which has 75 million regular players, is made by developer Zynga, which also makes Cafè World and Mafia Wars. Zynga just scored a $100 million to $200 million investment from Google. But some traditional game developers think the rise of Zynga is a sign of the end of days—at least in terms of game-making. We asked some skeptics to explain their concerns; you decide for yourself whether this is the game-pocolypse.

Chris Hecker (Spore, SpyParty)
When you’re playing Counter-Strike or even just throwing a Frisbee, the thing you’re doing is fun in itself. In Zynga games, you’re just trying to get more stuff. You’re caught up in this junkie behavior, and you have to keep upping the dose. That has me terrified.

Daniel James (Bang! Howdy, Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates)
People whose first encounter with computer games is on Facebook may conclude that all games are just about clicking and watching a number go up and being told to spam their friends. The market could fall very quickly when people get fed up with that.

Charles Randall (Assassin’s Creed, Neverwinter Nights)
They break basic game design to get players to pay money. I fear a situation where developers don’t get creative freedom, because they have to figure out how to monetize the game rather than focus on narrative or gameplay.

Jesse Schell (Toontown Online)
They figure out the psychological moment when someone wants to pay and then design the best experiences around that. Also, it’s a scary time when the growth area is low-budget games. It means more projects, but they’re smaller projects.

Authors: David Kushner

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