Gaming Wars!

So who plays Farmville etc on Facebook? The more appropriate question may be who would admit to playing games on Facebook? I will be the first to admit that yes I have tried out Farmville and Frontierville, mainly due to pressure and a never ending stream of requests to join friends game communities. However with over 200 million active players each month these games have produced such a demand that it seems they will be around for a while yet. Further added to the fact that Zynga, the main producer of online games for Facebook received up to 200 million dollars in funding from Google in order to create more of these games.

The question that needs to be asked therefore is why do people play them? It has been said that they produce a sense of community and competitiveness among friends, in fact people add other users playing the same game as Facebook friends in order to proceed faster within the games. In this way Facebook games are much like multiplayer online games such as Final Fantasy etc.

However there are problems with games such as Farmville as discussed by game developers like Charles Randall (Neverwinter and the Assasins Creed games) and Daniel James (Puzzle Pirates and Yohoho!) who state in this Wired Magazine Article that the likes of Farmville create a problem in that they “break traditional game design and get players to pay money” therefore as a result creates a gaming industry where a players skill becomes less important in the grand scheme of things. However as the gaming industry progresses there are multiplayer online games in which content is able to be purchased also. I would tend to agree with these game developers as there is no better feeling than passing a stage or a game based on skill, the idea of getting ahead by purchasing it seems to go against what it means to be a gamer

Yet while there is nothing inherently wrong with playing these games, I would argue that they are better suited for kids and casual gamers. Amongst the gaming community there is the idea that these Facebook games are fads and therefore the effect on the gaming industry may be huge, with people unwilling to invest time, money and study into the industry as a result.

P.s for those who want to know I believe I lasted about a week before I deleted my farm and blocked app invites from friends who were serial offenders.