Wednesday, January 26, 2011

More Zynga vs. Blingville Discussion.

The argument is still going strong at Farmvillefreak.com and we get a winner of a statement followed by my not-so-neutral rebuttal:

“How stupid does Zynga think its players are?”

Are you serious?

How do you think Zynga made all that money? Their games aren’t being bought off of a store shelf and they certainly aren’t subscription-based.

When you pay five dollars for twenty-five Farmcash just so you can get that one pink bunny with a heart on it, that’s stupid. Or better yet, how about all of those horse fans who pay more than five dollars for each horse?

A World of Warcraft account only costs fifteen dollars a month and your characters get to ride their horses all over the world, how much are these people paying for a few “beta” horses that just stand around the farm?

Zynga Sues Makers of Blingville.

Lots of hate over at Farmvillefreal.com over the recent lawsuit. Here is a copy/paste of one of the comments that offers a more neutral take which I left there with a throwaway name:

"Funny, I didn’t realize this was a farmville hate site.

Anyway, there is precedent set by others for this type of lawsuit. Ebay has sent cease/desist orders out to other online sales sites with “bay” in the name.

It might be something that they can’t win in court, but if you don’t have the money to fight a court battle, then you change your name and go about your business.

Zynga has the money to make this last a long time in court, does this other game company? They might be able to hang long enough to make it to the settlement stage, but that’s a big gamble for a little game still in beta.

Other game companies could have fought Zynga over the things that Zynga “stole”, but apparently they did not. It’s their loss that they allowed Zynga to become the beast that it is."

I'm sure this won't stop any senseless arguing but it was on my mind.