The Best Social Gaming
Who would have known that the best way to meet friends and family for a night of fun would not happen in bars anymore, but on Facebook? With the rise of the Facebook social gaming phenomenon, you can now enjoy games with people you know (and even some you don’t!) while never leaving the comfort of your home. And some games even have iPhone and Android versions linked to your Facebook account, so you can take that farm with you on the go!
Of course, the obvious games are those like Farmville, CityVille, and Nightclub City. These games are basically micromanagement games, where you build plots and develop neighbourhoods, gain money from selling crops or getting rent, and buy new and better equipment and decorations. You can play on your own, but the game blocks a lot of the best upgrades if you don’t have at least a few friends. Friends can visit each other, help with the farm work or mayoring or even DJing in your nightclub, and that gives you (and them) extra money. These games are casual, but they sometimes require frequent visits since crops can go bad and be lost if you don’t reap them fast enough.
For sports fans, you can find many games dedicated to recruiting friends to form, for example, a soccer or a hockey team. You compete against other teams, all the way to the top! These games are fun because they don’t involve constant attention to buildings and farm plots (some people might find this tedious and rather boring). If you even care to spend a little time playing the game, you can control your character’s movements on the field. But then again, you don’t have to, and you can let the computer do its thing for you.
For those who like more traditional games, you can play games such as Scrabble, Boggle and other table games on Facebook. You can play with your friends or with strangers connected at the same time; you can draw your game over days or play a quick one in an hour. In some versions you are not penalized for taking your time, so you can play a game with your distant brother-in-law when you have time. Have you tried collaborative crosswords? It’s really fun!
Other types you would not expect to see on Facebook are actually quite complex and interesting strategy and RPG games. Are you a fan of Warcraft and Age of Empire? Then Facebook has what you like. You can play with or against your friends, build alliances and enormous empires, play against other empires and conquer the world. Don’t be afraid to train a big army!
Sure, you can still go to that nightclub dancing with your friends, but where I’m from it gets mighty cold in the winter, so I’d rather stay home and play Nightclub City instead. The music is as good, I can dance without fear of being ridiculous, and the booze is definitely cheaper!
