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At this juncture, if you still play Mafia Wars it is most likely because you still love the game. Maybe you have spent countless hours and investing your time into trying to build your character into fighting machine. Maybe you have spent countless hours and investing your time into trying to build your character into an energy machine. Maybe you have invested unknown amounts of money on building your character into one or both (a fighting and/or energy player). Maybe you spend money just to collect all the loots. And maybe you made many friends just because of playing the game and you still play because of the social aspect.
No matter what reason you feel why you still play Mafia Wars the truth is that many of us are fearing that the game we love to play is in real danger of becoming history. And for too many of us it already has (as shown below).
Mafia Wars DAU as of September 12, 2011
Mafia Wars DAU as of May 24, 2011
The charts above indicate a 41% decline in daily active users (DAU) for Mafia Wars in 8 months. That is a huge decline in the DAU. One that has many of us fearing that Mafia Wars will soon be in the same classification as Vampire Wars.
Vampire Wars DAU as of May 24, 2011
If we the players and Zynga want this game to survive then we need more players to play this game, not less. Whether these players spend money on the game or not is not the issue even if it takes money to run the game. The reason is that if there are no players left then there is no one to spend money anyway. If there were more players then there simply would be a greater chance that players would spend money on the game. I being one of them.
I began playing Mafia Wars 2 years ago and at that time I would spend money on the game. Now, there is no way in hell I would spend money on Mafia Wars. Why? Because I simply do not have thousands of dollars laying around that I could pump into a game that I still cannot be competitive in even if I did. I, for one, would rather go to that movie that many of you compare spending money on this game to. I’d get more enjoyment out of the movie.
I am not resentful to those of you who do spend money on this game. In fact, I envy you. I only wish that I could too.
The fact is that it can be a real struggle to play Mafia Wars if you don’t spend some money or use RP to buy your way through some parts of the game. Especially when nearly every feature that is released into the game demands, seemingly, the use of RP purchases that many of us simply do not have nor can we purchase.
For us lesser fortunate players to continually to be told to go play Farmville if we don’t like what is going on in Mafia Wars is simply the wrong thing for us to be told if you want this game to survive. In reality, you just might get us to go play Farmville. In reality, Farmville is kicking Mafia Wars’ ass in DAU and MAU.
I can just hear the Farmville players saying “If you don’t like Farmville, then go play Mafia Wars!”.
Yes, it is necessary for Mafia Wars to have players who spend money on the game. But, it also needs players (free players or not) or there will be no game.
We, the players, need to start standing tall and understand both sides. We, the players, need to become a community that is not divided by money nor power nor fame.
Guest Article Written By; Timothy Payne Author/Owner Of http://mafiaspirit.blogspot.com/
the problem that mafia wars faces as far as attracting new players is that mafia wars has a reputation. i know people who have never even played that are aware of how involved the game is. And wouldn't they be crazy to volunteer to play this game? who would sign up for this? the only reason I play now is because I played back when it was still fun. I'm like a drug addict chasing that first high, only it is becoming more and more obvious that it will never be recaptured. The game really is not that much fun anymore. It is a job. A full-time job for many, and at the very least, a part time job for most, and the pay is shitty... Really it is the people I have come to call my "family" and friends that keep me playing. And yes, I still enjoy a good fight. But as for most of the actual game? It is a burden. The game is in its death rattle. Only the most radical changes in the players favor will entice players back and new player to play, and I doubt even that would save the game. I think ANYTHING zynga does will be too little too late. Most people wanted a game they could play maybe once or twice a day for a few minutes. It has become something that requires you to sacrifice nearly everything to maintain.
ReplyDeletepeople prefer mafia games like Syndicate now (balamoosh.com) and i dont blame them. I still love mafia wars tho
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