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I'm surprised that anyone is surprised. It's Zynga. Their business model has always been slimey, and they add no value to society. Net negative, actually.

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Not only do they add no value to society, one could argue they are responsible for decreased productivity of employees who waste their work day playing Zynga games or come back to work tired after wasting 2 hours at night planting cucumbers on FarmVille.

Can you help me understand the contempt you have for the Zynga games? I don't play, myself, but I do understand that the games exploit (negative? compulsive?) psychology, and they've used unethical business strategies.

But who cares? After all, it's unlikely the next Vonnegut is going to spend his time playing MafiaWars instead of writing "Slaughterhouse Five" or anything.

I am reminded of the aphorism, "Time you've enjoyed wasting is not wasted time."

Do you know any writers? Because the ones I know mostly have a terrible problem with procrastination, avoidance, etc.

Fulfilling a compulsion is not actually enjoyable. So unlike most game-makers, I don't see them as creating fun.

I've never really played any of these games, do they not involve at least some level of skill or strategy?

What makes them worse than say, world of warcraft?

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