when they do, they usually hate it). If it were just a male/female thing, you'd expect games like SimCity and Civilization to not get geek cred, since their appeal straddles gender lines.
  - ThomPete 16y ago
    That's hardly the reason as The Sims which is also played by many women get's lots of cred. The reason seems more to be that it's not blazing fast OpenGL 3D supernaturalistic advanced strategy/fps type of game.
  - Tichy 16y ago
    A lot of people (including me) criticize WoW for being repetitive and mind numbing (grinding), too. I don't think it has anything to do with gender. Also there seem to be actually a lot of women who play WoW?
jfarmer 16y ago
Do you know anyone who works at Zynga? From this comment, I'd bet you don't. Wovon man nicht sprechen kann...
glhaynes 16y ago
Or maybe it'd be fun because you'd be making something that people can relax and enjoy and that adds a little extra social interaction to their everyday experience, often with people that they don't have another "reason" to be in contact with.
- naner 16y ago
  No, actually, it is just a stupid waste of everyone's time.
  - eli 16y ago
    Other than you not liking it, how is it fundamentally different from any other game?
    - robryan 16y ago
      The games are designed to be addictive, not fun in the long term. You could argue the same about WoW but at least in that case there is a lot to do over a long period before you truly get into the addictive repetition phase. Something like farmville is pretty much that from the start.
      - ryanwaggoner 16y ago
        The games are designed to be addictive, not fun in the long term. Sorry, but I think you're pulling that out of your ass. All (good) games are addictive to some degree, precisely because they're fun, and I bet if you surveyed all the people who play Farmville, virtually all of them would say they enjoy it and are having fun. Don't confuse "I don't enjoy it" with "No one enjoys it."
        exit 16y ago
        i wouldn't deny intravenous drug users enjoy their highs
        robryan 16y ago
contextfree 16y ago
Presumably Fisher Price itself employs people who go to work every day to refine their moo farm and other toys. I doubt most of them see the nature of their jobs as particularly embarrassing or degrading.
- nzmsv 16y ago
  Some people really like designing toys. And at least IEEE thinks it's a cool job: http://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gadgets/shannon-bruzelius-toy-story http://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gadgets/shanno...
- spot 16y ago
  that's because they make moo farms for kids...
WEREA 16y ago
I gotta agree with your comment about marketing idiots
nnash 16y ago
Hey now, don't talk smack about the Fisher Price moo farm. Memories right there.
bemmu 16y ago
You get to run experiments on a huge number of users. Do a split test and get a significant result in an hour. Figure out a way to make it just 1% stickier and suddenly you created value worth millions to the company. It sounds fascinating and I could easily imagine working there.
- timcederman 16y ago
  Yeah, you'd think that, wouldn't you? The more users you get though, the more conservative you become. "But if this drops conversion by 0.1%, that will cost us $100k/week." Gets old fast and stifles change.
  - bemmu 16y ago
    Do you work there? Just curious.
    - timcederman 16y ago
      No, just relating a similar situation.
  - aarlo 16y ago
    just like any big company
Keyframe 16y ago
On the other hand I think it would be a blast to work on pixel art and be paid for it.
trickjarrett 16y ago
I know the guy in charge of in game economics, he used to work for Upper Deck Entertainment as lead on a few of their games. He's a smart guy. When we talked he was hesitant to discuss Zynga too much because he knows that people are not fond of the brand, but his job sounded interesting.
blader 16y ago
The people at Zynga are many things, "idiots" would not be one of them. "Okay, we need the new chewy coco grove coconut tree special item out by next Monday. So that means everyone's coming in on saturday." Surprisingly accurate portrayal of actual meetings here though.

code_duck 16y ago

How is this different than the rest of the game industry?

alnayyir 16y ago
Replace moo moo with desert eagle. People have an easier time taking themselves seriously when guns and demons are involved. Cf. comic books, authors, goth teenagers
- WesleyJohnson 16y ago
  You can also get a large mix of both. My brother works for a studio that, until recently, only developed racing games for the DS. So they might be working on the next Need for Speed and Barbie racing at the same time.
  - thwarted 16y ago
    With the right engine, that should be a matter of theming.
traskjd 16y ago
Exactly right. I present on game development to local user groups in New Zealand and I always get a good response when citing "It's fun to write games - wouldn't you much rather be writing a class called SuperLaserWeapon than MembershipIdentityProvider" :-)
- bpm140 16y ago
  Maybe we should just rename the "MembershipIdentityProvider" method to "SuperLaserWeapon"?
  - MartinCron 16y ago
    I haven't gone into SuperLaserWeapon territory, but I try to have a little (appropriate) fun with naming.
- cageface 16y ago
  I'd never go back to the game industry. Low pay, long hours, and a pervasively juvenile mentality that just keeps getting more annoying with every birthday after 17. If you like doing bare-metal high performance coding it's one of your best chances to test your skills though, unless you're doing lolgames.
  - FlemishBeeCycle 16y ago
    I hadn't heard of the term "lolgames" before, it is quite apt.
mynameishere 16y ago
You have to play farmville, first of all. It isn't a game. It's just as I described it--"cow goes moo" and that's the extent of it.
- code_duck 16y ago
  I'm quite willing to believe this. But then, I played Animal Crossing for a while and that involved mooing, as well (... if I recall correctly). I'm willing to believe a game can be made out of mooing, however I would assert that a Japanese game about mooing is almost certainly better than one owned by shady Russian investors, or whatever Zynga is.
patio11 16y ago
I hate to say it for fear of giving aid and comfort to my Gender Studies professors, but I think a major portion of the reason why Blizzard et al get geek cred and FarmVille does not is because FarmVille is played by women.
- orangecat 16y ago
  I'd expect Mafia Wars to have mostly male players, and I'd put it in the same category as Farmville, i.e. time sinks with virtually no skill or strategy components.
- nostrademons 16y ago
  I think that's only true in the sense that people always give more cred to products that they, personally, use. It's the same reason that Google = sexy while enterprise software = not sexy. Almost everybody uses Google, but very few people use any given enterprise software package (and when they do, they usually hate it). If it were just a male/female thing, you'd expect games like SimCity and Civilization to not get geek cred, since their appeal straddles gender lines.
- ThomPete 16y ago
  That's hardly the reason as The Sims which is also played by many women get's lots of cred. The reason seems more to be that it's not blazing fast OpenGL 3D supernaturalistic advanced strategy/fps type of game.
- Tichy 16y ago
  A lot of people (including me) criticize WoW for being repetitive and mind numbing (grinding), too. I don't think it has anything to do with gender. Also there seem to be actually a lot of women who play WoW?

jfarmer 16y ago

Do you know anyone who works at Zynga? From this comment, I'd bet you don't. Wovon man nicht sprechen kann...

glhaynes 16y ago

Or maybe it'd be fun because you'd be making something that people can relax and enjoy and that adds a little extra social interaction to their everyday experience, often with people that they don't have another "reason" to be in contact with.

naner 16y ago
No, actually, it is just a stupid waste of everyone's time.
- eli 16y ago
  Other than you not liking it, how is it fundamentally different from any other game?
  - robryan 16y ago
    The games are designed to be addictive, not fun in the long term. You could argue the same about WoW but at least in that case there is a lot to do over a long period before you truly get into the addictive repetition phase. Something like farmville is pretty much that from the start.
    - ryanwaggoner 16y ago
      The games are designed to be addictive, not fun in the long term. Sorry, but I think you're pulling that out of your ass. All (good) games are addictive to some degree, precisely because they're fun, and I bet if you surveyed all the people who play Farmville, virtually all of them would say they enjoy it and are having fun. Don't confuse "I don't enjoy it" with "No one enjoys it."
      - exit 16y ago
        i wouldn't deny intravenous drug users enjoy their highs
      - robryan 16y ago

contextfree 16y ago

Presumably Fisher Price itself employs people who go to work every day to refine their moo farm and other toys. I doubt most of them see the nature of their jobs as particularly embarrassing or degrading.

nzmsv 16y ago
Some people really like designing toys. And at least IEEE thinks it's a cool job: http://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gadgets/shannon-bruzelius-toy-story http://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gadgets/shanno...
spot 16y ago
that's because they make moo farms for kids...

WEREA 16y ago

I gotta agree with your comment about marketing idiots

nnash 16y ago

Hey now, don't talk smack about the Fisher Price moo farm. Memories right there.

bemmu 16y ago

You get to run experiments on a huge number of users. Do a split test and get a significant result in an hour. Figure out a way to make it just 1% stickier and suddenly you created value worth millions to the company. It sounds fascinating and I could easily imagine working there.

timcederman 16y ago
Yeah, you'd think that, wouldn't you? The more users you get though, the more conservative you become. "But if this drops conversion by 0.1%, that will cost us $100k/week." Gets old fast and stifles change.
- bemmu 16y ago
  Do you work there? Just curious.
  - timcederman 16y ago
    No, just relating a similar situation.
- aarlo 16y ago
  just like any big company

Keyframe 16y ago

On the other hand I think it would be a blast to work on pixel art and be paid for it.

trickjarrett 16y ago

I know the guy in charge of in game economics, he used to work for Upper Deck Entertainment as lead on a few of their games. He's a smart guy. When we talked he was hesitant to discuss Zynga too much because he knows that people are not fond of the brand, but his job sounded interesting.

blader 16y ago

The people at Zynga are many things, "idiots" would not be one of them. "Okay, we need the new chewy coco grove coconut tree special item out by next Monday. So that means everyone's coming in on saturday." Surprisingly accurate portrayal of actual meetings here though.