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Google Makes me a Sad Panda!
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 06:36 pmI think I'm going to close my Google Plus account. I am unhappy with them right now. Very very unhappy.
First of all, there's this opinion piece on CNN, Why Google+ will never back down on real names. What it basically boils down to is Google valuing us more for our information. We are not customers, because we are not paying. We are valuable sources of potential gold mines of information and thus income. Charming.
Secondly, there's this: Google axes Slide; takes many Facebook games down with it and Bloody Thursday: Google Deadpools All Slide Products Except One
For a while there, I would give just about any Facebook game a try, but I had a clear favorite and that was SPP Ranch with its ridiculously adorable animals and decorations. Its cuteness factor was its main attraction. It's like any other facebook game with timed "crops" only your crops are adorable animals that you have to feed and water and pick up poop. Even the poop is cute! It definitely has that "kawaii chibi" thing going on. Here is my ranch with a Japanese theme and some roaming sheep, turkeys and baby peacocks.
And there are more pictures here, not to mention that I have a folder dedicated to SPP Pet cuteness. Let us not doubt that it truly was my favorite facebook game. I might have been slightly obsessive, but in my defense I am weak against stupidly adorable things.
I'm sure the was making money. Super Poke Pets, one of the games that Slide came up with as a follow up to their Super Poke facebook app (which, coincidentally was one of my first facebook apps and gave me the ability to throw sheep) was rather scary in its ability to make money. I know for a fact that players were actually making money from playing the game and buying up gold items! I know people tried to do that with SPP Ranch as well, though I don't know if it was as successful a venture because it took a long time to put in a trade system. Either way, there was money there and the game is popular. I have 127 SPP Ranch Neighbors. Not all of them are active now, but that's quite a bit and a lot of them were dedicated players. The list of neighbors indicate those who spent real money on the game and I'd say about a tenth of them had invested. Microtransactions are scary in their power.
I stopped playing the game for a time, because that stuff can get rather dry, but I've recently been poking at it again. I found that the game's development had been frozen and it was left as is for people to play. I worried. And then after googling (irony?), I found the fate of my beloved game. It's just gonna quietly die in a corner because Google is being retarded. I mean, they are clearly gung ho about Google Plus. They've started adding games to Google Plus. They own these Slide games that they know are fairly popular and make money and are they going to add them? NO! They're going to let them rot. How the hell does that make any sense? These games are all fully developed. Hire a few artists and animators to put out some items now and then and they can start making money again. But apparently they're feeling spiteful. I don't even know, all I can say is that I am disappointed in you Google. I am so damn disappointed. First you get all handsy and possessive over my real name and then you kill off the only silly social app game that I love. That whole do no evil thing? You fail. Killing off SPP Ranch is evil. How can you let the cuteness die?!
Appropriate SPP Ranch icon is appropriate. And now I'm going to go delete my google plus account. They're already tracking me a million other ways through my gmail and google habit, but I'm not sure I have the strength to leave my gmail behind. I guess we'll see.
First of all, there's this opinion piece on CNN, Why Google+ will never back down on real names. What it basically boils down to is Google valuing us more for our information. We are not customers, because we are not paying. We are valuable sources of potential gold mines of information and thus income. Charming.
Secondly, there's this: Google axes Slide; takes many Facebook games down with it and Bloody Thursday: Google Deadpools All Slide Products Except One
For a while there, I would give just about any Facebook game a try, but I had a clear favorite and that was SPP Ranch with its ridiculously adorable animals and decorations. Its cuteness factor was its main attraction. It's like any other facebook game with timed "crops" only your crops are adorable animals that you have to feed and water and pick up poop. Even the poop is cute! It definitely has that "kawaii chibi" thing going on. Here is my ranch with a Japanese theme and some roaming sheep, turkeys and baby peacocks.
And there are more pictures here, not to mention that I have a folder dedicated to SPP Pet cuteness. Let us not doubt that it truly was my favorite facebook game. I might have been slightly obsessive, but in my defense I am weak against stupidly adorable things.
I'm sure the was making money. Super Poke Pets, one of the games that Slide came up with as a follow up to their Super Poke facebook app (which, coincidentally was one of my first facebook apps and gave me the ability to throw sheep) was rather scary in its ability to make money. I know for a fact that players were actually making money from playing the game and buying up gold items! I know people tried to do that with SPP Ranch as well, though I don't know if it was as successful a venture because it took a long time to put in a trade system. Either way, there was money there and the game is popular. I have 127 SPP Ranch Neighbors. Not all of them are active now, but that's quite a bit and a lot of them were dedicated players. The list of neighbors indicate those who spent real money on the game and I'd say about a tenth of them had invested. Microtransactions are scary in their power.
I stopped playing the game for a time, because that stuff can get rather dry, but I've recently been poking at it again. I found that the game's development had been frozen and it was left as is for people to play. I worried. And then after googling (irony?), I found the fate of my beloved game. It's just gonna quietly die in a corner because Google is being retarded. I mean, they are clearly gung ho about Google Plus. They've started adding games to Google Plus. They own these Slide games that they know are fairly popular and make money and are they going to add them? NO! They're going to let them rot. How the hell does that make any sense? These games are all fully developed. Hire a few artists and animators to put out some items now and then and they can start making money again. But apparently they're feeling spiteful. I don't even know, all I can say is that I am disappointed in you Google. I am so damn disappointed. First you get all handsy and possessive over my real name and then you kill off the only silly social app game that I love. That whole do no evil thing? You fail. Killing off SPP Ranch is evil. How can you let the cuteness die?!
Appropriate SPP Ranch icon is appropriate. And now I'm going to go delete my google plus account. They're already tracking me a million other ways through my gmail and google habit, but I'm not sure I have the strength to leave my gmail behind. I guess we'll see.
