Facebook will set indie gaming back 5 years

I read books just about every day, and I'm talking real books mind you, not e-ink, not e-book. I'm talking paper and dust and the musty smell of old print. So if you're one of those people who gave up reading a few years ago and whose fingers spasmodically continue to click long after the hand has left the mouse then you may not exactly understand the reasons for my grumbling, but just a brief word of warning this is probably an "I'm an old man so get off my lawn" type of rant and it is likely to upset you.

Facebook games suck. Few would really be surprised if Farmville turned out to be made by a couple of 17 year olds in their mom's basement. Turns out it wasn't, but it easily could have been. But it made hundreds of millions of dollars, so it *must* be good, right? Wrong. Popularity has no bearing on quality these days. Does anyone remember that kid on youtube swinging the lightsaber? Didn't he get over 20 million views? Was he some kind of genius? Nope, just a silly video that got lucky and went viral a few times.

Facebook games are a lot like that, except instead of just being silly they are sinister, they are designed to be simple and viral, not good.

I want games with substance and style, richly textured and thickly layered, with real character development and breathtaking artwork. --[[ I'm talking in the context of indie games though, I am not suggesting that indie titles can compete pound for pound with AAA studio titles. If you're not sure what I'm talking about maybe have a look at Braid or Machinarium.]]-- Essentially I want games which remind me of good books. Facebook games don't even qualify as comics. I feel sick even comparing them to comics.

Facebook games might get a bit prettier after Googles' NaCL takes off and we see serious hardware acceleration become standard on the web but they wont get any closer to what us old timers consider to be good, they judge good by a different metric.

Sadly though everybody is screaming their brains out about Facebook right now, and the hundreds of millions some of its games made last year, we're looking at a gold rush in the middle of a global recession folks, and you mark my words, where the carcase lays down the eagles will gather, big names are going to start dropping Facebook titles, but instead of making things better this will assuredly only make things worse. It will only lend further credibility to what has become nothing but a glorified marketing machine.

Facebook games are successful for three reasons. Firstly because Facebook's main purpose is to expose internet newbies to marketing from their nearest and dearest friends. Everyone knows that people are many times more likely to try/buy something which is recommended to them from their friends. Facebook is built on that premise. It is simply a thinly veiled mechanism by which people organize themselves willingly into groups which know and trust each other, so that they can then unwittingly mass market applications amongst their closest friends.

The second reason web games are successful is because they are delivered through a  browser, and even though the games suck the sucking is mostly excused because even grandpa knows that browsers are limited. The browser also means these games can be played on just about any computer in the known universe.

And third, they succeed because they are designed to be played in short bursts, people new to the net don't feel intimidated or obligated. They can get in, give it a try for free, and then get out, or so they think. It is like the perfect gateway drug.

Facebook is going to set indie gaming back 5 years, developers must follow the money, and nobody can deny that there is sick cash to be had playing the viral lottery on Facebook. The indie market is literally teetering on the verge of awesome, but it's going to get slammed pretty hard when half the market suddenly flips the channel to Facebook or other similar venues.