Zynga Appeases Whiners

Mafia Wars, by it’s name alone, can be construed as being cruel and insensitive. It implies that there will be killing and murder and thievery and much more cold and sinister deeds. All these things ARE a part of the game within the virtual world of Mafia Wars. It IS these radical concepts that once made Mafia Wars an award winning game. It IS what set Mafia Wars apart from other games. It is these concepts that appealed to the millions of people who once played and to many of those who still play Mafia Wars .

It is becoming more and more evident that Zynga and Mafia Wars is growing soft and sensitive. Zynga is listening to select players who whine and gripe about things that they, themselves, deem as sensitive. Zynga, therefore, allows these select few dictate what should and should not be in Mafia Wars.

For example, you might remember that Zynga Nerfed The Crate Contest With A Nerf. It was rumored that the Jesus Christ Crates actually won the contest and some players took offense to that because they ‘didn’t feel it was appropriate for the game’. All the rules were followed, but the whiners won out in the end. Or did they?

Zynga posted a new round of voting for the Crate contest and many almost had forgotten about it until Zynga revealed on Wednesday that a new crate will be coming soon to Mafia Wars. These crates will be called Psychology Crates. These crates are coming to Mafia Wars via the winning suggestion from the Mafia Wars Crate Contest where players got to vote on suggested crate concepts.

We now have more whiners who complained about one of the names of the loots from the winning suggested crate. The item in question is the Suicide Blade (as it was originally called by Zynga).

Was Suicide Blade

The name of this item apparently upset a certain someone (which I will keep their identity secret – but they know who they are). Here was their opinion regarding the name of this loot item;

Due to the stature of this individual it appears that Zynga has decided to adhere to their demand that the name of the loot item be changed.

Changed To Hidden Blade

Seriously? This person believes that because the name of the item contained the word ‘suicide’ within it or that it is a tool that some have been known to use to commit suicide with that it equates to ‘GLORIFYING’ suicide. Really?

Maybe the name of this game should be changed to SISSY WARS or POLITICALLY CORRECT WARS because the name MAFIA WARS GLORIFIES ALL CRIMINAL ACTIVTIES!!!

And, furthermore, what about the other 2 loot items that are currently in the game that use the word ‘suicide’ in their names? Those 2 loot items being Assisted Suicide and Suicide Spatz.

Assisted Suicide

Suicide Spatz

Do these loot items GLORIFY  suicide? Why not change their names to suit the whiners too?

I don’t mean to sound callous but for Zynga to change what an item is called just because someone WHINES about it is BULLSHIT! This is a game about criminal activities of all sorts. These players need to get over themselves and either learn to deal with it or GO PLAY FARMVILLE!!!

8 Days To Beg And Another Limited Time Property Is On Its Way

Images of the next limited time buildable property have been found. With 8 days left still on the current property, the Arc Reactor. 

Yes Zynga, we need yet another useless property to build like your employees need more of your stock options.

Invisible Velocity: Next Mission Preview

The next timed mission will be called ‘Invisible Velocity’.

“A spirit can be seen never by the eyes of man”

                                                 - Henry Lam

Exploring The VuIP Low Budget Players

Zynga has a forgotten group of players within it’s games. These players are Very un-Important (VuIP) to Zynga and yet they could hold the secrets to making Zynga’s problems disappear.

These ‘cut priced’ players of Zynga’s games may not have the financial capacity to be considered Zynga’s preferred source of revenue. They most certainly are not ‘Whales’. The players I am referring to includes ALL the players who have to live on a budget.

 

These players either work for their living or they are on a fixed income and yet these games of Zynga’s appeal to them. These players relate to many of Zynga’s games. These games of Zynga’s may fulfill a fantasy for many of these players. These games may be an escape from everyday ‘real life’ struggles for these players. These players are also the largest group of users who play Zynga’s games.

This was evidenced about a year ago in the following article on businessweek.com;

Zynga’s Quest for Big-Spending Whales

By Douglas MacMillan and Brad Stone on July 06, 2011

one former Zynga employee, who did not want to be named, suggested that less than 10 percent of Zynga’s players spend money and less than 1 percent are responsible for between a quarter and a half of the company’s revenue.

This means that the ‘cut priced’ players account for (or make up) about 90-99% of Zynga’s player base which currently is in excess of 313 million monthly users according to appdata.com. This equates to an estimated 297 million ‘Free Players’ who are enjoying Zynga’s games. This also means that an estimated 3.1 million players of Zynga’s games are responsible for ‘between a quarter and a half of Zynga’s revenue.’

There are clearly untapped, uncaught, unhooked, fish in the sea for Zynga to entice to spend a little money.

One needs to know the fish he seeks to catch, and patience. The fish will bite if you use the right baits. You won’t catch many fish if you continue with this kind of inflexibility contained within your business philosophy;

'FarmVille' gamemaker Zynga sees dollar signs

By Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter October 26, 2009

Once hooked, Pincus says, players spend real money on virtual goods to help them advance to higher levels -- thereby enriching Zynga. And although playing requires only short spurts of time, the game never ends, as Zynga's designers keep adding levels so that players come back for more.

Have you ever heard of ‘OVERKILL’? The reason many of us who currently play Zynga’s games without the use nor help of spending money is that there are too many missions and events and features for us to keep up with in ALL your games! In fact, it is a primary deterrent for many of us who ‘might’ spend some money in your games.

If you look at Zynga’s top 3-4 games you should see that it is those games that one can play for those ‘short spurts of time’ that are generating the most revenue in addition to the highest user bases.

Zynga

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The company's top three games – FarmVille, FrontierVille and CityVille – accounted for 57 percent of online game revenue. Total revenue was $329 million for the quarter ending March 31, 2012.

Zynga reported revenue of $332 million during their Q2 of 2012, which was up 19% year over year however a net income loss of $22.8 million was reported due to a $95.5 million stock-based expense.

Farmville generates about $95,410,000 per quarter and has a 40.7 million monthly average users. That’s an average of $2.34 per monthly player.

Mafia Wars, on the other hand, generates about $16,000,000 and has 1.3 million monthly average users which average to $12.31 per monthly player.

Although the average money per player spent in Mafia Wars is higher you still make your bread and butter from Farmville, CityVille, FrontierVille, and Zynga Poker.

Mafia Wars

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On Facebook, as of August 2010, Mafia Wars had up to 45.5 million monthly accounts created. As of April, 2011, Appdata.com reports that Mafia Wars players have shrunk down to 10.7 million monthly active accounts, with approximately 1.7 million daily active users. According to this same source, monthly active accounts dropped to 6.7 million by August 3, 2011; and to 5.7 million by September 2, 2011. Daily active users was at 1.2 million by August 3, 2011; dropping to 1 million by September 2, 2011. By February 2012, daily users were down to 540,000 and Mafia Wars had sunk to the 15th most popular Zynga game, only slightly lower than its sequal Mafia wars 2 which placed 13th.

Zynga, you can continue to try to feed the whales but you WILL drive the fish away…much like you are doing in Mafia Wars. Or you could go back to what worked and made Mafia Wars great.