Casual games are like generic products, they do not depend on brand recognition, fans, or love.
They depend on random people picking whatever seems interesting from the shelve.

Citizen Grim Sucks, if you want to play a cool Zombie Game, BUY L4D2 or Killing Floor. Don't be a poor fag and play this shit.

i agree. tf2 is much better than zynga games

[url=#user_comment_213258]@bodmans[/url]: (2) On the other hand, once you strip away the "microtransactions" of Zynga games, there isn't much game left. All you do is click ... and wait. Snipers who hang around spawn on 2Fort have more excitement. Look up "The Curse of Cow Clicker" for a good example of the underlying system.

[url=#user_comment_213258]@bodmans[/url]: (1) For a game like TF2, let's say that you spend around 20 bucks - not a bad price for a pretty good game. For your 20, you get enough gear to cater to your playstyle and maybe a little bit more. Even if you spend nothing, you still have a good game. Hats are non-mandatory and cosmetic.

I remember being promised ponies a few strips ago...

@ lots of people below

what about the value of virtual items like the ridiculously expensive(and USELESS) hats in TF2

And that is how most mobilegames tend to be today... Did you know there is a mlp mobilegame, nice to do some braindead stuff... but it alerts you every fucking minute that some other thing can be done now >_<

[url=#user_comment_213192]@Censuur[/url]: In the end this is what separate us from wild animals. If we don't value anything there will be nothing to trade with except bare necessities like foods, clothings and shelters. Also video games will be valued as zero too if you think stamp and other collectibles are useless.

[url=#user_comment_213192]@Censuur[/url]: And I bet you never know about society in general right? Human will always put value on everything. Gold are just rare yellow soft stone you can dig from earth. Money are just printed papers where the govt said "this is valuable" and the people said "okay"

[url=#user_comment_213192]@Censuur[/url]: Or might my sarcasm not be obvious(you never know): "Fake value" doesn't exist. Anything is "worth" what people give for it. For the weirdest kind of "value", see the stock market. "a thousand wrongs". Pffffflrt.

[url=#user_comment_213192]@Censuur[/url]: Oh I know right. There are tons of people I know who collect weird pieces of paper with former Presidents on them. And they think they can trade it for my bread! Idiots. ~Baker

[url=#user_comment_212968]@AckAckAck[/url]: And sure, you could collect items just to take advantage of the idiots that place superficial value in them, but then you'd still be propagating a system that is downright retarded.

[url=#user_comment_212968]@AckAckAck[/url]: The fact that there is more than one idiot interested in collecting the same item and attaching fake value to it and spending money on it doesn't make it any less foolish Two wrongs don't make a right, a thousand wrongs still doesn't make a right.

My guess is that there are people out there who love Zynga, but don't know what a Zynga is. People who are interested enough in games to have an opinion of Zynga are not their target audience.

Jo - Take a look at Kixeye's wonderful skewer of Marc Pincus (Zynga's CEO) if you want to know why they are so hated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5l-nnR4Bx0

Snif... Why does everybody hate grammar?
Why would one expect to be liked for such naggy, obvious ripoffs of pre-existing games? Emphasis on the NAG NAG NAG.

Also like 2033 said, rare stamp can fetch for millions because some of them were designed for certain event. Oh Censuur, you remind me of an idiot who stole an old coin collection worth millions of dollars from his cousin and use it like normal coin.

[url=#user_comment_212852]@Censuur[/url]: Actually collecting stuff can still earn people money. There's a lady who love to collect Hubcaps and she actually got profit from trading and selling her vintage hubcaps. Do I need to remind you about recent news about someone who sell a rare Atari game for over $33,000?

Do a strip about mechwarrior online :D

re: collecting stamps.
Kanai’s collection was sold by the auctioneer David Feldman in 1993, the Bordeaux cover going for the equivalent of about $4 million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritius_%22Post_Office%22_stamps#Philatelic_discovery

[url=#user_comment_212874]@Lockgar[/url]: But what I really hate about then is the fact that they outright copy from indie developers. Stealing from the indie community when you have a big enterprise and the means (and by that I mean the money) to make your own games is simply disgusting

[url=#user_comment_212874]@Lockgar[/url]: Personally I don't like the games they make, for lack of depth and the presence of an overdeveloped "pay2win" mindset... But that's my opinion, and I would not speak against then just because of that (after all, some people like the games they make >.<)

[url=#user_comment_212871]@kain[/url] The people who made farmvil. The bane of the hardcore because they cater the to the "filthy casuals". So basically gamers have an irrational fear and hatred towards the company. No there is no really "GOOD" reason for gamers to hate them, or them specifically.

What is a Zynga?

[url=#user_comment_212755]@eLektor[/url] The thing is, collecting stamps or bottle caps can actually have a return down the road(rare stamps can be big money). Collecting recolors of a barn nets you nothing later on

[url=#user_comment_212839]@usbfridge[/url]: People will always think what they believe in is right, ofcourse you would defend your hobby even if it is utter folly. You put value in something that has none, you convince yourself your effort is paying off while instead you're multiplying by zero. You're half-assing it too, pffft

[url=#user_comment_212755]@eLektor[/url]: As an amateur bottle cap collector, I kind of find this offensive. People have these little collections because they put effort into getting something and they get rewarded by seeing their collection grow. This human desire to see effort = product is why people play video games at all.

why does*

I might be wrong but my gut tells me that because of Zynga every online game today has stupid features like collections. I've never understood why people collect stamps or bottle caps and I surely don't want to collect apples and butter sticks in a MMORPG.

Is just as terrible

Anyone remember when Zynga was a social network like Myspace?

@Anon E Mouse (Mock Concern): To his credit, at least the label was on the dog bowl and not on the person or some stupid t-shirt.

At least then, it makes sense and he gets to label. Two birds, one stone.

I think the problem with Zynga is not about their games but the fact that a lot of companies try to copy them and Zynga either copy popular games from other smaller (yet successful) games or outright buying them hoping for quick cash in. The attitude of Zynga boss doesn't help either.

@Anon E Mouse (Mock Concern): I think most video game webcomic writers are already became editorial cartoonists with their own bias toward several video games.

ZUUL, MUTHAF**KA, ZUUL!

I dont think most people that play Zynga games know what the company is

Damn you Jo for making the dog adorable in the first panel and thus causing me to have sympathy for Zynga.

Byezynga!!!

Careful Jo, you're starting to become a editorial cartoonist with all this "labeling what things are supposed to be"ness.

Tried to open their website with adblock enabled...

It's empty.
I'm scared >____<'

Most people I know hate Zynga for their shady business practices. Pretty much, if they see a successful idea, they steal it. FarmVille was a stolen idea, for example. Also tiny tower: http://nerdreactor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/zynga-tiny-tower-620x.jpg

@Music-chan: Zynga didn't make draw something, they bought it from the developer when it got popular.
Soon after the game began to lose a good majority of their players, but that was due to a lack of variety in their word bank.

Doesn't Zynga do Draw Something? I like that game. I play it on the bus during my commute. I tend to forget about it at other times though.

Did he edit the comic to add the bowl?
I don't remember it being there.

Zynga: also known as the Yamcha of game developers.

Man, I think I played too much Wartune. I'll read some Nerf Now to take my mind off of it...

"INVITE YOUR FRIENDS!! CHECK YOUR CROPS!!"

BLAAAARG!

This pretty much summarize all the social game out there.

Such a nice analogy, indeed. Social games MAY seem like fun at first (just like a cute puppie)...until the bastards give you a mean bite!

I liked a few of their games but in the end its always the same model and you get tired of all the ways they are trying to make you pay sooner or later.

Social games, they say... Trap games, I call'em... Those thrice dammed games that you can't play straight on but forces you to keep coming back every ten minutes or so... It's like drugs, except with none of the pleasure and all of the addiction...

Never played a Zynga game.

The dog is Zynga's symbol, like Twitter's bird.

i don't get it.

1/2 F2P games in a nutshell.