This is an article written recently by Alex St. John about his take on Zynga and its games. We at FarmVille Fanatic are not necessarily of this viewpoint and do not take credit for this article. Source is at the end of the post.
Alex St. John is the President and CTO of hi5 where he leads all product strategy, design, development and operations. Previously, he was CEO and co-founder of WildTangent. He was also one of the principal creators of Microsoft’s DirectX technology, which became the foundation for all Windows multimedia applications, 3D graphics, media players, and casual multiplayer games, as well as thousands of PC and Xbox games.
I hate the term “Social Gaming.” It seems to suggest that people never played games together online before social networks like Facebook came along and unleashed game developers like Zynga to spam us all into trying multi-player poker. Were it not for the U.S. government’s crack down in 2007 on the hugely popular online poker sites, cutting off market millions of online poker fanatics and driving them to Facebook to discover a new outlet for their gambling addictions, we might never have had the epidemic known today as “Social Gaming.” What is lost in the hype around Zynga’s success is the hundreds of hugely successful multi-player games that preceded them. It doesn’t seem to help to point out to people that after Poker, Zynga never actually made another genuinely “social” multi-player game again. The extent of “socializing” in Mafia Wars is spamming strangers to join your gang. Socializing in FarmVille is limited to periodically surveying the barren dying wastelands of all your neighbors’ farms. Hence my observation that “Social Games,” as that term has come to be defined in Silicon Valley, aren’t really “social.”
When asked to suggest a better term for them I briefly considered referring to the phenomenon as “viral gaming” until it occurred to me that even this wasn’t an especially useful differentiating term. After all, Zynga’s games aren’t even viral in the sense of spreading through genuine word-of-mouth enthusiasm. I can think of several online game companies whose genuinely “social” online games spread virally online to enormous audiences and revenues without needing help from Facebook OR venture capital. Consider Jagex’s RuneScape founded by Andrew Gower in Cambridge England. At its peak RuneScape reached nearly 12 million monthly unique gamers and registered millions of subscribers with its Java-based RPG without the benefit of Facebook, venture capital or any apparent marketing effort whatsoever beyond simply being a hugely popular game. The same occurred for Adventure Quest, which was created by a 21-year-old kid living with his parents in Florida, as well as for Miniclip in London and, of course, the many hugely popular poker sites that cropped up independently in the U.S. before the crackdown.
Is it really a big new event in gaming that all the middle-aged housewives that used to play multiplayer card games and backgammon on Yahoo Games and Pogo.com found their real world friends to play games with a little more easily on Facebook? I don’t think so. Yet there is some characteristic of “Social Games” that smacks of a new phenomenon in gaming, but what could it be? After much contemplation I have come to the conclusion that the correct term to apply to the new phenomenon is “Parasitic Gaming.”
You see, the reason Zynga made one genuinely social multi-player game on Facebook and never did it again is obvious. What they discovered was that Facebook had presented them with a rare and precious opportunity to acquire Facebook’s audience virtually for free by designing minimalist games that prey on the inherent contagion of Facebook’s social graph to promote themselves to Facebook’s audience and siphon them off to Zynga. Real multi-player social gaming was just an impedance to that effort because people didn’t need to spam their friends with invitations when Poker provided a ready supply or immediate online players.
Of course, Facebook subsequently recognized the threat and closed the viral loophole by severely constraining the way Facebook games can spam their users with invitations, requests and notifications. Facebook’s crackdown will have two interesting effects on game developers. First, developers will be increasingly forced to buy their audience via advertising, like most other online game publishers on the Internet. Second, gaining user adoption on Facebook will be incredibly difficult for all but the largest game developers, who have the advertising budgets (not to mention their own free advertising on their canvas pages) to block out smaller competitors.
It is fair to say that with Facebook moving aggressively to contain the leak by preventing games from freely spamming their users that the halcyon days of “Social Gaming” (part 1) are nearly at an end, and the online game market will return to business as usual in which great, genuinely “social” games spread virally online without needing help from anybody and lesser titles will rely on buying advertising and doing distribution deals to reach their audiences. Even Zynga, having nearly outgrown its host organism will have to wean itself from dependence on Facebook and learn how to make games that people genuinely want to play and share with their friends voluntarily.
Source: industrygamers.com
So how do you feel about Zynga and they way they create games? In what ways would you like to see Zynga improve it’s marketing and game development?
do not agree, think he just wishes he came up with it. I love my neighbors we talk outside of farming
Brilliantly astute article that will have me thinking about the whole parasitic gaming industry for a long time.
FarmVille, while somewhat addictive to level up, get the “coolest stuff,” and get “masteries” and “ribbons,” is not really that much of a *game.* It’s basically clicking, with no skill, no motion graphics, no puzzles, no brainteasers, no challenge. At best it is a bit of a lottery, with their “mystery” items and random bonuses.
It’s absolutely obnoxious how almost everything in FarmVille has to have something to do with the Facebook wallfeed or the Facebook request system. Zynga apologists will say that “oh, it’s not possible to give a gift without a gift request! it has to go through Facebook!” yet it’s interesting, when you send items purchased with FarmCash (Zynga’s name for their exchanged real world currency), that doesn’t go through Facebook. That’s just plain leaching. Why should I have to pollute Facebook, my content, my wall, spam my friends with gifts and gift requests and wall posts and invites, just to play a game that is *BARELY* social. I think you can post 120-character notes on each others’ farms, but it’s kinda buggy and almost no one uses it. It’s only social when someone begs for gifts now or other people comment to say “thanks” on stupid wall posts.
Zynga’s game model will fail because it’s not quality gaming, if they do not change, and soon. They should cut 90% of the funding to these games NOW in favor of a flat-fee or sub-based, online or locally-installed version of each of their successful games (FarmVille, FishVille, PetVille, the *wars, Poker) with actual motion graphics, 3-D rotation, and actual item interaction. They could have the equivalent of a farming “The Sims” on their hands, if they put effort into game development instead of parasitic marketing.
Great reply, I agree on many points. There are obviously ways to have the game function that will not pollute your feed with requests, they simply thrive off of these as more and more people see them. The way I see it, Zynga will either learn from their mistakes, grow and become a really great developer or they will fail hard once the excitement of new items and clicking plots wears down and more and more people start hating FarmVille and other games like this. Supposedly there will be a new way to interact with neighbors coming to FarmVille, which may address the “social” aspect of the game more. What that will be and how enjoyable is anyone’s guess at the moment though.
I am facinated by the way the author implies that the people who play Farmville seemingly had no choice to play it once they were “spammed”. Also, once they were introduced to the game, there is no social aspect other than sending gifts to one another. Like many of you, I play Farmville with friends – some who I have met before I ever stepped into Facebook and others who I have met through the game and I challenge the author to prove that these relationships are any less valid than the connections gamers make through Xbox games (where I have personally heard all sorts of noobs cursing and ruining the gaming experience).
I will concede that the rapid popularity of Zynga games can seeming overwhelming on Facebook feeds, but I don’t think Facebook will be too quick to break off ties or hinder a company whose products have brought in thousands (if not millions) of people to them.
If Mr. St. John wants to wonder why people would rather interact on Facebook games, he might want to think about fixing the Xbox Red Ring of Death (paying for another Xbox unit for the umteenth time is ridiculous).
I agree with the author, zynga uses unethical tactics to spread their games, you are always forced to force your friends to play the game or pay the money to buy, whether it is land expansion or gifts or anything else. I myself was ‘sweetly’ forced by one of my friend to join farmville just because he needed to expand the land and needed some gifts.
Hot Rods are big example how Zynga forces you to play the games you dont want to play! either play or left behind, and offcourse these are not social games! Facebook is taking great steps to stop further spams by other games developer but in my point of view facebook is always blackmailed by Zynga because after the introduction of farmville – facebook audience has been doubled.
Shiza….poor child, you were “Forced” into playing? I doubt that. No one forces another to play a game they don’t want to, or don’t enjoy. No one certainly forced me. I play because I enjoy the creativity of Farmville. It may not be a game that requires strategy (except for those who use the strategy of cheat apps), nor does it require any real brain action and thinking. It’s simply a creative way to distract one from real life for a short time. As to spamming, frankly, no one has EVER spammed me to play any games on FB or Zynga. There’s a little something called an “edit options” button for those who claim to be spammed. And, yes, I think the author of this particular article wishes he had thought about it first. LOL
btw, I have never spent so much as a PENNY to play Farmville. I have well over 2 million coins, 200+ FV dollars and more gas than I could ever hope to use simply by taking care of my neighbors needs and taking advantage of advertiser FV $ bonuses, ie 100 free FV$ for ordering flowers for mothers day via Pro Flowers. AND,I’ll be even happier when Zynga does break away from FB.
out of curiosity (no fights here)… if you have never spent a penny on fv cash, then why did you order flowers in order to get the free cash? in retrospect, it would have been cheaper to just buy 100 fv cash, as it is only i think about $10, as opposed to (depending on what you bought, of course) anywhere from $20-50 to buy flowers. o.O
What a load of steaming cow manure.
Nothing there but pure “hate-ism” drivel. What the guy really doesn’t like is Facebook games success and Zynga in general. His whole article is a thinly veiled attempt to bash ZYnga with his hate.
On a completely unrelated note, Freak got the stuff I found last night, with no credit to Farmviller (suprise, surprise). I must say, I’m almost shocked it took them (assuming they’re running on EST) 6 hours to post them.
shiza, once again – how were you “sweetly” forced into playing Farmville? If you don’t have the ability to politely say no to your friends and relations maybe you need to think about how to fix that aspect of your relationships. I have many friends in Facebook other than the ones that I have neighbored, and some have said yes and others no to playing. I never took it personally, and they don’t take it personally when I don’t join their games or causes or groups, etc.
If you do not like certain parts of Farmville, then simply stop playing. While it is true they try to persuade you to do certain game playing aspects (spending FV), every other game system does something to make you spend more money. Remember that with Zynga games, you are getting interactive games FOR FREE. To play the game and succeed you do not have to spend the money for items; however, if you do spend real money (which profits/supports Zynga) you are probably spending less money than on a constant flow of games for Xbox or Playstation – it is all up to you.
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant I have been saying it myself but in the courts only one case one the “i was forced into gaming my life away” in a World Of Warcraft related case; since then the precedent has been set: the gamer makes the CHOICE to play and the consequences of that game play is the sole responsibility of the player.
On a turn of the Coined Phrase: “Parasitic Gaming” we now see how, by reading the FV forums and listening to friends, and my own experiences in FV lately: this change of the neighboring and the ‘socializing’ and Zynga’s inability to stay ahead of the changes they are making by ‘breaking the game’ for many thousands of FVers; the term ‘parasitic’ applies to the gamers and farmers themselves whose farms are ‘broken’ whose work is all lost, and whose FVC purchases go down a hole and are unrecoverable.
Parasitic because I feel like the Host for developers. programmers, and Market Items who continually feed off my efforts to farm only to have the work lost or wind up oos.
On the other hand: a bonus for my neighbors: as a result of all of the changes affecting the game and the ‘neighboring’ changes:
I have a farm that KEEPS ON GIVING: 1. last week i was able to take advantage of feed issues and suspend my links so that neighbors could click on them for hours and hours.
2. I sent out gifts last night to friends and when my farm rolled back to what it was 7 hours prior to my discovery of the rollback, my FVC was restored and the gifts remained on the neighbor’s farms. So today it is free cows all around and on the house in the event what i spent is rolled back again, which may well likely happen because it has rolled back several times the last few days.
We the gamers are leeched upon but more aptly serve as Hosts (players with dead farms) by the developers, the programmers and all that goes in the Zynga/FB platforms.
But the luck of the Irish shines upon my neighbors: they are all getting FREE COWS!!!!
Sounds like someone is jealous he didn’t come up with Zynga’s idea and is not reaping the benefits that they are….
Interesting article but it is missing the main point: people play these games because they are fun. The so-called parasitic aspect may encourage you to try a game but you’re going to give up pretty quickly if you don’t enjoy the game.
I started playing farmville because some of my real-life friends on facebook played it. That was 7 months ago and I’m still playing. That’s the longest I’ve ever played any game and it goes to show Zynga are doing something right, I’m just one of millions of players.
I just ran across the Facebook Filter Manager earlier today, which automatically generates those filter links and adds them to the sidebar (super awesome).
I’m only mentioning it because it’s been updated recently to do a temporary work around to hide all posts that don’t relate to whatever filter page you’re trying to view. Still praying Facebook will fix it, though.
lol, this is what happens when I have fifty billion tabs open at the same time. Meant to post that on the feed post, but hey – it’s still useful information.
i run chrome so cannot use that app so i write my own bookmark using the old feed filter basic
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=app_
for FV it is : http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=app_102452128776
i paste and go then bookmark.
attach any app ID# after the =_
and voila a filter for your apps, i just keep it up in the bookmark bar…
hope this helps
I kind of agree. FaceBook lets you block an app…but people can still fill your page with post from apps you wont see… but others will. People, in not interested in an app should be able to block it an never see anything from that app again and at the same time never let that app see them. That is the problem…again you can hide an app, but the apps can still crap all over your page. I see it as a simple solution and don’t understand why FaceBook would torture the people who don’t want anything to do with the apps. I love Farmville and there are other apps I like to play on and off… but FaceBook is “infected” in away due to their own poor judgement on how to treat the apps and need to allow people to hide from apps rather then hide the apps from people.
I at one point started blocking every app I did not like… one day I saw my page from someone else’ account… it was FILLED with junk post from apps… it just looked trashy.
Well said Clarence. The way he talks about the game just shows how ignorant he is about it.
am I the only one who set up a fb account just to play farmville?
this way my real friends are not bothered by all the lonely cows, and I add only friends who want to play.
Easy!
I doubt you are the only one, but I know I wish I had… Not much I can do about it now. lol
Just don’t set up a farm in any other account or you will be breaking Zynga’s TOS. Has anybody read that? It’s horrible scary!
Julie, like many others, is confusing cause and effect…
Its not Zynga’s games that attract people to Facebook… they just take up time and wall space once we’re there. Before I played Mafia Wars, I was able to use Facebook to keep up with my friends’ lives, but now I spend far too much time clicking assinine popups. Farmville, rather than allowing you to select multiple tiles to plow, plant, and harvest, requires you to do each step manually, or buy fuel to do 2×2 or 3×3 at a time instead of just 1×1… I can’t be the first human being to imagine a ‘Plant all’ option, am I?
The author is correct in labeling these ‘parasitic’ games… they capitalize on Facebook’s network, the idle time of employees, and the last thing they want to do is introduce game improvements that reduce the amount of time spent on their slow-loading screens… (slow loading, despite the lack of advanced graphical gameplay of any kind!) They even attack the makers of scripts that help automate much of the repetitive clicking they subject their own players to.
Almost as amazing is their apparent disdain for their own customers… I once had an issue, and before I even received an answer from support, my support account had been deleted, and the support ticket had been closed as resolved, despite their failure to contact me or communicate this in any way…
I get the feeling Zynga is a company with a programmer, a room full of monkeys, a few accountants, and an army of lawyers. Evaluate their product yourself, and tell me I’m wrong…
I dont agree with the article at all. I have made many new friends from playing games. i dont have a lot of known friends who want to play these games, esp now. So I went in and carefully evaluated nice people to join with, we talk about our real lives as well in messages and wall posts, plus discuss gaming issues and plan co ops. I dont like all the posting , finished a level, feed somones chickens, etc, so i say no to posting. but i do post manyof the ones where people can benefit. not all. I would like to click on a button that takes me to all thee farmville requests. Farmville are starting to do that, but theyhavent figured out how to get you straight back there instead of taking you to the game esp if you wnat to return the gifts to the people I only send either what people send me, or what they request. And i only have 42 neighbours. I used to have around 10, most of whom did not play anymore. I think there should be a limit on the number of neiggbours anyone can have and it should be around the 50 mark. that way you would eliminate the ones who dont play and no one would get spammed as much. just click down and ignore the games you dont play or dont want to. it is not that bad, at least not if you have a reasonable number of friends. again limit the number of friends people can have, maybe 200. that way you will hve more time to talk to them and less trash on the feed.
so no this is a social game, i dont want fancy puzzles etc, thats why I dont play xbox . i want something to relax with and that i can stop doing straight away without hving to reach a saving point. I dont want to finish either, that would be boring. so i am happy to plod along and get my things slowly. thats the way to enjoy life.
This article was really disappointing. Alex St. John hasn’t been relevant since he worked on what – Direct X 5 for Windows 98? Since then his biggest success is getting his malware WildTangent to subversively load on startup across millions of PCs who didnt know it was installed.
The way he talks about FarmVille makes it obvious he has never played FV and doesn’t know the first thing about it – why it’s a success, why it’s addictive, why people continue to enjoy it and put up with any glitches between the FV/FB/Flash platform.
Zynga is a games developer who Alex St John competes with. The least he could have done was come up with a strong argument for his article instead of this ignorant drivel.
i do not agree with this at all. i believe that farmville IS in fact a viral game. i heard about it by word of mouth many times before i actually began playing. i never had a facebook account before hand, so there was no “spamming” of my wall, ads, etc… i heard about it from a co-worker AND then almost 6 months later i heard about it again from a roommate, so the term “parasitic gaming” actually offends me. it does not suck my life away in the same sense that WOW does (which at this point i am convinced that is what the author plays.) it just passes the time and makes me feel more self satisfied than getting my ass beat online playing halo the way my boyfriend does. i don’t get pissed and slam the computer down because i lost my crops, the way people take dying in a 1st person shooter game. it is fun, addictive, and EASY. that was the draw to it. so before you go bashing your competitors and wishing you had thunk it first, maybe actually sit down and play the damn thing before running your mouth.