This is terrible news, and a lot of people are going to lose their jobs. But it goes to show you that the games industry is still as much about "one more quarter" game mechanics and business practices than it is about making truly great entertainment. I don't know if you guys saw the articles on Zynga, but TechCrunch has been ripping them to shit how they make money by being evil.

I tried to get into social games, but they just aren't fun. The only reason they are successful is they prey on human's propensity to pick up just one more gold coin, get one more level, upgrade just one more thing. They build the greener grass around every corner, and our little lizard brains compel us to get to the other side.

To build a game is to take a slice of fun that would otherwise sustain itself for fifteen minutes and wrap whatever you can around it compel people to keep playing. Whether your tapping into competition or guilting people into playing due to social pressure, the things that make people spend money on games are separate from the things that make people have fun playing them.

Even a very pure fun game like quake compels you to play for reasons other than running around and shooting are fun. That is true, but the main reason I've played for a decade is due to the competitive need to feel like I'm getting better in the game (as opposed to getting better in real life) and the social obligations of clans, online friends, etc.

Look at every game you play, and ask yourself why you play it and why you put money into it. Maybe here on a hardcore site we have good tastes, but in general, the mechanics that compel you to play aren't the pure fun of jumping like mario or swinging a sword or firing a pistol, rather it's the next coin, the power-up, beating the boss, improving your score, getting gamerpoints, achievements, a silly hat. These things are worthless and we know it, but we are still compelled to continue playing beyond the point of fun because of them.

*endrant