
Image from Flickr member plance need watering
The addictive and almost compulsive nature of social games, it seems, plays a lot more on guilt-tripping you than being truly enjoyable.
I was talking to two developers from
Breakdesign recently, and they brought up the concept of games which nag you—the ones which tell you that you have friends waiting for your next move, or virtual pets/crops which will die from you ignoring them.
This explains the explosive growth of social games such as Farmville. And remember those Tamagotchis? I had a Neopet too, I confess. And every time I logged in, he'd be parched or starving or dying from neglect.
One particularly insidious game I've found has been Words With Friends. It doesn't nag you with dying crops, but you do have real-life people waiting on the wings for your next move.
My initial excitement at playing started to turn into dread whenever my phone went off with each new request. And I eventually found myself dutifully responding to my list of Words With Friends requests whenever I had a spare moment, as if it were an e-mail inbox.
So this morning I deleted the game. With 6 requests in a big red bubble over my games folder on my phone, what used to be yet another obligation is now cleared. My phone is mine once again.
If only we could do that to e-mail.