The World of Facebook and It's Addictive Games

Unless one has lived in a cave and is a complete recluse, most people have heard of one of the more well-known social networking websites that exists today, that being Facebook. This phenomenally successful social networking website had rather humble beginnings and was the brainstorm of Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard University student back in 2004. Initially, he created Facebook primarily for fellow Harvard students, but he decided to expanded it to other colleges, then also for high school students, and finally he opened the website to the entire world for anyone and everyone to join up. It now boasts of having well over 300 million users around the world, and is even more popular than it's rival MySpace. (1)

On the Wiki Facebook
page, one can see the transformations Facebook has made over the years, as it includes screenshot images of how Facebook has changed in it's appearance from it's beginnings, when it first served as the official social networking site for Harvard students, which enabled students to search for fellow students or even to look up and search friends of friends at Harvard; there is also a screenshot of the familiar way it looks now to its users.

I joined up with Facebook (and MySpace) some two years ago when I finally got my own computer and had the luxury of having more time in front of a computer. When I first taught myself computers about five years ago, I didn't even have my own computer yet and had to rely on computer usage at either a nearby library or a internet café, so back then, I had to focus on work aspects rather than "fun". When I did join up with Facebook I remember it being merely a popular place to stay connected with friends or family, and there really wasn't much on the site that one could do. Yes, one could send messages between friends and family who also belonged on Facebook, one could post photos to share, and there were early "applications" where one could send virtual gifts between each other. These early applications were a means to say you were thinking of that person, such as sending a bouquet of flowers, a heart, etc. Really nothing special when you think of it, and at the time I didn't even know that many people to stay connected to and with via Facebook, perhaps the most four or five, so in other words, I never bothered much with the site or spent much time there .

Things began to change for me a little over a year ago and so did Facebook. For the past three years, I've belonged to a very popular discussion forum known as MyLot. This forum wasn't only a place to discuss topics of interest, but I found myself getting connected and I bonded with many of the members. In fact, I find that many of my on-line friends and I have a better friendship and connection than that of some of my "real" life friends, that is friends that I can physically see and talk with. Little by little I started adding many of these friends from MyLot as friends to stay connected with outside of the MyLot forum. But once again, Facebook was still rather simplistic in its format in 2007. Yes, one could send messages to each other, or give a "poke" to let a friend know you were thinking of them, or continue to send virtual gifts, but that was it. Then around 2008, I began noticing different applications were being added to Facebook, usually in the form of quizzes, such as answering a multiple list of questions to a quiz such as "What Movie Is Most Like Your Life?" By answering such a quiz based on the answers you gave, one would have a movie selected for them that was similar to their own life. I got a real kick out of the results of this one, as my life was compared to the Harry Potter movies. Somehow, I really enjoyed that answer as I'm a true blue Harry Potter fan.

How these quiz type applications work, is that one scans the long, long listing of quizzes, you see one that you might be interested in answering, click the link and it takes you to a page that you can click "Allow Access". Now I have to confess it's only been recently that I joined the bandwagon and started using these quiz type applications. One of the reasons for my hesitancy to be honest, was that I've always avoided in clicking anything for fear of perhaps these applications might have attached viruses as I'm very protective of my computer, and I was even more hesitant when I began noticing the myriad of games showing up. I just didn't want to take the risk. But what can I say? I started feeling a bit left out with all my friends at Facebook who were talking about these quizzes or playing the games. So, only about a few weeks ago, I started taking the plunge and explored all the wonders that Facebook has to offer in terms of quizzes and games. Now I guess I'm just one more person thoroughly addicted to them and no doubt, like a lot of my friends there, spend way too much time at Facebook. In fact, I kidded with some of my MyLot and Facebook friends on how I was writing this article about Facebook in general and about how addictive the games were, so my "excuse" for spending a lot of time there was to do...(coughs)...research. Uh, good excuse, no?

Just what kind of games are on Facebook? In a nutshell, a little bit of everything from word type games such as Scrabble, or PathWords where one can play solo or challenge friends to play against each other, also there are casino type games such as Poker. Then of course there are the semi-interactive role playing games, the most popular one being Mafia Wars and the more interactive games such as Café World. The companies involved who have set up the games on Facebook are Zynga, Playfish, Meteor, Rawr plus a few other companies which all have their own websites and one can play directly on them, but lets face it, it's more fun to play any of these games and interact amongst one's Facebook friends.

How many games are there on Facebook? Well as one of my friend's once jokingly said, there must be a gazillion of them and it seems more games are added on to Facebook on a near daily basis, and each game can cater to the taste of each user with anyone of the themes involved. Want to be a "wizard"? One can join School of Magic. Have a liking for the Viking Age then one can join The Viking Clan. Love Pirates? Yes, there's a Pirates game there as well. Want to be transformed to the Medieval period, well then there's the Age Of Chivalry, and of course, don't forget the most popular one, Mafia Wars.

If none of these entice you then maybe you have a hankering to be a farmer and I've personally have lost count to how many "farming" type games there are and of which I belong to many of them, such as FarmVille, FarmTown, Barn Buddy, and L'il Farm. Or maybe the cook in you would love to have their own restaurant or cafe, then one can join up in a virtual world at Café World (my all time favorite), and Restaurant City. Or how about owning your own island in which you are on a deserted island at Island Paradise. Then there's Pet Society where one can own their own virtual "pet".

Now as far as the types of games, as I've already mentioned, there are the semi-interactive types and the more active types. Now when I say semi-interactive type games, what I mean is, is that one doesn't really interact as much as one might with some of the more virtual type of games. The semi-interactive games are ones like Mafia Wars, School of Magic, Age of Chivalry, Viking Age, Vampires, Pirates: Rule The Caribbean, but then there are so many more, such as Mob Wars, Mobsters 2, and Vampires, that one can easily lose track of just how many there are and most are designed by Zynga.

The way these semi-interactive games work is that when one first signs up, one is already given a pre-determined amount of required skills and coins. For instance, in the School of Magic, one belongs to a "house" of fellow wizards (usually Facebook friends that one can recruit by an invitation). A person then gets to perform "quests" such as compete in a broomstick race. More and more quests are added with each level of experience one acquires and performs. One can "buy" familiars and charms or spells, a wizard there has a treasury of coins and one can also do a battle against another wizard house. With each quest or battle one does, one does lose a certain amount of "health" "Mana" and "Stamina", but one can regain any of these traits by waiting a designated time (usually a few minutes) or use skill points to boost any of these qualities up. Each quest or battle one does adds "experience" points to that particular level, once fully reached one advances to the next level.

Then there are the more interactive games. On a personal note, I prefer these games over the semi-interactive ones, and I'm just betting I'll get chastised from my fellow Facebook friends who may be reading this, especially my friends who are fanatics over Mafia Wars. Sorry, but I'm being honest, I just never really have gotten into these type of games.

YoVille is one of the more popular interactive "games" to get hooked on. It's a virtual community made up of Facebook users, particularly your actual friends that you have on the website. When one first joins up, one can make a characterization of themselves from your facial expression, clothes, hair and eye color. Then one has their own apartment at first, but one can later "buy" a house. The apartment is pretty bare when starting out, but one interaction people can do is send "gifts" to each other which can include anything from a tea kettle, a bouquet of flowers, to even furniture. Besides the apartment dwelling, there are several shops in the YoVille community one can visit, such as the Salon, Clothing Store, Casino, Coffee Shop, Music Store, Furniture Store, Pet Store, Sweet Factory, Vinny's Diner, and even a Speedway. All have some semi-interactive things one can do there, for instance, with the Speedway, your character can motorcycle race against other members. I kind of got a kick out of that, since I had never tried it before until just recently and with the very first race I "won". At YoVille, as in all the games on Facebook, one earns coins for various interactions. One earns coins and points at YoVille for instance by visiting other member's apartments where one can give a gift, tell a joke, write a message, dance or toss a balloon at the other person.

Probably the next all time favorite interactive game there and perhaps the one I personally spend a lot of time at is Café World. Don't ask how much time I spend at Cafe World, where I can "cook" up bacon cheeseburgers, French Onion Soup, Chilled Shrimp Salad, Pot Roast, Pizza, Triple Berry Cheesecake, and so forth. Since I do happen to be a good cook in real life, this is the one I love best and somehow fulfills my fantasy of having a real restaurant of my own. One "earns" coins via the virtual customers who eat at your cafe, and each dish earns a different earnings per dish served. With this money, one can "buy" more food to cook up, and even use the money to redecorate their café the way they wish it to appear. My café for instance, is called Le Jardin Café as it has a garden theme to it.

All games at Facebook do have some similarities. Everyone starts out as a newbie with a designated amount of money alloted to them and begins appropriately at Level One. Upon fulfilling quests, tasks or jobs for that particular game, one earns more coins and points and there are so many points per Level. With each Level one reaches one then can do more quests, tasks or jobs and also buy more things appropriate for that Level of the game. The one downside is that while these games are all "free" to play, and one is given a certain amount of "cash" money aside from the coins one earns, the more expensive items one can buy at any of these games can only be bought with the "cash" money rather than coinage. In most cases, the only way one can get more cash money rather than have coinage is to actually buy the cash with real money, that is via a credit card or PayPal. And while I may be a bit of a fanatic and addicted to many of these games, I'm not so much so that I'm willing to spend my money for these games due to a tight budget.

So just how addictive are the Facebook games? Well let me relate a real "panic" incident that occurred on October 21, 2009, when for some reason, a real major glitch happened with all the Zynga games, save for YoVille...none worked! If one tried to gain access to Mafia Wars, Café World, or any of the Zynga games, all one got was a blank page staring back at them. Since each game has a forum/discussion board, panicky players were complaining about the incident and you should have seen the Café World discussion board itself! Literally, and I mean literally, hundreds upon hundreds of Café World users were in a near nigh panic and complaining. Many at first thought, maybe it was perhaps their computers going on the fritz, or their browsers not working right, but soon, everyone began to realize that the Zynga games just plain weren't accessible. Many Café World members commented, "Oh, no, my food cooking on the stoves will be ruined!" You see, once the food one cooks up at Café World is done, if it isn't placed on the serving area within a designated time, it gets "ruined" with lovely special effects of the food looking moldy and flies flying and circling around the food; it also means that one loses the money used to buy and cook the food and the potential gained earnings for that dish .

The bottom line is that when that incident occurred, it was almost amusing in a bizarre sort of way and demonstrated just how addicted we Facebook users are to these games. It was as if everyone, including myself were suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms the way any addict does. Thankfully, by the next day, everything was back to normal and up and running smoothly again and we addicts resumed our game-playing fixes.

Are you a Facebook user? Do you play any of the games? Are you addicted to them the way most of us are? Now if you don't play any of the games, give a few a go and try them, but be forewarned, you yourself will find yourself sooner or later thoroughly addicted to them, and you will find yourself, not just playing one or two, but at least ten.

Wiki Facebook
(1)

AllFacebook

ZyngaFacebook

Playfish

Zynga

Zynga Articles