By Alison O'Brien
Rock Center
I first learned of FarmVille a year ago while driving. Two of my closest friends were in the backseat of my car talking about eggs. Since food is often a topic of great discussion, I ignored the chatter until I heard the following comment: “Guess what came out of my egg? A house!” I looked over at my friend’s husband in the passenger seat and he just shook his head.
Since being assigned to produce the Zynga story for Rock Center, I’ve been in heated debates about the value of a virtual chicken, what crop is the best to plant when going away for a long weekend (watermelons – they are a three-day crop), and if a gnome or a horse is a better buy. I’ve been on training runs with people who have mastered harvesting crops while running, seen virtual cities that would put the Big Apple to shame and even spent seven hours in a friend’s hospital room when the “beeps” from a particularly competitive game of Scramble with Friends were more consistent than her heart monitor.
Zynga's renderings of Kate Snow and Brian Williams.
In full disclosure, I’ve now become a player. At first, I said it was for “research” of our story. Then I justified it by saying that we needed video of actual game play, so planting strawberries was a good use of my time. But, during one edit, I found myself wondering if I could expand the population in my city faster if I built another townhouse. I must have forgotten to turn the sound off on the computer because soon my editor heard the sweet sounds of construction. He just laughed and said I’d be nowhere until I got my train tracks finished. Editor’s note: Do you play? Share your favorite stories about social gaming in the comments below. Click here to watch Kate Snow's full Rock Center report about Zynga, 'Game Changer.'
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I play these games and spend some money (though not a lot) on them and am very frustrated when they don't work! If you want us to play your games and spend our money you should be sure that things work properly! Right now a lot of the quests we have to accomplish can't be done because you can't post for things you need. You make mega dollars so please try to fix things for those of us that want to play!
I've got a problem with Zynga charging money for "virtual" things. They also control how you play the game in terms of the speed in which you play. They overload the games with goals and tasks that you can't possibly complete. And their "marketing" techniques forced me to file with the FTC. For example, one "Thanksgiving sale" had more than 4 prices flashed for the same items. Depending on which "flash ad" you saw, depended upon which price you paid!
I have a problem with Zynga having so many issues that you can't play the game without at least 2 or more at one time. When you post something for others to get or send you something it doesn't get posted for them to do so. They have a lot of Quests that we can't finish for this reason because you have to ask for some of the things in the Quests. Things disappear when you go to move them or you just don't get them. I have been putting up with so many issues since about Dec 2010 and it just gradually gets worse. Recently, a couple of days ago there were so many issues that there were messages posted on the posting page of what to do. I got so disgusted that I just block Zynga and there are others that have done so. We are tired of putting up with all the issues, that you can't actually play a full game without them.
I am all for putting more play in our stressful world. However, if it intrudes on the work day, and people with jobs are playing instead of working when there are so many folks who are out of work, this is shameful. If "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," then "too much play and not enough work," should make Jack unemployed.
Zynga does not care about having good customer service.
Your piece on Zynga was very interesting but he failed to mention that in order to play Zynga games they have turned into a money mission. They have thrown out so many goals and quests that it is almost impossible to complete without spending real money to achieve it. Also Zynga support has become Zynga "non-support" Their support used to be great but in last few months they don't respond to your e-mails and 98% of the time do not correct the problems that are going on in the various games. There is a forum for each game and Zynga totally ignores it and never answers players questions or concerns. They do not care to listen to their players and help them out.
It is no wonder their stock is not taking off....too many people who are players would not purchase it because they know how Zynga really is and the number of players dropping out of their games is numerous on a daily basis because they REFUSE to correct the ongoing problems (some well over a year old), the non-support and not listening to their players.
The most important subject left out of the report is what Zynga and FB are doing with the information you allowed them to use when you agreed to the terms of use. Employers are now using info provided to determine if they want to hire you. If they find you spend several hours a day playing games are they going to hire you? They are also looking at you entire profile put together by FB which includes all of your likes and activities while on the site. All of this can come back to haunt the user in the future. Users have to exercise more control over how they do and say on social sites.