[ketralnis]

> Apps cannot use Push Notifications to send advertising, promotions, or direct marketing of any kind.

They do a very poor job of enforcing this. Around Christmas about every app I have sent me a "I'm still here!" push notification around that time advertising itself. And every zynga game I've purchased (a habit I've discontinued) does this both for itself and for other zynga games a few times a month.

[WiseWeasel]

I'm just wondering why you would allow a game to send notifications in the first place; you were given the choice on first run.

[untog]

To use one Zynga game as an example, it's great to get notifications from Words With Friends when it's my turn to play. The "you haven't played with <Facebook friend>! Start a game?" notifications, not so much.

[ceejayoz]

Basically, Apple needs a "this notification is spam" reporter.

[WiseWeasel]

Definitely makes sense for multi-player games. I had Draw Something sending me notifications for a brief time now that I think about it, until I got bored with it.

I guess that shows the importance of the policy in question, to provide an disincentive for companies to abuse the privilege. I'm not sure if that applies in this case however, when marketing-driven notifications are actually desired by the users.

[calbear81]

Some games benefit from push notifications as reminders to do something like "feed my dragon or else it will die" or "your free spins are available now". These are integral to the core mechanics of the gameplay vs. a marketing message like "buy some coins for $1.99, on sale now!" or something to that effect.

[jruderman]

Waiting by not playing a game is never a "core mechanic" of a game. It's either an excuse for the app to grab your attention (play now to get a bonus) or a way to drive IAP (pay so you don't have to wait).

[calbear81]

I'm thinking of something like a Tamogotchi where you need to take action at specified intervals and push notifications would seem like something I would like as a reminder.

[chipsy]

In VESPER.5 you play one turn per day for a meditative experience.