Zynga and the Rise of the New Gamer

[ShadowsofHope]

This isn't a rally of passionate people defending their game. [http://www.facebook.com/FarmVille#!/posted.php?id=102452128776&share_id=111278525564951&comments=1#s111278525564951]

I have never before seen such a massive concentration of stupid. I think my I.Q. plummeted just from reading that.

I begin to feel very uncomfortable when people over the internet start to post things like "fertilize my crop" or I shit you not "fertilize me!".

Also, Zynga is a scammer. Plain and simple. Farmville may be "fun" (personally, I think it's a load of shit), but it's still a scam deep down.

 

[Delusibeta]

The Casual Question: how do you keep the newly attracted "casual gamers" playing (and buying) your games? Zynga's answer is: hobble 'em if they don't come back on time. Which is a) a bit mean and b) from a design point of view, a bit of a cop-out. At least with Nintendo, their answer is "Try to move them on to more complicated games, such as Mario Galaxy[footnote]Mario Galaxy is a bit more complex than Wii Sports, you can hardly argue with that.[/footnote]". Note that AFAIK Nintendo doesn't have a Wii ____ game in development, it's all Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid: Other M, Sin & Punishment 2 and talk of Zelda Wii. That is a bit more sustainable for the gaming industry for a whole than if everyone took the Zynga model, I believe.
I do have a beef with their CEO, however, considering he seems to model himself on Bobby Kotick, as a quick Google search will testify. [http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Zynga+GDC+acceptance+speech&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GBfficial&client=firefox-a]

 

[Plurralbles]

No shit sherlock.

But htey won't. Because they're making money.

 

[Woodsey]

Great article.

I'd add about Ubi's new DRM scheme though (I know, I know) that there couldn't be a better way of putting people off - gamers and about-to-start gamers alike.

 

[Stranger of Sorts]

Zynga was by no means the first. Free browser games like Runescape have been going for years.

 

[Arcticflame]

I rather disagree with a logical progression shamus has made - That is, people who play farmville are likely to make the next step and begin to play other games.

This is simply not the case with zynga games. They are too disconnected from video games in general. The only reason they play zynga games is because it is on facebook, as well as because it is ridiculously easy, yet draws you in to play multiple times due to it's rpg elements.

I don't see my mother (who plays farmville) moving on to play any other video game any time soon.
Since she played farmville, she never once has showed the slightest interest in any video game. nor do I think she ever will. She hasn't learnt anything from farmville in terms of gaming. As the only aspect to it that is at all common to games is the sense of continual improvement through menial actions. Which frankly every human knows through other avenues.
The interface is used via mouse only, the game tells you what to do. It is basic - even for a casual game - and makes no efforts to teach you any new skills. If you know how to move a mouse, read, and click, that's all you need. In terms of "gaming skills", there are none. No strategy outside of very, very basic strategising for highest xp/money. And that's only people who are power levelling.
It doesn't help gaming, it doesn't ease people into gaming. People don't even view it as a video game, it's viewed as a part of facebook, and the social gaming that goes with it.

Perhaps this is just me seeing with one eye closed, but I see no positive benefits coming from zynga to the video game market, outside of silly web 2.0 trash makers.

If the article was about popcap and armor games on the other hand - Fair enough.

Edit - Well after reading the article a third time, I wonder how I started ranting about something so far from what shamus was saying.

Well I guess he's right, although I'm still not sure whether or not it's possible to get lots of "uninitiated players" playing video games in any way except spoon feeding. It still takes some form of computer literacy to play plants vs zombies. I'm not sure whether there are any lessons to be learned from zynga, other than the popular mass tends to go for simplicity over quality, whether it's music, video games or films.

 

[Sharon Steward-Boardman]

Farmville is my way of relaxinf withour killing people .. if that is bad and boring then so be it !

 

[bladeofdarkness]

its not bad and boring as a concept
but it takes the industry back too many steps

the idea is for games to be recognized as an actual art form by the broader public
Farmville takes it back to being nothing more then toys (like a Tamagutchi)

 

[w00tage]

Even though there isn't anything specifically untrue in this article, it doesn't really mention that the reason the gameplay isn't innovative isn't because they were trying to make an accessible sim adaptation, but because forcing someone to come back (even in the middle of the night) every few hours to accomplish simple tasks keeps the eyeballs coming back to see all the ads, without scaring them away with difficulty.

The entire purpose of farmville is to keep people coming back at a regular clip to stare at all the ads. It isn't meant to be innovative (of course), but it also isnt meant to be accessible. Accessibility (and lack of difficulty) is merely a side effect of making sure that no one stops looking at the ads because the "game" part is too hard.

That's why Zynga is less not revolution in "gaming," per se, but is a revolution in targeted marketing.

Still, PopCap and Armor Games are better at what zynga does, and they actually makes innovative games that aren't there just to feed you ads. They just don't have the benefit of a built in audience of millions (facebook).

Oh totally, I love PopCap purely for making Plants vs Zombies. I don't like Zynga but I have a grudging respect for their success.

Hm, i'd say i respect their success the same way i respected the success of Bernie Madoff. He may not have earned his billions, but he certainly scammed his way to having billions.

I don't think merely having money means you deserve respect. It's how you make your money that gets respect from me, and Zynga made theirs by partnering up with ads that installed spyware and programs that scammed their users for money through "fine print." Just because they stopped, allegedly, when they got caught doesn't mean their legacy of shady practices gets a free pass.

IIRC, the founder publicly admitted to doing this dirtyness just to get money. Because he wanted the money. And for no other reason. So why isn't he on the docket right behind Madoff?
Instead his company is the poster child for the future of gaming investment. He's got a direct line into ALL of the money now.

That's... not something that future historians will respect us for

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

I really have to heavily disagree with the point about games setting the bar too high. That's like saying playing the guitar/clarinet/saxophone/cello/karate/football or any other sport or instrument or anything for that matter has set the bar too high. If you wanna start big like TF2 and CoD or CoH you have to accept the fact that [HEADING=2]YOU WILL SUCK FOR THE FIRST 24 HOURS OF PLAY[/HEADING] that is if you are unfamiliar with engine and gameplay style. Simple as that.

For example I have been playing the clarinet for about 6 years but I played the recorder beforehand. Now while not the same instrument and with different fingering for notes. I picked it up relatively fast. However, when I started to learn guitar last year it was a nightmare to pick up but I stuck at it and now I can play a little. The question is not of the bar being too high but people being too lazy and not willing to put in any effort to get anything out of it.

Besides there are plenty of simple easy games out there for everything you just have to look for them and you will find them. That brings me back to my previous point of people not willing to try and look for it.

 

[Mantonio]

"If Farmville isn't that fun, then why do so many people play it?"

Appeal to common action. Logical Fallacy.

I'm glad that wasn't your entire argument.

 

[tehroc]

Only reason farmville is popular is due to the fact that it can be played by people at work that should be working. As matter of fact employers would be wise to block farmville from their office connection and watch productivity rise as half your employees are fucking off half the time playing flash games.

 

[Papa Gamer]

The article makes some good points, but I have to point out a glaring error:

"The game will run on just about any web-enabled PC on the planet"

Not true. The game is badly coded and/or has too many animations for Flash to handle. The bigger farms bring my modern dual-core, 4GB-of-RAM laptop to a crawl and even run slowly on my quad-core desktop. On my older single-core desktop, FV crashes on anything bigger than an 18x18 farm.

I also think the article entirely misses the main success factor in Farmville--it's not just easy gaming, it's easy SOCIAL gaming. All those posts that spam your newsfeed aren't just for annoyance, they are an integral part of the game. You literally can't get anywhere in the game without sharing and interacting with your friends. It's very much a co-operative effort and that kind of easy social interaction is core to the success of FV and something the less popular games on FB have yet to pick up on.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

As matter of fact employers would be wise to block farmville from their office connection and watch productivity rise as half your employees are fucking off half the time playing flash games.

Yes but for a lot of employers that would require dragging the IT personnel away from their porn long enough to do their jobs as well.

 

[zamble]

(I will go from OT to off-topic, but anyway...)
I think Shamus, as always, have a very good idea on the mechanics of the market and how things should go. Casual players should always get a chance, not everybody is a natural-born-gamer (BTW I'm having such trouble trying to teach a 4-year old boy to play anything on a PS2... it was so easier with my little bro years ago, with a SNES...). I think that is his point, and the article is good because of that.
THAT SAID, Zynga will always be placed under "bad developers" for me, not only because it just copies other persons work, but also because they have no ethics when it comes to making money, as seen in at least two episodes: when they lauched that Zynga toolbar (I miss the reference to the escapist news who mentions even their CEO couldn't uninstall the dreaded spyware thing) and for asking for donations for Haiti and keeping 50% of the cash for themselves...
As many have said, go PopCap and Armor Games... they're better to represent the casual developers.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I begin to feel very uncomfortable when people over the internet start to post things like "fertilize my crop" or I shit you not "fertilize me!".

You've never seen people spam 'fertilise me'? You need to hit up some dating sites.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

(BTW I'm having such trouble trying to teach a 4-year old boy to play anything on a PS2... it was so easier with my little bro years ago, with a SNES...)

I've found kids take to mouses much easier than controllers. Hell, first time they use a mouse they can entertain themselves for 10 or so minutes just moving the cursor around... around which point you need some suitable content as they discover clicking on icons makes things happen or you risk them deleting everything.

 

[TarkXT]

I find it a crime against gaming that Zynga is at the time of this posting beating out Valve.

Yes, Valve, whose work has kept hundreds of thousands of webcomic artists employed for over a decade. Who has graced us with our lord and savior that metal covered, intelligent, clanging messiah. Of course you know whom I speak of: The Companion Cube.

The various "wars" games should not be beating out Portal alone.

 

[jboking]

I suppose this article is right about how gaming ignored a market of non-gamers. I'd just prefer we give them something that isn't provided by a company with shady business practices. It just sends the wrong message about success in the industry.

snip

Sir, I not only love you for that name, but for that avatar. Thank you for making my day brighter.