Zynga's "business plan"

It's not that Zynga ignores our suggestions and feedback, it's just that our feedback doesn't often fit in with their business plan. They have as much as said so. That's why so much of what we want doesn't get implemented. Or why we see our ideas implemented in strange ways weeks or months later.

Sad but true. And pretty lame, if you ask me. 

Here's an excellent example: this year's April Fool's event, Beat The Devs. Remember what a flop that ended up being? It was horrible.

I'm sorry to say, that was originally the brainchild of a group of players from several months ago. We put together the idea for fun, having no idea that Zynga would later base an event on the idea. It wasn't a new type of event because we liked that type of event, a fact that escaped Zynga.

Our idea was based on the old boss fight events, like Beat The Feds, or It's On In San Juan, or Rumble In Russia, but the bosses were Zyngons. We even made up funny loot items for mastering each boss, and an achievement for mastering the whole event.

You can imagine, when the April Fool's event started rolling out, we were thrilled to realize that Zynga had listened to our idea. You can also imagine how, about five minutes into the event, we were horrified to realize that our idea had been completely bastardized and turned into a god-awful, useless, and annoying spam event. The bosses didn't really die, and all you got was some useless "limited edition trading card". On top of that, event fatigue was really a problem at the time, and Zynga characteristically released the Beat The Devs joke on top of several other events that were already going on.

Now, several months later, a lot of us are still saying we want the old boss fights back. Zynga has  indicated that they are listening to this feedback. However, in typical Zynga style, it sounds like, as usual, they haven't really listened to the feedback, but have been trying to figure out how to squish it into whatever stupid business plan they have.

I understand how businesses run, many of us do. In another lifetime, I myself was a successful professional. The problem here is that Zynga, like most other corporate companies out there, cannot see past their bottom line and profit margin to the players that are sustaining the game. It seems to me that they are not thinking about game longevity, but rather just driving their business plan, along with the game, into the ground. I wonder how many of those stuffed-suit executives at Zynga actually play any of Zynga's game, much less Mafia Wars.

Personally, I think the new boss fights are extremely boring, and were made impossibly complicated to fit with Zynga's definition of "interesting". Players are STILL asking for those old boss fights back, someone just asked the question during last week's Mafia Wars Live broadcast.

Zynga responded "We have gotten a lot of feedback for the return of stamina based boss fights. We are currently developing a....."

WTF Zynga, we didn't ask you to develop ANYTHING. We asked for the old boss fights back. We are telling you that we liked them, not that we wanted you to come up with something new based on the old boss fights. We want the old boss fights back, why is that so hard to comprehend. WHY is this very specific feedback being ignored by Zynga, WHY can't they make something this simple fit into their damn business plan?

old boss fights

My thoughts on one of the answers given during last night's Mafia Wars Live broadcast:

LeoWong asked: Is it possible to have events like Beat the Feds, San Juan Boss Fight back again? I kind of liking them and of course using Stamina like the old way. No Ammo on this one please.

We have gotten a lot of feedback for the return of stamina based boss fights. We are currently developing a system that incorperates both consumables and stamina attack options so players can pick how they want to play.

As  you may have guessed, I really don't like Zynga's response to this question. I haven't heard a single person say "It'd be really swell if Zynga redesigned the old boss fights!" . . . all I've heard is some of us asking for some of those old boss fights back.

One of the things I really dislike about how Zynga handles our feedback is they don't really listen to us. They just try and squish our feedback into their business vision. But who plays the game? You can have all the business vision you want, but at this point in Mafia Wars, shouldn't they be more focused on player retention? You know, actually listening to us, instead of trying to fit us into their business plan?

Mafia Wars Live: Episode 7 (Recap)

Percues asked: Why are the loot drops in Italy so bad? Roman Legions may be giftable, but it is almost impossible to loot them from Italy and even worse when trying to get it from, a Mystery Bag.

All loot is not created equal. Some of the more powerful loot are made with a lower drop rate than the less powerful items.

Igtenos asked: How concerned are you about the power creep -- the phenomenon where loot values increase over time?

Power creep is something that we are actively monitoring. We have everything on a slow steady track. Part of monitoring power creep is to also creep giftable item power.

Don JImbo asked: Can you re-design the fight results page to display the defensive items that we used in a fight where we lost?

I dont think it fits there, when im attacking, i will always want to see my attack items, but i agree we should be a way to see those items other than asking a friend to attack you. Perhaps an option on the inventory page.

SmashedEngineer asked: One of my mafia members quit the game because you guys did nothing about the war glitches and script users. He is, was, a great player. Is that enough motivation for some steps or should I wait for my mafia members to thin more?

The declare war bug should be fixed tomorrow.

LeoWong asked: Is it possible to have events like Beat the Feds, San Juan Boss Fight back again? I kind of liking them and of course using Stamina like the old way. No Ammo on this one please.

We have gotten a lot of feedback for the return of stamina based boss fights. We are currently developing a system that incorperates both consumables and stamina attack options so players can pick how they want to play.

Markall42 asked: Why do the Stamina Packs not have a timer like the Energy Packs?

This was a beta test and we will be changing that up when and if we make it permanent.

Julez Antoine asked: Can the next stop be Australia? Melbourne and Sydney would be great... and then have mafia New Zealand.

We’ll keep it under consideration for the next challenge mission event.

BP1435 asked: Why has nothing been done with the Crime Spree? Once you hit level 10 the thing is basically useless except for the Stamina/Energy you get for helping.

Crime spree is a feature that I would like to see removed from the game. Players do like the energy/stamina buffs from it though, so untill we can find a place for that functionality, it will likely live on as is.

Miki077 asked: Can we remove items from profile pages? Whenever I view mine or someone elses, my computer freezes for a few seconds.

The profile page is in sore need of an update. I’ll see if we cant make the item lists into expandable lists that you can open and close; our UI people might be mad at me now, though.

Tstsharp asked: Would it be possible to ditch the ....send free gifts/open gifts pop ups at log on? Many times when I log on, I can see "war declared" in the background, but by the time the windows finally load and I can close them, I can't even ask for help before the war has ended.

I dont think it will go away, but i can look into having it blocked when loading in from a time sensitive link.

Lespoot asked: I thought the new Ice Season was fun. That is until it was almost impossible to fight. As soon as the screen refreshes everybody is iced. So it is almost impossible to ice a few players. Is there anything we can do about that?

We are currently testing some changes to the fight list that should make it more likely for you to find live targets which should help with the issue.

OneofOneZ asked: Why the emphasis on fighting now?

We want mafia wars to be a super fun, super social game. Between fighting and jobbing, fighting is a more fun/social part of the game, so we have been trying to make meaningful improvements to fighting.

Jennifer P asked: Are we going to get new Brazil Collections? We were told on June 17th via a Customer Support doc that 3 new collections would be added to Brazil. This information was removed from the Brazil FAQ on June 20th. There has been no official word on the status of these collections. Some players have been waiting to further master Brazil until the collections are out and it would be nice to know if we are waiting for something that isn't going to happen.

We are looking into why this happened and apologize that you were not notified

Eluniumman asked: When will Cuba and Moscow be back?

Cuba, Moscow, and soon to be Bangkok will be closed until we can give them a proper overhaul and re-release them, if we do so at all. one thing we don’t want to do is have 20 options in the travel menu, making it more difficult to collect all your properties, build all your properties, and so on. Only having 3 or 4 options seems a bit more reasonable.

JMWJ asked: Is there any way for us to be notified when Skill Point Reallocation is going on?

That seems like a good idea. Would an opt in email make sense?

Moogle asked: Since we are limited to 5 war loots per day, could an option to decline the loot be added? It's wrong that it hurts a player's build when they help their mafia in the lower tier wars.

Agreed. I’ll look into it

Brighty asked: What is Zyngas main aim in the next 6 months?

Doubling down of families. Making features that highlight and award your most active friends, more of the same.

BlackBolt1 asked: When will Loyalty Point Loot be updated?

No time soon. It will likely be part of a bigger reworking.

Mark_K555 asked: Is there any intention of making more items giftable that players are still using, or can use, that would reinvogorate the trading community?

We recently added several hundred items to the giftable list and are planning on rolling more out on a regular basis.

TheMightyOne asked: When is this loot design contest and can it be held on the forums?

Coming in August! Glad to see some excitement already building .