Reverb10 - Prompt for December 2 - Writing

Writing. What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it? 

Much more could be said about how Facebook has changed the way I communicate with friends.  At first glance, it all contributes to writing.

Zynga Games became an obsession.  Mafia Wars was the first one I detached from, and it wasn't easy.  How do you let go of fantasy wealth, billions of dollars a day accumulating whether you play or not?  Then I noticed teams of high tech players had organized. Just by making a play and drawing attention to myself, I would be attacked hundreds of times in one second.  Someone had discovered a secret unavailable to me.  

I also noticed that in my relatively small Mafia Family of 76 players only three were active.  I got out, and removed the application from my account.  I had my wife look at it from her account a couple of months later.  My character name was still in play, but I was anonymous.

I'm still active in FarmVille.  The same obsessive detachment issues apply. I have active farming neighbors.  Not as many social, ethical identity conflicts plague me as in Mafia Wars.  

I just started playing a new game CityVille.  The start of a game is a pleasurable challenge.

I have discipline and a priority method for dealing with communications of any kind, whether Facebook, email, or phone calls.  This morning, I had been away from the pc for more than 48 hours. None of my highest priorities suffered.

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.