As much as I look down on the "games" that all of my Facebook friends keep spamming me with - tripe like Farmville, Restaurant City, and Mafia Wars - it is getting awfully difficult to ignore the service as a viable gaming platform, especially with the recent big names that have flocked to the platform.
Consider these news items:
- First there was the announcement that EA purchased Playfish for $400 million.
- Next came Sid Meier's declaration that the next Civilization game would be on Facebook.
- And now Richard Garriott - Ultima veteran - has founded a new Facebook-centric company.
It's enough to make a doubter like myself think twice, and reexamine my innate biases.
While I don't think that Facebook game will supplant traditional AAA gaming, neither do I think that they are just a passing fad.
The truth is, Facebook games have more in common with the old BBS door games than they do with big budget titles. Asynchronous by their very nature, these titles could be a great way to fill a few minute a day provided that they start to develop more sophisticated game play. In fact, a game like the venerable Legend of the Red Dragon would be wonderfully suited for the Facebook generation. Likewise, some of the older browser-based strategy games that were popular a decade ago - Utopia, Monachy/Canon, and Dominion - would be good fits for this type of platform.
I will have to do some exploration of the Facebook gaming scene and see if I can dig up a few titles with meaningful game play; expect a follow-up report in a week or two.
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Wednesday, 17 February, 2010
Posted by
Andrew
at
12:21 AM
Facebook is getting hard to ignore
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11 comments:
I hate you.
I've had nothing but scorn for Facebook games. Mocked friends hooked on farmville, etc.
But to link my beloved door games to Facebook? Even invoking LoRD?
And even worse... To be right about it to? Die in a fire!
Seriously, though... I'd definitely be interested in dining on some quality foot with some solid, serious strategy games there. It WOULD be a good platform for that style of game, lots of multiplayer potential, particularly for a turn based sort of game. But I feel so dirty admitting that.
Maybe I should look into Facebook development.
The kind of games running on facebook at the moment are not my fancy (Farmville! Come on!!), so I rather say I can still safely ignore it.
@Derrick:
I kind of hate myself too.... but I just need to look deeper at it now. I preferred flippantly disregarding Facebook gaming - it was better for my sanity.
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@Longasc:
I agree that the current popular "games" suck. BUT. Do you really think that Sid Meiers and Richard Garriott will be creating mindless shovelware?
You're right. These developments mean that we are going to have to look at Facebook as a potentially serious gaming medium, as much as we all might hate ourselves for doing so. Saying it nicely, what I've seen thus far does not appeal, but content by Sid Meiers and Richard Garriott is not to be taken lightly.
Grrrr.....
I would absolutely love to see a return to turn based multiplayer strategy games. Civ, using Facebook as a platform but not being dumbed down to trash, could be fantastic.
It may be hard to see for today's multiplayer crowd, but there is a huge place for games you can play with other players, but not at the same time as them. Best of all, those games allow you to play a deep strategy game with many other players, with only a small time investment per day, and on you own schedule.
I drool at the thought of what that platform could do for the 4X games of old.
The problem we most often ran into was that it was very difficult to manage a cohesive framework to communicate turns - that part of things was often more work than actually playing you turns! Not to mention how hard it was to attract new players. Facebook solves those problems before they even begin.
Two words: Facebook TradeWars.
Make it happen!
I think a while ago it was said in the press that "Casual Gamers" and women were the biggest gamers.
Women in offices on their lunchbreak going to popcap and the like for a quick 10 mins of gaming.
Facebook is just an extension of that in my opinion.
@Petra:
As of today you may be correct, but once these major mainstream gaming players start rolling out a new generation of games onto the Facebook platform I think that your opinion will need to be revisited.
Even from some brief looking around yesterday I found some distinctly "crunchy" Facebook games. They're not titles that appear on the top 10 list, but they ARE of more interest to players like you & me.
I can't think of Facebook games without thinking of Zynga's underhanded business practices, which Facebook only cracked down upon when pressured to.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1935698,00.html
Still, if Andrew comes up with some interesting games I will take a look. Kudos for overcoming your FB prejudices - I won't be letting go of mine easily though.
@Kristi:
For sure; Zynga - despite their success in attracting customers - is a black eye on the legitimacy of the Facebook gaming industry. I'm hoping that the developers/publishers mentioned in this article can show the world how to be profitable and honest while producing social games.
you know i would actually sign up to the hated facebook to play lord or trade wars
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