Complaint Review: Zynga

This is to report Zynga, producers of the online game, Cityville, as applying dishonest practices to make unassuming people pay for what is otherwise a free service.

In particular, Zynga/Cityville, which is found via the Facebook.com website, manipulates their game to lead users into paying for what otherwise would be free, by adjusting settings in-game to make it difficult without paying for additional rights.

Example: In order to acquire an additional 12x12 area to expand their city, a player must build enough houses to expand the population to a certain number. Zynga/Cityville then raises that number before the player can succeed and reaching the sum specified. It is my opinion that the only rationale behind such a move is to entice/lure the player to spend real money to buy enough game cash to unlock the needed area for expansion that they would have otherwise had access to.

Environment: Cityville, administered by Zynga, is located solely on Facebook.com, a popular social meeting place for young people who are generally dependent on parents for funding and inexperienced with predatory practices.

Additionally: In my case, I did spend some money, albeit a modest sum, to acquire a newcomers package. But the sum spent is irrelavent because there was a purchase made using US funds from a US bank card. This makes their devious game tricks similar to buying something only to find that you did not get what you paid for. It is a genuine consumer rip off in that sense. In another sense, their practices are like a casino that gives players loaded dice so that they cannot win.

Further: It is my intention to file a report with the California Attorney General as well as investigate the possibility of a Class Action.

Noyes: I tried to find contact information for Facebook, but their website seems devoid of any such information.