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Contents: 1 The Rant |
The Rant
Oh yes, I am definitely bitter. If you accuse me of it, I won’t deny it.
Just in case you haven’t gotten the memo, The Cafe World team at Zynga recently made changes to their gifting system which prevents helper websites such as this blog from working. I’m so very disappointed, as you probably are too if you used this or other helper websites to assist you with your goals.
I feel that this is probably the last nail in Cafe World’s coffin. And they nailed it there themselves. They will definitely lose players over this, and I know for a fact that some of them are paying customers. I was one. I bought the Unspoil Genie way back when you could only buy it for $50 in Cafe Cash, and I’ve bought CC on occasion to help finish up Multi-Stage Begfests, and to test some of their weirder features. I know there are others like me.
The game has seen steadily decreasing numbers, in terms of active users, for quite some time now. At the height of its popularity, CW boasted 30.5 million monthly active users (MAU). Now before I tell you where they are now, I want to say that Zynga has closed games when they dipped below 2 million MAU, such Dragon Wars and Roller Coaster Kingdom. According to AppData, a website that keeps track of the popularity of Social Games, Cafe World is currently at 2.6 million. Let that sink in a bit.
Uncertain Future: Probably not a good time to buy Cafe Cash.
I took this screenshot of AppData’s Cafe World page on 8/24 while I prepped for this article. You can see that in just the last 7 days, Cafe World has lost 20,000 players. Gee, I wonder why.
I’ve heard a lot of people say that they are done playing Cafe World, now with what happened this week. I’ve even seen many people repost a message stating that Zynga should be sent a message by having people “Unlike” the Cafe World fan page. While I can appreciate the sentiment behind it, it falls short of its intended goal. I believe that Zynga only cares about the Monthly Active (MAU) users. This number is part of the data that Zynga stock holders have access to, not “Likes”.
(See PrivCo’s report on Zynga here)
The way to affect this number is to BLOCK Cafe World. And if you are truly done with Cafe World, you really should block it anyway. By doing so, your name will no longer appear on your neighbors gift lists for that game (which they will appreciate) , and you won’t be bothered by Cafe World posts cluttering up your newsfeed. It is really not enough to say “Well, I won’t play but I’ll return my friends’ requests”. You’d count as an active player if you did that.
I have to say here that if you still want to play Cafe World, fine. Knock yourself out. But if you’re leaving anyway, you should probably do it right.
How to block Cafe World:
- Go to the Cafe World Fan Page, found here: Cafe World Fan Page
- Near the top of the page, just under the Cover art and to the right, you will find a small button that looks like a gear. Click it.
- In the drop-down menu that appears, click “Block App”.
- In the pop up that follows, click “Okay.”
You will get a confirmation, and then you can go on your merry way.
Step by Step Visual Guide for a less stressful life.
Ten Restaurant Games that would love to have you
I wouldn’t want to leave you hanging without a restaurant game to take the place of Cafe World, and I’m still too hurt to recommend ChefVille right now. I would much rather steer you towards a game whose developer wouldn’t treat you badly or try to milk you for all your money before kicking you to the curb, like SOME developer that I won’t name… I’ve seen so many good games disappear over the years, like Playfish’s Restaurant City (which was also Cafe World’s “Inspiration”*coughcough*) and Baking Life. I hope that in some small way, we can contribute to the success of those that remain.
In no particular order:
- Gourmet Ranch – Distinct similarities to ChefVille, but this was around first (knowwhatImean?)
- Chefsquest – A humorous step-by-step food preparation game
- Diner Life – CW-like
- Tea 4 Friends – CW-like
- Cafe Land – CW-like
- Diner Garden – Grow ingredients, stockpile cooked dishes for cute animal customers
- Cooking Mama Friend’s Cafe - The original step-by-step food prep game comes to Facebook
- Nightclub City – Less of a restaurant and more about music and booze. Still cute, in its own way.
- Cafe Life - CW-like
- Cafe Mania (non-English) – VERY CW-like, but in Portuguese with no English translation at this time.
Show your Support with PicBadges
I have had a lot of feedback regarding what happened this week, and most of it was very kind and supportive. Some people have mentioned that they would like to show their support in some way. I have seen people add badges to their Facebook profile pics in support of various things, such as the closing of FGS, and thought perhaps of making some myself. I have created two badges that you can choose from, as seen below:
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| No Cafe World Badge | The Facegamer Logo Badge |
Just click on the badge that you like to the PicBadge that you like and follow the prompts on their website. It should be pretty easy. Personally, I prefer the No Cafe World badge more because it does the double duty of also telling people that I’m not playing CW anymore.
So, now that you’ve read all the way through this, what’s your opinion? Agree or Disagree, let everyone know in the comments below. Thanks so much for reading.
