Why all the Zynga hate?
- Thread starter Zappa Daddy
- Start date
I believe an earlier issue of GamePro also stated that Social gaming may become apart of the video gaming culture in the future. BioWare has already released at least 2 browser-based flash games (one promoting Dragon Age: Origins), and another that was on Facebook. Sid Meiers is trying to get Civilizations on Facebook as well.Zappa Daddy said:
The only reason I'm voting against Zynga is because 1) I've heard mostly bad reviews about Zynga [through Wikipedia and other reviews]. 2) I've never personally played any of Zynga's games.
I don't hate Zynga at all. As I said before (on another thread, and I'm too lazy to go get it), I'm not so much voting against Zynga as I am voting for whichever company they're opposing. Any comments that I may make about them are part joking, part befuddlement at why a community comprised mostly of hardcore gamers is continuing to pass on a casual developer instead of Valve, which is a clear favorite of this community (based on all of the posts you'll see about HL2, L4D, etc.). I'm mostly just confused as to how a hardcore community is continuing to vote for a casual developer--don't confuse that for hatred, or really even dislike.
I don't hate them. I just don't think they have any place in this competition.
They're also bringing a lot of hate to the escapist. Admittedly less though their own supporters, who really don't seem to have much of a clue of what they've walked into and are just here to vote and maybe post "Go Zynga" before leaving. It's mostly escapist regulars or posters from other sites who have heard of this. I've even seen 4chan in the mix which is worrying to say the least.
We barely recovered from Turbine last year, and the fallout from this competition is going to be immense. I wonder how long it will be before the escapist is a happy jolly hippy gamey place again. Probably once the mods send in the cleaners.
They're also bringing a lot of hate to the escapist. Admittedly less though their own supporters, who really don't seem to have much of a clue of what they've walked into and are just here to vote and maybe post "Go Zynga" before leaving. It's mostly escapist regulars or posters from other sites who have heard of this. I've even seen 4chan in the mix which is worrying to say the least.
We barely recovered from Turbine last year, and the fallout from this competition is going to be immense. I wonder how long it will be before the escapist is a happy jolly hippy gamey place again. Probably once the mods send in the cleaners.
Thats the thing. We're not. Zynga have been advertising the competition on facebook. Hense the ball of hate that is MM.bassdrum said:
Zynga isn't a true game developer. Yes, they have released a string of flash game hits but even the CEO has admitted to using shady tactics that would make Kotick blush.
Because Zynga is a scamming (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/96024-Zynga-CEO-Admits-to-Being-a-Scammer) developer that makes games in five weeks (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98990-How-FarmVille-Was-Written-In-Five-Weeks) and uses different tactics to make players keep playing (http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-creepy-ways-video-games-are-trying-to-get-you-addicted.html) and should die in a fire.
It's just insulting that Zynga get's compared to the likes of NCSoft (Exteel is a decent game, much better than farmville) and VALVe (FarmVille, Mafia Wars Vs. Source, Half-Life 1/2/EP1/EP2, TF2, Counter-Strike 1.6/Condition Zero/Source, GldSrc) and that Zynga doesn't even make games, they make interactive movies (replace clicking on plant to water with a little button on the side saying "click to water plant")
It's just insulting that Zynga get's compared to the likes of NCSoft (Exteel is a decent game, much better than farmville) and VALVe (FarmVille, Mafia Wars Vs. Source, Half-Life 1/2/EP1/EP2, TF2, Counter-Strike 1.6/Condition Zero/Source, GldSrc) and that Zynga doesn't even make games, they make interactive movies (replace clicking on plant to water with a little button on the side saying "click to water plant")
it's because casual gamers are trying to become the more mainstream gamer. if that happens, more companies will sell out or new companies will pop up and start making more of them. and the thing is, most of them are just the same thing with a new screen or title here or there. i and most of the escapist people don't want that. i have nothing against social games themselves, but when they try to become more than what they are, we could see some trouble. example: there has been a lot of zombie craze in the last decade, mostly in the few years. suddenly, when zombies are at the top, valve decides to make a zombie game. see, even the biggest and greatest of developers will sell out just to make a quick buck. if they lost to a social game company, how well do you think that might go over?
I started hating them when they made me give them money to get better at Mafia Wars.
That, and the games they make tend are to be repetitive as hell.
This is how my usual session of Mafia Wars went:
Click.
Click.
Click.
Done.
I eventually began to realize that I had done nothing at all, and felt no sense of accomplishment or thrill.
Fuck man, at least Runescape would let me kill things! I was actually involved somewhat!
But no, they have to make this browser game that does nothing at all.
It just seems to embody everything I hate about games at times these days when I play a Zynga game because the majority of the players are idiots, you can't do anything fun or exciting, and you now have to pay money on a few of their games just to upgrade your shops. I don't even have to bring up the malware thing that was talked about.
That, and the games they make tend are to be repetitive as hell.
This is how my usual session of Mafia Wars went:
Click.
Click.
Click.
Done.
I eventually began to realize that I had done nothing at all, and felt no sense of accomplishment or thrill.
Fuck man, at least Runescape would let me kill things! I was actually involved somewhat!
But no, they have to make this browser game that does nothing at all.
It just seems to embody everything I hate about games at times these days when I play a Zynga game because the majority of the players are idiots, you can't do anything fun or exciting, and you now have to pay money on a few of their games just to upgrade your shops. I don't even have to bring up the malware thing that was talked about.
I'll be honest that I came here just because of the Valve v. Zynga thing, after a friend told me about Zynga beating all those other developers.
But still, I've been respectful, at least I think. It can be a little frustrating to see people voting so they can get a pink horse or somethin like that, but still. I'm sure almost all of us can agree that Valve's the better developer, no matter what a poll on some forums says.
Now that being said, I'm gonna stick around here. After seeing all the crazy shit going down in that 400+ page monstrosity, and then browsing the rest of the forums, I can tell this is a pretty rare event, and that the rest of the community is actually pretty cool.
But still, I've been respectful, at least I think. It can be a little frustrating to see people voting so they can get a pink horse or somethin like that, but still. I'm sure almost all of us can agree that Valve's the better developer, no matter what a poll on some forums says.
Now that being said, I'm gonna stick around here. After seeing all the crazy shit going down in that 400+ page monstrosity, and then browsing the rest of the forums, I can tell this is a pretty rare event, and that the rest of the community is actually pretty cool.
Perhaps it is semantics but I consider someone a gamer if they play a variety of games (and I don't mean a variety of Zynga games as they're pretty much all the same anyway), whereas the majority of Zynga users haven't ventured outside of Farmville yet. So, therefore, they're Farmville players. If they say they've had a go at other games then, fine, they're a gamer.Furburt said:
But, then, I guess it's just the way you look at it.
A bit more on topic: For me, personally, I've never hated Zynga, and I hope none of my posts in the polls have ever implied that. I've tried to remain as level headed as possible. I'm more frustrated at how unbalanced the competition is. Yes, it may be a simple popularity competition and, yes, it's not supposed to be taken seriously but what's the point in any competition if there's no fairness in it. Of course, one competitor is always going to have some advantage of some sort over another but Zynga's is so blatant and so huge, there just doesn't seem to be any point in voting any more. It isn't about them advertising on their game pages, I don't mind that because anyone is allowed to do that, but it's the fact that their fans are able to log in and vote via their gaming platform - Facebook. Some have argued that any company could advertise the competition on Facebook but Zynga are the only developer in the competition to operate solely on Facebook, that's where they base their games so of course their fans are going to see the adverts and, because it's easy to vote for Facebook users, of course they're going to vote.
That's my only problem with Zynga in this competition. I know a lot of people have a problem with their past business practices as well and it's a valid point but it's not what's unbalancing the voting. I just don't see the point in a competition that isn't fun. Also, the spamming, lack of coherency in posts, and hate in the threads just takes any kind of enjoyment I could garner from the debates that have been going on in them as they just get buried, and mostly ignored.
This is my first March Madness so I'm not sure what the others were like, apart from bits and pieces I've heard (none good), but were they civil and enjoyable at any point? If not, then perhaps The Escapist should consider another event to bring in new users for next year.
I don't hate Zynga, I just don't think they deserve the top position after Bioware made the masterpieces of ME2 and DA:O.
I mean really, if you think farmville beats that, you have mental issues.
I mean really, if you think farmville beats that, you have mental issues.
It's not Zynga hate, more or less, it's jut extreme Valve love.
Which is quite well earned because Valve is the best thing since sliced bread, or unsliced bread for that matter
Which is quite well earned because Valve is the best thing since sliced bread, or unsliced bread for that matter
I don't like Zynga for two reasons.
1. Extreme platform domination. I know of only two non-Zynga games that my friends use on a regular basis; most are too busy with *Ville and *World, because that's all their own friends use. Other companies are having problems entering the market because they can't compete with Zynga's cross-promotion, deeply-deployed userbase, and profits. Whether or not their games are good, those games are what people use, and anyone trying to compete with them or play non-Zynga Facebook games is a fool and a misfit, doomed to failure (company) / isolation (individual).
2. Near-mandatory recruitment. A lot of Zynga's games' gameplay is based around "Spam your friends with requests/gifts, get good things in return!" I've blocked many Zynga games from clogging up my news feed with "I found a lost Something! Help me find its owner!" and my requests page with "I want to give you a Something! Accept immediately so I can get an Otherthing!" However, I still can't see what my friends are actually doing in real life on their social network pages, because of whole pages' worth of Zynga game events. I want to know how they're feeling, what they're up to IRL, not how many acres their virtual, non-existant farm is.
The games themselves are good, for casual games, but there's no way I can make anything for Facebook now, because my friends will all go "Why are you wasting time with that when you could be helping me get a bigger pe-- aquarium?"
1. Extreme platform domination. I know of only two non-Zynga games that my friends use on a regular basis; most are too busy with *Ville and *World, because that's all their own friends use. Other companies are having problems entering the market because they can't compete with Zynga's cross-promotion, deeply-deployed userbase, and profits. Whether or not their games are good, those games are what people use, and anyone trying to compete with them or play non-Zynga Facebook games is a fool and a misfit, doomed to failure (company) / isolation (individual).
2. Near-mandatory recruitment. A lot of Zynga's games' gameplay is based around "Spam your friends with requests/gifts, get good things in return!" I've blocked many Zynga games from clogging up my news feed with "I found a lost Something! Help me find its owner!" and my requests page with "I want to give you a Something! Accept immediately so I can get an Otherthing!" However, I still can't see what my friends are actually doing in real life on their social network pages, because of whole pages' worth of Zynga game events. I want to know how they're feeling, what they're up to IRL, not how many acres their virtual, non-existant farm is.
The games themselves are good, for casual games, but there's no way I can make anything for Facebook now, because my friends will all go "Why are you wasting time with that when you could be helping me get a bigger pe-- aquarium?"