Siemens mimics Zynga
p2pnet view Advertising:- It’s huge German conglomerate Siemens copying Fa$ebook dumb-game partner Zynga.
Rilly? Yep.
It seems the former has decided to try to emulate the latter in a move designed to “drive awareness for the the company’s brand”, says Fast Company.
Of course, the former hotly denies its decision to launch Plantville has anything to do with Zynga or its various ‘villes’.
“It’s coincidental, at best,” the story has Tom Varney, who helped design the game for Siemens, stating, going on >>>
“PlantVille is based on real-world experience.” But at least one rep for the company explicitly acknowledged that the game was trying to capitalize on the popularity of social games like FarmVille and even made the mistake of saying Siemens invented FarmVille–though the rep immediately caught the slip. PlantVille. Siemens invented PlantVille.
Regardless of where the inspiration originated from, Siemens is promoting PlantVille as an innovative gaming platform designed to showcase Siemens’ technologies and brand. When players first join the service (Siemens’ has a unique registration process–you can’t login using Facebook), they’ll gain access to three key components of PlantVille: the PlantVille game, an online simulator allowing users to manage a bottling, vitamin, or manufacturing plant; the PlantVille Café, where Siemens can engages with players to discuss game solutions; and the PlantVille Puzzler, where users can test their knowledge with brain teasers.
It also quotes Siemens Industry boss Daryl Dulaney as saying, “We think this will be a fun way for people to learn about what it means to operate a manufacturing plant, and at the same time, learn about what Siemens does here in the US.”
When was the last time you wondered what it means to operate a Siemens manufacturing plant, or what it does in the US?
You’re much more likely to be asking what it was doing selling surveillance technology to Iran, or about its involvement in Stuxnet, the “first discovered worm that spies on and reprograms industrial systems, and the first to include a programmable logic controller (PLC) rootkit”.
Meanwhile, on PlantVille “Throughout the game, players will be able to interact with Pete the Plant Manager, whose plant has just won the ‘Plant of the Year’ award”, says Siemens, adding:
“Pete shares his best practices throughout the game to help players achieve outstanding results in plant performance.”
Will we soon see Zynga suing Siemens for copyright violations, one wonders?
Fast Company – Siemens Taps Into Zynga’s Popularity, Launches PlantVille, March 24, 2011
to Iran – Nokia Siemens Networks sued: Iran ’spy’ case, August 24, 2010
involvement in Stuxnet – Stuxnet, Siemens and Iran nuclear centrifuges, January 17, 2011
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan
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March 27th, 2011 at 8:12 pm
Plantville would have done well if they had a nuclear version…