I have to admit, I am very out of the loop when it comes to Facebook games. I bury them on my feed every chance I get since they overshadow the updates from the people that I want to read. Do any of you play? Why?
I hate asking people why they play games, no matter the type. Why do I play? I enjoy it. I generally learn something. I like the challenge. It’s great to play with friends. I can go on and on about it. Slowly, very slowly, I’m testing the ever-expanding waters of iPhone games but Facebook has never quite clicked with me. Let me know what you think about Facebook games, for good or ill. I’d love to hear it! It’s impossible to avoid the awful reputation of certain Facebook developers, especially with the added scrutiny from GDC, so comments about them are fair game if they influence why you do or do not play. I know many people who refuse to support Ubisoft on any platform because of their new DRM scheme, for good reason, and I suspect the same sentiment might crossover here.
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When considering Facebook gaming, stay away from the more brainless games like Farmville, and instead look to games with a bit more substance.
Some examples:
Castle Age – kinda like LORD from my BBS days
Steamweavers – strategy
Kingdoms of Camelot – more strategy
What I’m excited about are all of the asynchronous games that used to dominate BBS Doors and the early web, but have fallen by the wayside.
It helps that people like Richard Garriott and Sid Meiers are moving into the space – look to them for the future of “real” social games.
As someone who tried Mafia Wars and quickly gave up I think they fill a very specific need for people. Most people like playing games physical and virtual. They just don’t want to invest a lot of time in learning. There have been many times when I want to try out a new “real?” game, but then would just play something I already know. It takes effort to get new mechanics down and for some reason I and I suspect many others, can’t work up the will. Facebook games are just those clicky Flash games many websites have where it seems you are doing something, but really you aren’t. Pushing a button to “fight” and then having a number spit back at me feels hollow. I agree with Andrew the new Civ game looks promising.
Another note is that the most popular games come from Zynga. I posted this link on my Facebook page but not many of my so-called friends seem to have read it.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.154897-Zynga-CEO-Admits-to-Being-a-Scammer
I doubt the majority of people who play Farmville know what GDC is and if they did know what was said I doubt they would care. Most people don’t want to go beyond Hide n’ Seek or Tag in complexity. Economic Politics is likely to be tuned out.
I don’t play facebook games; I don’t see their appeal. I don’t know why, leave that to someone with an understanding of psych.
What I do enjoy are Civ type games, or RTS games – my fave of all time has to be Mech Commander. I think the reason they appeal to me is that they require me to believe that the strategy I’m using could be wrong, or able to be improved. Feedback may not happen right away, so learning is complex rather than Skinnerian.
Well I started playing because of my mother. She never really played to many games besides bejeweled. It helps us keep in touch with each other. At first I was a casual fan, now I have kind of gotten addicted to playing each day. I do think they are kind of ruining the game with all these new features they have added. I just like to plant my crops and harvest them. I know it’s mindless, but it’s fun.
I feel the same way, the only real game i liked on facebook was petville (spelling). That came to a halt when facebook deleted my account with no aperant reason.
I was really into Farmville for awhile. Fed my need for a Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing style game. But over the last few months I think they went overboard on collecting things for every holiday and random event, which necessitated spamming your friends more and more to send you stuff. Got sick of it and just quit playing. I much preferred just leveling to open up new crops and making money to buy a new building or whatever, than all the silliness it has now.
Facebook style games are fine, but nothing I’ve seen is compelling enough to pay for. I never bought Farmville cash or anything like that. I’ve played World of Warcraft off and on since it launched, so it’s not an objection for paying for something virtual. More that the games aren’t that compelling.
The only other thing I’ve played thru Facebook is Bejeweled. I resisted getting sucked into a lot of stuff when I went through my Farmville phase, and don’t have a desire to get into something else now.
Personally i play a few facebook games with friends. Farmville, CafeWorld, MafiaWars, and SocialCity mostly. They fill my need for fast and easy access Sim games. I have always been a fan of the Sim City style games which most of these “mindless” facebook games are clones of with a small payment system added although not necessary to play. Farmville is basically SimFarm simplified, SocialCity is SimCity simplified, etc.
I gave up WoW months ago after being the GM of a very large guild that basically took over my life. While some get to that level with these facebook games i normally don’t spend more than an hour total playing them a day and i am pretty into 4 games. They are just simple and fun distractions no different than checking your email or playing a round of Puzzle Quest while waiting for something. Heck i don’t even log in everyday.
I agree that the messages can get annoying and i wish you could lock them down to just your friends who play each game. I think that would get a large amount of the hate off what is basically a time waste flash game like any other.
I have this topic penciled in for one of my Dreaming Like a Gamer topics coming up for my DLaG blog. I’ll probably go into it more there. I hope to kind of calm the flame war and explain it from a rational and fact based side of things for people looking in.
Thank you all so much for your comments! It’s great to get different viewpoints, especially on a topic I have zero experience with from people who’ve been there (and that I trust!).
My biggest issue is the lack of social control. I don’t want to spam EVERYONE. I actually block people who do. If I could message only people that play and that I like, maybe, maybe I’d be more inclined to give it a shot. Farmville’s shady practices, combined with the ire they’ve drawn from me, make it all too easy to dismiss them and make other social games guilty by association.
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