Poll: Should Zynga be allowed to participate in March Madness this year?

[SeanTheSheep]

Yes, I agree that Farmville is an awful creation with no long-term fulfilment, but it's still a game, developed by a game developer, and because said game developer makes games, they have a right to be considered.

ok, lets get to the real argument against Zenga, which is that their games only situationally are fun.

is WoW fun? Yes and no, its fun if you treat it as a game and dont take it seriously, no when you dont.

is (setting)Ville fun? No, this is because it does not have anything which we as players define as fun. it shares the issues of The Sims, without that helpful 60x speed. What is painful to do in any of the sims games is torture in the games by Zenga, because they are not games with a perspective of time. you dont play the game, it simply enslaves you to it's will the second you let your guard down.

Absolutely, like I said, I hate Zynga games with a passion, I think they're awful, worthless, repetetive timesinks for people with nothing better to do. But Zynga still have a right to be considered despite that, because they make games.

 

[Josh123914]

It should be a If you don't have 1000 or more posts you don't get to vote thing. People who have actually been using the site only. They Developed games. They technically have the right to be in the game.

well at time of writing I only have 379 posts and I joined up September 2009, maybe it should be more along the lines of ' you can't vote 2 weeks after you 1st signed up ' that way any zerg rush-wannabes like zynga or turbine(nothing against those specific companies, but people have mention their tendancies toward this tactic) will have their fate decided by regulars, then they won't have a hand in it until like round 3

Doesn't sound to bad. You need to post more lol.

yeah, I started coming here around mid-2008 and didn't actually make an account until 2009 because, well, I've been a regualar for a year, so I tend to read through threads as opposed to actually contributing, and when I do it's usually to keep a thread I'm interested in alive or to crack a joke about the OP in question

 

[Blackjack 222]

I hate those internet drug peddlers. No they shouldn't because i do not think they have made a game on par with the other companies and therefore should not be in the same race. Zynga is not on par with Valve or say HiRez because they have not made a legitimate title among the actual GAMER circle. Keep this to companies with multiple REAL games not companies with facebook drug empires.

This is not a fanboy thing this is a s simple as a matter of parties. March Madness is for companies that make games such as Left 4 dead, Global Agenda, DDO, DCU, ect. Not for a company thats players spend more time watching for bonuses and will end up seeing the "Go spam vote for us NAOW!!" signal. If i were to make a facebook game like farmville and i got included in MM i would kill someone for their stupidity.

Zynga makes a real game marketed legitimately that doesn't revolve around making people watch crops and a status feed all day then include them. I would call them simulators but that would be far too insulting to things like Microsoft flight X(Whatever the devil it is).

 

[toapat]

Absolutely, like I said, I hate Zynga games with a passion, I think they're awful, worthless, repetetive timesinks for people with nothing better to do. But Zynga still have a right to be considered despite that, because they make games.

actually no, because you are skipping the fact that a game is an entertainment, which we both agree that Zenga programs are not (they are asides worth experiencing as benchmarks), thus disqualifying them from the contest.

i would prefer to see a battle between Valve and Blizzard as the final. sure Mass effect is good, but its not a game i will replay forever. 1-2 times at most. i have replayed Starcraft 4 times alone, i would make additional characters in WoW to experience the story, but i would not replay Mass Effect to the same extent. sure, i wanted to finish the game a second time, but Half Life just sits better longer in my mind.

Bioware, Valve, and Blizzard are really the only companies i truly like as games companies, with a large number otherwise just being "eh, they make fun games, but nothing im crazy about."

 

[SeanTheSheep]

Absolutely, like I said, I hate Zynga games with a passion, I think they're awful, worthless, repetetive timesinks for people with nothing better to do. But Zynga still have a right to be considered despite that, because they make games.

actually no, because you are skipping the fact that a game is an entertainment, which we both agree that Zenga programs are not (they are asides worth experiencing as benchmarks), thus disqualifying them from the contest.

And you're skipping the fact that 60 million people per day do think that they Zynga's products are entertaining games. It doesn't matter that we despise it, but it does that 60 million people find it an amusing way to pass the time.

I would love it if Zynga was disallowed, but they have just as much claim to be in the running as any other game developer.

 

[D_987]

Does it really matter? Really?

It's easily the most ridiculous "contest" of its sort in that I've ever seen; there's no reason for it [like say Gamespot's contests]. So many people get so upset and angry over something so moronic. It really does display what the community is really like...

Not to mention this moronic poll, for which the only answer can really be, if you voted they should be removed or not allowed to enter: You're wrong. Simple; you can't possibly argue a company cannot be allowed to compete in a games development competition, as a company that develops social games [an area The Escapist's magazine has constantly covered] just because you don't like the fact they do a better job of advertising the competition than other companies.

The concept is just so, incredibly childish...

snip

This is some of the most ridiculous, elitist bullshit I've read on these forums recently...and I replied a number of times to a thread about how great The Escapist forum community is meant to be...

actually no, because you are skipping the fact that a game is an entertainment, which we both agree that Zenga programs are not (they are asides worth experiencing as benchmarks), thus disqualifying them from the contest.

Fun is subjective.

Your argument is invalid.

Just to prove it - I think both Valve and Bioware make mediocre games at best.

 

[Ham_authority95]

We should sack March Mayhem altogether. Its a ridiculous popularity contest that is a bad as the whole "Prom Queen and King" thing...

Its unfair anyway, because anyone who's spent more than a day on the site knows that the Bioware and Valve fanboys outnumber every other Dev 150000-1.

 

[Blackjack 222]

This is some of the most ridiculous, elitist bullshit I've read on these forums recently...and I replied a number of times to a thread about how great The Escapist forum community is meant to be...

Thank you. I try to keep my BS as elitist as humanly possible when i think of video games, gamers, stay at home parents with facebooks addictions, and my hatred of ZYnga. I stand down from voting in MM because my love for multiple devs just cannot be divided. If i vote for Valve i feel like a wronged another in the popularity contest.

 

[Ham_authority95]

Spoiler: That being said, there was a very nice musical work made by an Escapist last year

EDIT: Really? I'm the only one to post this?

Does no one here have a memory longer than five minutes?

Maybe that's because March Mayhem is such a stupid event that nobody even remembers what happened the year before...

Plus, most members only stay for a year or so.

 

[D_987]

Thank you. I try to keep my BS as elitist as humanly possible when i think of video games, gamers, stay at home parents with facebooks addictions, and my hatred of ZYnga.

Well, as long as you're aware of how flawed your comments on the subject are...

I stand down from voting in MM because my love for multiple devs just cannot be divided. If i vote for Valve i feel like a wronged another in the popularity contest.

As if the developers give a damn, the smaller companies just want to do well for the free publicity...

 

[Blackjack 222]

Thank you. I try to keep my BS as elitist as humanly possible when i think of video games, gamers, stay at home parents with facebooks addictions, and my hatred of ZYnga.

Well, as long as you're aware of how flawed your comments on the subject are...

All too aware actually. But i still feel we should keep MM to devs that make games NOT populated by 12 million people on facebook but by devs associated with games played by gamers. Put them in a league of their own. I said because i wrong them really i just don't care. I hate the child like bickering amongst most developers so much i would just as well find their CEO and beat him with a stick. I don't have a favorite dev and never will but i know i don't like some of them.

 

[RanD00M]

I don't think anyone should be allowed to participate in March Madness. Then we can just skip the whole clusterfuck this year.

I give this idea two out of three thumbs up.
I really dislike March Madness in its prime. It makes coming on this site such a pain, with it crashing so often then.

 

[D_987]

All too aware actually. But i still feel we should keep MM to devs that make games NOT populated by 12 million people on facebook but by devs associated with games played by gamers. Put them in a league of their own.

You mean your own personal definition of "hardcore" gamers, since any game on Facebook are games and thus those that play them can classify themselves as gamers. Again, it's a moronic concept that only demeans the industry and gamers alike...

 

[Blackjack 222]

All too aware actually. But i still feel we should keep MM to devs that make games NOT populated by 12 million people on facebook but by devs associated with games played by gamers. Put them in a league of their own.

You mean your own personal definition of "hardcore" gamers, since any game on Facebook are games and thus those that play them can classify themselves as gamers. Again, it's a moronic concept that only demeans the industry and gamers alike...

Humans have common sense for multiple reasons. Defining one group from another based on what each of them does is one of those reasons.

 

[Signa]

I say no. As much as some very fair people are saying that Zynga deserves a spot solely because they are a developer, I have to disagree to that fact earning them a spot. There are hundreds of other developers out there that are equally or more deserving of a spot on MM that won't even make the bracket. I see no reason to hand one of their spots to Zynga and tell the other dev "tough luck". I'd be more open to allowing Zynga if ALL developers (or at least say... 80% of them) were part of the initial bracket, but how many do we start with? 20 or so? Is it so hard to find 20 devs that are better than Zynga that we need to shove them into the bracket instead?

 

[rpspartin]

Zynga has never counted as a "real" game company to me so my response is a resounding NO.

 

[Xanthious]

Sure let Zynga in . . . but for fuck sake remove the log in with Facebook option. That is unless you are going to let people also log in and vote using their Battle.net account, or LOTRO account, or any other such thing that other gaming companies offer. If the people that run MM can't or refuse to see how the log in and vote with Facebook option gives Zynga an unfair advantage then they are either mentally deficient or simply don't care about even the illusion of fairness in this competition.

 

[Trucken]

Eh, Zynga should be allowed to enter. But I firmly believe you only should be able to vote once. No Twitter-votes and only members of the Escapist. If someone creates an account they're obviously allowed to vote.

EDIT

Sure let Zynga in . . . but for fuck sake remove the log in with Facebook option.

Thiiiiiiis.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

I'm fine with Zynga coming back, but I hope that if they do the Escapist upgrades their forum servers. Last year the amount of traffic caused a lot of downtime and server errors, rendering most of the website unusable for the duration of the finals.