The end is near...for me anyway.

It has been far too long since i blogged.  And I think I finally have something to say.  It is time to quit mafia wars.  I am sure it won't be easy for me, and might take a couple months to totally detox, but it is clear to me now:  I should not spend any more money on this game and should start spending less time on it.  Zynga doesn't deserve meh :P

It has been a fight with zynga from the beginning.  They have fought the player base tooth and nail.  They killed our beloved trading communities.  They loaded us down with event after event.  They failed to fix glitches and errors that were actually annoying and instead made changes to the way we became accustomed to playing the game. They bombarded us with "fire sales"/marketplace promotions.  They continue to offer double builds at very annoying and limited times that are hard for working americans like me to catch (when the obvious simple solution is to make the double builds triggered individually on a timer).  They continue to dump limited time properties on us.  They created an exclusive "VIP" program.

They drove away millions of mafia wars players.

I think the final straw was that I, like many of you, now no longer get proper experience points when attacked, or am being limited to a certain amount. I am now relegated to 25k experience every 5 minutes. (But the final, FINAL, straw was reading of yet ANOTHER limited time property, the Naughty one or whatever it is going to be called.)

Mafia Wars has been a central part of my life for 4 years solid now.  It has been so much fun, and I have made so many real friends.  Zynga truly created something special. But they screwed it up beyond all recognition (i believe the expression is FUBAR :v ).  I mean, this game has gone to places that I don't think Mark Pincus could have ever dreamed up.  The social side of this game is HUGE!!! So many war pages and family pages and help centres and secret groups and blogs and on and on.  I have seen true friendships, and relationships, and even a marriage result from mafia wars.  I have seen amazing teamwork, and hierarchy, and organisation, and camaraderie.  And the camaraderie...that is what really makes it hard to quit.

But it is time.  The game has become not unlike a drug addiction.  The fun part of getting high every day is over. Now it's become this miserable slavery of spending and time consumption and dealing with zynga's crap.

TO ZYNGA AND MARK: you ruined this game.  Just like you are ruining your company. I hope you go bankrupt Mr. Pincus.  That might make me feel better about the stupid amount of money i sent you.

TO ALL MY FRIENDS and FOES: I love you all. You made this game fun and amazing.  Without you there is no mafia wars. And so many of you are leaving the game.

TO ALL THE QUITTERS:  Yes i have strongly disliked the quitters, but soon, I am joining you ;)

From the artist formally known as {ℳ} ßrµ╬µ§, I bid you adieu.  

There is a boycott set to begin at 12:00 AM June 23rd Pacific (California) Time. The FB page for the boycott group is here
The countdown timer can be found here

2x Builds...My Thoughts

I am sure everyone has gathered by now that 2x builds are going to be a regular event.  We can be sure these will continue to pop up at various times every week.  I admit I enjoy these 2x builds.  It is fun to see how many reward points I can blow in 30 minutes.  BUT.....yes, BUT, I believe these 2x build are disastrous.  Disastrous to both the game and our wallets.  Let me preach on it...

Surely everyone recalls the health fiasco.  Players had built up so much health that many many players were basically un-iceable.  Zynga finally came up with a solution by changing the damage formula.  Well gee golly if zynga hasn't done gone and basically reintroduced the problem.  2x builds allow a player to rapidly increase their health to the point of being un-iceable all over again.  Congratulations zynga we are all going in a giant circle. (And you can bet zynga is aware of this problem, and likely doing it on purpose).  So i guess they will AGAIN have to alter the damage formula.  And for those of us who have not beefed our health up to 50,000, we will be screwed.  And those of you who did beef your health up will suddenly find your self getting iced :D . You spin me right round like a record.

We can also view this 2x build dilemma from an economics viewpoint.  It is a bit like priniting money.  The more money the government prints, the more worthless it becomes.  The 2x builds introduce a tremendous amount of skill points into the player population, thus devaluing the skill point.  And just as inflation via printing more money really hurts the poor people more than the rich, this mass influx of skill points hurts the non-spending and mild spending players.  I am a spender.  I will easily drop $100 to $200 on a 2x build, but I am not even a big spender, believe it or not. There are players spending much much more than that on these 2x builds.  And even spending what I am, I will never ever come close to catching them.  My skill points have been devalued, and so have yours. And even missing just ONE 2x build greatly hurts the ability to remain competitive.  I have witnessed it.  I missed one 2x build and saw it impact my fighting ability.

I think we all KNOW what this is really all about: MONEY. Zynga has found a new and reliable way to RAPE our wallets and purses.  Of course, I guess you can't rape the willing....however I could argue that many of us are not willing, we are slaves to this addiction.  Zynga knowingly exploits our addiction. It ain't rocket science.  While it is true that zynga is a business that endeavors to earn a profit, their methods are exploitive and disgusting and unethical.  Zynga purposefully creates a crisis and then introduces remedies that essentially require players to spend $$$ in order to continue to enjoy the game.  It would be like a burger joint selling poisoned burgers then ALSO selling an expensive medicine with the burger to keep you from getting sick!!!!!! Mark Pincus is living large while we are scrambling to redeem game cards at 50% off.  

I guess in the mean time I will keep making my bed in a burning house.  I am an addict.

{ℳ} ®2 ҚetąmῗиeҚῗd [SOSA]

UPDATED Garage Sale My Ass

UPDATED 7/13/12:
50% GC REDEMPTION AND IN GAME RP PURCHASE SHOWED UP TODAY. If you bought reward points or redeemed gamecards yesterday I'd go bitch at CS :).  ALSO - Don't be surprised if they unload newer and much better crates on us for cheaper towards the end of the sale like last time. {ℳ} Қetąmῗиe Қῗd =Ʀ²Ƒ=

Original Article 7/12/12:
Is Zynga out of their minds????? This sale is an EPIC FAIL for so many reasons.  I'll give you three:

FIRST: We JUST had a sale!!! Good grief give us a break!!! It isn't our fault you screw up everything you touch and are going broke.  You should have listened to your player base back when you had over million people who gave a rats ass about mafia wars.  Now it is just 100,000 players and their minis LMFAO.

SECOND:  No sale on game card redemption.  That was really the only reason I got loaded on reward points - the 50% discount.  Hell, it's a good deal.  But this time - no deal. Maybe they will offer it before the end of the sale (but honestly, I hope they don't even bother).

THIRD: Reward points purchased in game with CC or FB credits are not their usual 50% to 60% off.  Hell, at the time of this writing they were not even 30% or 40%.

It is terrible timing for me.  It has rained non-stop where I live, and in the construction business that means little or no work, so my MWs fund is very low.  I will largely be sitting this sale out.  OH WELL. The more frequently they have these sales the more obvious it becomes that I am an idiot to continue to blow money on them.  SCREW YOU ZYNGA.  SCREW YOU MARK PINCUS.  Lol.  I love saying that. It just feels.....right.

Yours truly,

{ℳ} Қetąmῗиe Қῗd =Ʀ²Ƒ=

The Wine Cellar (Facepalm)

Surprise, surprise.....Zynga has dumped another limited time property on us.  Ok, it's not really surprise.  We knew it was on the way.  The continued release of the @#*!%^$ properties is obviously never going to stop until the end of the game, and with the DAU slipping away that may be sooner than we think (1). Well surprise, surprise Zynga: I am not doing this stupid property, just like I did not do the one before this one. I have enough stress in my life thank you very much, and I am here to preach te same message I preached about the DIY Weapons Lab (2) - DON'T BUILD IT.

Do not reward Zynga's idiotic behavior by even touching these damn properties!!! Zynga needs to listen to its player base, but why should they when so many players give in and build these stupid things? Zynga has proven in the past that they do hear what we say, and sometimes they comply. They are simply ignoring the player base on this limited time property bullcrap.

People quit playing over the continued release of these properties. And many, like myself, feel like quitting and get one step closer to waking away. I love this game. I love the friendships that have come from it. I love the social and "political" nature of the game. The game truly is a phenomenon, and Zynga's greed and stupidity is suffocating it all. Mark Pincus the Dingus and his minions are destroying not only the game, but the culture of mafia wars. Don't help them do this to the game.

Yours truly,
 {ℳ} Қetąmῗиe Қῗd =Ʀ²Ƒ=, formally known as: {ℳ} ßrµ†µ§ =Ʀ²Ƒ=

Zynga Iced Themselves - UPDATED

I am so pissed off right now I can't see straight. I am not even bothering with a graphic (maybe add one later).  This new property crap has me fuming mad.  If you read the new FAQ carefully you will see that the reason all the timers are jacked up and still at 12 RPs, regardless of the time, is because that is a new improvement to the property feature. HUH? Yeah.....follow this link http://tinyurl.com/GLOBAL-FAQ and about half-way into the FAQ you will see:

Q: How many Items can I build in a day? How many RPs do I need to spend to craft beyond free Limit?

The very last sentence of the answer they give is all I cared about in the whole stupid long winded FAQ:

A: If you want to build more items, you will be charged 12 RPs for every craft.

Again...HUH?  Are they trying to ICE themselves??? (BTW thanks David Tucker and Co. for that phrase).  I am a chronic speed builder.  I build almost every day when the timers are at 6 RPs per build. It is almost the only thing I spend money on regularly in the game besides the crate sales. And now they have nerfed it.  Now i have to pay 12 RPs to speed build no matter what the time says.  HUH? ARE YOU SMOKING CRACK ZYNGA??? Are you NOT aware of the rapidly dwindling number of players???  This is almost the last straw for me.  I am not going to quit playing, but my wallet is gonna quit paying.  They just don't deserve any more of my money - period.

YOU HEAR THAT ZYNGA? NO MORE MONEY FROM ME!!!! And I won't be the only one.  This type of speed building that they nerfed is, or, i guess i should say, WAS, wildly popular.

Zynga, you are a bastard.  I hope Mark Pincus goes bankrupt, LOL.  Zynga is run by the stupidest of the stupid, and the greediest of the greedy.  They have managed to stumble upon good ideas here and there like a blind chicken pecking for corn.  No vision. No pulse on the players. No clue how to appease the masses. No concern for anything other than money.  Which is a really bad approach for a social gaming company.  Me thinks being socialable might be a good trait for such a company, yet Zynga is better personified as a conniving and sniveling DICKHEAD.  It disgust me that i have spent thousands of dollars on this game.  Makes me want to vomit in Mark Pincus' face. Repeatedly.  I'm sorry ya'll. It's just, I've had enough of this bull.

{ℳ} ßrµ†µ§ =Ʀ²Ƒ=

Addendum: I forget to mention there is survey you can take. I suggest you take it and help the retards understand how bad they suck at life:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDZTSDRVaGZVZ3lGaEtVbHlzZkpCM0E6MQ

FROM A LIVE CHAT I JUST HAD:
"Jonathan: And when mafia wars dies, I will not play any other zynga title PERIOD. not even words with friends on my iPhone. if zynga is even remotely associated with it, I will not be playing it. period.
Xxxx X.: I will let your voice know by all Zynga Mafia Wars support.
Xxxx X.: And that's why we have that survey.
Xxxx X.: Because, we can change it.
Xxxx X.: So my advise, is to keep filling that survey.
Xxxx X.: And I will pass all your un agreement.
Jonathan: ok, sorry for they delay i suddenly had to step away. but pretty much unless this is reversed i am on the war path. no disrespects to you Xxxx I understand this is just your job. I will let you go.

Vanity Fair article on Zyngon Playboy Pincus

If the image doesn't say it all... "liquid brown eyes" and "Lady Gaga"... "private yoga instructor"???? Wait, "Life Coach"??????

So there you have it. Throw money at it. There's lots of interesting fodder in this article.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/gamification/vanity-fair-farmville-zynga-born-from-mark-pincus-8217-obsession-with-8216coaching-8217/401

http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/06/mark-pincus-farmville-201106
And guys? I'm still thinkin' Gaga wasn't such a coup.

Thanks Julie Johnson for posting this to us :0)