The Mafia Wars Fan Page is in desperate need of an update. If you click on the "Info" page, you will find the description of Mafia Wars is not at all accurate. They list the number of Monthly Active Users on the left column of the page yet the description states that there are your friends and 25 million other players in Mafia Wars. Maybe they are in denial.
(underlying image from All Facebook)
| Article written by Jennifer Patterson, Creator of the MW Loot Lady Blog, The Mafia Wars Loot Lady Facebook Fan Page and Co-Host of The Informant Podcast. |
Loot Lady, i love this game and wonder which figure is correct, or what might be the problem. It is not good if the down ward trend is correct.
ReplyDeleteyour info maybe incorrect, even though 10 million people 'like' the MW english fan page did you include all the other numbers from the pages in different languages, i may be wrong but thought i'd point it out. p.s im a huge fan of all your work :)
ReplyDeleteI think it will be some time before MW seizes to be a game to play but it is not even close to the game it was 1 1/2-2 years ago. There have been some great changes over the years and some good changes after the PAC but overall I feel that I've been interacting with my "mafia" less and less outside of clan/family life. The constant begging/spamming has killed the game big time. The constant hacking links and nefarious programs to steal your login info (not exclusive to FB/Zynga..other online games too) is just putting a huge damper playing this game. This game still has a "hook" to keep playing but the freshness of MW has lost it's luster and I find myself taking respite from the MW play mechanics (job like) and just going back to playing w/ my Xbox,TV, and family life (not in that order :P ) Hopefully Zynga will transfer the $$ I spent on the next big game../chuckle.
ReplyDeleteAn analysis of the data shows MW as the 28th ranked Facebook application. While there are a few growing applications on the list (FB for Blackberry) amlost all the application have shown decreases in the past month.
ReplyDeleteThis begs the question; is MW in a worse decline than other application? It also brings into the play the question of whether overall social application use is in decline.
In my opinion based on numerical analysis MW is declining further than other social gaming applications. While other social apps are declining base on several external factors (the saturation of social media, the wearing off of the cool new kid on the block appeal, it's not 20 below outside in most of the world), MW is declining at a much steeper rate. This is likely due to some alienation of it's core users above and beyond the macro factors listed for other social apps.
Zynga is deluding themselves if (as Jen mentioned) they are trying to make MW more like their other apps. MW players came to MW for a specific reason. There is an aspect of playing the rogue in their nature. Being fed the same game as everyone else is not the way to cater to them. They need to get their focus back on the core game. It may already be too late for a "quick fix" and Zynga may need to revamp the game to be more like the original.
IS
statmedic@facebook.com
Totally agree. MW is getting lame and Zynga do nothing to solve this... I´m quitting to another game...
ReplyDelete@anonymous #2, that is the number of players who played Mafia Wars in the past 30 days not the number of people who "liked" the fan page. That number is located on the wall. The MAU stat is on the info page along with the description.
ReplyDeleteam sure the decline is real. Am removing non MW players from me friends list. Only keeping about 20 - 33 percent I'd say. Removing at least 40 former MW players each page of 60 FB friends I roll through.
ReplyDeleteGeez... isn't it possible people have just moved on as always and there aren't many new people left who haven't tried it? Isn't it also possible that people left for other, better, Zynga games, like the recently-new Cityville. I mean, just how many million "core players" could there be?
ReplyDelete