Technology Games?

[Paseo Del Norte]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

What is up with all these bakery, farmerville and gangland type online games? From what I can tell, there is not much in the way of interaction. I could see the point if you had to run around and kill people like Modern Warfare, but the utility of this other stuff baffles me? Is it more of a social experience?

It seems pretty popular but I am having a great deal of difficulty in wrapping my head around the punchline of these games?

 

[Tiktaalik]

What is up with all these bakery, farmerville and gangland type online games? From what I can tell, there is not much in the way of interaction. I could see the point if you had to run around and kill people like Modern Warfare, but the utility of this other stuff baffles me? Is it more of a social experience?

It seems pretty popular but I am having a great deal of difficulty in wrapping my head around the punchline of these games?

They're simple to pick up, involve little effort investment, and allow social competition and collaboration.

Basically, it's a fun little distraction. Games like Modern Warfare require full investment - the action requires you to give the game your undivided attention. Casual games offer many of the rewards of more hardcore games (amusement, sense of achievement, etc.), but without requiring full investment of attention. They allow people who normally would not be gamers because they don't feel like investing effort into understanding a complex game to play.

Some even get hooked, becoming what appears to be as hardcore about Farmville as gamers can be about World of Warcraft. However, a Farmville addiction is still very different from a WoW addiction - it is still a relatively light burden to play Farmville, even heavily, whereas a Warcraft addict will have their full attention consumed by the game.

 

[Neurocentric]

They're simple to pick up, involve little effort investment, and allow social competition and collaboration.

Basically, it's a fun little distraction. Games like Modern Warfare require full investment - the action requires you to give the game your undivided attention. Casual games offer many of the rewards of more hardcore games (amusement, sense of achievement, etc.), but without requiring full investment of attention. They allow people who normally would not be gamers because they don't feel like investing effort into understanding a complex game to play.

Some even get hooked, becoming what appears to be as hardcore about Farmville as gamers can be about World of Warcraft. However, a Farmville addiction is still very different from a WoW addiction - it is still a relatively light burden to play Farmville, even heavily, whereas a Warcraft addict will have their full attention consumed by the game.

Agreed, especially the bolded. Warcraft can take hours to play - especially if you do raids and such. But Farmville (which I love) takes minutes and I actually find it kind of fun. I'm not really sure why I get so amused with something so simple, but they really can be addicting.

 

[Paseo Del Norte]

Okay, so I gather it is a low effort, high yield activity in terms of the social experience?

 

[Tiktaalik]

Okay, so I gather it is a low effort, high yield activity in terms of the social experience?

Bingo.