Social gaming: Facebook

On Researching Social gaming I decided to play a handful of Facebook games.  Frontier Ville, Vampire Wars, FarmVille and Mafia Wars. Here is a brief Synopsis of how I found each game with accompanying screen shots.


1. Frontier Ville

I found this game to be a little monotonous and actually quite irritating. 

 So repetitive and seems like an aimlessly dull way to pass time. I do not understand it's mass appeal.

2. FarmVille

I find that this game is very similar to the FrontierVille, and as discussed it is very easy to pick up on it's similarity through the use of the same game engine. The interface is exactly the same, the customisation of characters is exactly the same, and the concept of the game is also.

3. Vampire Wars


I what I did not like initially about this game is that your clan is based upon how many people in your actual network play the game, which i think is  a disadvantage, and almost put me off playing the game completely. As I had only one person out of nearly 400 people that was playing this game. 


I also found that although the graphics contained within this game were much much detailed and artistically led, I found that this game did not run as fast as the previously played FarmVille, and Frontier Ville and actually crashed before I had a chance to play.

4. Mafia Wars

Again, more attention to graphics on the art work of the game which I feel was evident in the time it took to load compared to FarmVille, and FrontierVille. However, unlike Vampire wars this game did not crash...

I must admit, I was expecting a lot from Mafia Wars in terms of game mechanics, this most probably down to the fact that with the advancement with graphics I was expecting an advancement in game ply, however this was not the case.

This game was extremely simplistic in game play which led me to feel disappointed and almost viewed the improved graphics as a waste of time for this reason. The basic game-play consists of carrying out various illegal activities in order to raise funds, help other criminal friends and perpetuate illegal activity to which I found very distasteful.At one point, a message stating "DRUG DEALERS CARRY GUNS. YOU NEED CASH TO BUY YOUR OWN" Appeared on the screen. I was alarmed, not having played such games at how evidently today's society has become desensitised to such things. Personally, I found it inappropriate and did see it as glamorised a certain type of culture to which has reaffirmed the basis and concept of my own game.