@puttekula Thanks for your thoughtful response. Without knowing the history of what drives people when playing this game, it’s hard to take what someone says at face value- this is a forum after all. But I need to state that I have a renewed respect for your opinion now that I understand your point and how you got there. :) Sorry for being such an azz, I owe you an apology.
Although on one hand, I’m not a fan of 2 wrongs making a right: Rovio cheating players and players cheating Rovio in return. That part is not cool.
On the other hand, the way Rovio deals with the transparency of rooking players is pretty disrespectful as well. Players should just be able to play AND ENJOY the game and leave it at that. I get it that Rovio wants a return profit on their product but there’s a fine line when that process becomes full-out extortion on user addictions.
I’ve been playing this game since it debuted and have noticed a 125% shift in game mechanics. It was really fun in the early days. However it looks like the clear case of “opportunistic profit” which many companies get a taste of when they see their product could make them rich and then they relentlessly dig their claws in. As I mentioned in another thread, I was on their side of the fence for some years, working as a game developer/programmer/modeler and I know EXACTLY what they’re doing: I’ve seen it in action first-hand and still had the same ethical dilemma about shifting from fun game => overblown profit opportunity. Rovio makes enough profit off their product lines to stay in business, but greed has taken the steering wheel (and in such a petty fashion).
Anyway, I’m still not fully onboard with the self-justification that it’s OK to cheat just to keep up with this game. Players shouldn’t have to resort to dishonesty just to play this, or any of Rovio’s other products.
However when balancing that against the underhanded bait-and-switch “tricks” Rovio has been pulling since inception, the scales tip rather heavily. Couple that in with their dishonesty/ non-transparency about rigging and other game mechanics that they’re incorporated, PLUS the way they ignore problems they can’t seem to fix (eg hackers), my sympathy redirects to give power back to the players.
Apologies for being so judgmental. I’ll have to decide myself if I’ve been driven to the point of cheating just to play this game- I’ll likely delete it first. But have fun and give Rovio a few sucker punches for me :)
BTW I’m surviving both my parents, and am old enough to have kids with their own kids as well ;)
