Sunday, August 28, 2011

GOOGLE SAVE OUR PETS!

This is the first of many, I hope, posts regarding the social game created by slide corporation.  Recently, thousands of people who play the game, superpoke pets, were informed that google was going to dump the game.  the OUTPOURING OF outrage has been published in MANY tech forums on the web.  these people have invested time and thousands of dollars of real money in a social gaming network only to have the plug pulled on them after approximately 3+ years. these people just want to have their game continue.  doesn't it make good business sense with thousands of people wanting a game to continue that is already established, to have it added to google+ gaming????

19 comments:

  1. I don't understand why Google can't either move SPP to Google+ OR design a downloadable version of the game so we can download our pets and our inventories to our computer so we can at least keep our pets and our items. It seems to me that either of those solutions would solve this problem and make everyone in Pokeland happy.

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  2. I agree! I don't see why either one of these options aren't possible. I think it would be a smarter move to add spp to Google+, and return it to it's original version of new releases, and quests, but if that's not possible for some reason then at least give us whats rightfully ours, by giving us the option to purchase(for a reasonable price) a downloadable version of our pets, and items. Please don't take our pets!!
    Amber

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  3. I agree, I was very devastated to get the news of my favorite app shutting down. Google has decided to put my virtual pet to sleep. It is hard to explain how much this game means to so many people, it has been a daily part of my life for 2 1/2 years. Why can't the app be sold to someone who would be willing to carry on the game? Or why can't google move it to their game section? Buying it for $200 million, you would think they could spend at least a little money to keep the servers up and running? I am hoping for a miracle, and begging google to reconsider their decision...

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  4. SPP is the only the game I have ever really enjoyed. Over the past the past two years it has become my way to relax. I have recruited my whole family to play. Including my 5 year old son. He loves his pet. I love that he uses his mind creatively while at play. I have spent a whole lot of money of this game. To me it's no different than those who spend $65 or more on video games for their consoles only more rewarding. To think that all that money is going to be wasted makes me literally cry. My heart is already heavy and I am weary.

    I want to mention the wonderful friends that I have made through this social outlet unlike any other. Some are going to be lifetime friends. The kind you can count on for anything, anytime. While I realize that I will always have them I will lose a multitude more. People who brighten my day by stopping in having a "playdate" and leaving my pet a gift with a smiley face. Those who compliment my pet and applaud my artistic decorating. People whom I visit and do the same for. They have become a part of my life. Google doesn't realize what a wonderful thing they are throwing away. Nor how many lives they are affecting negatively.

    I haven't told my son that his pet and all things we have bought for him through the years are about to disappear. For one thing I haven't the heart to listen hear him crying and how do I explain to him how it's possible that his pet can just go away? Perhaps I can make up a story about an evil rich giant buying a bunch of toys. Discovering that he really didn't like or even need those toys. Then throwing them away even though were perfectly good toys and moving on to buy more without ever thinking about them again. I think that would about sum it up.

    I think I'll wait a bit before before I tell him. You see- I do believe in miracles. There is an answer out there. I just we can find it before it's too late.

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  5. Keep the posts coming people; this is a good start!!! Did you read today's Washington Post article http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbits.blogs.nytimes.com%2F2011%2F08%2F26%2Fgoogle-to-shut-down-slide-apps-as-slide-founder-departs%2F%3Fref%3Dtechnology&h=bAQDKdTQJAQACExnGnZ6D0KFwaxLE21UjIST3HaQ8-Je48Q

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  6. http://www.businessinsider.com/slide-users-are-furious-google-is-shutting-down-the-company-2011-8

    Here is another link for those interested in reading an article from the Business Insider, the end of the article poses the question and I quote, "The bigger point is that, as Siegler notes, if SuperPoke Pets has such a devoted fanbase, and Google wants games for its Google+ platform anyway, it really doesn't make sense to shut it down." This has been my question all along, Why not Google??? And if it is money you are worried about, check out the receipts for the gold items purchased by loyal fans. This so-called game generates revenue!!!

    Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/slide-users-are-furious-google-is-shutting-down-the-company-2011-8#ixzz1WRyXN639

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  7. I don't want to loose my friends or my pets ... I have 4. SOMEONE PLEASE SAVE US!!! and I'm about to TURN OFF ALL THINGS GOOGLE!!!

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  8. This game means a lot too many people. Super poke pets we take care of our pets, we play with our friends pets, and we decorate. I have an 8 year old daughter that plays the game, she loves it! It is a place where she can use her imagination and her sense of humor. This game many children, grandchildren and families play together. We have clubs where we chat, share sorrow, happiness and support each other. Our friends are from all over the world. We have found that we all are the same and different.
    We were told that SPP will be here for the foreseeable future a couple months ago. That they felt the game could move forward on its own. So they stopped new releases and opened a market where we could buy and sell items for coins. They offered us the VIP for life for $4.95. I have this on my pet, my daughters and my husbands. They did one more release of gold and said to buy gold quick before they shut it off. Gold is what we bought with real money! A lot of us did this to trade in the market with, or bought things we really wanted before they stopped releasing the gold items.
    Google bought Slide, which was the parent company of SPP, a year ago. SPP was one of the top money maker for Slide. Google made all these promises to us about not shutting down; we spent our real money on the game because of this! Now Google plus has added games, what better way to get it going then with the loyal players of SPP?
    The Spp players are not giving up without a fight! We are going to do whatever it takes to keep our game alive!

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  9. Though many players complaints dwell on the money they spent buying virtual "goods" to decorate their habitats, the core of the problem is not a tangible one, but an emotional one. However, it is easier, and more socially acceptable, for players to express their dismay about something more tangible, like the money, than it is to declare that they feel as though a friend has been condemmened to death.

    To non players, that may seem like a bizarre, even ridiculous comparison, but to those who have been tickling, poking and decorating their pets for years, it's pretty close to the truth. And why shouldn't it be? Think of your friends on facebook and count how many of them you've never met in person. I know I have quite a few. We all tell ourselves "there's a real person behind those pixels" but we never see them. We see a still photo or, if we're lucky, maybe a voice over a phone or a chat. Yet, it is acceptable to be attached, even to "love", these "pixelated" people, who are no more "real" than the pixelated pets on Superpoke Pets. Yet, it is not acceptable to be attached to a virtual pet. We live in a virtual world with virtual friends, virtual goods and virtual pets. The human condition requires emotional connection, and so we connect to these virtual things. THAT is what the real outrage is. It's the same as if someone were to delete your facebook friends - and I don't mean their accounts, I mean delete them completely so that they cease to exist in your world; in other words they were essentially dead. That's what players are really upset about.

    Other gamers find Superpoke pets to be "borring", "unchallenging' and even "quaint", but it is precisely these qualities that have given it it's fanbase. Many of the Superpoke Pets players are disabled people who finally found a game, and a community, they could participate in. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. When even sweeping your own floor is impossible because of a physical limitation, then decorating that pet's habitat suddenly becomes a major accomplishment - no different than the hundreds of out of work people sitting at home playing playstation, x-box and Wii so that they can feel they've accomplished something, too.

    You can see some of the spp player's protest habitats here - http://ramblingsfromthedarkness.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/a-message-to-google/

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  10. SuperPoke Pets has been my favorite online game since I started playing a little over 2 years ago. The ability to be creative is what first hooked me to the game. I used it to deal with the stress of moving states and selling our home of 25 years. SPP was a place I could go for a few hours and be free from the demands of the day and life.

    Then I found the amazing community of players and how willing they were to help out newcomers and share items. There is a real emotional connection in this game that no other game has. We have the ability to express our emotions, feelings and respond to others when we see they are hurting or to laugh with them in their joys. For me the BEST part of this game is the ability to be creative and express my thoughts and feelings. I have been able to express my sadness at the death of my daughter's 18 month old puppy, the joy of my grandson's 1st birthday, the loneliness of depression, the stress of moving, tributes to both of my grandmothers and the illnesses they faced, breast cancer and Alzheimer.

    There is a very artistic aspect to this game and some of the creations are truly works of art. This is a family game that parents and grandparents can play with their children. When my grandson was only 3 months old he liked to watch the animation of the pets and now at 2 he likes to help poke the buttons to feed, tickle, clean and play with the pets.
    Game companies want us to be LOYAL to their games but they don't give us back the same LOYALTY. Google is big enough that the demise of this simple game means nothing to them but it is everything to many of the loyal SPP players. We have connected on an emotional level with this game that many don’t seem to understand.
    I don't know of any other game out there that has ALL of the aspects of Super Poke Pets and I will truly mourn the loss of my pet.

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  11. I love Super Poke Pets, it has helped me climb out of a very dark place. I am an extremely social person and have been riddled with health issues over the past few years and SPP helped me smile a bit more every day, so Thank you SPP and to Google.....Please hear our pleas and save this wonderful, creative and imaginative game because it has helped so many around the world. Save SPP.

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  12. I don't know why Google don't sell it if they don't want it. It's not like money isn't being made. This game has brought families together! It needs saved!!!

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  13. NO SPP then I think I'll just STOP using GOOGLE & ALL connected with it!! Who is with me?!!

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  14. Well said everyone. My hope is someone from Google is reading our blog!

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  15. I too hope someone is reading this blog..or is this in vain also..Google you are the only one that can do something..please let it be good for everyone..I love my pets to much to let them go..

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  16. please keep spp... ive invested a lot of money and time and met friends from all over the world... its a shame u want to let it die a sorrowful death... if my husband knew how much money ive spent on this game he would divorce me! its the only global game i play and i do not want to lose it!

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  17. Save SPP it is worth saving we love are friends and our pets!!!

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  18. I am hugely disappointed in Google's decision to summarily dismiss our beloved SPP. Why can't Google take us with it to Google+. It's already an established and popular game. Please reconsider your decision Google!

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