Braid Creator Says That Social Games Are "Evil" - News
by Nicholas Taylor , posted on 17 February 2011 / 3,293 Views
Successful indie game developer, Jonathan Blow, best known for developing the downloadable title Braid, has expressed his opinion on social games like Farmville and Ravenwood Fair. The verdict? They're evil.
He said, when speaking to PCGamer, that these social games are “about the game exploiting your friends list”.
“It’s about using your friends as resources to progress in the game, which is the opposite of actual sociality or friendship,” he said, and went on to explain his dislike for it by saying that “There’s no other word for it except evil. Of course you can debate anything, but the general definition of evil in the real world, where there isn’t like the villain in the mountain fortress, is selfishness to the detriment of others or to the detriment of the world. And that’s exactly what [most of these games are].”
He also commented that social games are built in a way that hides their people-as-resources attitude, by saying “The thing about these games though is they’re made to look really light and friendly or whatever. So it’s very difficult especially for someone to think about games and how their design affects the world – which is most people in the world, they don’t think about that, right?”
“It’s very difficult for them to see how this could possibly be detrimental in any way. They’re just like, ‘Oh, I’m clicking on the items, I’m having fun’,” he said.
Do you agree or disagree with Mr. Blow? Let us know in the comments.
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Smart man, smart man
So these games are basically the opposite of altruistic? Oh well at least the objectivists will be happy.
@ Dinomax
Those games didn't demand you rope up your friends to progress in those games. These require you, to annoy your friends with requests for your own benefit. People will send requests to people they never talk. The money made, would not be enough for me to believe, if I made that game, that I could be proud of it. I wouldn't be.
Boo hoo, nobody cried foul when flash games drew in the millions before facebook games. All video games don't have to be the same formula or genre to succeed.
But if I was selling games and saw someone else do better than me I cry foul also.
evil might be a bit strong... crap sounds more appropriate to me
Agree
Evil, pointless, and boring. You couldn't pay me to play Farmville or any of those types of games.
I would look to commend Farmville for being able to recruit players in, but it seems to me the drive for playing isn't the joy of playing, but the compulsion of tending to this and that, and fear of loss if you don't,
sir, after reading this i will look into buying braid, you is my hero
So true. In fact I'd say Facebook is evil for promoting social climbing without actual interaction.
FarmVille is evil for other reasons too, it sucks far too much time for even the most banal game action, for example. It's inefficient and bloated, no other game I know, offline or online, would grind to a halt to manage a relatively small farm (because even the biggest farm sizes available are actually small compared to what you can manage in other games). I'm glad I stopped playing it, but that evil thing still tempts me every now and then... I'm scared! :-P
LOL This guy is awesome.
He drives a valid point. Still, I wouldnt call social games evil. Those two specific games however, are dumb and evil.
is there a good definition of good or evil~???? really
Wasn't Farmville responsibe for the death of a baby or something? It IS evil! Of course, Braid taught me to be a stalker under the guise of a hero. That's sorta evil, too.
