Facebook and Zynga Kiss and Make Up

[Mr. Grey]

Hmm... Zynga reminds me of snake oil and Facebook the shady peddler. It seems only natural that they'd still be together.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Whatever the case, it's a good ending for both sides.

The rest of us wanted a proper bare-knuckles match. This is a Don King fight

 

[Waif]

I knew that Facebook and Zynga would reconcile their differences, they always have. I would have liked to see Zynga Live, as this would remove my dependency on Facebook to access Zynga games. It would also, likely, improve connection and speed on all their games. All the same it's nice that they are working together. I don't like the idea of Facebook Credits. Especially when one considers that they haven't created themselves to be very app friendly, recent changes in consideration. I would like to see them stream line Facebook to be more friendly to applications, if they did then I could understand the want to take a percentage of profits. If Facebook wants to make money off of applications, they had better start working better with them.

 

[Waif]

Hmm... Zynga reminds me of snake oil and Facebook the shady peddler. It seems only natural that they'd still be together.

How is Zynga Snake Oil and Facebook a shady peddler? They make casual games for casual gamers, they aren't meant to entice core gamers and never intended to be anything but casual. Their games work as games do, whereas Snake Oil are remedies that claim to cure things, but never do. I'm not sure what as meant by this. At some point there has to be an end to the institutionalized hatred of casual games.

 

[Mr. Grey]

Hmm... Zynga reminds me of snake oil and Facebook the shady peddler. It seems only natural that they'd still be together.

How is Zynga Snake Oil and Facebook a shady peddler? They make casual games for casual gamers, they aren't meant to entice core gamers and never intended to be anything but casual. Their games work as games do, whereas Snake Oil are remedies that claim to cure things, but never do. I'm not sure what as meant by this. At some point there has to be an end to the institutionalized hatred of casual games.

I was actually referring to their invasive ways. Such as Facebook's founder had made statement about his users being "Dumbf*cks" for listing their information on his website and that he can use that at any point in time. Be it a joke or not, it's poor taste either way and raises a very large alarm in the wake of an investigation being made against them regarding privacy no less.

And to the point of Zynga... Zynga has already been accused of using spyware and the founder of Zynga even admitted to using it. He has only stopped recently - or so he claims - and saved more face by admitting to use it then stopping it - again based on his claims - out of the kindness of his non-existent heart - this is an opinion. Also Zynga has ripped off of some other games with nary a thing changed, that is arguably illegal depending upon how much has changed... but from looking at it the creators of Farm Town have a case to make a lawsuit considering that Mob Wars has already led a lawsuit against Zynga for copyright infringement. It's only Zynga would sue Farm Town into oblivion with a preemptive strike at first whiff, even though the creators of Farm Town are in the right to sue them they don't have the money for a legal scuffle.

I wouldn't be surprised if they both had different ways of gathering information and using it to their advantage and against their users while said users never know. Perhaps they operate independently from each other, or perhaps since that last statement made by the founder of Facebook - the "dumbf*cks" statement - they have found common ground and work together towards a common goal. If the latter is true then both of these companies are effectively compared to Snake Oil and the Shady Peddler.

My statement was merely an opinion either way.

 

[samsonguy920]

Thank you, Andy, for that lovely image you just shared. I am going to go pour bleach on my brain now.

 

[Gaderael]

casual colossi

Strange images abound when I read that...

Did you also envision giant statues in polos and khakis, or was that just me?

Yeah pretty much Just chilling out on street corners.

With sweaters tied around their shoulders!

It wasn't just you. I also picture pink golf shirts and sunglasses. One was reading a book 0_o

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

Shit!

The Anti-Christ of casual gaming once more can leech off on Facebook gamers who fell into the all-devouring vortex of eating their money.

curses NINJA'd!

still, casual gamers will one day try overthrow normal gamer! we must resist! seriously, this is bad

 

[Jennacide]

Was really hoping this wouldn't happen, as Zynga exploits people just as badly as Activision, and they do it in bulk!

 

[Waif]

Hmm... Zynga reminds me of snake oil and Facebook the shady peddler. It seems only natural that they'd still be together.

How is Zynga Snake Oil and Facebook a shady peddler? They make casual games for casual gamers, they aren't meant to entice core gamers and never intended to be anything but casual. Their games work as games do, whereas Snake Oil are remedies that claim to cure things, but never do. I'm not sure what as meant by this. At some point there has to be an end to the institutionalized hatred of casual games.

I was actually referring to their invasive ways. Such as Facebook's founder had made statement about his users being "Dumbf*cks" for listing their information on his website and that he can use that at any point in time. Be it a joke or not, it's poor taste either way and raises a very large alarm in the wake of an investigation being made against them regarding privacy no less.

And to the point of Zynga... Zynga has already been accused of using spyware and the founder of Zynga even admitted to using it. He has only stopped recently - or so he claims - and saved more face by admitting to use it then stopping it - again based on his claims - out of the kindness of his non-existent heart - this is an opinion. Also Zynga has ripped off of some other games with nary a thing changed, that is arguably illegal depending upon how much has changed... but from looking at it the creators of Farm Town have a case to make a lawsuit considering that Mob Wars has already led a lawsuit against Zynga for copyright infringement. It's only Zynga would sue Farm Town into oblivion with a preemptive strike at first whiff, even though the creators of Farm Town are in the right to sue them they don't have the money for a legal scuffle.

I wouldn't be surprised if they both had different ways of gathering information and using it to their advantage and against their users while said users never know. Perhaps they operate independently from each other, or perhaps since that last statement made by the founder of Facebook - the "dumbf*cks" statement - they have found common ground and work together towards a common goal. If the latter is true then both of these companies are effectively compared to Snake Oil and the Shady Peddler.

My statement was merely an opinion either way.

As I had understood it, Zynga admitted to using scammy ads, not spyware. These ads were used in order to generate revenue quickly. The ads may have employed spyware, but Zynga did not benefit from it. The Facebook comment though is news to me, and I can see why Facebook would say something of the like. I too am amazed at how many people are willing to put up a lot of information about themselves. Sure it might be a social website, but there isn't a need to tell people where exactly you live. I can understand the statement, but did Facebook use the word "Dumb....."?

While it is true that Zynga has borrowed ideas from other popular games, we have to understand that people have borrowed from them as well. In fact there was an article of Zynga and Playfish detailing how each borrowed from each other.

http://www.thefacebookforum.net/zynga-f117/playfish-vs-zynga-the-never-ending-copying-battle-t1898.htm

Link provided. The reality of it is, this copying is part of the industry. Even though Zynga borrowed the idea of Mob Wars for it's Mafia Wars. After the lawsuit they had to change the mechanics drastically. To a point now where people are copying from them (See: Mobsters).

The thing is, they aren't snake oil in my opinion. They create games, some of which are an evolution of existing games. Whether or not Facebook thinks less of it's users or Zynga has a sordid past with using scammy ads, doesn't make them snake oil or snake oil salesmen. It does, however, make them an imperfect company. Which is something that is common everywhere.

 

[Mr. Grey]

Spoiler

Hmm... Zynga reminds me of snake oil and Facebook the shady peddler. It seems only natural that they'd still be together.

How is Zynga Snake Oil and Facebook a shady peddler? They make casual games for casual gamers, they aren't meant to entice core gamers and never intended to be anything but casual. Their games work as games do, whereas Snake Oil are remedies that claim to cure things, but never do. I'm not sure what as meant by this. At some point there has to be an end to the institutionalized hatred of casual games.

I was actually referring to their invasive ways. Such as Facebook's founder had made statement about his users being "Dumbf*cks" for listing their information on his website and that he can use that at any point in time. Be it a joke or not, it's poor taste either way and raises a very large alarm in the wake of an investigation being made against them regarding privacy no less.

And to the point of Zynga... Zynga has already been accused of using spyware and the founder of Zynga even admitted to using it. He has only stopped recently - or so he claims - and saved more face by admitting to use it then stopping it - again based on his claims - out of the kindness of his non-existent heart - this is an opinion. Also Zynga has ripped off of some other games with nary a thing changed, that is arguably illegal depending upon how much has changed... but from looking at it the creators of Farm Town have a case to make a lawsuit considering that Mob Wars has already led a lawsuit against Zynga for copyright infringement. It's only Zynga would sue Farm Town into oblivion with a preemptive strike at first whiff, even though the creators of Farm Town are in the right to sue them they don't have the money for a legal scuffle.

I wouldn't be surprised if they both had different ways of gathering information and using it to their advantage and against their users while said users never know. Perhaps they operate independently from each other, or perhaps since that last statement made by the founder of Facebook - the "dumbf*cks" statement - they have found common ground and work together towards a common goal. If the latter is true then both of these companies are effectively compared to Snake Oil and the Shady Peddler.

My statement was merely an opinion either way.

As I had understood it, Zynga admitted to using scammy ads, not spyware. These ads were used in order to generate revenue quickly. The ads may have employed spyware, but Zynga did not benefit from it. The Facebook comment though is news to me, and I can see why Facebook would say something of the like. I too am amazed at how many people are willing to put up a lot of information about themselves. Sure it might be a social website, but there isn't a need to tell people where exactly you live. I can understand the statement, but did Facebook use the word "Dumb....."?

While it is true that Zynga has borrowed ideas from other popular games, we have to understand that people have borrowed from them as well. In fact there was an article of Zynga and Playfish detailing how each borrowed from each other.

http://www.thefacebookforum.net/zynga-f117/playfish-vs-zynga-the-never-ending-copying-battle-t1898.htm

Link provided. The reality of it is, this copying is part of the industry. Even though Zynga borrowed the idea of Mob Wars for it's Mafia Wars. After the lawsuit they had to change the mechanics drastically. To a point now where people are copying from them (See: Mobsters).

The thing is, they aren't snake oil in my opinion. They create games, some of which are an evolution of existing games. Whether or not Facebook thinks less of it's users or Zynga has a sordid past with using scammy ads, doesn't make them snake oil or snake oil salesmen. It does, however, make them an imperfect company. Which is something that is common everywhere.

I'm not saying they aren't games, I'm just saying they are shady to me like snake oil and Facebook is the peddler. I've always thought of Facebook as shady.

Here's where Facebook calls users of his website "dumbf****"...
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100652-Facebook-CEO-People-Who-Trust-Me-Are-Dumb-F-cks

And while an old-ish conversation... he doesn't seem to have changed much in that time period.

As for Zynga being a scammer...
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/96024-Zynga-CEO-Admits-to-Being-a-Scammer

From what I've understood is that he put people up to doing those things to earn coins and the like. Not just having third parties do it, but was well aware of what was going on as he did it to(?) himself with the "zwinky toolbar". He - arguably - abused the ignorance of his users in order to increase his revenue with companies that scam. That makes him as much of a scammer in my book and why I think of Zynga as Facebook's snake oil.

Again these are my opinions, they just always seemed shady to me. Even free browser games that aren't even connected to Facebook seem shady to me half the time.

 

[Sean Strife]

Greaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat... now I can look forward to 5 more years of being harassed about getting shit for my friends and family for a game I could give two fucking shits less about.

 

[Paksenarrion]

casual colossi

Strange images abound when I read that...

Did you also envision giant statues in polos and khakis, or was that just me?

Yeah pretty much Just chilling out on street corners.

With sweaters tied around their shoulders!

It wasn't just you. I also picture pink golf shirts and sunglasses. One was reading a book 0_o

They should make a Shadow of the Colossus for casual gamers: it's the same bosses, but they're just lounging there, and you get to plant crops on them.

 

[nicyorehab]

I guess they do have something in common. The worse part is, I don't think Zynga cares that much about its customers. Just look at the unsolved glitches in its YoVille game. [http://yorehab.com/category/yofeatures/yoglitches/]

source: YoVille Fan Site [http://yorehab.com]

 

[Sean Strife]

I guess they do have something in common. The worse part is, I don't think Zynga cares that much about its customers. Just look at the unsolved glitches in its YoVille game. [http://yorehab.com/category/yofeatures/yoglitches/]

source: YoVille Fan Site [http://yorehab.com]

Um... duh? This is a company owned by the same guy who seemed to have no regrets over SCAMMING THE PEOPLE THAT PLAY HIS GAMES!