The Dangers of Deja Vu

[Please note: this blog is my own thoughts and ramblings. Anything contained in it does not necessarily mirror the thoughts of the other admins or Express as a whole.

Although I do have the membership of Frontierville Express to fall back on for impressions, there's going to be people who disagree, I don't speak for every gamer, just myself and the views I've got from the page.]

{The question I asked about repeats for some research is HERE}

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Dear Zynga, here we are again.

I must admit recently things have happened that have made me think you're really taking notice of the fans, we're seeing more stuff on our own homestead, we're seeing lower crafting levels and less upgrades to buildings.

It's been really positive and it's been noticed (and I'd say appreciated) by the fans.

So, please, listen to the general consensus we're getting from gamers and rethink repeats.

It's got to the stage "repeat" is a dirty word, there are people out there who just won't get past it, that becomes the overriding aspect of the whole thing. It may seem like throwing an entire burger away because you don't like the slice of pickle or dumping your girlfriend because she has a birthmark the shape of a mongoose riding a polo pony on her inner thigh... but it happens.

You could write any mission you like, and as soon as you add in that dreaded overview mission... It's dead to them. Worse than that, it taints all the missions, people often don't see interesting missions, they see the word "repeat" and bam.

What gets so insane is it's not even just THOSE missions, at the peak of "Repeat Fever" every mission we put up was greeted by "I hate repeat missions" or "No more repeats"... even when there wasn't repeats in the missions, it just became an automatic reaction. Frankly at it's height I probably could have posted a folder of tasteful art nudes of the admins and 7 of the first 10 comments would involve the word "repeat".

The cowgirl missions were great, these babysitting missions are great... but then many people dislike them anyway for the addition of that one factor, the R Word.

Worse, you often get accused of lacking ideas or creativity, you'll give us nine brand new missions with a total of 27 requirements. and it'll all come down to the two or three in the overview mission.

Surely whatever you are getting out of repeats, be it to slow the game down or increase wall posts for marketing, it can't outweigh the negative PR? An entire mission thread, which presumably takes some time to design and code up, all brought down by one bit of it...

So, ideas, ideas, ideas. I suppose usually this is the point I get all arrogant (other pages love that) and try and suggest what I think could be done differently... well, I hate to disappoint and the insults make me laugh so here goes.

1) The Unrealistic Nirvana Solution.

No, I'm not getting a naked baby swimming or some unenthusiastic cheerleader backing dancers, it's about a perfect world. No repeats at all, gamers hate them, we've got enough missions already, folks will like the missions so much more.

OK, here's the problem with that. You must have some reason to do repeats or you wouldn't keep shooting yourself in the foot by having them. Therefore, to hope they'll go away entirely is generally a fanciful notion... but hey, it's a game, it's all fanciful notions. You want a massive PR boost? Try it.

You know full well on current release schedules we'll have one or two more threads come out before the final mission of these is active so where's the harm? Doing the same thing again, just doesn't excite people.

For the gamers though I think we should be looking more at a compromise... remember, they can't give us EVERYTHING, sometimes it's good to meet them half way.

2) The More Realistic Compromise Solution.

OK, I'll start this bit off with a pointer to one of the things that annoyed people with the babysitting. If we're being told to repeat certain missions we'd expect to get close to the final total of reward items (in this case "hugs") that we need. Having barely two thirds of the final total from the mandatory repeats really wasn't on, a lot of people felt they were a little ambushed there.

Instead of tying us into specific missions, just give us a set total of items such as Hugs we have to get and let us loose.

The fact is we all know the missions you get us to repeat will be the worst ones, to the point that your average player will know they've got no chance of finishing them off in short order.

If we're going to repeat, let us pick how many times we'll do each one, like you have in the past with the Native American threads, along with the overall bonus for completing each mission ONCE.

There's going to be the advantage to those prepared to go for the harder missions, more "hugs" or whatever is that series reward is, better individual mission rewards like mystery animal crates etc that people won't mind challenging for.

Personally, I would rather do a mission that takes me a day or two 10 times, instead of a mission that takes a week or more to complete even once. I want to feel I'm succeeding, not just seeing the same icons in the same places every day and picking which gets my limited request stock this time.

I know it's a balance for you, you have to keep it interesting and fun, while still making sure you're advertised by the social part of the game. We get that, we don't mind that... but there's something mildly predictable and boring about knowing the missions we'll be forced to repeat will always have an undue amount of requesting in them.

The average player will never be short of wall posts, eventually you run the risk of alienating potential gamers by having them see folks post 6-10 times in a row for all different kinds of things.

In all we're going to need to request 844 items during babysitting, 288 of which comes from the 2 repeats each of missions 4 and 8. Was 556 Wall/Direct requests too small a number?

So let us pick, let us feel like we're achieving things by letting us have the choice over the missions we want to repeat. Have these as the requirements...

Collect 120 Hugs
Complete Missions 1-4
Complete Missions 5-8

There we go, we've all done the missions once, and now we get some autonomy, some personal choice about whether we'll hammer the little missions again and again or push the bigger ones for better rewards.

If nothing else, think about it logically for a sec. We can only post once every 6-8 hours anyway. Does it matter if we're posting for muffins to finish mission 1, or mounting bolts to finish mission 4? Add that to the fact that as they're daily missions and we're seeing a two thread a week pattern, most players will have TWO more mission threads appear before the final mission of this one.

What makes more sense? Players losing interest in an entire thread because of one word, or players searching the thread to see which are the best missions to keep doing?

Players just want to achieve things, they want mission completion popups, they want rewards, they want to FINISH something because it gives a sense of pride and achievement.

So... if you can, stop the repeats altogether, I don't know your reasoning behind them but I could probably argue each one, in the end always coming back to "folks hate them".

But if we have to have repeats, just let us pick WHAT we'll repeat. Give us a reason to do the harder ones, but don't FORCE them on us. Number of posts, speed of game for the fast or rich minority... neither of those things really seems as important as a happy player base.

Yogic FTV Enlightenment with the Dalai Alpaca

Good morning and welcome, children of the wide world of Frontierville.

I am the Dalai Alpaca (it's like a llama but bigger and hairier) and am here to guide you through the zen-like path of Frontier Enlightenment.

Many travel on a pilgrimage to my bungalow monastary atop Avalanche Pass where I spend my days contemplating Beaver Valley and meditating upon the world in front of us. They ask many questions of me.

"How can we better approach Frontierville?" They ask.

"I find myself frustrated, how can I stop this?" They ask.

"What's your qualifications again?" They ask. (I can sit in the lotus position, have a resonant and tuneful Ommm and look like Buddha after a series of hair restoring treatments, frankly I consider myself overqualified.)

I therefore devised my Path Of Frontier Enlightenment, Zen Edition. This was written to aid those lost souls in better connecting with the world around them, and I share it here.

1) The moment of enlightenment.

There is many a story in this world of a moment of enlightenment that eases and educates. The sudden realisation of a fact that alters your outlook on life or brings to meaning to it.

Well, my children, open your minds to mine.

We WILL get missions each week barring special occasions.

When you have to deal with something you may not wish to, or that is distasteful to you, the first step is acceptance.

We will receive two mission threads a week for the foreseeable future, that has become the norm. Take a moment, allow yourself some time to soak that up and come to an understanding with it. That fact does not have to break you, it can serve as a first step on the road to enlightenment.

This realisation will open your mind to new possibilities.

2) You control the game, the game does not control you.

Close your eyes... NOT YET! OK fine... *waits*... opened them yet? ... *gets a cup of tea* ... right, close your eyes in a minute, I'll sound a beep or something.

Close your eyes, breathe in and out in a steady rhythm and think to yourself this mantra.

"The game is not my master, I am ITS Master. It shall not lead me into the darkness I do not wish to enter. It shall not lead me into building something I do not want. It shall not lead me into clobbering that snake if I do not want to."

Repeat that to yourself five times. OK, you can close your eyes... now. *BEEP*

We do not have to do anything we do not want to do. This is, after all, enjoyment. Look upon the tasks life gives you and understand you can choose to, well, choose.

Think of picking missions like you're dating. Survey the options in front of you. Is that one going to be too much work? Is that one fun and enjoyable to be with? Does that one look attractive? Does that one seem tricky but, according to what you've read on the internet (and grafitti in the bathroom), gives a great reward at the end of the day?

Do you want one that finishes quickly, that needs you to do it over and over or one that demands you reach the end within a set timeframe?

OK, we may be meandering slightly... but still, allow your mind a moment to defeat the notion that you must complete everything. You can be selective, you won't be judged for that and, in being thus, you can clear your mind of many a cloud caused by overwork.

3) Break the universe into bite size pieces, is an icon worth all that trouble?

It's a 64x64 pixel icon on the left side of your screen. Is is REALLY worth worrying about?

Consider yourself a politician and the icons are your constituents. You might APPEAR to be there to do what they want you to do, but we both know it's best to ignore the little things until you want to pay attention to them for XP, coins or if an election is coming up.

4) Enjoy the journey, not the destination.

The game is not a road with a beginning and end. It's a road trip that never ends.

You don't need to hunker over the steering wheel like an 87 year old spinster in a Nissan Micra. For once, the world wants you to take your eyes from the road and enjoy the scenery. Look around, take stuff in, enjoy the trip.

There is no final destination (which is good, never did like those movies) so you have freedom. Do you skip over some roadside attractions and come back to them later if you have time or do you take in everything you can, from the worlds biggest ball of yarn to the magical oak tree that drops a different type of wood with every chop?

When you're missioning don't feed 30 sheep thinking "this will get me *insert reward*" (please be careful when inserting rewards, some are spiky) and instead think "yay, I'm feeding 30 sheep, look at all those doobers!"

The reward is not the reason we should play the game, in the same way as we don't live our lives doing certain tasks planning a method of death. The game is not about achievements but how much fun we have along the way.

5) Reach out to your fellow man.

Remember, the world is full of people, don't think of those people as strangers, just do what I do and think of those people as friends you haven't managed to alienate with your annoying habits yet.

Reach out, click, help. Sometimes you'll get something in return, sometimes you'll get nothing but the warmth of helping, sometimes you'll get a restraining order (send a woman leather straps through Facebook and it's "helpful"... find where she lives and try to deliver them by hand and that's apparently "creepy").

Once you've had your 50 clicks don't stop, keep giving as much as you can click. If everyone clicks everything they spot, then the world will be full of people getting what they need. You don't have to click everything, just let it come naturally and do what you can, you will be karmically rewarded in the end.

6) A reward unearned is a reward worth nothing.

The road to completion is a long one, a tough one, but a rewarding one. Do not be tempted to take shortcuts or rise upon the back of others. You could not truly celebrate winning the London Marathon if you took a bus. You could not truly celebrate beating your niece at chess if she was 6 months old. You could not truly enjoy the compliments of others if your date for the school reunion was being paid by the hour and considers kissing a billable extra.

A brag post sent thanks to the medium of cheating is a brag post of deceit, a brag post that will turn to ash in the eyes of it's onlookers.

As the aforementioned date of negotiable affection endures the hard things in life as a duty, so should we. But not in the same way obviously, it would be distracting while trying to harvest wheat.

Conclusion

My Children, do not get angry, or frustrated, or homicidal... If I can paraphrase the Bard, all the world's a screen and all the men and women merely players. They have their clicks and their request posts and one man in his time clicks many posts.

Take the Dalai Alpaca way, be the controller of your own gaming destiny and, in doing so, your own blood pressure.

The world is full of things we don't want to do. Repeating, Sprouts, Long Division... when we have the chance to pick and choose, grab it with both hands... actually no, grab it with one hand and use the other to wave goodbye to the notion that you need to follow the orders of a game... but for decency's sake, try to use the whole hand, not just one or two fingers.

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The Dalai Alpaca has written three books "Alpaca-Happy: All You Need To Know For A Good Life", "Alpaca-Happy II, OK, I Lied The First Time, There's More." and "Alpaca-Happy III, The Gratuitous Cash-in".

He also produced and starred in the bestselling fitness video "Alpaca-size! Yoga Yourself Cuddly".

Why, Zynga, Whhhhhhhy!?

Zynga... Oh Zynga, you just couldn't do it could you?

You build me up, you let me get a taste of wonderfulness, then you just ruin the moment, like a 20 stone old guy in speedos in the background of a family holiday picture.

And thus, did I gaze upon the wonders of your latest mission thread, The small and understated wafers of crafting, adding texture but not enough to become stodgy and stale. The fruity pieces of requesting, just enough to give us the spice of social interaction, but not enough to turn to the bitterness of overuse.

The sumptuous and colourful ice cream layers of requirements that need us to work on our own homesteads... bringing us memories of the golden days of FTV and giving us exactly what we had begged for, the chance to work, the chance to be self sufficient, the chance to grow and nurture the givers of dropped items for ourselves.

You finally gave us something great, a Knickerbocker Glory of mission thread delights, combining just the right amount of ingredients to make it a treat to savour.

And then, and then... as if solely done to make me weep... you ruined it all by topping the sweet guilty pleasure of a great mission thread with the Boiled Sprout of Repetition, half hidden in the cream to boobytrap us into tasting the sweet, sweet missions and GAH!

Why? Why torture us so?

What is so painfully funny is that I feel it's probably done because of the sweepstakes, to make it hard for the prizes... but *whispering* folks don't care about the sweepstakes.

If given a choice between a 1 in a few million chance of some cash or a few weeks of actual fun in the game, I'll pick the latter.

So, when taken to it's logical conclusion, it can be summed up as: "And Zynga then paid $2'500 to annoy players."

Let's be honest, if you want to pay $2'500 to make us unhappy there's better ways.

Acquire the licence for a series of missions based on Piers Morgan.

Sign up Justin Beiber to record a new theme song that we HAVE to listen to.

Hire me for a couple months to bring my unique brand of sarcasm to the forums.

All of these things will annoy a large percentage of your membership for the same money, but here's the kicker... Probably LESS people than a new set of repeatable missions... People REALLY hate them... like, Yankees/Red Sox or Sane People/Rush Limbaugh type hatred...

In fact, let me sell you an idea, actually you can have it for free, like a gift... just, you know, let the marketing department roll this over in their brains.

Campaign Identity: Not doing Repeatable Missions.

Planned Audience Response: Pleasure.

Overall cost: A SAVING of $2'500 all in with no cost outlay.

Level of Risk: 0%.

I know I'm not going to be on the Apprentice any time soon... but I think gaining yourself a net $2'500 and public support for doing nothing... that's a pretty good business strategy in anyone's mind.

And the next time we gaze upon a naughty but oh so nice treat from you, we're not in any danger of a vegetable-based boobytrap.

Bartering In A Parallel Universe

[Please note: this is an Andy's Imagination post, purely my own thoughts and will likely not appear in game]

It's been a couple months since my imagination got an airing... well, for gaming things anyway, but that's what happens when you find Movies4Men on your satellite TV... but that's off track, my gaming imagination hasn't had much of a run out but Zynga have done their best to change that by giving us something that automatically made my head go.

They gave us the Barter Depot. A building who's name is, at best, misleading and at worst an attempt to pretend we're not crafting, we're bartering. (No, we're crafting...)

I'm fairly sure most people will have been like me, when I saw the email title I got excited thinking of the possibilities, then I opened it and read what it was all about... and realised this wasn't bartering.

So... it got me thinking. If I had designed it, what would it have been? Thus here we are, the first Andy's Imagination post based on something already in game.

I think the first thing we can all stand up and agree here is, we're not bartering. We're crafting stuff. So how do we MAKE it bartering?

Simple, we do what this game was designed to do, we get social. We don't barter with some faceless entity, we barter by trading with our NEIGHBOURS.

Everyone remember this screen where we see wishlists? (A feature no-one gets around to using any more because nothing we need is giftable)

Well, we adapt it and move it into the game.

Say for example my Great Aunt Bathsheba wants a Spanish Coin, the rare item from the Debris Collection. She's given a few choices over what she can Barter for it (to stop one sided barter based cheating), say another rare collection item like a Bear Claw, 10 Ribbons or 10 Dinners (just as an example).

Well, Great Aunt Bathsheba has finished all the School Lessons so decides to trade away 10 Ribbons for the coin and, depending on what could be coded, either sends her Barter out to be viewed in her neighbours Barter Depots or it appears when neighbours visit her.

Then, when I, being the loving and doting great nephew that I am, either check my Barter Depot or visits her homestead I see this:

Ten Ribbons for one Spanish Coin... OK, I think, I'm a bit of a thicko and still have school lessons to go, but I do have a bundle of Spanish Coins, so I accept the Barter and click the button. I get credited 10 ribbons from Great Aunt Bathsheba's inventory, she gets credited a Spanish Coin from mine.

If you wanted to be REALLY cool you could set it that when Great Aunt Bathsheba logs in there's an arrow over her Barter Depot, and when she clicks that a Train rolls into the station and "delivers" her goods! But that might be asking a little much...

Obviously there would have to be some things set as limits.

Firstly what you can barter needs to have set rates so folks don't cheat the game trading 100 Spanish coins for a manure collection...

Secondly there would need to be a limit on the amount you could do, I reckon setting 3-5 Barters at a time would be pretty fair.

Finally it would have to only be collectible ONCE, so that Great Aunt Bathsheba doesn't end up losing 100 ribbons for 10 Spanish coins.

All of that I think is fair and possibly codeable... we could have brags to pop on our wall to say we've Bartered, we could have brags to pop on our wall to say we'd put up a barter, we could have badges for "Barter so and so amount of times" that could be posted on the wall, Zynga would get their marketing posts...

So there we go. That is how I would have designed a Barter building, not as another Crafting Workshop with a different name, but a real chance to go back to the Frontier and Barter with our neighbours.

Seeing The Diamond In The Coal

You know what saddens me most about the current state of the game?

Over the last six months or so I think we've had some great new features, the Emporium and Ranch spring to mind as innovative new items that helped out and weren't overly onerous to build, I don't mind making the building/crafting effort when the end product is useful and furthers the game.

Effort for reward is fun, it's when the effort doesn't really further anything along I tend to find issue. The Debris Generator and Irrigation Station are examples of things I don't mind building. Yesterday's badly misnamed Barter Depot, much less so.

Also, Prospect Falls, a divisive area to be sure, but that was to be expected. If you treat the falls like the main game and attack it with gusto it may prove to be frustrating, but I think many folks have taken it as a diversion, a 10 minute break from the homestead, and enjoyed it more as a result.

I think we've been inundated so much that many folks have almost been institutionalised into needing to rush because of the fear of more stuff coming, but the Falls are a gentler prospect, to be taken at a slower pace so were always going to be a love/hate split.

Whatever your feelings I think it's fair to say the art department have again created a beautiful area, and we are getting something much different, much more interactive than previous expansions.

But, right now we're getting too much stuff to easily get an objective view of what's appearing.

Even when we get good mission threads (and there have been fun ones now and then) it becomes hard to see the the enjoyment in them when the first thought is "oh Christ... More?!"

So, I think we need to start taking each set on their own merits, and thinking about the game accordingly.

We need to start concentrating on the diamond, and ignoring the coal.

Me? I'm going to be ignoring Rekindling, Get Rich and the Barter Depot. Instead I'll be doing the baby naming, the Falls and the Prospecting Tales.

From now on I'm going to take a picky view of my gaming. I'm going to pretend every new thread is the first I've had in a while, see it objectively and make a choice.

Will I enjoy this?

Yes - I'll do it.
No - I'll ignore it.

It's a liberating thought, we only need to do what we want to do.

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As a bit of blatant self promotion, if you haven't already, please read THIS and if you agree, share. Perhaps it might make a difference.

An Open Letter To Zynga

[PLEASE NOTE: as with everything else in this blog these are my personal thoughts. They do not represent the opinions and views of Frontierville Express, the other admins or members.

This will likely never be seen by the people that matter, but I feel I have to write it. I would be obliged if, should you agree, you share it... who knows, someone may find it who DO know these people.]

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Dear Sir/Madam,

This is a hard letter for me to write, because it's something I didn't want to think about really. I love this game, and I want it to succeed.

The game itself has given me many, MANY hours of enjoyment, and allowed me to meet some amazing people who, Frontierville or not, will be around in my life for, I hope, a very long time.

But the game, as it is, is teetering on the edge of an abyss.

I only wish I was being over-dramatic, I have scoffed, I admit, at the more hyperbolic comments left by folks in online forums regarding the game and always thought it had enough about it that people would always want to play it. I don't think that any more.

The following will be tough, but I hope, fair. You may stop reading, you may just categorise me as a crackpot who doesn't know what I'm talking about. But I know games, I know marketing and I know the players, I spend my time talking to them, helping them and listening to their problems.

The fact is, you've made some serious errors in the game over the last 6 months, errors that will cost the game players, HAVE cost the game players... and will continue to do so as you don't seem to be of a mind to solve those errors, but instead you compound them, like a social experiment on the breaking point of gamers.

We understand glitches will happen, we understand limitations will happen, what we don't understand is why choices are being made that are actively, and expansively, taking the fun away.

Let's start with the missions. Quite WHY we are being inundated with the amount we are is something I simply don't understand, especially with the complexity of them.

This week we had THREE mission threads totalling 26 unique missions, 40 in all including necessary repeats.

Why? I understand you're keeping a plotline going, that you'll have some kind of list of "stations" on a railroad track somewhere plotting what we'll be getting to keep the story rolling.

If that is the case I'd imagine you have a Birth plotline coming in the future that will finally reach the end of what has felt like the most demanding pregnancy ever, and has led most players to wonder how on Earth Hank managed to "do the deed" in the first place without our help collecting 20 Barry White records, 20 candles and crafting one strong bed.

So, OK, I'll give you that one, the Baby Naming pushed the story on. But what about the others?

The Family Tree is disconnected from any plot, this get together could have been planned next week, next month, next Summer for that matter. There was no reason to place it in the game beyond "we've had this idea, chuck it in."

Equally the Prospect Falls missions could easily have waited, in fact it would have made more sense to occur once more people had got into the last set of missions in the Falls, so when Falls missions are slipping, something else comes to pick up the slack and keep our interest going in the new expansion.

I love cooking and cookery... and I know one thing for sure. Nothing is as bad as taking a basket full of ingredients and thinking you have to use them just because they're there.

It wouldn't be so bad if these were simple missions, but instead they are needlessly overcomplicated, stuffed full of depressing repeats, monotonous crafting and tedious waiting for friends to send crops or trees that are only available as free gifts. (I've gone into a diatribe about the awful nature of many of the missions elsewhere, I shan't go into it here as well.)

The missions themselves, the FUN of the game, are no longer fun, they are a chore, and a confusing chore at that. I'm friends with some people who are almost FTV-savants. They could have 10 missions on the go and always know what they need for which one and where they are in terms of planted crops or growing animals.

That doesn't happen any longer, you have done the impossible, you have done the equivalent of baffling Stephen Hawking with a maths problem.

They're confused, and people don't enjoy being confused. People like to feel they have some control and aren't just flailing around trying to grab hold of something enjoyable like a blindfolded Hugh Heffner in a ballroom of Playboy Bunnies.

Surely you know, surely you talk in-depth with the community people on your staff, the ones who connect with the forums or the support agents? You must realise that we are in, if I can veer into military vernacular, a Red Alert, a Defcon 5, a deepening and seemingly inescapable Afghanistan of morale.

Surely you're getting feedback and realising what we see daily... that the game just isn't fun any more. How many people are merely doing it now through a sense of duty or routine? How many are just doing it because the game has given them good friends and they want to keep connected to them?

Right now, as someone who works a fan page the negativity is soul destroying, remember we get it ALL day, other folks can have their 5 minutes writing a negative post and go play with a puppy. It's all we see, and it's worse because it's totally and utterly justifiable.

Mission releases used to be fun, exciting, something to look forward too. The admins would write the stuff up and know folks would be happy to get new missions and new items.

These days we know there will be apathy at best from a large percentage of members. You have somehow made the arrival of new stuff... depressing.

I honestly don't understand why, which may be the most frustrating thing of the lot.

Is it the marketing of so many wall posts and direct requests? If so I've explained previously the short sighted nature of that feeling, the turn OFF that 12 posts in a row will be to new members, not to mention the fact if players leave that will put quite a dent in that scheme.

Is it to try and slow down the people who pay horseshoes or cheat to complete mission quickly? If so you will excuse my French when I say "screw 'em". Let them rush if they feel the need and then let them understand boredom.

I can guarantee you that if you're fearing the "I'm bored" crowd will cause a mass exodus of players from the game then you are very wrong. The amount of people who would leave because of a lack of missions is a meager percentage of those being driven away by a lack of enjoyment, a crushing feeling of being overwhelmed and, ironically, boredom.

You know what's not really boring? Not having any missions so trying to catch up with badges, collections or Bulletin Board shorts.

You know what IS boring? Doing the same mission more than once. Waiting 8 hours to ask for something. Crafting the same item for the 12th time from something that is identical in use and name to something we've used before... but is "new" so none of them count.

If this has somehow reached someone in power, and if you're still reading, I beg this of you. Talk to the staff below you, talk to the people who run fanpages and have daily, even hourly (heck, minutely if that's a word), contact with dissatisfied players, a group that is becoming the majority.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, we love this game and are prepared to compromise, requesting, crafting, even repeating have their place in the game to some extent. But when even the most ardent of players dread the arrival of missions? Something has gone horribly wrong, the GAME has gone horribly wrong.

And all we ask is you take some time and think about what we're saying.

We understand glitches, we understand the game will have technical problems. What we can't understand is when the game has 'problems' placed in there specifically when 10 minutes on forums would show it to be a bad idea.

Take me seriously or consider me a mouthy jerk... Please talk to other people. Because I can say with almost 100% certainty, you'll find others who feel the same way.

Yours sincerely,

Andy Spencer

We Don't Want No Charity...

[PLEASE NOTE: as with everything else in this blog these are my personal views and opinions. They do not represent the opinions and views of Frontierville Express, the other admins or members.]

This is going to be a controversial post, and in some ways a hypocritical one. I wrote this at the end of last week and have debated long and hard whether to post it, but I've decided I have to. It might open me up to accusations from either side, but that's the delight of this little bit of webspace, this *waves arms around* is neutral territory.

If I'm brutally honest I tend to get a little drained by the negativity that often accompanies the missions these days. We love the game and want others to do the same, so we try to stay relentlessly positive, but sometimes it's hard.

I'd say some players' morale is pretty low, and what is upsetting is large swathes of complaints aren't about unavoidable glitches or problems in the game (we've always had them and will always get through them), they're about things that have been actively chosen to be that way, namely the sheer amount of missions and the morale sapping amount of requesting needed right now in the game.

Requesting is a necessary evil. The idea of a game without requesting is, at best, unrealistic. But on the other hand, it's monotonous being stuck for hours at a time with nothing to do but watch the letterbox and wait for the next chance to ask for items again.

I have 10 missions right now, and every single one of them are waiting on requests, either wall or direct. I also have a mission in Holiday Hollow waiting on direct requests and the Irrigation Station half completed waiting for... direct requests.

That's without the Valentines missions which, I will openly admit, I'm not going to even start.

Now, I know requesting and wall posting is an integral part of the gaming experience on Facebook. If I want a game I can play on my own with no help at all from outside, I'll load my PS3 and pound on some draugrs in Skyrim or belt a Lambo round the Nurburgring at pant-wetting speeds in GT5.

We need wall requesting and we need interaction firstly because it's how the game promotes itself, secondly because interaction stats etc are important in how a game is graded. We will never do away with it. Plus... let's be honest, in small measures (As part of a balanced diet etc, etc) it's FUN... there's nothing wrong with asking for stuff here or there in a game.

But surely you can see how this current over-reliance on requesting harms both the ones you have and the ones you want to get?

With nothing to do but wait players will go elsewhere, they'll find new games, new ways to spend their time... and they may never come back, or they might just get so used to not being in the game. You can't expect people to go from 8 hours of waiting for something to happen to the all action push of a new mission thread all the time. Gaming is about stickability, it's about how long you can keep people playing your game, and if there's nothing for them to do... they won't stick.

These games work because they're an addiction, but addictions are to things that are enjoyable or fun. An alcoholic isn't addicted to hangovers, a junkie isn't addicted to withdrawals, a smoker isn't addicted to coughing, a nymphomaniac... OK, I think you get the idea.

Harvesting, tending, building, clobbering, mastering... they're all fun things to do.

Requesting is dull, monotonous and repetitive. It's like video game Valium. To complete the recent final overview mission in the Valentine Thread, finishing missions 9 and 10 four times each, needs 248 direct requests and 336 items from walls, that is (not counting any got from clicking other people's posts) over 67 wall requests, for that ONE part. that's over 20 days of solid wall posting every 8 hours to complete one thing, after all the other missions and their needs are met.

That's not a challenge, it's a chore (and I enjoyed Canning, so I'm not anti-challenge!). I can see right now it's something that can only be done with a lot of pain and suffering, like trying to run a marathon, and I've already waved the white flag.

I like planting bulbs in my garden. I like looking at and photographing the flowers that result... but you won't find me sat gazing lovingly at a shoot for 8 hours waiting for it to noticeably grow.

Look as well on how it seems from the other side. You promote via wall posts etc for new players. But will a gamer wanting a new fix see someone posting for 7 things in a row (often with a comment akin to this one I saw this morning "Christ, will asking for this never end?!") and think "wow, LOADS of requesting, that's the game for me!"

Allow me to give you a hint, the answer starts with 'no', ends with 'way' and has a rude word that's a slang term for coitus in the middle.

Spare a thought for new players as well. You need new players to replace the inevitable turnover. Even the best games will lose players over time, people's lives change after all. But what will those new players find themselves in?

Even with dozens of established players as neighbours they're going to find coming up on some of the missions difficult. I can tell you from bitter experience, having taken just a month out for health reasons, that getting back in the game is no easy task. I've only just completed the repeatable Wikiwah Mustang and Respect missions, I still have to finish building the New Year Hoedown and Hollie's Sleigh for the Hollow mission. I hope to get Amber's colt healed sometime between now and July...

[EDIT: I have now completed all the above, now I'm waiting on the Train. And the Baby Wagon. And the Baby Shower. And three buildings on the Falls. And the Debris Generator.]

And that's despite having some brilliant neighbours who will click everything I put up whether they need it or not, sacrificing their own clicks. I pity those who don't have folks like I do, if they just have people who keep their 50 clicks for the stuff they need, because they are going to be in deep trouble, some stuff may just never get done, and that is massively disheartening. I don't mind knowing something might take a while, but if I see no end in sight...

We should NEVER get rid of requesting, there's actually something of a buzz to opening your gifts of a morning and finding that last piece that completes a mission or finishes off a building. It should stay as a part of the game, this was never designed to be a solo game and I ENJOY helping people.

But that's the problem, I don't feel helpful, I feel like I ask for more than I return, I feel like my whole existence in the game is reliant, as Tennessee Williams would have it, on the kindness of strangers.

So why not get a bit more creative? Right now the rewards for posting that you've visited someone are pitiful, an old building material most people never use any more. Make that something worthwhile, a lump of XP for example, and folks will want to post more often, I NEVER post to friends wall that I've visited because I know they don't give a monkeys about a brick or a hand drill.

Ditto the reward for hiring a neighbour, Tools haven't been used for ages in a mission, so why would that prompt someone to publish?

The main point here is people like to HELP others, so OK, here's another idea. The crafting items that drop from things on our homestead (sulphur from rocks, rowing boat planks from trees etc). How about two, three times a day a message would pop up when you found one "You've found extras, give them away?"

Saying yes would put a post on your wall where 3-5 people could click it and get a sulphur or plank or whatever the supply was? Ditto with collection items, just as it works with the saloon drink daily bonus.

Giving, not begging. Most gamers don't like to ask, but they love to give, especially if you whacked on some XP coming back the other way.

Lately FTV players see themselves sitting on pavements with a dog on a piece of string and a cap out hoping to catch building supplies. That's not a fun way to imagine yourself being.

Picturing yourself as a philanthropist throwing around goodies and giving stuff away, that IS fun! It'll also appeal more to the gamers you're hoping to catch with posts. Earlier we spoke about how so many begging posts will put potential gamers off, but if they see a game where things keep happening to let them help their neighbours... completely different mental attitude to be in.

Finally, an extreme suggestion...

Remove ALL requesting from the Bulletin Board, they were a brilliant idea to waste time between other mission threads and while waiting for stuff to arrive, then you just tacked on a request requirement to EVERY mission so instead of being filler, they're just one more thing to request for and then ignore for 8 hours because there's nothing to DO.

It's collecting teamwork and helping hands, so just make it like "affection" during the anniversary date mission, stuff that drops from NEIGHBOUR homesteads. We're getting helping hands, so make it that we get it by helping. Add this to the much better rewards for visiting I suggested earlier and you might see more posting... heck perhaps this could even BE the post reward.

"Do you want to tell your neighbour you've visited and give your neighbour a Helping Hands?"

It's a simple mental change on both sides. Players need to change their mindset and realise that there WILL be some requesting, that's life, and in fact, done properly and not excessively, it's fun. But Zynga, you need to realise not EVERYTHING has to be requesting. It's doing you more harm than good.

I also believe people might be happier about the high quantity of missions if they knew they'd be more homestead based, and not something that would leech at their limited wall clicks and direct requests.

There's a place for asking, what I'm saying is for the love of Jack, CALM DOWN. I'm honest when I say that it's driving players away.

We don't want to spend our gaming days begging for charity, we just want a good game that's fun to play, and we're mature enough to be ready to compromise to get it.