Op-Ed: Opinions on Zynga Suck

In an opinion piece (which was originally published on GAMEbriefs), Nicholas Lovell takes the author of the recent SF Weekly expose on Zynga’s business practices (FarmVillains) to task for his tone. One passage in the article that really raised Lovell’s ire:

“At a time when traditional ‘console’ videogames -- the kind bought in a store and played on a computer or entertainment system such as a Sony PlayStation -- aspire to be classified as works of art, it might seem odd that such confections as FarmVille enjoy widespread attention and financial success. In 2007, for example, publisher 2K Games released a spellbinding console game, BioShock, in which players make difficult ethical decisions in an underwater city-state founded on the libertarian ideals of Ayn Rand.

Next to such immersing products, Zynga's games look cretinous.”

Lovell takes issue with this statement, calling it “snobbish arrogance” and follows it up with statistics on the popularity of Zynga’s games. After rolling out all those numbers, he says, “Gamers need to grow up.”

“So when will gamers stop sneering, stop hiding behind their bleating “but Farmville isn’t a game” and start realising that Zynga have done something that traditional games have never done.

They have made gaming something for everyone. Isn’t it time we applauded that?”

You can read the entire article at Gamasutra. The comments are also worth perusing.