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| I have to click now? With my hand? Noooooo!!!!!! |
Oh, the tears! From posts on Zynga's forums to GU to the various Facebook pages which have sprung up in opposition to the 125 item limit, it's clear that many people assume that this limit is on everything, and from the tone of some of these things you'd think the world was coming to an end.
A few of these mouth-breathers making the most noise about the limit are some of the same people who tend to get confused while going through the checkout line at the grocery store - I end up behind one or two of their ilk every time I go shopping, it seems. Lexi could put up illustrations and nudie photos and a LOT of folks just aren't going to get it.
First, we need to clear up what this limit covers. It does NOT impact:
- Your gifts. Gifts sent to you will not be counted towards your limit, and you still won't be able to collect a large percentage of them anyway - that hasn't been fixed or addressed yet.
- Posts to your wall. Things like truffles, slop, and other bonuses posted strictly for you on your own wall are not counted towards the daily limit.
- Fuel. You can still grab as much gas as you (or your robo-device of choice) can get from fuel posts.
- Clicks on Co-Op Posts. These won't count against your limit.
- Wishlist, Bushel or Quest Requests and Barn Raisings/Expansions. You can still help each other without fear of using one of your precious clicks.
That leaves you 125 'clicks' a day to successfully (and for the sake of argument, we're going to assume manually as well) collect 125 bonuses from the game feed. Coin bonuses, eggs, XP, shared bushels, foals, calves, pigs, sheep, bulls, left over building material - whatever you fancy the most.
While I would have liked to see an exemption for shared bushels (since the Farmers Market STILL doesn't work correctly - many have not been able to collect or even view bushels there since September!), I think overall the limit is not only reasonable, but generous. Other games enforce limits that are a fraction of this number, and people have learned to live within their means and make the appropriate, strategic choices in those games as well.
Building materials and other resources necessary to operate your farm are completely giftable. It's entirely possible to play this game successfully and level up at a reasonable rate without having to grab every single bonus you see scrolling past your mouse cursor.
- Can't get gifts or help from your friends? Try getting a few higher quality players on your list. This is first and foremost a social game - interaction between players is not only encouraged but necessary to complete portions of the game and level up.
- Can't get your building materials fast enough? Keep some on hand. Collect them when they're not needed. Take an extra day or two to complete your construction. Nobody says you have to finish every project that comes along within 30 minutes of it's release, but I've seen scores of crybabies out there whining about how they're not going to be able to get things done. Bull. You'll get them done, but now you'll have to be a little smarter about how you play, more selective about what you collect, and make some actual choices about which portions of the game you actually participate in.
- Can't get enough water? Perhaps you'll have to limit yourself to several trees per day instead of an assload of them.
- Can't get enough bushels to create goods? Join the club.
Many have complained that collecting 125 items is just not enough, which seems to be a paradox. Anyone with enough patience to actually successfully and manually collect 125 items from the game feed would surely have enough patience to take actual time to build things and collect stuff you need for your farm.
I'll even go one step further and say that the vast majority of people who complain about the limit are lying through their teeth when they say they routinely take the time to collect more than that from the game feed manually on any given day. Not all, but most. I daresay what they're most angry about is being faced with the idea of actually having to interact with the game and not being able to take a 'grab it all and sort it out later' approach to game play.
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| The first one is always the hardest. |
Am I unsympathetic? Not at all. It took me a LONG time to collect everything I needed to build my first Botanical Garden...and then I decided that if I was going to enjoy the game more fully, I needed to make some changes in the way I played. I got more friends, more neighbors, and took every opportunity I could to get that one extra glass beam.
Yes, this may impact a tiny fraction of the uber-competitive, hard-hitting players out there, but I'll refer you back to Lexi's message about why they implemented this change: "Over the past year, a number of computer programs have been written that will automatically claim everything posted to the feeds. " Seems a lot of those same uber-competitive players are the exact reason for these changes.
That's right, and at the risk of tooting my own horn, I told you so.
If you want to yell, bitch, gripe, whine or cry about the new collection limits, please do so in the direction of those who have abused these tools beyond any limits a reasonable person would consider....well....reasonable: The Insane Snag Bar Users.
Yes indeed. Those folks who post 50 completed collections 5 times a week? Thank them for your limit. The ones who share out bushels that they not only didn't grow, but they didn't obtain other than by snagging everything in sight? Thank them, too.
Any of you who have followed my inane ramblings for the past year will know that I have long tried to be the voice of reason in the wilderness when it came to the use of these automated tools. I cautioned that if the developers of the Snag Bar (and other bonus collectors - it's not just Gamers Unite, but they're a convenient reference point for now) did not do something to actively give players an 'opt out' and diffuse this ridiculous battle of Snaggers vs Non-Snaggers, Zynga would make changes to address it.
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"Any player seen collecting a high number of feed items per second will also be subject to a throttle that will limit the speed they can collect items for the remainder of the day."
You can bet that technology like this won't be stopping at policing the feed-grabbers. The throttling is part of a larger change we'll see as Zynga's loss prevention folks exercise their newfound clout in San Francisco.
So we have to click a little slower, or maybe miss an item or two? Some kind soul will post another one just like it in a few minutes, honest.
Soon the moaning of those crying about the feed collection limit will be drowned out by all the folks who find that the automated bots will be Zynga's next target. When forced to produce foals the normal way, we'll either see people understand what real patience is all about, or, (and this is the more likely scenario) there will be a lot fewer foals in some groups.
Not mine, but some. ;-)
Just imagine: one day soon, people may very well be forced to actually play this game to achieve their level. For me, that day can't come soon enough.
Bravo, Zynga, for a step in the right direction. I'm not happy about it either, but we really left you no choice.
Farmer Brown
Sharing Foals and Calves
http://tinyurl.com/SFCGroup
Do YOU actually need more than 125 items from the feed daily to 'manage' your farm? Leave a comment, let us know what you routinely collect, and why it's a daily need!
LOL! I guess I am the 1%er who manually clicks on all my feed claims. What you failed to mention is that you get 125 clicks win or lose....I built an army of snowmen just so I would not have to go out to the feeds to claim water. I love my horses and the foals I produce and the trees. I have never made a claim to any feed that I did not have a use for. AND I AM ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO CAN POST 50 COLLECTIONS EVERY TWO DAYS!! They helped me to level up and gave me fuel when the damn Market was empty and Zynga would not fix the issue. I have not ever used a snag bar for ANY game I play nor will I, so to be 'punished' along with the people who use GU (or another snag program) is outrageous.
ReplyDeleteIf that's a punishment, then you're absolutely right - you're getting punished for the misdeeds of a few.
ReplyDeleteThe 125 is definitely NOT win or lose - although that may be how it's working right now, Zynga was very clear - it's not 125 'attempts' to collect, it's 125 successful collections...or at least that's their intention.
As of right now, that limit is in effect and verified as working for at least some accounts - perhaps they're just slow in rolling it out.
If you're doing that much clicking, congrats on still playing the game 'old school'. Like it or not, you'll find that many are going to have to re-enroll in that school again. I'm still a bit baffled as to how anyone can claim serious hardship by being limited to "only" 125 bonuses, but despite the absence of any data or examples, they sure are making their voices heard.
FB
Yes John and I remember at least once when I stood behind you while you tried to make your voice heard.
ReplyDeleteIt is not because of the "Bots" nor "GU", it is becuase Zynga can't regulate their game and make if flow correctly, so they do need to get some weight off of the servers, which I might add they are doing very successfully.
There are ways to shut down the "bots" or even close the "snatchers" accounts, these snatchers are only taking what is rightfully theirs, only on their feed put there by their neighbors....not always yours.
I am sorry to see such negative opinions from someone that I held so highly in Zynga/farmville esteem, just goes to show sometimes my judgement suxs.
Gail
Gail, if this is the first time you've seen a 'negative opinion' from me, I suspect you just haven't been reading closely. LoL
ReplyDeleteI don't see it as negative, however - what I'm doing is pretty simple (albeit likely naive) - I'm taking Zynga at their word. They say this is the reason for the limit, and regardless of whether or not they're being candid, it's here and in place.
I don't know how a limit would really make much impact on the servers themselves. Surely it would lower the overall number of transactions, but not simultaneous transactions nor a real material amount of simultaneous traffic. The massive number of pop-ups and other game interruptions are more likely in place to cause that kind of slow down during actual game play (when traffic is at it's peak) rather than a collection limit.
In the grand scheme of things, server hardware and bandwidth are cheap. What may be more costly for them is development time to properly scale the application which has grown way beyond the original design limits.
In my wanderings through many, many forums, I see that same argument a lot - 'there are ways to shut down the bots and snatchers' - yet I never see anyone provide even a concrete suggestion as to how to accomplish that. Personally I think it's mighty suspect that they *don't* stop it altogether - but the end result is the same: we all get placed and dealt with uniformly, and nobody's happy about it.
I agree with you - there are ways to stop them dead in their tracks, and in the absence of Zynga doing something to alleviate the animosity there, there are likewise ways for the developers of those tools to do the same thing. I suggest that it's far easier to get the half dozen folks developing snag tools to make that kind of change than it would be to get a corporation with Zynga's size and complexity to make the same change.
I don't agree with you, however, that any given post appearing on the game feed is 'rightfully theirs'. The opportunity to collect it is rightfully theirs, but only the opportunity. That opportunity also rightfully belongs to everyone on the poster's Facebook Friends list. It's certainly not exclusive to anyone until it's collected, and in Zynga's world it's not 'rightfully' the property of anyone until it's been collected in accordance with their stated Terms of Service.
I think your judgement's fine, btw. We're not always going to agree, but I sure do appreciate opposing viewpoints, and I thank you for taking the time to comment - many do not.
I value them as a reality check on what I've written to ensure that it's both accurate and reasonable, and given the information we've gotten out of Zynga on this, I think I'm still right on target.
Your results may vary. :-)
FB