作者：Azam Khan

很多游戏设计师都在讨论新兴社交游戏现象。缺乏故事情节和复杂游戏机制的社交游戏包含众多高度优化的反馈循环机制和虚拟商品收集，且越来越关注游戏道德规范。游戏充分利用“人类心理缺陷”，促使他们沉浸游戏当中，购买相对简单的游戏内容，这个刺激泡沫最终是否会灰飞烟灭？

我之所以着迷社交游戏是因为游戏具有迷人虚拟空间，我在收集钱币过程中能够获得满意回馈。点击能力是关键，尤其是在收集分散金币的时候。我锻炼自己快速收集和点击分散金币的能力，随时准备待命。这是我日常工作的一部分，已成为我的任务安排，我每天收集两次金币。这实在太棒啦。我从未如此频繁登陆游戏，我觉得非常值得。

游戏开发者对于我和我的登陆频率了如指掌。游戏会在适当时候给予适当奖励，我完全屈服于强大心理力量。除获得令人满意的回馈外，名不经转的钱币收集如今变成一种成就。从徽章到丝带，我不再需要通过熟记莎士比亚诗歌来吸引我文学迷邻居的注意，他对《哈姆雷特》的痴迷程度同我之于农作物不相上下。

farmville from iwanna.cn

我知道Zynga对我了如指掌，我是他们数据的一部分，今后通过Tableau Software（游戏邦注：他们可以从数据中获取更多内容），他们将更深入了解我。但如今一切大不相同。钱币不再那么富有吸引力。提示我登陆Facebook页面的红底数字信息不复存在，但我知道我得照料作物。2pac诠释“马基雅弗利”理念的方式及Zyang品牌刺激使我的耕作习性完全变成一种条件反射。

最新研究表明给予完成任务者外部奖励会削弱其对实际任务的兴趣。马克·莱普同其他人1973年进行的“外部奖励削弱孩子内在兴趣”研究就是瞄准该话题。作者含蓄阐述“强大外部奖励机制的潜在副作用和长期后果”。强大奖励机制的宏观效应是Zynga等公司发展和获得用户留存率的关键。问题是，这能否维持下去？欢迎来到大卫·伯科威茨口中的“刺激泡沫”时代。凭借能量分析和反馈参数，游戏设计能够完美嵌入大量外部奖励和成就。Facebook平台的社交游戏本质上看无疑属于“游戏”。行业高层膜拜的社交奖励机制不过是榨取玩家钱财的烟雾弹。但比创收更重要的是什么？

我担忧的是Zynga的估值，其游戏是否会融入更有趣的设计。社交游戏是否真的富有趣味？我不是发表声明，也不是论述游戏设计分子结构，而只是说我对这些游戏的兴趣正在逐步消逝。除游戏新用户界面和主题散发的光辉和魅力外，我觉得我完全被粉饰无聊任务的外部奖励欺骗，其鼓励利用自己的友谊换得积极回馈（游戏邦注：邀请邻居在《Farmville》几乎是个必不可少的内容，因为拜访邻居能够带来更多收入和经验值）。

Chris Remo在其帖子中表示，“游戏的核心不是获得积分，而是享受过程。游戏能获得我们认可，是因为其能够描绘事物运作模式，让我们获悉他们之间复杂而模糊的联系。”除让我们沉浸日常生活的奇妙世界外，农场似乎变成雕刻画，我们内心没来由地对其产生敬畏和爱慕之情。这给我马戏团的感觉，这些小丑总能使我发笑，但他们若是出现在夜里，定会令人毛骨悚然。

就像网络公司大肆宣传其所获融资，这个基于机制的欢乐内容正在夸大刺激泡沫。和经济泡沫不同，这个泡沫未同其他机制交错，其好似病毒，将用户变成“僵尸”，等到某天出现“有趣游戏”，玩家方能获救。但病毒通常会对疫苗产生抗体，也许未来会出现一种下意识心智控制技术，大公司将凭此控制我们。我不赞同传统游戏开发商进军社交游戏领域，社交游戏完全是基于盈利目的，除非你握有畅销IP，能够把游戏变得更具策略性。但我还是建议大家不要进入这个“噩梦”情境，而是制作真正的游戏，娱乐大众，拯救我们美丽的星球。

游戏邦注：原文发布于2010年5月14日，文章叙述以当时为背景。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Opinion: Will Zynga Players Eventually Reject Simple Game Content?

By Azam Khan

Many game designers seem to be discussing the rise of the social gaming phenomenon sweeping across the country. Social games, devoid of story and complicated game mechanics, are filled with highly optimized feedback loops and virtual goods accumulation and raising concerns about their ethicality. Since they “exploit psychological flaws in the human brain” to keep users engaged and paying for comparatively simple game content, is this leading to a motivational bubble that will eventually burst? Read more after the jump.

My fascination with social games is the byproduct of shiny virtual places and the fulfilling feedback I get from collecting money. My clicking skills are phenomenal, especially when collecting scattered coins. I’ve trained my mind to quickly collect and click on scattered gold coins and be on my way. It’s a part of my daily routine and integrated in my schedule as I collect my coins twice a day. That’s amazing. I don’t even check that much. I feel truly rewarded!

The game makers know about me and how often I like to come back. By implementing the right reward at the right time intervals, I succumbed to the might of psychology. Accompanying the satisfaction of the feedback I received, the infamous coin collection sound specifically, were achievements. From badges to ribbons, I no longer needed to memorize long Shakespearean verses to impress my literature aficionado neighbor who consumes Hamlet the way I consume crops.

I know Zynga knows me – I’m a part of their statistics and they’ll be able to better understand me shortly as they begin working with Tableau Software to get more from their data then ever before. But something is changing. The same coin sound isn’t as appealing anymore. The notifications that once welcomed me to Facebook with their little digits with a red background no longer appear but my mind knows that I have to go attend to my crops. The way 2pac mastered the concept of ‘Machiavelli’, Zynga’s brand impulse has fully warped my agrarian nature into a skinner box.

There’s research out there now that suggests giving people extrinsic rewards for completing tasks decreases the subject’s genuine interest in the actual task. A 1973 study “Undermining Children’s Intrinsic Interest with Extrinsic Rewards” by Mark Lepper and others shed light into this issue. The authors hint in the introduction of “the possible side effects and long-term consequences of powerful systems of extrinsic rewards.” The macro-effect of powerful reward systems are key to the growth and retention companies like Zynga experience. The question is, will it last? Welcome to the era of the ‘motivation bubble‘, as David Berkowitz calls it. With power analytics and metrics available, game design is being meticulously showered with calculated extrinsic rewards and achievements. There is no doubt that social games on Facebook are fundamentally ‘games’, and the social motivations that industry executives gleefully worship are a smokescreen for the sinister ploy of milking the consumers. But what’s more important than making as much money as possible?

What worries me is Zynga’s valuation and whether its games will make the leap to fun game design. Are social games really fun? I’m not here to make statements nor am I qualified to discuss the molecular architecture of game design, but I know that personally my interest in these games is weaning. Despite the radiance and charm of new user interfaces and themes social game developers bring my way, I feel like I’m being duped by extrinsic motivators that are masking dull tasks and encouraging me to exploit my friendships for positive gain. Inviting neighbors in Farmville is almost a necessity since visiting neighbors yields money and experience points.

Chris Remo, states in his pristine post that, “the heart of games is not points, but process. Games have the capacity to persuade us because they can depict perspectives on how things work, and they can give us insights into the complex and often ambiguous connections between them.” Instead of immersing us into the wonderful world of natural living, farms are becoming like an etch-a-sketch that we momentarily awe at and covet without knowing why. This gives me a sort of circus like feel where I look at clowns and they are there to make me laugh but inside I think at night they come to life and scare people.

The same way investors were hyped during the dot-coms, this carnival of appointment based mechanics is inflating a motivational bubble right under our noses. Unlike an economic bubble, this bubble isn’t intertwined with other systems and is akin to a virus turning users into zombies for which one day a valiant soul, represented by ‘fun games’, will spread a cure. But you know viruses, they adapt against vaccines, so who knows if the future will bring about an extremely subliminal mind-control technique that powerful corporations will use to puppeteer us. In any case, this post is not to discourage traditional game developers to venturing into the social sphere, it’s almost an economic necessity unless you hold popular IP and can manage to be more strategic in your approach. But I and others urge others, including Zynga, to avoid the ‘nightmare scenario’ and make games that truly games and, although it sounds crazy, entertain people and help our beautiful planet.

Azam Khan is a social gaming consultant and analyst for the social gaming industry. You can find him discussing the latest on social games right here on SocialTimes.com and tweeting at twitter.com/AzamKhan（Source：socialtimes）