I finally let Facebook assimilate me last week. And I suddenly find myself playing more Facebook games than World of Warcraft. I have farm in Farmville, and one in Farm Town. I have a Superpoke! Pet. I have a slightly neglected town in Castle Age. I’m catching mice like a madman. I’m looking for eggs and letter tiles. I have a House in School of Magic. I’m thinking of seeking therapy.
I just had a six day weekend. I didn’t touch WoW at all.
So…which Facebook games are YOU playing, and which are you obsessed with?
My Mafia is growing strong. I’m starting to garner some respect (or at least a nice stash of smokes) in Prison Lockdown. I rock at Bewjewled Blitz and Farkle. I’ve been neglecting D&D: Tiny Adventures a bit, but I still have a 3rd generation cleric moving up the ranks.
Know-It-All Trivia. I am hopelessly addicted, and love the screen where you can see what challenges your friends have taken so you can try and beat their score. My reflexes are trigger-honed due to Quiz Bowl, so even if I don’t know the right answer, I’ll be quick about picking the wrong one
Ugh, Farkle. Ugh.
There’s only been two games on there I’ve been fully addicted to and that have kept me up nights. The first is Owned, which is a people buying game that’s like an auction. I doubt anyone here would care much for it, but it can be addictive.
The second I hesitate to tell any of you in fear of starting any of your addictions and being the fault of your being up all night…but there is a game on Facebook called PackRat. DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME. You will never sleep again. It is seriously, in my opinion, one of the most addicting games on there. The good news is: Not many people learn how to play or bother playing long enough to fully understand what the hell you have to do so they don’t play it too long or they play it for awhile and then lose interest.
But if you’re one of those who actually:
Takes the time to read the rules and learn how to do everything and
Takes the time to look up recipe guides (how to make other cards) on the net
…then you’re doomed. You won’t ever be going back.
YES…this one too. Sometimes I can’t stop clicking on a new quiz.
If anyone would like to add me to their friends just so I can be added to their mobs or mafias (I’m a level 325 in Mafia Wars) or to get stuff from me in Farm Town or to go against me in Know It All Trivia (I’ve played over 200 quizzes)…feel free to add me:
Bejeweled Blitz, Bejeweled Blitz, and Bejeweled Blitz.
I’ve tried others. Boomshine was fun for a while but gets boring quickly. I tried mini-golf and bowling apps that didn’t hold my attention. I don’t much get into the long-term role-playing games like Mafia Wars. And I haven’t (yet) let myself get sucked into Farkle.
But the power of Bejeweled Blitz compels me. As soon as I hear that voice proclaiming “ONE MINUTE,” I know I’ll be occupied not for a minute, but more likely an hour or more.
Eh. The only thing that actually makes Farmville better than Farm Town to me is that the animals aren’t just decoration. You can actually “harvest” milk from the cows and (I assume) wool from the sheep (I have a sheep that’s ALMOST ready to harvest, so I don’t know for sure what I’ll get yet).
They’re both farm simulations, but it’s not like The Sims. You have direct control of your avatar and there’s really no social interaction other than chat. Basically, you can plant things, then wait for them to grow, then harvest them for (fake) money that you can use to buy other things to plant. You can have “neighbors” (other people playing, usually your FB friends) who you can “visit” and help out with farm chores. There’s a role-playing aspect, in that you gain experience and (fake) money as you do your farm chores (plowing, planting, harvesting on your own farm, weeding, raking, watering on your friends’ farms). Higher levels unlock more plants and animals you can put on your farm, as well as farmhouses, barns, furniture, objects like haybales and barrels and fences. Higher levels also unlock more gifts you can send to your FB friends, either to entice them to send YOU gifts or to get them to start playing Farmville/Town. Like a lot of Facebook games, it’s mostly a Do-Something-Then-Wait game…something to check in on between Facebook chats.
And like most FB games, there’s an element of encouraging people to be social. As in, the more neighbors you have, the more perks you get (experience points for looking after their farms, price breaks on plowing, trophies). And getting someone else to harvest for you rather than doing it yourself makes you more money, in addition to being easier on your clicking finger. Plus, you get free money (25% of the crop’s sale price in Farm Town) for harvesting other people’s crops, so if you want a quick buck, you hang around the Marketplace trying to get hired by random folks.
Most FB games I’ve found are like this, nudging people to socialize to improve your game stats.
I love Bejewled Blitz (which I learned about from the Dope) and Sushi no Suki (it’s a sushi making game… you have to click on ingredients, remember recipes, time orders, etc.). I’d like to play more facebook games, and try out FarmVille or Mafia, but very few of my friends play games. I have a single friend who plays Mafia, and I actually don’t like her. Is it possible to play stuff like that if your own ‘real’ friends are too cool for FB games?
There is a method of greatly increasing the size of your Mafia – I believe it involves putting your name on a list, having hundreds of like-minded people friend you and join your Mafia, and then you remove them as friends – they stay as part of your Mafia, though.
Someone will likely come along and explain it better (and probably offer links).
It’s been improved, in that someone’s figured out how to fiddle the program to add people who aren’t your friends. If you look through “Mafia add” groups now, people are posting links to do this. All you do is make sure you have your mafia game open in one tab, click on the links, and those people are added to your mafia instantly. It took me a few months to get up to 300 mafia in my spare time when I was bored enough, then I got up over 500 in about twenty minutes after people started doing this.
Make sure I know who you are on SDMB so I can put you in the right list.
