Facebook: A Gamer's Paradise

You have been sitting in front of your computer screen for the past 2 hours, clicking frantically like carpal tunnel is going out of style. You’re not raiding in WoW. You’re not levelling up in Dragon Age, or enjoying the quirkiness of Eufloria or World of Goo. In fact, you’re not doing anything a hardcore PC gamer would be doing in your position. You’re playing Farmville. And you’re loving it.

In the last 3 to 4 years, Facebook has become the biggest force in social networking. It killed Myspace, murdered Bebo, and commited acts of sodomy upon Friendster. It has utterly destroyed the competition, and now boasts over 350 million users worldwide. How did it do this you ask? The answer is simple; Facebook lets you do more with your friends. You can do the standards, like sending them private messages or writing on their wall for all to see, but that is only the surface. You can get into poke wars, upload albums of your last party and take your friends home-made quizzes. The greatest of these interactions though, has to be Facebooks myriad of games.

Facebook boasts one of the largest libraries of online games in the entire world. There’s the management sims, like the ever-popular Farmville, and the multiplayer browser games like Mafia Wars. There’s racers, platformers, shooters and sidescrollers. There’s the educational games, like Geo-Challenge, which personally has me involved in quite an epic high-score battle with my sister, which I am naturally winning. It’s a gamers haven, with every taste listened to, and consequently satisfied. It’s quite simply the apex of gaming; a vast network of free-to-play games made for one of the largest online communities in the entire world.

I end this post by imploring you, dear reader, to refrain from groaning with displeasure at the sight of yet another Farmville ribbon cluttering your feed, or moan with discontent at the high scores strewn across your friends profiles. Instead, click on the link and join in. Open yourself up to a massive gaming community. Learn a little, play a little, and when you enjoy your experience, pass it on to others. It’s something to be shared.

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Comments (8)

I've tried, but I just don't like the concept behind Facebook. I'd rather interact with people I know in person -- and people I don't know, I'd prefer to talk to them on specialized sites such as this one. As for the games, they're just too simplistic at this point to appeal to me. If I didn't have games like Dragon Age, I'd be more likely to play them, but with stuff like that out there, there's no need to (at least for me).

Brian Shirk, January 26, 2010 23:04

I just want civ network to come out on facebook all ready :)

Toby Davis, January 27, 2010 00:17

I'm excited about Civilization Network. I love Civ, both the PC version and Civilization: Revolution, and I hope this streamlines the game but preserves the "fun" of what makes Civ so good. I trust few developers as much as Sid Meier to pull something like this off. Just about everything he makes is fun.

Jason Wilson, January 27, 2010 00:41

@Jason I hope to get into the beta if they have one.

Toby Davis, January 27, 2010 01:56

Facebook games aren't for gamers. They are for people who spend their days on Facebook to pass the time - hence they are, for the most part, things which don't require a lot of time investment to play that cater to the ADHD of the average denizen of the Internet these days. Many of them don't even require any skill. Mafia Wars, for example, is completely devoid of skill. You click a button, random number generators take care of the rest. The only interaction you really have to do is click the aforementioned button, and spam your friends to unlock the "harder" jobs. I use "harder" loosely, as they still just involve clicking "DO JOB". A "gamer", for want of a better word - i.e. someone who would specifically choose to play games as a substantial part of their recreation time, rather than as a two-minute time-waster - craves something rather more substantial in most cases - something that requires skill, dedication or provides something like a compelling narrative to keep them sat in place. I'm hopeful that something like Civ Network will provide a nice middle-ground, with some skill required yet relatively low time investment needed.

Pete Davison, January 27, 2010 15:50

@Pete Namco has a version of Pac-Man: Championship Edition on Facebook now (for Europe). http://apps.facebook.com/namcoarcade/ Is this a Facebook game for gamers?

Jason Wilson, January 27, 2010 15:57

I'm worried it will be Civ Rev like. Didn't play the console version, but the DS version was lacking for an experienced Civ player.

Andrew Hiscock, January 27, 2010 15:59

@Jason Oo! Yes. Given the amount of time I've spent on Pac-Man CE on XBLA, I'd say a hearty yes. Although given the choice between playing it on Facebook and Xbox, I'd probably still pick Xbox.

Pete Davison, January 27, 2010 16:03

WHAT THE HECK IS A BITMOB?