Guillermo Kelly, read your long, and interesting post. Some of the things you say are very true. And it is beccause of these things that I prefer to keep these on line games at arm's length. The are, just as you say, GAME APPS. They are not real, complete games, like those we buy for our PCs or consoles like the Xbox 360, or even the DS or the PSP. Games like Farmville and Mafia Wars, are open ended so designers and programmers can keep updating them, adding features, or removing things that prove to be unpopular. However, for some folks, who don't have a lot of money to spend on game cartriges, of PC Software, these free, online Apps givem them the chance to play ongoing games without having to skip buying lunch for a month. Face it, Dude, these game cartriges are freaking expensive! My wife saved for three months to afford the Collector's Edition of The Sims 3. It cost her 79.95! And the expansion packs - there are four of them out now- cost her 39.99 each! A serious PC gamer can expect to pay at least 49.95 for any new game that gets released. I'm into console games, and those buggers run me 65.00 a peice! The small cartridges for he handheld held unit are 29.00 to 39.00. It's a HUGE money making industry. Zynga, and Playdom and others are just trying to grab a slice of the pie. I'm sure everyone here realizes that.

All the same, if Zynga wants keep a hold of it's players and supporters, then they had better wise up. There are a lot of games out there, just the same as or very similar to Farmville and their other Apps. Dissatisfied people can always choose to play those others. Games sites like; IWin.com and Big Fish Games.com offer complete PC games for extremely reasonable prices...6.99 each, with free downloads and one free hour of play time to decide if you like it well enough to buy it. Both Big Fish and offer many games free to play on line. IWin has a large collection of complete downloadable games that you can play for free, if you can tolerate the interuptions for advertising. I have Farm Frenzy, Virtual Farm, and a couple of others that I downloaded from these two sites, that are better than Farmville, and I can play them as long as, and as often as I choose Farmarama is also a lot of fun. Zynga has a great deal of competition out there, that offer better quality games, at little or no cost. They NEED to keep their players happy! They NEED to listen to the complaints, and suggestions and work with to make their players' gaming experience better. If they don't want to loose their loyal followers alltogether, they'dbetter get on the ball. ALL of Zynga's games start out well. Petville, Fishville, Frontierville, Treasure Isle, were all very cool when they first came out. They were a lot of fun, had excellent graphics, and game play wasn't difficult to master. Allmost everyone was playing these games following their release dates, and then, the enthusiasm died away...Why? It started to cost players too much time, and effort...and of course, money. I hate the energy factor in Frontierville and Treasure Isle. You can only do a couple of things, before you run out of energy. You have to wait a considerable length of time before you can continue...unless you BUY more energy. Which I will not do. I prefer the resort games like Happy Island or Tiki Resort, where time is not limited. Island Life is also good becuse you don't have to worry about running out of energy, and you can easily build more land onto your island without having to wait for the game's designers to offer an expension.

I don't think that player embargos, during which hundreds or thousands of people, refuse to play or log into their farms will accomplish much. Ir's easier for Zynga to pull the plug, and lay their chips on another game's table. Besides, many, many people, my wife included, have been playing for a long time. My wife has 18 months invested in her farm! Some more devoted players, have more than that. It's a LOT of work, and it requires a great deal of patience, as well as concentration, to take these farms from a small patch of land, and make them into something pretty darn spectacular! I've seen some farms that were downright gorgeous!
AQ person just doesn't thrown in the towel and walk away from all of that. Get real, Dude! It's far better to work WITH Zynga, make them heed player complaints and address them - even if they are silly, or petty - Zynga needs routine reminders that there is a vast ocean of competition out there, and if they want to hold onto their players, they'd better start paying attention to them! Yes, Farmville IS just a game App, but it is OUR game app! We enjoy playing it, enjoy tending to our crops and livestock. There are probably a lot of us who fancy ourselves as farmers, working in the outdoors, growing crops and interacting with our assorted livestock. Ir's a nice break from the boring city life routine. At least it is for me!