[philk]

The worst thing about working yourself to death at Zynga would be knowing you were toiling to produce shoddy little pseudo-games. At least when, say, jwz was putting in insane hours at Netscape he was building Netscape Navigator.

Also those Farmville character cutouts in the photo are possibly the creepiest thing in the universe.

[OllieJones]

> those Farmville character cutouts in the photo are possibly the creepiest thing in the universe.

Second creepiest. How about the grinning ghoul standing next to them?

[gscott]

And they want your stock options back as soon as your not as valuable to them anymore so they can give them to the next guy.

[suivix]

Those 'pseudo-games' keep my wheelchair bound grandmother occupied (and possibly even entertained) throughout her day. They provide value to some people.

[jemfinch]

And millions more waste atrocious amounts of time being unproductive--or worse, becoming addicted or going into debt.

Farmville abuses the social guilt that evolution built into our human nature to bring profit to Zynga. Do you really think its net contribution to society is positive because of your grandmother and people like her?

[skrebbel]

Oh my god!

There's people out there being unproductive!

If you really think that that's a problem, you must've had a terrible life.

[blub]

Slackers, not merely unproductive. And guess who has to pick up all the slack...

[achompas]

Who...you? The government?

Come on now. Let's not get sanctimonious about what people do with their time. It's their problem.

[EvilLook]

...or kill me

[smackfu]

Seems pretty much the same as television.

[blake8086]

Make something people want, but not too much?

[philwelch]

Some people want crack. That doesn't make crack dealers honorable professionals.

[wr1472]

Only two kinds of people call their customers "users"; drug dealers and software developers.

[dasil003]

Of course the only reason we deem them generally dishonorable is because the government declared cocaine illegal.

[philwelch]

That's not the only reason. Tobacco is legal, and people consider tobacco companies dishonorable.

[101010010101]

Nor does it make those who produce crack "talented".

The only drain is the one caused by Farmville itself. The one that the time goes down.

[tokenadult]

Those 'pseudo-games' keep my wheelchair bound grandmother occupied (and possibly even entertained) throughout her day.

First of all, let me agree with the general principle that in a free country with a free-enterprise economy, people ought to be able to spend their money (and time) in the way that they find most valuable, based on their personal circumstances. I was one customer among millions for what was then the best-selling phonograph album of all time (Michael Jackson's Thriller album, one of the first compact discs I bought). You can argue legitimately that listening to recorded music is a frivolous activity, and argue even more legitimately that Jackson, born the same year I was, was already rich enough in his twenties that he didn't need my money, but I was happy to spend money on something that added fun to my day while I was working hard to establish my career. There's no particular policy reason for any of us to oppose people spending time or money on what helps them get through the day.

With reference to your grandmother needing to be in a wheelchair at all times, you have my deepest sympathies. My late dad had a slip and fall on the ice from a late-season snowstorm (in APRIL!) and then was a quadriplegic from his spinal cord injury for the last six years of his life. Surgery attempting to treat his injury took him from being unable to use his limbs to being unable to swallow and having great difficulty even speaking, both things he could do just fine immediately after his injury. Once people lose mobility, they undergo a radical change in lifestyle, and no decent person will begrudge paraplegics or quadriplegics the opportunity to choose recreation that helps them cope with new circumstances. My dad never took up playing computer games--and of course had no mobility for operating a computer after his injury. I remember spending about a month, in a series of visits, reading aloud to him the book The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition,

http://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Legendary-Antarc...

which is an inspiring story of human beings facing other extremely tough challenges. I was glad I took the time to do that--reading the book was good for me. My best wishes go to anyone who has a relative not fully able to do the normal daily activities able-bodied people take for granted.

[zerostar07]

I'd say it's true that social games create a wonderful opportunity for people to socialize. That said, there is nothing challenging or cutting-edge about making these games.

[natch]

There are much better things she could be doing with her time.

[cellis]

Why aren't you out curing cancer and instead commenting on an article about Zynga? Stop being so self righteous.

[dredmorbius]

You've just created an perpetual motion machine.

I'm flipping endlessly between "he's serious" and "he's ironic".

So ... which is it?