Confession time: I’m a Zynga addict.
Being able to access these games anywhere, coupled with the fact that there is always something to do, makes them unsettlingly compelling to me. Yes, I know the games are mind-numbingly boring — especially as compared to Call of Duty, Mass Effect, and even Monopoly. Nonetheless, I schedule my day around crop harvest windows and stamina refills. I even sneak time from work to collect rewards from my friends’ game feeds.
And thus it is with much sadness that I report the latest news: Zynga has invented yet another time trap: Rewardville. What’s worse, this new release is not a even game. It simply rewards you for your addiction, offering up virtual coins that can be traded for virtual — but exclusive! — game items. Alas, you get 80 points per game just for playing — and up to 300 coins a day.
Yes, they’re an insidious lot, those Zyngans. Instead of overwhelming users with advertisements for another game, Rewardville mindtricks players into continuing their current gameplay by offering cheap (in the sense that it doesn’t take away from in-game currency) items. It also teases players with peeks into the features of the other Zynga games, masterfully tipping incipient addicts into full-fledged, twitchy-finger, someone-help-me addiction.
So, that’s the news. Now please excuse me while I go rearrange my cows.