I got a thought provoking message from Kanu, the creator of the Mafia Wars Gods, today. He is concerned about the Mafia Wars application statistics. The evidence of many players quitting is shown below. Over 79,000 haven't played in the last 7 days and there are over 1.2 million less monthly players than there were 30 days ago. If the trend continues as it has been, it doesn't look like that much time is left. I've been shocked to see many members of my own family announce that they are quitting and many haven't returned. My friend Walt Dittrich who was a very active player and could always be found helping out Team Spockholm by answering player questions announced he was quitting and it was really sad. I don't think he will be back. His profile picture and number of friends makes it obvious he is serious.
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| 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. |
true, most of my mafia batch friends even my godmother in mafia family dont play MW now...
ReplyDeleteIt became kinda obligation, not game to relax and have fun.
ReplyDeleteAll is pressured and anything you want to do you have to spam so many friends.
All that missions that needs friend help or crafting items are not giving you choice how to play. I feel this game is choking me and just taking my time.
please have a look at these numbers and you will understand why zynga doesn't care about us stupid gamers. no matter how many ten or hundred thousand $$$ you have spent on reward points... i'm showing here some stock exchange numbers, which makes everything else just peanuts.
ReplyDeletethis article is copied from wikipedia.com from the "zynga" article, subsection "funds" and it makes clear why zynga gives a crap about us:
In 2010, a combined $300 million from Softbank and Google were invested in Zynga.[40]
More recently, Zynga has been rumored to be close to a deal that values the company at approximately $10 billion through a capital raise from a group of investors that include mutual funds associated with T. Rowe Price and Fidelity Investments. This round of funding would raise $500 million in primary capital for the company.[85]
In June 2011, The Wall Street Journal estimated Zynga's value at $19 billion.[86]
Zynga has been identified as a possible candidate for an IPO by 2013.[87] Equity analysts have stated that their recent actions have made it clear they are preparing themselves for an IPO in the near future.[85] On May 24, 2011, AllThingsD.com reported that Zynga was planning to file for an IPO within the week or two.[88] By June 11, according to The Wall Street Journal, Zynga was in the process of finalizing its IPO offering.[86] Zynga is planning to offer only 10% of its shares to the public.[86]
On June 28, CNBC journalist Kate Kelly reported that Zynga would be filing Form S-1 as early as the following day. The expected IPO would raise $1.5 billion to $2 billion.[60]
On July 1, 2011, the company filed its Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).[89]
so you can see...
it's not anymore about keeping customers (gamers) happy. the new motto is "all hail to the stockholder"! their whole focus will be to satisfy their stockholders not, not us customers. that's 2 very different things...
@Tom yes this is all pretty true but read it again, if the numbers drop the investers will pull out as will Goole and anyone else that will send any stock along with the company crashing.
ReplyDeleteZynga deserves just that, they DON"T listen to the players except for a few that only have their own interest at heart.
If they don't get their heads out of that dark place I rather see Zynga crash and lose my money then see them make a single penny more.
What's funny is that I've been using my mini's more and more. So, if only 800K people are logging on, 3 are not even being utilized like a real player. I just need the help to upgrade the different properties. I wonder how many are doing the same. Is there really only 800K playing daily? My number of ices is dropping per stamina run and my losses are going up even though I'm upgrading my attack and defense exclusively. I'm sure I'm not the only one who logs on for a second with my mini and collects a feed just to see it fall away. I would say half my family has a mini account. We might be looking at only 500K real people playing.
ReplyDeleteStopped intense gameplay since a week myself as loading issues and turning bullets spoil it for me since two weeks now. Even though Zynga replies to customer support requests pretty ok, they try to put the problem at my side and ask to check so many things while it is clearly the game that doesn't work for me, other websites and online services run smoothly her. First days I was pretty much frustrated, but am now pretty much ok with it, have a lot more time for useful things now!
ReplyDeleteI haven't logged in in months because I don't want to add 100s of people I don't fucking know so I can get enough people to click my links, or send me enough things.
ReplyDeleteZynga need to learn something called RATIO!
If I have 250 mafia, then I should get 50% less demands, this would make me play more often. My ex-boyfiend (deliberate typo) is a prolific player and got me to sign up to help him but he realised out of his 2500 friends (he works in PR so had lots of friends) only around 150 played Zynga games and most was Farmers or Poker so he only had about 50 mafia players.
If RATIO's was worked into the game to make the events and stuff as difficult as the characters strengths then it would ROCKET up the charts.
Maniac, 50,000,000 Energy ? Well this event, each click needs 3% your energy and produces 2.7% XP required.
5000 Mafia ? You need 400 gifts in this event.
200 mafia ? need 18 gifts.
Just things like that, this ratio makes it just as complex and hard for mega players with 501 Harbingers, De Rossis, and whatever else, 4900 mafia and with a million energy/stamina a it does for me with 340 Mafia, 5,000 Energy.
This would truly level the playing field for the special events at least.
I expect the power players will cry because its not so easy now, but surely they don't want the game so easy ?
I think Kanu hit the nail on the head. I have a high stress job and come to play computer games to relax--not to have a list of ten items I have to complete by various deadlines lest I lose points myself or let down my family. I enjoy the social aspects and we don't even have time to chat because we are too busy madly clicking and losing sleep. For sanity, I might have to walk away soon as well
ReplyDeleteThey would need to do a complete 360 of their current actions.
ReplyDelete1. Stop adding more refills/xp bonuses. These contribute to the 'mafia chores' vibe the game has. Less refills means less time playing MW. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. You want players coming back. So keep it simple.
2. A better stamina dump. Think NY robbing that costs 5 times as much stamina. Burning energy is quick and simple. Stamina is a much exhaustive process. This would help casual players a lot as long as the rewards match the stamina used.
3. End eventageddon. No more weekly missions or make them a once a month deal. Events used to be rare and special before Zynga shoved them relentlessly down our throat. This alone is probably the most important thing that Z needs to do.
4. Listen to your damn players. Don Perogi so far strikes me as an asshole that's there to drive the flaming boat into the river and his answers on MW live back up my claim. Nate at least gave us vague "maybes". This guy just ignores questions outright.
well, would have long quitted if it wasnt for brawler/assasinator, I only fight nowadays, and finish cities, nothing else...I mean who has the time to:
ReplyDelete1. declare and fight 2-3 wars a day
2. build 5 items from properties, buy 1 port items, collect 2 brazil properties so that you collect them at a right time
3. start and win up to 15 or so family skrimishes or 5 family battles
4. do 150 ices, do 10k expo of jobs, help on about 30 or so operations!
5. collect family mission at the right time just before you make a level
6. gather 200 gifts
7. fight 1 milion health bosses about 2-3 times a day
8. gather 5 bonuses from daily take, gather your bonus from daily take
9. do at least 2 timed missions a day to finish the weekly timed mission
10. gather enough materials from feeds to build at least 1 or 2 levels of the timed property
11. do at least one point of the chicago missions
.
.
.
and the list goes on, I mean, who the heck even has time to farm new loot????!!! I mean its been week since I had time to farm new loot, and now we need 8*501 loot items...I mean come on, the game is not even playable without the usage of bots, heck it is almost impossible with them as well unless you spend at least 8 hours a day at it...
Cool I just left this game few days ago.. after 2 years of being an MW worm :P feeling so good now.. :D
ReplyDelete"I've been shocked to see many members of my own family announce that they are quitting and many haven't returned."
ReplyDeleteI'm shocked you're shocked considering how much time you have put into understanding all the problems and how much effort is required. I find these numbers of people that ARE playing are much higher than I would expect. Considering how many people are running multiple accounts and farming scripts, even the statistics aren't accurate for people.
I fired up 3 of my farming accounts the other day just so I could get some activity with the property builds. They sat unused for over 6 months. I always post to my feeds so other players can grab things but so few other people do unless you are part of a gift exchanging family.
It was fun for a while. Congratulations for making it to 3 years but we need to come up with a new term. Like Dog Years, "Zynga Years" represent a product from cradle to grave and compared with Human Years are more like 35 Zynga Years to 1 Human Year.
silly, if they can't keep "us", the players, then they have nothing to offer the would-be stockholders.
ReplyDeleteWithout customers, they won't need stockholders.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I quit Farmville when it got too big, and I quit Frontierville when it got too big (and they all of a sudden began adding many spam missions), and it's only a matter of time until I quit Mafia Wars too. I'm looking to spend a few minutes per day, not hours.
ReplyDeleteBut I do not think they care. Clearly this is working for them in terms of profits, or they wouldn't be doing it to every game.
onlinegames taking hours of your real life-time just to level up, what did they expect? we talk about kepping in touch and nobody is going to fullfill all expectations.
ReplyDeleteEvery company has shareholders and shareholders that want profit on their investments (earnings per share) It's everywhere! Don't just single out 1 company. That's how it rolls in the world of shares.
ReplyDeleteSo it's not hail to the stock holders. How do you make money. Give something that people want. Keep your customers happy. Happy customers means they'll spend more. So, it's hail to the customer through good service and good products.
ReplyDeleteI closed down 3 accounts around March this year, levels 600, 900 & 1100. Two of those were up to date for the time, but was taking way too much time, better to have one account & do everything in that. I closed that last account not quite two months ago around Ice Season 5. That plus The Raven plus the accent going on the Family events killed me off. Though I was godfather of my family, it was just too much time out of my life. Have really enjoyed the extra sleep and not needing to think about what needed to be done at what time. Getting lots more done at work, can relax at home with the family. So glad to have kicked the habit. Kept in touch with TIP & this blog, just in case Chicago sounded good but... the time is more important to me now. Thanks for the work Jen & Co, but I'm done now.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info TOM! Quite true, in fact sometimes stockholders are ALL the companies care about! However, as the customers dwindle, so does the value of the stock, & eventually the stock holders, so it all ties together! You need to have a marketable product that produce revenue to keep customers coming, attract new customers, or Stockholders will dump stop faster than players quit the game!
ReplyDeleteI've left other zynga games perminately because of the time needed. My wife is starting to do the same. I need a 10-20minute social game I can quickly putz on.
ReplyDeletethere are simple ways in which zyna can improve game play to get people to continue playing there are some ridiculous limits in mafia wars that are jsut stupid for e.g WHY is the limit of the amount of boost of 20 for boss fights also the limit you can only be helped 5 times by arsonist and racketeer these simple they over look harpers game play alot it really has become a JOB when they make this more like a game would have no problem supporting.
ReplyDeleteI think they need to not have timed events, less stress. Also be able to loot everything so you don't need to ask. A more relaxed pace for those that want to just sit down and enjoy the challenge. Do tasks every 21 hours so people have a 3 hour span to work then into their daily schedule. Less wars where if you are not doing it, you are afraid someone will war you. Stop adding new stuff and have good loot in loyalty, crime spree & gold treasure chest, that stuff is so outdated. Too many new items you have to use reward points for. And soooo many delays. Simplify, no need for fancy images that delay loading time.
ReplyDeleteI quit 3 weeks ago after being a daily player for 3 years. It was the best thing that I've done in 3 years. ;)
ReplyDeleteI've been telling Zynga support agents for some time now that if a highly dedicated and addicted player like myself finally quits the game, I suspect that the game will not have much life in it and so far that has turned out to be true.
I quit for many of the reasons already stated. Too many things to do. Too many glitches and bugs that never get fixed. It wouldn't be so horrible if the game worked right and you could log on and actually do things, but you add all the problems to the mix and it's just ridiculous to try and keep up with things.
I wasn't asking for a game that you only needed to spend a few minutes on a day, but it was getting to the point where I'd have to spend hours just to keep up. It's just not sustainable. I got burned out.
It is too stressful on time. Property collect on time, Family XP on time, Events to be completed on time. Darn where have the good old days of simple jobbing and fighting gone ...
ReplyDeleteShiv