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

kamikaze killers

You were attacked 85 times by Joe Blow. You won the fights...

I'm not a particularly strong fighter, so it's always a welcome surprise to see events like this in my news feed. But what amazes me is why they keep attacking. Even if he was fast-clicking, sometime during those 85 hits, he must've surely realized that he was losing to me.

And of course when I saw that, I went right back to this guy and invited him to drop by again by icing him. After all, he gave me 195 XP points the last time he visited to me, and who wouldn't want that?

I've seen a few people make comments along the line of "it makes me feel better to know that I did them some damage". But you're not proving a point to anyone by continuing to attack them even though you lose. In fact, we like that! Most of us have more NY cash than we know what to do with, and won't mind healing the 'damage' that is done in exchange for the XP points that are gained :0)

"Red icing", as it's called, and kamikaze runs, should be reserved for organized fighting events ~ when the ice actually counts for something.