Candy Crush Saga Becomes Less and Less Fun with Each Change

Your frequent requests for pardon--in what I would have liked to have seen as a conversation--are disingenuous. Congratulations on your many travels around the sun--as I approach 76 I am grateful for each one.

It seems to me that we may fundamentally disagree on how King is running its games--and it is their game, as you say over and over again. Your statement that "We enjoy challenges, as long as they are not impossible levels by design fault" is at the heart of the issue for me. The challenges show every sign of "impossible by design." If, for example you are spinning the wheel for the bonuses, the odds are against every single spin as bringing up a color bomb. It is also not an accident that when we can collect a bonus it is now for a matter of 15 minutes rather than a bonus that we can accumulate--as was the case in past years.

Computer games are essentially a function of manipulable design. And in this game, as you have mentioned, our options are to pay or not. But many of us who opt not to pay observe that in order to pass a level now, we must play over and over and over again--to the point that it is outside the realm of probability. Other comments by other players, talking about having to play 200 or more times before they can pass a level are illustrating a phenomenon outside the realm of possibility. It's by design.

I can't make statements about the intents of other players, but my guess...just a guess...is that we are not asking King to dumb things down or "make it simple"--as you suggested. Checkers and Chess and Parcheesi and many of the world's great games have rules you can count on. Configuration of the board or the strategy of the move or the roll of the dice can make the difference in the play and outcome of the game. And these things are all in the realm of laws of probability.

I appreciated your comment about the Singapore education system! You have perfectly summarized the system--each child must complete the curriculum and pass the prescribed examinations to progress to next level--and that is the case here as well. And yes, as you said, as in CC, each one must play within the framework provided (maybe we could say that is the corollary to the curriculum, right?) and pass the level. But the curricula of schools all around the globe do not arbitrarily fluctuate. They are carefully designed, have increasing levels of difficulty to correspond to human development, etc. The material is not manipulated to favor any group over another.

These sorts of points that we are making here are good feedback for King games to consider. I don't know whether you have seen comments of other players that resemble mine, but there are people all over the world who are dropping the game because the passability factor is so manipulated.

Thanks for the opportunity to chat with you. I have a dear friend here who is from Singapore. Her descriptions of the country and character of your people and cultural norms make me want to visit.

All the best.