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Last week, I linked to a story at TechCrunch that exposed the dangers of online game offers that target titles usually found on social networking sites, such as Facebook or MySpace. According to our RSS traffic, that news story had an abnormally large number of follow-thrus, so it's obviously of great interest to many of you. I noticed that TechCrunch has been following-up to its story since then, so I thought I'd also post one.
It appears that Michael Arrington, like no one else, can act as a virtual blender, because some recent events are rather incredible. The biggest is that Zynga, the developer of some of the largest games being played on social networking sites, has decided to take the steps needed to remove scam advertising offers, essentially removing gamers from a risk. This wasn't a small step, either, because apparently, these ads accounted for almost 33% of the company's supposed $250 million in revenue.
Likewise, the company that Zynga had in charge of the ads, DoubleDing, shares the same sentiments as and have vowed to adhere to the high standards and clean up its act, and has gone as far as promising to donate any money gained from these misleading programs to charity. In all regards, these two changes are rather major, and it looks as though it's a huge win for gamers, right? Well, I'm still a little skeptical.
Reading through the comments section for TC's latest follow-up, some visitors are claiming that instead of these scam ads, the companies are resorting to pushing in-game sales much harder than before, meaning more messages in the game itself. This isn't so much of a surprise, though. If your company just pulled a source for 33% of its revenue, steps like this would undoubtedly be made fast. I guess at this point, it comes down to the gamer, and how much they want to put up with. The game is free, so its little surprise that there's going to be some downsides somewhere.
It is our intention to fully comply with all Facebook, as well as partner (e.g. Zynga), advertising standards. Zynga’s standards require us to remove all mobile offers which do not offer a clear user value. We take 100% responsibility for any issues that arise from our actions and commit to correcting any errors. Finally, to reiterate our commitment and seriousness of our intent to adhere to high standards and bring value to the growing virtual currency space, we will be donating ALL revenues derived from this and any future mistakes of this sort to charity.
Source: TechCrunch
It appears that Michael Arrington, like no one else, can act as a virtual blender, because some recent events are rather incredible. The biggest is that Zynga, the developer of some of the largest games being played on social networking sites, has decided to take the steps needed to remove scam advertising offers, essentially removing gamers from a risk. This wasn't a small step, either, because apparently, these ads accounted for almost 33% of the company's supposed $250 million in revenue.
Likewise, the company that Zynga had in charge of the ads, DoubleDing, shares the same sentiments as and have vowed to adhere to the high standards and clean up its act, and has gone as far as promising to donate any money gained from these misleading programs to charity. In all regards, these two changes are rather major, and it looks as though it's a huge win for gamers, right? Well, I'm still a little skeptical.
Reading through the comments section for TC's latest follow-up, some visitors are claiming that instead of these scam ads, the companies are resorting to pushing in-game sales much harder than before, meaning more messages in the game itself. This isn't so much of a surprise, though. If your company just pulled a source for 33% of its revenue, steps like this would undoubtedly be made fast. I guess at this point, it comes down to the gamer, and how much they want to put up with. The game is free, so its little surprise that there's going to be some downsides somewhere.
It is our intention to fully comply with all Facebook, as well as partner (e.g. Zynga), advertising standards. Zynga’s standards require us to remove all mobile offers which do not offer a clear user value. We take 100% responsibility for any issues that arise from our actions and commit to correcting any errors. Finally, to reiterate our commitment and seriousness of our intent to adhere to high standards and bring value to the growing virtual currency space, we will be donating ALL revenues derived from this and any future mistakes of this sort to charity.
Source: TechCrunch