Zynga CEO Thinks Facebook Should Be More Like Xbox Live

[Xanthious]

Heh, another article about Marc Pincus that doesn't make mention he's dying of a painful ass cancer or has recently been sodomized by a large mammal to the point of death. Oh well one day. . . . The sooner this bastard falls over dead the better gaming as a whole will be.

 

[HT_Black]

At risk of sounding like a prat:

Who cares what he thinks? He runs Zynga, and started it on a platform of scams and adware! Facebook is a massive social site, and the man's opinion on it could only be less important if he had a hand in Evony.

 

[soapyshooter]

how about he shuts the fuck up?

 

[thethingthatlurks]

I admit I use Facebook, and I even take the occasional (really fucking stupid) quiz whenever I'm bored. But I don't use it to play games, and nor would I ever waste my time with any sort of browser based game. Though why this guy wants it to be like Live is far beyond my comprehension. I guess he made a little money through a 99:01 combination of luck and guessing, and now he thinks his opinions matter. Well, good luck with that...

 

[Sporky111]

After reading this story, I'm finally going to delete my FarmVille. I just ignored it for several months, but now it's gone.

He's only pushing this because he's running a parasitic company. Instead of paying to make his own site, he's pressuring Facebook to change and do it for him.

EDIT: Now that I think of it, Facebook used to have a sort of app bar. It was just a little thing at the bottom that could bookmark 6 apps, and now it's gone. I find it annoying, since you have to go back to your homepage to navigate. He might be onto something, but that's only because somebody else thought of it first.

 

[Gaias]

Like we don't have a limited amount of gaming platforms as is to choose from, than changing a social media site into a dominated system for such games as they cater to. Still not sure when society thought it was in there best interest to have everything that we do centered to one location only. All you have to do is compare a locally owned grocery store to the big superstore around the corner to find out where the quality of product isn't.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I already get enough updates about people needing help to fertilise thier fucking crops, thanks.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Zynga CEO Thinks Facebook Should Be More Like Xbox Live

Seriously, where do you start making jokes about that line? There's just so many avenues of egress...

Xbox Live: recommended by 9 out of 10 Internet scammers.

 

[dthree]

This is the telling quote:

The result would be a Facebook where apps become the main focus of social interaction. "It would bother me if (something as innovative as the location-based Twitter game) Foursquare was not built on the Facebook platform," Pincus explains. "An analogy is Windows. If it had not been the home of Excel or the web browser, then it would not have grown."

He thinks of Facebook as the OS, and his parasitic applications as the reason for the OS. Talk about totally missing the point. The WEB is the OS, and integration of applications is what is beginning to make the web exciting, not what Pincus sees through his greed-tinted glasses. Not to mention that he misses the mark about Foursquare. It is an independent web application that integrates with other services (like Facebook and twitter) if the user wants. It is not built on them.

 

[Calhoun347]

"An analogy is Windows. If it had not been the home of Excel or the web browser, then it would not have grown."

What is this i don't even

OT:
No.

 

[Cain_Zeros]

No. Fuck that shit. Facebook's made enough stupid changes as it is. *glares at Like button where his Become a Fan button used to be*

 

[ravensshade]

seems zynga wants to improve it's profits a bit more?

 

[samsonguy920]

Achievement unlocked: Darth Vader [http://www.everybodysucksbutus.com/darth-vader-facebook/] has added you as a friend! You are now one with the Dark Side. You will be charged $15 to be able to have 20 more achievements.

 

[Vitor Goncalves]

What is he talking about. Facebook got allready a gaming option, and I think the notifications are about to stop soon anyway. Why don't Zynga create their own portal and start developing games for real? Now that they have a solid legion of fans.

 

[Crystal Cuckoo]

Yeah, no.

I use Facebook to see what my friends are doing, and Steam for gaming.

 

[Panayjon]

... Pincus argued for three important tools if Facebook should choose to follow this route. One is an "app bar" that would follow the users to every page, providing them with an easy way to get back to their games. The second would be better user communication, which would allow apps to reach out to their users without being obtrusive and annoying (say goodbye to those annoying "I found a lost stallion" status updates), and finally, universal social feeds that would be accessible from anywhere on the web.

Though I would thoroughly welcome a less obnoxious way for game apps to communicate with their users beyond clogging up the status updates feed, I think Pincus is somewhat missing the point. Facebook is first and foremost a social application, and although gaming fits very neatly into that category, it's not meant to be the website's focus. Could Pincus be hoping to tweak Facebook to better suit Zynga's interests?

As someone who uses Facebook on a regular basis (I have a lot of free time at the office) I actually enjoy the Facebook games. As much as Penny Arcade is poking fun, "A great way to fill bars" is a perfect explanation of the Facebook gaming experience. I don't specifically play Farmville or Mafia Wars funny enough, but I do like a lot of them.

I heartily agree on some method to get all those app updates from clogging up the wall though. How about a separate wall for just apps, that should be simple enough right? Castle Age has a live news feed built into the app, so players never even have to check their wall for all those requests, even if it will send them to the wall anyways. Blargh.

Also, if you use Facebook but are sick and tired of requests, BLOCK the applications. It won't make anyone feel bad or anything. It won't mess up any features. Go ahead, its alright.

 

[NLS]

How about: Go make your own platform, and gtfo from my Facebook.
Luckily it's easy to block apps from facebook now

 

[Cody211282]

Well considering I only use it to keep in touch with people it might at most bug me.