5 ms·

Have you played a Zynga game? In Zynga games, you cannot complete the core objectives without recruiting other people to play the game or by paying money. Zyn

by zemo 15y ago

Have you played a Zynga game? In Zynga games, you cannot complete the core objectives without recruiting other people to play the game or by paying money. Zynga's products are pyramid schemes masquerading as games.

nhangen 15y ago
I don't doubt that, but they seem to make people happy judging from my FB feed. I think they found a way to make non-gamers feel good about gaming, which I'm for. Maybe Zynga can be a gateway drug?
- bluedanieru 15y ago
  Why do you want non-gamers to "feel good about gaming"? Why do you care? Why is this kind of thinking so prevalent among the gaming community? You don't see golf enthusiasts concerning themselves with the general population's interest in golf. You don't see golfers applauding courses opened up with the sole purpose of getting everyone on the planet to golf (in fact it's often the opposite). Not everyone has to play video games or want to.
  - code_duck 15y ago
    I'm thinking the difference is that golf isn't widely misunderstood to be an activity only engaged in by lonely male teenage misanthropes. Regardless, many people do try to promote activities or groups that they are involved with. Golfers who want to keep their courses uncrowded is a poor example; generally games get better as more people play.
  - richardw 15y ago
    Let the man care about what he cares about. If he wants more gamers, that's his right. Unless he's actually impacting your life, live and let live.
    - bluedanieru 15y ago
      What the hell kind of comment is this? It's a discussion forum, we're discussing. I care more about gaming than I probably should, and I'd welcome a larger community as well, but not if it means gaming comes to resemble the lowest-common-denominator shit we get from Zynga, et al.
      - ido 15y ago
        As an avid gamer of more than 2 decades (I'm 28 & started playing games on my parents' PC XT when I was 4) I don't think this is the trend we're seeing, if anything things keep getting better all the time - you got more choice & more games of more types coming out all the time. If you want "hardcore" games, there is no shortage of new ones coming out.
      - richardw 15y ago
        Well, to paraphrase your own comment above, golfers don't care that there are many other shit golf courses being created around the world. They just play golf on courses they like. Why do you care if others are playing shit made from Zynga? You have a lot of opinions about others comment styles, what they care about etc, but frankly economics doesn't care whether you like games or not. If there's a market, it sells.
        bluedanieru 15y ago
        I suspect golfers would start to care if mass-market trends impacted the quality of their own courses. Maybe you should stick to articulating your own opinions, rather than expanding on another's for him? I don't care if people play whatever rubbish issues forth from the bowels of Zynga's marketing department, but I'm not going to celebrate it in the name of getting more people playing games, either. At any rate your beef seems to be that I commented at all, or that you think I was rude, or just that I posted something you don't wholly agree with, or that I was criticizing someone's 'comment style' whatever that means (I think the pot might be calling the kettle black on that one). Not sure really what your problem is with me personally but my patience for your pointless sniping has worn thin so I think I'll conclude with 'fuck you' and be done with it.
  - ido 15y ago
    Why do you want non-gamers to "feel good about gaming"? Why do you care? I don't know about the OP, but as a game developer I want my potential market to be as large as possible. More gamers == more demand for games.
  - nhangen 15y ago
    Because traditionally, the people I know playing Zynga games have felt embarrassed to admit they play games, which is silly. Perhaps I've given the impression that I'm deeply passionate about Zynga becoming a success and for the world to unite under a flag of better gaming, but that's not what I'm after. I want to eliminate the stigmas of gaming, and as another poster said, expand the market. That said, I'm bewildered by the anti-Zynga crowd here. No one forces people to play Farmville, and though I really hate the game, I'm not going to blame Zynga for people wasting their life away, just as I don't blame Blizzard for the people hooked on WoW. It's a choice people make.
dorkitude 15y ago
It's actually become quite rare for them to gate core objectives in this manner (I haven't seen it in a new game in at least a year, and I've spent a lot of time researching their games). The general rule: if you have the patience to wait for your energy to recharge, you can play for free (and without neighbors) for quite a while (weeks or months). You might miss out on some fancy extras, but even still, it's not bad in terms of length and depth, when compared to the 'free trial' phase of so-called "hardcore" games.

by zemo 15y ago

nhangen 15y ago

I don't doubt that, but they seem to make people happy judging from my FB feed. I think they found a way to make non-gamers feel good about gaming, which I'm for. Maybe Zynga can be a gateway drug?

bluedanieru 15y ago
Why do you want non-gamers to "feel good about gaming"? Why do you care? Why is this kind of thinking so prevalent among the gaming community? You don't see golf enthusiasts concerning themselves with the general population's interest in golf. You don't see golfers applauding courses opened up with the sole purpose of getting everyone on the planet to golf (in fact it's often the opposite). Not everyone has to play video games or want to.
- code_duck 15y ago
  I'm thinking the difference is that golf isn't widely misunderstood to be an activity only engaged in by lonely male teenage misanthropes. Regardless, many people do try to promote activities or groups that they are involved with. Golfers who want to keep their courses uncrowded is a poor example; generally games get better as more people play.
- richardw 15y ago
  Let the man care about what he cares about. If he wants more gamers, that's his right. Unless he's actually impacting your life, live and let live.
  - bluedanieru 15y ago
    What the hell kind of comment is this? It's a discussion forum, we're discussing. I care more about gaming than I probably should, and I'd welcome a larger community as well, but not if it means gaming comes to resemble the lowest-common-denominator shit we get from Zynga, et al.
    - ido 15y ago
      As an avid gamer of more than 2 decades (I'm 28 & started playing games on my parents' PC XT when I was 4) I don't think this is the trend we're seeing, if anything things keep getting better all the time - you got more choice & more games of more types coming out all the time. If you want "hardcore" games, there is no shortage of new ones coming out.
    - richardw 15y ago
      Well, to paraphrase your own comment above, golfers don't care that there are many other shit golf courses being created around the world. They just play golf on courses they like. Why do you care if others are playing shit made from Zynga? You have a lot of opinions about others comment styles, what they care about etc, but frankly economics doesn't care whether you like games or not. If there's a market, it sells.
      - bluedanieru 15y ago
        I suspect golfers would start to care if mass-market trends impacted the quality of their own courses. Maybe you should stick to articulating your own opinions, rather than expanding on another's for him? I don't care if people play whatever rubbish issues forth from the bowels of Zynga's marketing department, but I'm not going to celebrate it in the name of getting more people playing games, either. At any rate your beef seems to be that I commented at all, or that you think I was rude, or just that I posted something you don't wholly agree with, or that I was criticizing someone's 'comment style' whatever that means (I think the pot might be calling the kettle black on that one). Not sure really what your problem is with me personally but my patience for your pointless sniping has worn thin so I think I'll conclude with 'fuck you' and be done with it.
- ido 15y ago
  Why do you want non-gamers to "feel good about gaming"? Why do you care? I don't know about the OP, but as a game developer I want my potential market to be as large as possible. More gamers == more demand for games.
- nhangen 15y ago
  Because traditionally, the people I know playing Zynga games have felt embarrassed to admit they play games, which is silly. Perhaps I've given the impression that I'm deeply passionate about Zynga becoming a success and for the world to unite under a flag of better gaming, but that's not what I'm after. I want to eliminate the stigmas of gaming, and as another poster said, expand the market. That said, I'm bewildered by the anti-Zynga crowd here. No one forces people to play Farmville, and though I really hate the game, I'm not going to blame Zynga for people wasting their life away, just as I don't blame Blizzard for the people hooked on WoW. It's a choice people make.

dorkitude 15y ago

It's actually become quite rare for them to gate core objectives in this manner (I haven't seen it in a new game in at least a year, and I've spent a lot of time researching their games). The general rule: if you have the patience to wait for your energy to recharge, you can play for free (and without neighbors) for quite a while (weeks or months). You might miss out on some fancy extras, but even still, it's not bad in terms of length and depth, when compared to the 'free trial' phase of so-called "hardcore" games.