Facebook Games = Fail

So as many will know, I am a Facebook user & a bit of a (massive) old-fashioned gamer (yes, I realise the irony in the fact that a) this makes me old & b) old-fashioned really just means console/hardcore) but what happens when you combine the 2 & I try playing some of the games now available on Facebook?

Well unfortunately the result is a resounding....fail!

Now the reason is that all of these games share some common issue - an inability to be able to actually complete a game, no new content by the developers to keep the user interested, but the biggest failing (yet marketing genius) is that of recharging/building/earning/mining to get resources.

There are 3 games I normally play: My Empire (oh dear), Pirates Ahoy (don't start!) &  Backyard Monsters (wow). Now each of them have no maximum level to achieve therefore no completion is possible - there is no concrete end. Each of them requires you to complete buildings/earn coins etc. but tell you that you have to wait 24 hours or in some cases a whole week - I cannot imagine any standard game asking you to wait so long - but the overall reward is so limited, it becomes pointless very quickly. Couple this with almost imperceptibly no development & what you are left with is a novelty game which loses its shine faster than my chocolate teaspoons!

Rant over, we continue...

Who do you think you are?

So whilst dong some washing up today, my brain switched itself on & I’ve got a couple of ideas for blog posts & I thought why not – something to do on a Sunday avo!

Anyways, I was thinking about some old BBC website articles I read some time ago: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3683260.stm & http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/technology_online_gamers_unmasked/html/1.stm & was contemplating the whole subject of online profiles of people & how this both does & does not represent the offline individual.

So for some time now I have been using the online tag of Pikachuind – I use it for my Xbox Live profile, Twitter, Gmail, & even this blog & even though my actual name is also associated with these profiles, my online presence dissociates with this & becomes something totally different.

Offline I am a software support technician, a drive, a cyclist & have a wonderful fiancée. But online, on Xbox Live for example, I’m a bit of a psychopath who likes to use frag-grenades, claymores, C4 & a Famas or WA2000 (with an ACOG sight naturally) to exact my revenge on numerous enemies!! :D

So there is something to be said for contemplating how you present yourself online. Here are a few thoughts from me:

Do you exist online?

Are you true to yourself online?

What do other people think about you online?

If you use an alias, is this appropriate to your personality?

 

Further Reading:

Finding myself through online identities

Are my online friends real?

Call of Duty Wiki

Online overdose?

A very random thought from this morning & it's all about online social networking

So when I got engaged last Easter, the way we told people, was actually not by telling people (confused yet?) it was in fact by utilising online social networking - specifically updating our relationship status on Facebook! The effect took only a few moments & then the (digital) congratulations began, as well as texts, phone calls & email - it is a strange thing to think that if you go back even as little as 5 years, this would be unheard of! Now it seems that things don't appear to happen if it's not on Facebook...how many people on now remember someone's birthday because it's on Facebook (be honest!)!

I jokingly suggested that during our wedding in October we should update our relationship status again (preferably to say we're married) - for some reason this was met with a frown (can't image why!) & that I must be joking & of course I was (sort of!). 

Having said all that it is interesting to see the afftect of online social networks - they have become almost daily routines for a growing number of people (300'000'000+ users & growing every minute) & has become a part of people's offline lives - an interesting contemplation would be to think about a world without Facebook (or indeed Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) or the internet (like Egypt right now!) - I wonder how people would cope?