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[Neonivek]

Okay, you two, the quote-screwing is getting quite annoying and is probably leading into an unnecessary and inflammatory derail.

I am not doing that (except once)... I just cut out unneeded info.

Anyhow my Mom is unfortunately pernamently addicted to Zynga... She controls 10 accounts so she can give herself more stuff. It can take hours for her to do a days work of Zynga.

I know first hand how evil Zynga games are. Though I know how easy it is to impress people who play it.

[Rilder]

Personally I consider anything Facebook related to be the embodiment of evil but that's just me. 

They are just one of the many money grubbing developers/publishers. Never played any of their games and don't want to.

[Neonivek]

Personally I consider anything Facebook related to be the embodiment of evil but that's just me. 

They are just one of the many money grubbing developers/publishers. Never played any of their games and don't want to.

I could count their good games on one hand... and those games are just lesser versions of others.

Not Zynga... they don't have a good game.

[Luke_Prowler]

So Zynga is a poor man's Activision?

[Max White]

No, Zynga is a lot worse. Zynga is willingly evil, Activision is just incompetent.

[Luke_Prowler]

No, I'm pretty sure Activision is evil too, but rather than ripping off a competitor they buy them out then screw over the original team to put in their own "improvements".

[Tilla]

So Zynga is a poor man's Activision?

Rich man's activision actually http://www.joystiq.com/2011/02/19/zynga-valuations-place-company-at-nearly-10-billion/

[Luke_Prowler]

Okay, maybe "Poor man" was the wrong word. More like the Micro-Transaction version of Activision.

Of course, with the popularity DLCs, even that's not true...

[Neonivek]

Okay, maybe "Poor man" was the wrong word. More like the Micro-Transaction version of Activision.

Of course, with the popularity DLCs, even that's not true...

Don't worry FAR worse then DLC are projected to be "Common use" in the not so distant future thanks to a few people. Namely games the company can "Shut off"

[Luke_Prowler]

Okay, maybe "Poor man" was the wrong word. More like the Micro-Transaction version of Activision.

Of course, with the popularity DLCs, even that's not true...

Don't worry FAR worse then DLC are projected to be "Common use" in the not so distant future thanks to a few people. Namely games the company can "Shut off"

As a future game designer, that just sickens me.

[kuro_suna]

I don't play Facebook games and zynga games especially because I don't like that every time you login it asks you to send spam messages to everyone on your friends list.

[Phmcw]

There should be a legislation over what is acceptable in on-line games. Some are just as bad as casino's.

[Max White]

But really, how do you regulate something like that? The line is so very blury. Do we ban WoW for eating so many hours? What about starcraft's battlenet? As I recall it was the first game to cause a death from over playing. Then there are people who spent waaay to many hours on Diablo II trying to get all those ultra rare items.

Come to think of it, Blizzard most likely has ruined more lives then crack, and is twice as addicting.

[Phmcw]

But really, how do you regulate something like that? The line is so very blury. Do we ban WoW for eating so many hours? What about starcraft's battlenet? As I recall it was the first game to cause a death from over playing. Then there are people who spent waaay to many hours on Diablo II trying to get all those ultra rare items.

Come to think of it, Blizzard most likely has ruined more lives then crack, and is twice as addicting.

Meh, I was mostly thinking about the financial aspect. Those "virtual goods" are getting out of hand.
I'd be ok with an international law that forbid the sale of virtual videogame object, privilege and powers. You'd still have a black market, so maybe something to allow it between players, or something.
(Yes any law summarized in three line on a forum post are flawed, this is just the idea, not the implementation.)

Yes. They may use psychology to addict you to their games. But that is not evil, because no matter how much you wish it was not so, they do give some form of pleasure, of they would not it would not be addicting. And really, who is someone to say that what ‘true’ pleasure is?

That is devolving into a stupid philosophical argument : define Evil, define pleasure, and explain why giving pleasure is redeeming from willingly addicting you those those game (as opposed as the addiction being just a side effect). Beside, the trick with addicting someone is to gradually reduce the amount of reward given by the simulation in order to make you do it more. Giving pleasure is not required.

[RedKing]

I don't play Facebook games and zynga games especially because I don't like that every time you login it asks you to send spam messages to everyone on your friends list.

^^^^ This.

Micro-transactions and DLC are sorta irritating, but I think they're a legitimate business model in the right context. (For instance, Rock Band's use of DLC makes perfect sense--rather than pay for a bunch of songs you don't want, you buy the ones you do want and slowly build your custom tracklist. Better than having to slap down $20 several times for "expansion packs" full of crap to get a handful of musical gems)

I've played a number of Chinese-based browser strategy games that use micro-transactions as well, and they're balanced enough that you can still have a decent game without buying extra crap. Yes, you won't be in the top tier, but if you're in a solid clan it's not that much of a problem.

My main problem with Zynga games (and most Facebook games, to be honest) is that they want you to leverage your base of friends by "adding" them into your game with a shitload of invites and then spamming their pages (and your own) with updates. Thankfully, they've made it easier to hide that shit, but for someone like me, having to spam my friends in order to advance in the game ("Invite 25 friends to unlock next level!") is a non-starter.

I think Playfish is an example of a decent Facebook game dev. While they do have some that use micro-transactions (or they have "premium" paid versions of their games), they're mostly solo games. And they tend to be a bit more brain-teaser and/or educational (brain teasers, geography quizzes, Scrabble-type games) rather than just "how much crap can you collect?" like Mafia Wars.