Do You Still Play Zynga Games?

A November 18, 2010 USA Today article about Zynga branching out on its own caught my attention.  Do a Google Search on Zynga and USA Today, and there is more to read and wonder about.  Yahoo and Zynga have had a new business relationship since May.  Mafia Wars and Fishville are available on several Yahoo apps.

I learned one memorable thing as a result of my simple search on Google.  Zynga's profile statement appears in any search result,   "Connecting the world through games".  That's a positive profile.

Social gaming is why I liked Zynga games.  Then they became obsessive time wasters. I began to question my own ethical values. I became very good at Mafia Wars.  Maybe I learned something from the Godfather movies.  On the dark side, maybe my game skills are innate.  Often I would get wiped out by 60 powerful abusers in less than a second, as soon as I made a move.

I played Zynga Mafia Wars on Facebook until two months ago.  I still play Farmville, but have cut way back on the time spent.

Any recent headline article about Zynga mentions millions of players.
Look a little deeper before you invest in the proposed Zynga IPO on the stock market.   I had 76 family members on Mafia Wars when I removed myself from the application on Facebook.  I played the game for almost two years. Only three of my family members actively played the game when I dropped out.  Others were listed as Unknown, but I could see who they were by their character names.  My wife was in my Mafia Family.  I recruited her just to accept any gifts I sent her.  I was still listed as a member of her Mafia Family after I removed myself from action.  Now she is listed as Unknown.  Active participation by 5% of the millions quoted as players  would be a guess on the high side, I think.   Maybe a higher percentage of players are active on Farmville, but I don't have 76 neighbors actively farming.

I would like to see more published research on Zynga.  How do we find the reviews and complaints by Zynga players who left because they felt abused by other players?  How many players experienced identity theft on Facebook after using a credit card to buy Facebook Credits, or Farmville Cash, or Mafia Wars Reward Points? How many pay cash directly to Facebook for anything? How many simply left the games due to slow response time on the Zynga network servers?

Last night we watched the movie "Letters To Juliet".  One of the leading actors, Amanda Seyfried, played Sofie, a Fact Checker for the New Yorker Magazine.   Who are the fact checkers for USA Today, or Gallup News?  How can I become a fact checker for my blog posts? Research before I publish makes sense.