Zynga Seems More Sinister Than You Might Expect

[mechanixis]

As odd as this may sound, I really admire Pincus's attitude. So what if he's not an ideal game developer? He definitely isn't in this business to make a glorious, creative contribution to video games as an art - he's in it to make money.

Is there suddenly something wrong with wanting to make tons of cash and being honest about how you're going to it?

If you tell someone "Okay, I'm gonna rape you now," and then you rape them, honesty doesn't make it admissible.

 

[Mordwyl]

Here we go again repeat after me "Four legs good, two legs bad". Its a business what did you except? I suggest you look up Thomas Edison and examine his business practices, which included bribery, copyright violations and forming a monopoly over movies in the US. Zynga are just following a tried, and tested successful path.

Leonardo Da Vinci used to dig graves and "dismantle" the corpses of the deceased at any stage of decomposition to study human anatomy. What makes those two different and why people put Pincus in a bad light is the total disregard for innovation, the primary means for a company's survival and growth.

Leo and Edison, while having questionable ethics, were great inventors and happened to create new things even when they didn't succeed as intended. One example of this is the Last Supper mural who Leonardo himself admitted it was a failure and required several restorations to keep it in a good state.

 

[Magnalian]

Hooray for Zynga humiliating themselves... again. Maybe they took the 'bad press' comment a bit too literally?

And this company nearly won March Mayhem?

Zynga doesn't deserve any of their success.

But I know how to stop them.

Shut down every other gaming company on earth, so that they don't have ideas to steal!

I think your plan still needs some work.

 

[Seventh Actuality]

I'm sure these wankers have been in the news for stuff like this before, they may not have been confirmed as unscrupulous dicks then but I didn't realise anyone still thought of them as a "plucky underdog".

 

[Bellvedere]

I suppose at least that's saying something about their success at marketing and getting people to join their games if they're just clones of already existing games. I don't think they're evil. Probably not a great place to work if you're a innovative, inspired developer but they're successful at what they do. I remember a few years ago plenty of people were saying popcap was evil because they were making somewhat unoriginal casual titles and stealing the market from up and coming new game studios trying to make money from the very profitable casual games market so they could enter the industry. Now they seem to be fine. Zynga doesn't affect me, I don't play their games and whatever company hit the jackpot with social gaming was bound to be unpopular with "gamers". Plenty of people on here that hate Zynga hated them before they knew/would have hated them irregardless of how dodgy they are. This sort of news just fans the flames.

And really guys it's September, why still going on about march mayhem. Zynga didn't even win...

 

[Covarr]

Yeah I'm pretty sure thats what they did. I mean, Farmtown was out before Farmville, right? Apparently the games are extremely similar. I don't really play their games that much but I don't think they're a very good company.

Similar? Sort of. Farmville is lacking in some of the better features and depth of Farmtown, it's uglier, and it has higher system requirements due to shoddy programming.

So yeah, they're similar the same way Big Rigs: Over The Road Racing is similar to any other racing game with large trucks.

P.S. Thanks

 

[StriderShinryu]

Zynga Seems More Sinister Than You Might Expect

http://gawker.com/5634379/the-secret-dealer-for-farmville-addicts

And it just gets even worse. Way to go Zynga!

 

[Albino Boo]

Here we go again repeat after me "Four legs good, two legs bad". Its a business what did you except? I suggest you look up Thomas Edison and examine his business practices, which included bribery, copyright violations and forming a monopoly over movies in the US. Zynga are just following a tried, and tested successful path.

Leonardo Da Vinci used to dig graves and "dismantle" the corpses of the deceased at any stage of decomposition to study human anatomy. What makes those two different and why people put Pincus in a bad light is the total disregard for innovation, the primary means for a company's survival and growth.

Leo and Edison, while having questionable ethics, were great inventors and happened to create new things even when they didn't succeed as intended. One example of this is the Last Supper mural who Leonardo himself admitted it was a failure and required several restorations to keep it in a good state.

The only entirely new invention that Edison's laboratories came up with was the phonograph, the rest of his inventions were just new versions of existing patents. Edison's company concentrated on making early inventions more commercially viable, sound familiar at all? Most the inventions credited to Edison were in fact produced by his staff, saying Edison invented them all is like crediting all the code in windows 7 to Bill Gates.

Using Da Vinci as example is equally false. Da Vinci rarely finished any of his work and most of his designs weren't even feasible with technology of the day. Anyone can draw a faster than light spaceship but the real trick is to build it.

 

[zehydra]

Nothing surprising here, is there?

Zynga admitted that they got started by running scams, so my respect for this company really hasn't moved anywhere.

 

[Silver Patriot]

And this company nearly won March Mayhem?

Zynga doesn't deserve any of their success.

But I know how to stop them.

Shut down every other gaming company on earth, so that they don't have ideas to steal!

This is so crazy that it might just work! But lets take the easier solution and shut off the internet. HAH take that Zynga! No more browsargames!

Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania.

"AHHHH! My TF2 GAME!!!"

 

[Mordwyl]

The only entirely new invention that Edison's laboratories came up with was the phonograph, the rest of his inventions were just new versions of existing patents.

The key word here is "new". Zynga doesn't make a new version of the game it rips off, it just copies it.

 

[Waif]

"According to an ex-Zynga employee, Pincus once told his underlings, "I don't fucking want innovation. You're not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers."

Another ex-contractor, who claimed he was offered freelance work from Zynga to copy a game, had this to say: "I was around meetings where things like that were being discussed, and the ramifications of things like that were being discussed - the fact that they'd probably be sued by the people who designed the game. And the thought was, 'Well, that's fine, we'll settle.' Our case wasn't really defensible.""

So the entire article is based on the opinions and possibly twisted truths of ex-Zynga employees? I'm betting they lost their jobs for legitimate reasons, and now they are using the recent bad press to get back at Zynga. I'm not impressed with the basis of the article, as it is rooted on unprovable hear-say. Such things are put forth as fact, when in fact they are not. I will have to see more reasonable evidence of a "sinister" Zynga before I can take this seriously. As a player of many games, I don't buy into the whole drama around Zynga. Sure they made a mistake with lead gen stuff in the past. There was evidence for it, and the CEO came out and admitted it. However, the opinions and once again possibly untrue statements of disgruntled employees are not valid. I'm sure that people who have been fired from their jobs would love a way to get back at the company. I believe this is a prime example of that, and you would think that the original author would know that.

 

[Cousin_IT]

As a consumer, I don't really give a flying f'k how evil the guy making the games I play is, so long as I'm entertained.

 

[Cynical skeptic]

As odd as this may sound, I really admire Pincus's attitude. So what if he's not an ideal game developer? He definitely isn't in this business to make a glorious, creative contribution to video games as an art - he's in it to make money.

Is there suddenly something wrong with wanting to make tons of cash and being honest about how you're going to it?

On one hand, the backroom honesty is nice. "the fact you''re working for me is proof you're enough nowhere near as talented as anyone working for any of the big game developers."

But... on the other hand, what you describe is a corruption of capitalism and an example of everything wrong with our current societal models. Making money for the sake of making money should be self defeating, as money has no value unto itself. Its just paper or numbers in a computer. The fact pincus knows hes a worthless piece of shit who will never contribute anything of anything resembling real value to humanity is nice, but the fact hes being rewarded with millions of dollars a year for that is disgusting.

Also, please excuse me while I vomit myself inside out. Comparing this nitwit to Edison or da vinci should be a capital fucking offense.

 

[manaman]

Damn... another game maker has gone to the dark side...

They always where on the dark side.

Wow.. Now Bobby Kotick don't seem that bad..

Don't say stuff like that. He might be listening, and you know he is going to want to one up this to reclaim his throne of evil.

 

[Snowden's Secret]

Shut down every other gaming company on earth, so that they don't have ideas to steal!

So, the innocent must be sacrificed so the guilty can be punished? I LIKE IT! FOR THE EMPEROR!

OT: Now I feel super duper guilty for having ever played Mafia Wars. I wonder how many nails have to be put in Zynga's lead coffin before it gives up the ghost for good, though.