Running The Gauntlet – Mafia Wars Aging

Mafia Wars debuted in April 2008. The game has a storied history that ranges from once being the most popular game on Facebook to being announced as the 2009 Webby Award People's Voice Winner in the Games category to lawsuits and more.

By August 2010, Mafia Wars had grown in popularity and boasted up to 45.5 million monthly accounts. As of today there are approximately 1 million monthly players who refuse to “Leave A Legacy Behind.”

Although Mafia Wars may have seen it’s ship come in the game is still watching the ship as it nears the horizon. How soon it disappears into that ocean sunset is uncertain.

If you consider the Life Cycle of a game then Mafia Wars appears to be late in it’s prime.

Life Cycle of a Browser-Based Online Game Product

There is nothing fixed about the life cycle of a product. However, basically the life cycle of a browser-based online game can be described as:

1. Internal development stage. In this stage, the game is not yet available for general public. It is possible to release (publish in web) the alpha version of the game for private/limited number of testers. However, making any alpha release public is generally a bad idea.

2. Beta release. There should be no more “show-stopper” (fatal) bugs for the beta release of the game. The game should also already feature complete (the game must be completely playable from start until finish). Basically, it can be a good idea to make all/some of the beta releases available for general public. Do not forget to start advertising the game. Provides an e-mail address on the the game web pages so that users can give feedback and report bugs.

3. Minor improvement and bug fixes. No complicated/big features that may cause instability shall be added after the first beta release. Adding minor features to make the gameplay better is good as long as those features do not change the core flow/working/logic of the game. Bug fixing to remove the remaining annoying (but not fatal) bugs should be done now.

4. Release candidate. Basically, all game features should be “frozen” in this release. There should be no more feature addition after this release, except if that feature addition is the part of a bug fixing process. Doing more advertisement for the game is a good idea.

5. Bug fixes. Fix all remaining visible bugs to prepare for the version 1.0.0 release.

6. Version 1.0.0 release. While there is no application that completely bugs free, in this release we need to ensure that there is no more user visible bug in the game application. If we happen to find such a bug, fix it immediately and update the game. Doing some more advertisement for the game is a good idea.

7. Maintenance stage. This stage is basically the “run time” stage of the game. The possible actions in this stage will be iterated over and over. Some actions that can be done in this stage:

• Content addition. Basically, an online game needs to be designed so that contents can be added easily without changing the program logic. Adding contents regularly would be a good method to attract users. Do not forget to advertise the newly added content.

• Minor improvement. Adding small improvements such as better user interface, better images and sound effects, etc. would be a good idea as long as they do not change the core program logic. It would be a good idea to add the improvements step by step (not all at once). If all the improvements are all added at once, in the future, it would be much more difficult to find a new idea for improvement.

• Noticeable improvement. Noticeable does not mean major. It means that the added features will looks big and attract users. An example of this improvement is a user interface overhaul that will be directly noticeable by all players. A user interface overhaul does not necessarily modify many part of the program logic, they mostly can be done by providing a much better looks for buttons, icons, etc.

8. Declining stage. Basically, the end of life of an online game can be quite long. This is due to the fact that when old players no longer play the game, there can be new players registering for the game. Some actions can be done in this game to further the life time of the game:

• More advertisement. This can be done to attract new players.

• Content recycle with discount. Older content (especially payed contents) can be re-included/exhibited so that newer players can have chances to buy them. If appropriate, the price of payed contents can be discounted.

• Major feature addition. This would depend on the genres and topics of the games. For example:

  • In a space exploration/conquest game: adding a new galaxy to explore/conquer, adding new races/enemies, etc.

  • In a virtual farm game: adding a new type of farm that have a totally different looks and characteristics with the original farm.

  Basically adding this major features would usually requires changes in the core program logic and introduces new bugs. Therefore, do not forget to inform the users before actually updating the game. Having a separated version number for the new features is also possible (for example: the new features will be released in beta version while the original game is kept in its original version).

The game has lost 44 million monthly players in under 3 years. On average that’s a loss of 14.5 million players a year.

With only 1 million monthly players who still play Mafia Wars things look very bleak for the game.

I, for one, believe the game could return, somewhat, to it’s former glory. Here’s my list of things Zynga should do with Mafia Wars if Zynga wants to keep the game alive;

1. Re-open ALL the closed destinations.
2. Open more destinations. (Yes, a new destination may be coming soon.)
3. Slow down a little on releasing events and new features. Make these special again.
4. Stop releasing impossible to complete and/or lop-sided (UNFAIR) features. Examples include; Family Progression, The Raven, The Arena, Family Battles, Ice Boards, Job Boards, Limited Time Properties, and the Family Module, just to name a few.

The cold-hard truth is that with the way Zynga does things we all know that this game will only survive if it continues to meet Zynga’s profit margins. We have been warning you all that if you, as players, and Zynga with their bad business tactics chase away the free-playing players then the money spending players would soon find the exit door too. The proof is in the pudding….not the meat.