The Ethics of Social Games 75
Gamespot is running a story about the ethics and morality of the social games market, which in recent years has exploded to involve hundreds of millions of players. Between micro-transactions, getting players to recruit friends, and the thin line between compelling games and addictive games, there are plenty of opportunities for developers to stray into shady practices. Quoting:
"The most successful social games to date have used very simple gameplay mechanics, encouraging neither strategy nor dexterity but regular interaction with the game ... Although undeniably successful, the existing social game framework has been the subject of much debate among game developers from every corner of the game industry, from the mainstream to the indie community. Some, like Super Meat Boy creator Edmund McMillen, are particularly strident in their assessment. 'Social games tend to have a really seedy and abusive means of manipulation that they use to rope people in and keep them in,' McMillen said. 'People are so tricked into that that they'll actually spend real money on something that does absolutely nothing, nothing at all.'
Re:Personal experiences with the social side of MM (Score:3, Informative)
So now developers are accused of making their games too fun to play?
Personally, I'd like to see developers go back to making fun games... These social games and MMOs are--in fact--boring as hell.
Re:Hypocritical? (Score:1, Informative)
Have you ever tried FarmVille? Within the first few minutes you will see stuff like:
* offers to complete web surveys to gain more in game money (some of those have been frauds tricking you into expensive subscriptions)
* constant offers to buy more in-game money with real money if you run out of in-game money
* constant offers to spam your friends
* random daily rewards when you start the game
On top of that FarmVille runs in real-time, so your plants will die when you don't come in on a regular basis. Regular games are very different from that.