Mafia Wars CEO Brags About Scamming Users [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

jamie writes with a follow-up to our recent discussion of social gaming scams: "Mark Pincus, CEO of the company that brought us Mafia Wars, says: 'I did every horrible thing in the book just to get revenues right away. I mean, we gave our users poker chips if they downloaded this Zwinky toolbar, which was like, I don't know... I downloaded it once and couldn't get rid of it.'" TechCrunch also ran a interesting tell-all from the CEO of a company specializing in Facebook advertisements, who provided some details on similarly shady operations at the popular social networking site.http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=09/11/12/0512235 (http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/11/12/0512235/emMafia-Warsem-CEO-Brags-About-Scamming-Users?from=rss)
Read more of this story (http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/11/12/0512235/emMafia-Warsem-CEO-Brags-About-Scamming-Users?from=rss) at Slashdot.
http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/NZEf0Jo093KlUgWgTD7dFWQuzxs/0/di</img> (http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/NZEf0Jo093KlUgWgTD7dFWQuzxs/0/da)
http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/NZEf0Jo093KlUgWgTD7dFWQuzxs/1/di</img> (http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/NZEf0Jo093KlUgWgTD7dFWQuzxs/1/da)
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[Oobgarm]

And this is why I've blocked all of those stupid game applications on Facebook. Not that I'm stupid enough to download something or spend real money in order to earn tokens to play more games, "cartoon myself" or "see if I have a high IQ" or whatever.

[portnoyd]

lol facebook

[PapaStu]

You all are just jealous of my farm.

[sebastiankirchoff]

While I find Farmville and Yoville fun, I am not stupid enough to spend hard earned money on virtual money that has no value whatsoever. And I never download anything unless I know its safe and useful, even if it promises that I will get "poker chips" as a reward.

[Nikademus1969]

When I first started playing their Vampire Wars game, I made the mistake of buying "elder points" a couple times. Never again tho...in the long run it really does not help you out all that much. The extra clan members you can buy in the long run screw you over cuz their stats don't seem to be good compared to real players and any other "benefits" you think you get by forking over the cash you can get for free if you're patient.

[Enigmus]

My sister is addicted to Farmville, and I think it might be responsible for why the house laptop has lost 8 GB of mamory. Then again, her iTunes file is 5.52 GB, so who even knows. All I know is, Facebook, Halo 3, and anything involving FPSes and headsets are on my Avoid List because of the stigma following all 3 of them. They're low-IQed people's internet gateway drug, and I hate it. :bad-words:

[PapaStu]

My sister is addicted to Farmville, and I think it might be responsible for why the house laptop has lost 8 GB of mamory. Then again, her iTunes file is 5.52 GB, so who even knows.

Well then you don't know much, considering all the games, are web-based. There is nothing saved on your computer, so no 'mamory' is lost.

[sfchakan]

Perhaps his sister deleted 8gbs of mammories?

If so, Farmville must die!

[megasdkirby]

People play those silly games?

I just find them a massive time waster. Hell, Facebook is a massive time waster! O_o

And yes, I have an account. An oxymoron at best. LOL

[DeputyMoniker]

I am not stupid enough to spend hard earned money on virtual money that has no value whatsoever.

You just described every video game ever made. You pay real money for a virtual experience. Pay upfront and get all your spells & weapons included or pay as you go for turns...what's the difference? If they're having fun then good. I don't mean to single you out, there are a lot of people around here who feel the way you do. I just wanted to toss my view into the mix. (And for the record, I don't think I have ever tried Mafia Wars...always seemed too much like an advertising scheme to me.)

"I'm not stupid enough to pay real money for a game that has a virtual sword in it. I'll go buy a real sword with my money."

[RPG_Fanatic]

lol facebook

ROFL :above me: