Months after Zynga loosened its ties with Facebook, the gaming company has taken another step towards the independence outside the social networking giant – making the Facebook log-in to its website optional.
Earlier, Zynga users had to log in to Facebook before playing any game on Zynga.com, which Zynga’s off-Facebook site for users who want to play the company’s social games outside Facebook.
Back in November 2012, Zynga revamped its contract with Facebook allowing the two go separate ways. As per the amended agreement, Zynga was freed from using Facebook as the default log-in for users while Facebook was allowed build own games, though the social networking giant declined any intentions of doing so in the near future. The agreement also allowed Zynga to choose an alternative to Facebook Payments for buying virtual items and opt not to showcase ads via Facebook.
Tim Catlin, the general manager of Zynga.com and developer experience, said in an interview, various users of the site sought using pseudo names instead of real names to play games. Starting next week, Zynga users can create separate accounts on Zynga.com and can choose any name they want.
“People want to communicate with just game friends,” Catlin is quoted as saying. “Players have wanted to have a choice about playing under a pseudonym. With a separate Zynga.com account, a player can now make up his or her own gamer name. Players can now control the way they interact with other players.”
Announcing the change, Zynga executive Cadir Lee in a blog post wrote, “What we saw with Zynga.com is a dedicated fan base around our biggest games. Fans who are excited to be connected to each other and form friends and communities around the games they share a passion for.”
“Zynga.com enabled us to build new features that made play more fun and social such as real-time multiplayer, or the live Social Stream where you can tap into the community of players to help you progress in your game. What we’ve seen is that players like you engage with more people and come back to play again and again.”
