Family Icing Event: Let the Ices Begin Winners

The top ten winners list for the Family Icing Event: Let The Ices Begin, have been released and announced of the Official Mafia Wars Blog. Here is a copy of the list.

Winners of the Family Icing Event: Let the Ices Begin

Mobsters,

Here are the winners of ‘Let the Ices Begin’ event.

The winners will receive their rewards by the end of 8/22/2012 PST. 

These types of events always draw out those throw around accusations of cheating, etc. Here are some of the comments from the winners announcement on the Official Mafia Wars Blog;

These players will be labeled as whiners and all sorts of other derogatory inflammations.

These players do, however, have a legitimate gripe in an event such as this one where the TOS (Terms Of Service) are blatantly ignored by players and Zynga. The TOS explicitly warns about the use of automation software, bots, and the like. 

CHEATING AND HACKING - You agree that you will not, under any circumstances:

• d. Use cheats, exploits, automation software, bots, hacks, mods or any unauthorized third party software designed to modify or interfere with the Service or any Zynga game experience;
• e. Use the Service in order to design or assist in the design of cheats, automation software, bots, hacks, mods or any other unauthorized third party software designed to modify or interfere with the Service or any Zynga game experience;
• f. Without Zynga’s express written consent, modify or cause to be modified any files that are a part of the Service;
• g. Disrupt, overburden, or aid or assist in the disruption or overburdening of (1) any computer or server used to offer or support the Service or any Zynga game environment (each a "Server"); or (2) the enjoyment of the Service or any Zynga game by any other person;

It is a known fact that for many players Mafia Wars cannot be played without the use of bots or scripts since many players have astounding amounts of energy, stamina, health, attack and defense.

An event such as this one was sure to draw the stamina heavy accounts out from dormancy. An event such as this one was most certainly designed for the strong players. An event such as this one most likely made Zynga a ton of money from players purchasing stamina refills.

With ice counts for some of the families topping the 500,000 mark it is obvious that players utilized autoplay scripts that would have aut-healed their character and auto fought for them. In addition, these players may have used scripts that would do jobs automatically for them and more.

The following chart shows the average number of ices per player for the event.

Family ID	TAG	Family Name	Ices Achieved	Members	Average Ices Per Player
58	MwG	Mafia Wars Gods	644886	97	6648.31
5156	{ASS}	Assassin-a-Nators	548601	99	5541.42
5035	≡ƒ≡	ƒ๏ям๏ѕÂ 歡樂ƒůn團	450231	64	7034.86
3243	๏™	Target Mafia	447689	101	4432.56
132	{|nWo|}	nWo Wolfpac 4 Life	400185	90	4446.50
1056	[AYLBTU]	AYLBTU	386360	91	4245.71
1346	~Ⓜ~	Ⓜυρμιδων-Ⓜyrmidons	319454	53	6027.43
7424	{ṀωṀ}	Mafia Wars Maniac	257141	71	3621.70
1085	•FIN•	•FIN•	228499	67	3410.43
6411	ƸMƷ	мęŧâмΘяŤթħōşíŞ	200359	87	2302.98

 

The ‘Let the Ices Begin’ event ran for 7 days (or 168 hours). As a family the winning families averaged more ices in an hour than I can in 3 days.

 

Family ID	TAG	Family Name	Ices Achieved	Members	Average Ices Per Hour
58	MwG	Mafia Wars Gods	644886	97	3838.61
5156	{ASS}	Assassin-a-Nators	548601	99	3265.48
5035	≡ƒ≡	ƒ๏ям๏ѕÂ 歡樂ƒůn團	450231	64	2679.95
3243	๏™	Target Mafia	447689	101	2664.82
132	{|nWo|}	nWo Wolfpac 4 Life	400185	90	2382.05
1056	[AYLBTU]	AYLBTU	386360	91	2299.76
1346	~Ⓜ~	Ⓜυρμιδων-Ⓜyrmidons	319454	53	1901.51
7424	{ṀωṀ}	Mafia Wars Maniac	257141	71	1530.60
1085	•FIN•	•FIN•	228499	67	1360.11
6411	ƸMƷ	мęŧâмΘяŤթħōşíŞ	200359	87	1192.61

If you break the above chart (which shows the families average ices per hour) down to an average number of ices by player per hour then you have what is shown in the chart below;

 

Family ID	TAG	Family Name	Ices Achieved	Members	Average Ices Per Hour Per Player
58	MwG	Mafia Wars Gods	644886	97	39.57
5156	{ASS}	Assassin-a-Nators	548601	99	32.99
5035	≡ƒ≡	ƒ๏ям๏ѕÂ 歡樂ƒůn團	450231	64	41.87
3243	๏™	Target Mafia	447689	101	26.38
132	{|nWo|}	nWo Wolfpac 4 Life	400185	90	26.47
1056	[AYLBTU]	AYLBTU	386360	91	25.27
1346	~Ⓜ~	Ⓜυρμιδων-Ⓜyrmidons	319454	53	35.88
7424	{ṀωṀ}	Mafia Wars Maniac	257141	71	21.56
1085	•FIN•	•FIN•	228499	67	20.30
6411	ƸMƷ	мęŧâмΘяŤթħōşíŞ1192.61	200359	87	13.71

Since it’s obvious, and even openly admitted to by some, that the winning families used bots and scripts to acquire the number of ices that they achieved in this event one could reasonably ask a few questions like;

Were bot and script use abused during this event?

Did players utilize said bots and scripts to ice mini accounts in attempt to be a top 10 family?

Should these families be banned?

Is Zynga’s ‘laissez faire’ approach to certain bots and scripts in as much as condoning the use of them?

What do you do now as a player? Do you continue to play? Do you quit?

All I know is that Zynga cannot continue to ride both sides of the fence. Zynga needs to either openly endorse the use of scripts (at least for Mafia Wars) or ban the abusers. You cannot have it both ways because it IS A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS!

What is your stance on the use of bots and/or scripts?