Social Network Gaming: The Conclusion, Part 2

 

The screenshot above was taken the first day of my FarmVille farm. I think, if I had the chance to do it all over, I probably would have done things a lot differently. 

Well, now that I have shared my experience and thoughts on social network gaming, lets see how I kept to my goals.

1. Play at least one game in each of the following social network game genre's: asynchronous competitive, simulation, and casual role playing.

• FarmVille: simulation
• FrontierVille: simulation
• City of Wonder: simulation
• Mafia Wars: casual role playing
• Bejeweled Blitz: asynchronous competitive
• Words with Friends: asynchronous competitive

 2. Games should incorporate one of the following gameplay elements: asynchronous gameplay, community, no victory conditions, and virtual currency.

• FarmVille: asynchronous gameplay, community, no victory conditions, virtual currency
• FrontierVille: asynchronous gameplay, community, no victory conditions, virtual currency
• City of Wonder: asynchronous gameplay, community, no victory conditions, virtual currency
• Mafia Wars: asynchronous gameplay, no victory conditions, virtual currency
• Bejeweled Blitz: asynchronous competitive, community, no victory conditions, virtual currency
• Words with Friends: asynchronous gameplay

3. Play at least 2-4 hours a week total for 4 weeks: Without tallying up the numbers, I think it would be safe to say that I spent about 1 - 2 hours a day playing the games. I would usually play each game for 10 - 15 minutes in the morning and 10 - 15 in the evening.

4. Purchase virtual currency: I purchased $10 of virtual currency in FarmVille, FrontierVille, and City of Wonder.

5. Games should be playable/manageable on a mobile device (iPhone 4) if possible: FarmVille and Bejeweled Blitz were both available on the iPhone to be played. the non-flash parts of Mafia Wars was possible, but it was not a good experience.

6. Games will be connected to the same social network, Facebook: All games were connected to Facebook. Each game was playable on the Facebook website with the exception of Words with Friends, which will be available soon.

I did really well with my goals. I went a little overboard with playtime, but I think that was to be expected. I expect that if I had only played one simulation game, my playtime would have dramatically decreased, but I doubt I would have had as much fun, or be able to speak to each game as well.

Next I want to compare day 1 to day 30 screenshots.