Hell Hath No Fury Like A SuperPoke Pets Player Scorned - TechCrunch

This past Thursday, Google decided they had had enough of their Slide experiment. Even though it had only been a year since they spent $200 million+ on the social apps startup, they brought the hammer down, killing all but one Slide product (Prizes.org). The casualty list included Slide projects both new and old. And that sucks for apps like Photovine which just launched last week. But one Slide app termination above all others has people really up in arms: SuperPoke! Pets. How do I know? The comment section on TechCrunch.

If you look at our post about the Google killing Slide from Thursday, you'll find 230+ comments right now. In the Facebook comments era of TechCrunch, this is a ton. In our pre-Facebook comments era this would probably equate to over 1,000 comments. And nearly every single one of these comments is in response to the killing of SuperPoke! Pets.

Google, you just pissed off the wrong group of casual gamers. And yes, nearly every single one of them seems to be a woman. That's why I have to give the title of best comment (and credit for the headline of this post) to Annette Samford for the following gem:

Hell hath no fury like a SPP player scorned. Shame on you Google. You could have sent that 200 mil to the homeless and left the game alone. It's not like any new developing was going on anyway. What was it costing you? Lame excuse for ditching a VERY popular and loved game by so many.

Samford's comment also encapsulates many of the other comments. These players are really pissed off. I'll paste a selection of the top comments below, because they do deserve a bigger audience — many of them clearly spent a lot of money on this game over the years. And they're taking to the TechCrunch comment section because the official Slide post has no comment section.

Tonya Surbaugh:

People get to transfer photos but what about the LOYAL superpoke pets players? Not to mention all the $$$ spent on the game to see it go bye bye? GOOGLE + you say? I say hell to the NO!

Barbara Puder:

I started playing SuperPoke Pets because it was different from other games. It's more social than any of the other games I'd played, and appealed more to to my creative side that the shoot-em-up or compete with other players type of games. Playing SPP is relaxing and fulfilling, without the time-crunch aspects of games like Farmville and Mafia Wars. (Really, Mafia Wars? We don't have enough violence already?) I think it's a huge mistake to eliminate this unique method of social and creative interaction. Please think very hard before pulling the plug, and reconsider what you could do with this game given the appropriate development and support.

Kitty Kurburski:

I too play Superpoke Pets and if you are taking it are you going to reimburse those of us who have spent money buying items for the game? This is a very sad day if you take our game. We love it.

Deborah Argerake:

Class action lawsuit requesting reimbursement for $$$ spent. Even after the slide team knew they were getting shut down, the promoted more sales. That seems a bit shady if not totally unethical. Could it be considered illegal? Any law student players out there want to bring this question to your professors?

Brianne Lane Baker:

I am very sad to see Superpoke! Pets go too! It's the only game I have spent 2 years playing. I made lots of friends and loved how creative people could be with the game… never known another game that allows so much creativity.

Janice Hayes Scullenger:

this is the most hateful thing you could have done. millions of us on on this game. most people have disabilities and this is what they have. we have developed friendships. alot of people have spent tons on money on here. are you going to give them that back? but most of all you are taking away something that we have poured our heart and souls in. I have been on this game for over 3 years. I have some truly awesome people that I look forward to speaking to every day. I will drop all my google emails, change my servers and have over 3000 people on my yahoo account that will be more than happy to help me spread the word that google doesn't care about the people that put faith in them. does google kick dogs and steal candy from babies too?

Lisa Morris Foster:

To say I am upset is an understatement! We all bought into you VIP for free from now on, after you stopped charging for gold. You knew that we would all spend the $$ to get it! I have invested thousands into this game. I think that I should be able to put that masterpiece I bought into my living room! Sell Slide to someone who might actually want to make some money and run it right, instead of running it into the ground! Google, you have let us all down! Make this right!

Michelle Strong:

WTF! Why did you buy Slide just to shut it down? I only play Superpoke Pets and I am not happy

Michelle Rustray Serrano:

I am so bummed..I must say I knew it was coming..SO my promise to YOU GOOGLE..I will NEVER use or buy a Google product EVER..YOU SUCK!

Jennifer Gyurkovic-Hagmann:

Hey Google! I expect a check in the mail for all of the gold items that I have in the SuperPoke Pets game. You do realize that people paid REAL MONEY for gold items, don't you? If you do not make this right with all of the SPP players, I will never pay for anything Google ever again. I will also tell all who will listen what has happened here and how you care so little for the consumer!

Cathy Allaire:

IF YOU KILL OFF SUPERPOKE PETS, I WILL NOT EVER USE GOOGLE CHROME, GMAIL……NOT A SINGLE THING THAT YOU OWN…….SUPERPOKE PETS IS A GREAT GAME…..ALLOW US TO DOWNLOAD SUPERPOKE PETS TO OUR COMPUTER, SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO PLAY OUR GAME. WE HAVE SPENT ALOT OF MONEY ON THIS GAME, AND IT IS SO UNFAIR TO TAKE IT AWAY FROM US.

Irene Schleinkofer Pedrogo:

Are you Freakin kidding me! This is BullShit! I've spent Alot of MONEY on Superpoke Pets I think YOU should THINK of something else to do so I don't Loose my GOLD ITEMS!

Lisa T Spp:

I've heard of suicide missions but this tops them all! If Google really does shut down SuperPoke Pets they might as well close their own doors at the same time. As for Max Levchin leaving to pursue other opportunities, I don't think anyone here would ever support any endeavor he undertakes. I, like millions of other players invested a lot of money into Slide through the SPP game and I view this no differently than if I had invested money in any other company or any other commodity. I foresee a major class action suite in the works if this all goes down. So much joy turning into so much sadness.

Clarice's TeeTee:

spp players……….. who would join together in a lawsuit to get our money back from the items we have purchased?

And, for some levity, Wayne Elgin:

Favorite part of this post? The Farmville moms trolling TC.

Your move, Google. A number of players are now threatening class-action lawsuits due to the money issue. We'll see if they follow through on those threats, but this situation could be a bad one for Google — especially when you consider that they just launched their own casual games section on Google+.

Here's a dumb question: why doesn't Google just move SuperPoke! Pets over to the Google+ Games section? Clearly, it has a rabid fan base. In fact, why not just move all the Slide games over there?

28 Aug, 2011

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Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEOP2D9fEcy5Qsz-sg9BhDV95ShgA&url=http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/27/superpoke-pets-outrage/
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