Valve vs. Zynga

[Waif]

Well thank you! At least I think you are giving me a compliment.lol

Really? It was that bad? Heh, well I did hear that last year when Turbine used their launcher to get votes. People freaked out pretty badly, so maybe its a learned experience. In any case, they will hopefully be back soon!

I love new people. Because then they can become interesting old people.

Well, what happened last year was that the mods overreacted and went banhammer crazy all March. People were banned for very vague reasons, things like that. They were all a little on the paranoid side this time.

Now that is something I didn't hear, at least with a large number of bans. I can see now why there were people who weren't banned, yet normally they would have been. I guess the mods were taking it easy this time around.

 

[Dendio]

Hi Waif! You're one of the Zynga supporters I was just talking about

Oh hi there! Sure has been awhile! How have you been? You were talking about me? Good things I hope,lol.

Yeah, I played mostly spectator during the Zynga Vs Valve thread. I drummed up only every so often (usually to either post a non-offensive rallying image and I think I gave Aemroth the low-down at some point as he had missed the beginning).

But the greatest spectator is this guy:

snip

My hat's off to you good sir!

Likewise! It was a pleasure sharing popcorn with you ;-)

Also thanks for the watcher pic!

 

[Aesir23]

All we need now is a dramatic and inspiring victory speech.

 

[Souplex]

Spoiler: Some disgusting analogies and some unpopular opinions, do not click if you are weak stomached/wrong/don't want to read something relatively long and full of hate

As I have said many times in other places: Zynga is an ass pimple on gaming: Unpleasant, but harmless and ignorable. Valve on the other hand is a cancer. They are a part of gaming that has become corrupt and is killing it from within. Valve has bad ideas and is popular. Valve represents digital distribution, (Steam) and as we all know digital distribution is the enemy. (Think of a sadder image than desperate workers barely able to feed themselves and their family on their wages working at the one job that hasn't been taken over by robots: The robot factory. One day a type of robot building robot is invented, and all the humans need to give up the only job they could find; manufacturing their replacements. Every time we de-humanize retail we get a step closer to that.), that annoying method of co-op where they gimp everyone rendering them worthless on their own, power-armored non-characters using generic weapons to fight one-dimensionally evil alien invaders, and that obnoxious, immersion-breaking storytelling method where instead of putting some effort into some nice cutscenes or something, characters give poorly written exposition occasionally peppered with "Gordon Freeman" in case you forgot the name of disembodied hands with gun #342. It saddens me that our hatred of casual gaming caused people to side with cancer.

People like what they like, and you being condescending and dismissive certainly won't change any opinions.

I'm very tempted to build a straw man here, but instead I'll just leave it at this:
[a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/7373-Experienced-Points-Zynga-and-the-Rise-of-the-New-Gamer]Zynga represents the future of the industry[/a]; lowering the entry requirements to gaming, amassing a huge player base of "non-gamers", and pushing out hugely popular games in [a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98990-How-FarmVille-Was-Written-In-Five-Weeks]five weeks[/a]. All they had to do in order to succeed was harness the power of a social networking site. If "core" game developers and publishers haven't been paying attention to Zynga's success, they soon will. Because, really, in an industry where only [a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_68/394-The-Fourth-Dimension-of-Game-Development]one in seven major releases turns a profit[/a], they can't afford not to.

Digital Distribution does as much damage to retail as retail does to publishers and developers. Used and rental games do nothing but damage the profits of the companies who actually make the games, and digital distribution just cuts out the very expensive middle-man of large-scale retail. In the long run, it will mean cheaper and more profitable games, which is a win for both industry and consumers. Sure, [a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_245/7285-Steam-A-Monopoly-In-the-Making]Steam itself is a pile of wank[/a]. I'm not going to dispute that, and I doubt many people would, but it's still very early days for digital distribution. Valve was the first on the scene and will likely remain the largest for some time but, others like Direct2Drive are slowly building their consumer bases, while Good Old Games and its ilk cater exclusively to niche markets and there are also the publisher run services such as the EA Store.

As for culling jobs, you know people have to maintain servers and make sure they continue working, right? Just because you don't directly hand them your cash, doesn't mean there aren't people whose jobs revolve solely around ensuring transactions run smoothly.

It only takes small handful of people. People who will lose their jobs to robots if digital distribution is successful!

 

[Aesir23]

snip

Try Forum Games. They're a good way to start getting to know people.

I'm worried that we sort of metaphorically "sold our soul" to beat Zynga.
Advertising on the launcher, getting help from /b/.
I'd have rather lost than sink that low.

Oh, thank you for the advice! I sure do appreciate it.

Nothing wrong with advertising, I mean it wasn't just Zynga or Valve that did it. Bioware and Blizzard both did it as well, in fact. Though whoever posted the competition on /b/, was out of their mind. The porn and the gore that they posted were not worth whatever votes may have been yielded from such an act, for both sides. Imagine if a mother or a child saw those pictures? Definitely was not worth going to 4chan for votes.

I'm just glad that I never saw any of those pictures. And thank god for the mods, blessed be their Banhammers.

 

[ArchBlade]

That was one hell of a fight, wasn't it? The best part of it was indeed that it wasn't just Valve's fanbase, it was everybody who just didn't want Zynga to win working in tandem. All things considered, it was intense.

 

[Yvl9921]

Valve won! Zynga and its followers have been defeated, cast back into the deepest depths of facebook. I only fear that the horror will return next year, and if it does... will we be able to stop it?

We stopped it this year, why wouldn't we be able to stop it next year?

After that poor show by Zynga's admins, spamming their userbase, they should not be allowed back in. This should be a competition for the users and gamers, not which corporation can convince its followers to vote, especially in a dumb fashion like that. I mean could you imagine Blizzard putting a message of the day up on WoW, or sending people thousands of in game mails? Very unprofessional.

And yes, I broke my tweeting theme for Valve's sake, and I don't even like their games. I was indeed voting for hardcore games over casual games that day.

 

[Abriael]

I'm very tempted to build a straw man here, but instead I'll just leave it at this:
[a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/7373-Experienced-Points-Zynga-and-the-Rise-of-the-New-Gamer]Zynga represents the future of the industry[/a]

Of course, since a random writer says that it it must be true.

I remember reading more or less the same words over and over when the first browser games like Ogame appeared several years ago and attracted millions users (i know it even too well since i had to moderate one of their forums, one of the worst experiences of my life).

It was 2000.

Guess what? 10 years after hardcore games are still here, and most core software houses still can't care the less about browser games. Sure, some use browser experiences as integrations to their own games, but guess what, they never became part of the core business.

It'll be the same this time around. Ogame didn't become the future of gaming. Zynga won't become the future of gaming. At least not outside of the minds of some of the journalists caving into the shallow hype.

 

[JWW]

Rejoice, fellow gamers, for we have won.

 

[Dark Angel Warlord]

Article made it sound like true gamers had swords in hands mowing down farmers.

that's great

"Ha! Look what they're trying to kill us with, Plowshares! HAHAHA! *slash slash slash*"

...

God I think that'd be a fun flash game."MOW THE ZYNGA GAMERS DOWN!". ... May even put it on Facebook... (deadly cycle ensues).

oh god yes i would love to see a flash game i could run down the ceo of zynga and the staff of the forums with a tractor and use them as fertizlier on farmville

 

[Russian_Assassin]

Valve won! Zynga and its followers have been defeated, cast back into the deepest depths of facebook. I only fear that the horror will return next year, and if it does... will we be able to stop it?

Maybe we should make a clan of warriors, like the gray wardens. Then we would always help defeat the darkspa- I mean Zynga. And instead of drinking blood, we would have to play their games to the point visions would start popping in our heads.

That article was unnecessary epic. Still, Valve is credit to team, for dealing with the blight.

 

[Aesir23]

All we need now is a dramatic and inspiring victory speech.

Can't think of any to link.
So I'll just go with this one:
<youtube=1aCYZO5YAg8>

Call it a victory dance.

Well, I found something resembling a victory speech. The best one I could find at the moment. A mix of Bill Pullman's Independence Day speech and Obama's speech after he won the election. (No flames for the Obama parts of the video please. As I said, it was the best I could find in terms of a victory speech)

 

[Lord Krunk]

Valve won! Zynga and its followers have been defeated, cast back into the deepest depths of facebook. I only fear that the horror will return next year, and if it does... will we be able to stop it?

I think we could do it again.

I have to say, despite the zynga hate, it was a REALLY fun march madness, mostly BECAUSE of Zynga's involvement. It's always better then there's a clear villain to overcome.

I agree. I've been dreading Turbine's little shindigs for a while now, but this one was interesting. It also helps when the good guys win for once.

 

[Abriael]

By attracting an entirely different audience, Zynga has carved itself a very large niche which it is easily able to capitalise on with microtransactions for game currency. They've been so successful that their [a hrev=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99426-Zynga-Introduces-Retail-Game-Cards-For-FarmVille]in-game currencies are now being sold at retail[/a]. Did the early browser games ever have that kind of reach or success?

Ogame and similar games had exactly the same target as Zynga games. Bored white collars, housewifes, people that could let the game run itself for a while and go back to it. Had *exactly* the same mechanics (where do you think zynga copied from?) and the same pace. They were equally easy.
And yes, their goods got sold on ebay and similar venues as well.

They never replaced core games, and they never will.
The rest is all sensationalistic doomsayer dribble written for controversy's sake.

 

[Funkysandwich]

Spoiler: Some disgusting analogies and some unpopular opinions, do not click if you are weak stomached/wrong/don't want to read something relatively long and full of hate

As I have said many times in other places: Zynga is an ass pimple on gaming: Unpleasant, but harmless and ignorable. Valve on the other hand is a cancer. They are a part of gaming that has become corrupt and is killing it from within. Valve has bad ideas and is popular. Valve represents digital distribution, (Steam) and as we all know digital distribution is the enemy. (Think of a sadder image than desperate workers barely able to feed themselves and their family on their wages working at the one job that hasn't been taken over by robots: The robot factory. One day a type of robot building robot is invented, and all the humans need to give up the only job they could find; manufacturing their replacements. Every time we de-humanize retail we get a step closer to that.), that annoying method of co-op where they gimp everyone rendering them worthless on their own, power-armored non-characters using generic weapons to fight one-dimensionally evil alien invaders, and that obnoxious, immersion-breaking storytelling method where instead of putting some effort into some nice cutscenes or something, characters give poorly written exposition occasionally peppered with "Gordon Freeman" in case you forgot the name of disembodied hands with gun #342. It saddens me that our hatred of casual gaming caused people to side with cancer.

People like what they like, and you being condescending and dismissive certainly won't change any opinions.

I'm very tempted to build a straw man here, but instead I'll just leave it at this:
[a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/7373-Experienced-Points-Zynga-and-the-Rise-of-the-New-Gamer]Zynga represents the future of the industry[/a]; lowering the entry requirements to gaming, amassing a huge player base of "non-gamers", and pushing out hugely popular games in [a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98990-How-FarmVille-Was-Written-In-Five-Weeks]five weeks[/a]. All they had to do in order to succeed was harness the power of a social networking site. If "core" game developers and publishers haven't been paying attention to Zynga's success, they soon will. Because, really, in an industry where only [a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_68/394-The-Fourth-Dimension-of-Game-Development]one in seven major releases turns a profit[/a], they can't afford not to.

Digital Distribution does as much damage to retail as retail does to publishers and developers. Used and rental games do nothing but damage the profits of the companies who actually make the games, and digital distribution just cuts out the very expensive middle-man of large-scale retail. In the long run, it will mean cheaper and more profitable games, which is a win for both industry and consumers. Sure, [a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_245/7285-Steam-A-Monopoly-In-the-Making]Steam itself is a pile of wank[/a]. I'm not going to dispute that, and I doubt many people would, but it's still very early days for digital distribution. Valve was the first on the scene and will likely remain the largest for some time but, others like Direct2Drive are slowly building their consumer bases, while Good Old Games and its ilk cater exclusively to niche markets and there are also the publisher run services such as the EA Store.

As for culling jobs, you know people have to maintain servers and make sure they continue working, right? Just because you don't directly hand them your cash, doesn't mean there aren't people whose jobs revolve solely around ensuring transactions run smoothly.

It only takes small handful of people. People who will lose their jobs to robots if digital distribution is successful!

Bollocks! Digital distribution makes up less than 10% of the gaming market, and it's set to stay that way for quite a while.

Steam is a good way to supplement retail sales by offering cheaper prices to consumers, but it's not going to cost people jobs.

I myself use steam, and I also buy retail. I find steam is more convenient though. If I buy retail, I pay up to double the price and get a cheap box, a 4 page manual to be discarded, and another disc I can lose.

When I shop retail, it's usually for peripheral devices, console games and things like that. You can't download a keyboard or a set of speakers.

Cut the fear-mongering crap and step down from the moral highground.

 

[AWAR]

Zynga is a fucking joke! I mean, spamming? What kind of people are they?

And why does the author of this characterizes Blizzard as "partly casual"? Blizzard made some of the most hardcore games ever...