IAmA Former FullTime Zynga Engineer => quit 6 months ago. Not a contractor, (Z treats em like shit).

Helpful_Table_Maker · 3 months

Thank you for this very interesting IAMA!

Questions	Answers
What creepy stuff went on?	Spying on players. Getting intimate gaming data, their habits, their networks, and how to effectively monetize given X. Another issue was skewing gameplay for the sake of profit, example; I actually resorted to BAD MATH, to make the case for making a feature more fun. At the end of one sprint, a QA dude was complaining about the drop rate of a specific item being absurdly insane, and therefore UnFun. I looked at the code, and tweaked some values, gave it back to QA guy, and fun was restored. Product Manager overrides this, goes for unfun, yet more profitable version.
What are some of the 'good things' that Zynga did, examples?	An awesome chowhall for food. 2 meals a day. Arcade machines all over the campus. Living in the carcass of the old SEGA building. Brogrammers committing bad XML and pretending to be programmers. (entertainment value) Designers and Artists committing bad XML. (moar entertainment value)
Just how data driven is Zynga? How much do the PMs rely on metrics to craft the games?	EVERYTHING. I have a hook into every piece of new data and user involved feature. I have to report the data at all times. PMs rely on metrics more for office politics, not science, not game design. Zynga is a marketing company, not a games company.
Why did you pull Word Challenge offline?	Most likely, if a game released doesn't match some metric or escalating population, it gets pulled off. Or, they are getting sued. It's always these two scenarios. They've released unstable code for public consumption, REGULARLY.
What was your job title?	"Software Engineer". That should have been revised to "ActionScript Content Cruncher" though.
What is your opinion on the tiny tower vs. dream heights?	Tiny Tower + D Heights is all standard operating procedure here. If you can't buy em, clone em. Even the core technology for FarmVille (MyMiniLife), was bought. The only "homegrown" codebases at Zynga is MafiaWars2 and maybe Poker, the rest of their tech was just bought from small studios. Lookup Dextrose Engine. To me, that's utterly creepy. They try to choke out the competition by gating all these engines and tech.
What languages did you code in at Zynga?	PHP, ActionScript, Javascript.

cafguy · 3 months

it's like the games are playing you

Infestinatoria · 3 months

What creepy stuff went on?

JohnChimpo · 3 months

How does the creative process work when you are only using data to build a game?

Remy45 · 3 months

What is a "Brogrammer"?

How much of the Facebook users' private info can Zynga actually see, and is any of it in violation of FB's privacy policy?

FutureChuck · 3 months

Quick, give us cheats for FarmVille!!

mercenary-games · 3 months

WHY ARE THE CREATORS OF AGE OF EMPIRES THERE (SOME OF THEM)

WHY?!!?!!?

edamamefiend · 3 months

Do you fear any 'consequences' from Zynga's side might arise from this AMA? If I were them I'd fire my lawyer cannons at you and play every nasty card in the game I have. On the other hand, Zynga's target group is probably not on Reddit!

rrwrwx · 3 months

How do you see Zynga performing in the After Hours Gaming League this season?

mtfw · 3 months

I had to turn my head to the right to read the letter. :(

iama842 · 3 months

Worst thing that happened in the office?

StreetSweeperArias · 3 months

I loved duels.com, then challenge games sold itself to zynga. All their games soon died and now duels, their best game, is dead too.

Duels.com is the best game zynga has and they don't even know they own it. The site is still up but no one can log on because the last time it crashed no one bothered starting it back up correctly. I paid for lifetime membership but can't log on and no one at zynga support even knows the game exists.

Fuck Zynga and Fuck Challenge Games.

nodecore · 3 months

I'm a co-creator of Doodle or Die - see /r/doodleordie or http://doodleordie.com. The game took off from zero users to thousands daily very quickly and we are concerned Zynga might copy the concept.

Any suggestions?

Social_Disposable · 3 months

I'm very glad to see this AMA. I'm at another social game company, and seeing a lot of the same behavior. I was thinking of doing an AMA of my own (and I still might in a few days).

Quaro · 3 months

Hows does Zynga see itself in relation to the gaming industry in general? Do the people there see themselves as game designers/artists or psychologists or business people or what?

Is this an accurate summation of how Zynga execs feel about their games?

An ex-drug-dealer (now a video game industry powerbrain) once told me that he doesn’t understand why people buy heroin. The heroin peddler isn’t even doing heroin. Like him or not, when you hear Cliff Bleszinski talk about Gears of War, he sounds — in a good way — like a weed dealer. He sounds like he endorses what he is selling. When you’re in a room with social games guys, the “I never touch the stuff” attitude is so thick you’ll need a box cutter to breathe properly.

http://insertcredit.com/2011/09/22/who-killed-videogames-a-ghost-story/

mcgerkins · 3 months

Are there any protocols in place to keep players from getting help using Zynga's support resources, or is it just incompetence?

Alternatively, are there any specific (even secret) methods to getting faster, more accurate support?

Socially_awkward_pen · 3 months

•what are the weird creepy things you talked about.

• What is your opinion on the tiny tower vs. dream heights •what was the main reason you quit •did you help design games?

DamonWayans8282 · 3 months

is Zynga scaling back the spammy stuff? When I first started playing Mafia Wars, everything went to my wall, but in CastleVille it happens very infrequently.

ghiiirocker1 · 3 months

What the HELL was up with the circus tent that never was in yoville?

The_Greetest · 3 months

Proof?

(just doing what the top bar tells me, it would be easy to get people worked up over Zynga hate)

jdawggey · 3 months

Why the fuck are the apps all so awful-looking? I swear I get slapped with a box of fucking crayons every time i open one of the games. Why such a gaudy, over-saturated theme when a matte/minimalist theme would be so much better. I assume because they give no fucks, based on your responses so far..

Max_Beezly · 3 months

Why is this NSFW?

Low-Far · 3 months

Why are the games so slow and clunky?

Quaro · 3 months

Zynga makes me think of Chris Hecker's 'nightmare scenario' where social game designers exploit human psychology so well they basically create hell on Earth:

I outline a potential Nightmare Scenario based on all the implications of the research going the wrong way for games:

1) make an intrinsically interesting game, congratulations!

2) use extrinsic motivators to make your game better

3) destroy intrinsic motivation to play your game

4) metrics fetishism pushes you towards designs where extrinsic motivation works

http://chrishecker.com/Achievements_Considered_Harmful%3F

JaMan51 · 3 months

Do you ever get disgusted by the amounts some people spend on Facebook games? How much have you seen people pay for over the course of a few months, are they crazy amounts?

Also, is there any proof that can be submitted to verify? Whether by the mods to protect your identity or some other means.

randy6784 · 3 months

Not a bad AMA, I've heard horror stories about the blatant copying of games from smaller corps. Did you have a job lined up when you quit or was it that bad that you just walked away?

ravagedsavage · 3 months

Link to one thing you have actually done.

Tambe · 3 months

Zynga has a reputation for making awful games that are plastered with ads and in many cases, blatant ripoffs. What do Zynga execs think of this reputation, and what do you accredit Zynga's surprising success to?

markio · 3 months

Why did you quit?

isdevilis · 3 months

was zynga a porn site at its start? I remember trying to snag some porn from some zynga site when i was a kid and getting a fucking virus off that shit site idk if it was the same thing

bonestamp · 3 months

How many hours/week did you typically work? Stress level?

JThompson2441 · 3 months

Just how data driven is Zynga? How much do the PMs rely on metrics to craft the games?

MercenaryBullshit · 3 months

This guy is full of shit.

I am no longer an employee, but was one at the point when he was removed at the end of last summer. Removed. He was given the choice of either staying for 2 weeks and then leaving, or leaving immediately with 2 weeks' pay. His code was awful, and he was a counterproductive member of the team (and a crude human being to boot). That's why he was canned, not because of "office politics."

The timeline, both his termination and the amount of time he spent with Zynga, fits perfectly. The work he references doing fits, right down to that naked avatar bug (which he created, incidentally). Furthermore, he overuses certain characteristic phrases which I recall distinctly from intra-office chats ("[to give] nay fuck" was annoying then, it's still annoying now).

The bottom line here is that there is a whole lot of lying going on throughout this thread, and despite the disclaimer it is ABSOLUTELY about spite and revenge. I have very mixed feelings about Zynga's business model, and there's a lot of criticism to be had. But the office culture is NOT a feature that deserves all these negative comments. For better or worse, it really is a meritocracy. If you do your work and do it well, it's a spectacular place to be -- and not just because of the headquarters perks.

From all that I've seen, the only negative voices with inside knowledge of Zynga are those who have been removed because they weren't contributing. Say what you will about the business (yes, it's a business) as a whole, but don't let disgruntled ex-employees paint a fallacious picture of the internal culture.

Edit: an -> a

Zholtvoi · 3 months

Do you regret working there?

Joshter · 3 months

I'm a pretty big poker player. I go to casino's and play a lot of house tournaments. Sometimes when I'm bored though, I'll play some of the Texas Holdem Zynga poker thing they've got going on with a couple buddies. I've seen some really far out things going on while playing there.

For example, (I don't know if you're a poker guy or not but) I'm frequently, too frequently, seeing, out of the 5 cards, 4 of those cards will be of the same suit. When playing with actual cards, this is a pretty rare thing to come across. I'm wondering if Zynga panders to the crap poker players out there to keep up to user base or if it really is meant to be as random as a fully shuffled deck of real cards. Thanks!

denttheuniverse · 3 months

What kind of degree do you have? Did you study programming prior to college? What language did you first dabble in?

mcgerkins · 3 months

You've mentioned branching off and starting your own studio. Are you hoping to somewhat 'beat them at their own game,' or is it a dream of yours, or is the shit just too cash to pass up, etc?

Awkward_Arab · 3 months

Why is PHP for brogrammers, and what languages should I be focusing on for web development? Any good programming habits you like seeing in the workplace?

Lamza · 3 months

How often did you have to deal with other people's shit? For example, newbie programmer commiting non-compiling code/making X crash/etc ?

briannnh · 3 months

You mentioned you dont believe college degrees are sometimes not the best option, what sorts of alternatives are there?

redditmod · 3 months

Late to the party here but some of what you said contradicts with my experiences as a contractor. You mentioned that the contractors got treated like shit and were excluded from many company parties. Do you know when this practice started? I worked there in 2008-2009 while I was still a student and found that I was encouraged to go to as many of the events as possible, so that I could meet new people and relax a bit. In fact, my supervisor even encouraged me to mark down those events and count them as hours that I had worked! From my experiences, Zynga seemed to treat contractors very well. Not to say that I like Zynga as a company (I left because I did not enjoy the work, was sick of the fragmented and buggy codebase, and wanted to do something more research oriented.) Thanks for the AmA!

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