作者：Michael Abbott

《Tiny Tower》不是款有趣的游戏。不断点击小屏幕，重复相同任务或许是某人眼中的趣味。但对我来说不是。

Tiny Tower from ewtang.com

不要轻易相信我的话。且让我进行论证。

《Tiny Tower》毫无趣味，下面是证据。Kurt Squire和Henry Jenkins，两位都是业内备受尊敬的学者，相信我。在其创意论文《The Art of Contested Spaces》中，他们阐述游戏如何传递乐趣。

他们将“空间探索”列为关键字。持续凝视静态成群高楼数小时不是我眼中的空间探索。Squire和Jenkins还提到“虚拟浪漫主义”（善良&邪恶，英雄关卡），《Tiny Tower》也缺乏这些元素。

《Tiny Tower》似乎不符合Squire/Jenkins的所有标准（空间设计和社交空间）。但我知道你的想法，或许我只从一个视角切入，对这款游戏有点不公平。

让我们参考另一颇有威望的观点：Tom Francis——业内杰出游戏作家。

他最近写了篇非常优秀的文章《What Makes Games Good》，其内容也包含系列《Tiny Tower》无法满足的标准。下面是我就《Tiny Tower》在Tom Francis系列标准表现的评级（游戏邦注：Michael Abbott是位老师，因此习惯就某些内容进行评级）。

* 挑战：花费几分钟弄清怎么玩《Tiny Tower》后，我发现游戏唯一的挑战是需每隔10分钟检查iPhone。等级：D。

* 感觉：我借助输入设备点击屏幕，这令屏幕变得有些模糊。表现非常糟糕。若手指持续停留屏幕，升降机便会上升。这就是游戏呈现的“感觉”。等级：F。

* 自由：游戏提供的内容完全和自由相悖。体验游戏让我觉得自己像个受束缚的仆人。若我稍有松懈，一切就会前功尽弃。我被传递相同信息的通知所包围：回去工作！！等级：F。

下面就来总结Tom Francis罗列的几大游戏要素：

* 地点（你希望进入的世界）：《Tiny Tower》在此毫无吸引力。其实，远离空间令我能够把握大局。这些成群小精灵或许喜欢这里，但我只在外面观望。等级：F。

* 希望（未来发展的期望）：哦，几乎没有。我在这款游戏中看到的唯一“未来可能”就是越来越多楼层。我想创建高楼或许对某些人来说颇有前途，但我自己不会在这款重复游戏中投入大把时间。等级：D。

所以，就像你所看到的，《Tiny Tower》无法满足Tom Francis陈述的标准。但或许游戏有呈现其中某些内容。

我刚查看我的《Fun Factors Catalog》，猜猜结果怎么样？《Tiny Tower》的确表现得非常糟糕。解决谜题？没有。危险/害怕/惊讶感觉？没有。竞争？没有。角色富有创新和感觉？没有。简直一无是处。

《Tiny Tower》几乎无可救药。其游戏设计糟糕透顶。显然只有两类玩家会喜欢这类游戏：1）生活空虚之人；2）无法操作真正游戏的群体。我很高兴自己不在其中之列，因为若我成为其中之一，我会觉得自己一无是处，有些可悲。我玩《Outland》之类的游戏（游戏邦注：这款游戏瞄准真正领会电子游戏的玩家）。

此外，我还需弄清我的《Tiny Tower》积蓄是否能在iPhone和iPad同步。这个功能能够大大改善我的生活质量。因为我无法总是随身带着iPad，不玩游戏的时候，这些钱币就会自动积累下来。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Tiny Tower: FAIL

By Michael Abbott

I don’t think that having one wall completely missing is up to code.
—Dora Spencer, Tiny Tower Bitizen

Tiny Tower is not a fun game. It just isn’t. Endlessly poking at a little screen, repeating the same tasks ad nauseum may be somebody’s idea of fun, but not mine.

Don’t take my word for it. Let me prove it to you. But first, hold on a second while I restock my sandwich shop with supplies…

Okay, I’m back. What was I saying? …Oh, right. Tiny Tower is no fun, and here’s proof. Kurt Squire and Henry Jenkins – two of the most respected scholars in their fields – agree with me. In their seminal essay “The Art of Contested Spaces” they attempt to explain how games deliver fun.

They cite “Spatial Exploration” as a key. Well let me tell you that staring at a static blocky tower for hours on end ain’t exactly my idea of exploring a space. Squire and Jenkins also mention “Virtual Romanticism” (good vs evil, heroic quests, etc.), and Tiny Tower comes up empty there too.

It turns out that Tiny Tower fails nearly every Squire/Jenkins criteria (atmospheric design, social space, etc.) Okay, fine. But I know what you’re thinking. Maybe I’m being unfair to the game by applying only one critical lens.

Let’s consult another respected source: Tom Francis – one of the best writers on games in the business. But hold the phone a sec, a VIP just showed up in my lobby, and I need to get her up to the 7th floor pronto.

…So, Tom Francis. Right. He wrote a clever piece recently called “What Makes Games Good,” and his list includes a bunch of other criteria that Tiny Towers chokes on. Here they are, accompanied by grades assigned by me, because I’m a teacher, which entitles me to assign grades to anything.

* Challenge: After a few minutes figuring out how to play Tiny Tower, the only real challenge I can detect is remembering to check my iPhone every ten minutes. Grade: D

* Feel: I’m poking a screen with an input device that obscures said screen. Fail. Holding my finger on the screen makes the elevator go up. That’s about it for “feel.” Grade: F

* Freedom: This game delivers the opposite of freedom. Playing it makes me feel like an indentured servant. If I slough off even a little, everything shuts down. I’m buried in notifications that all deliver the same message: Get back to work!! Grade: F

Speaking of work, a tenant just moved in whose dream job is to work in a travel agency. Eureka! I just opened a travel agency. Supply discounts for me! Hold on while I evict a guy and move this keeper into his job…

Okay, I’m back. So, wrapping up Tom Francis’s list:

* Place (“a world you want to be in”): Tiny Tower has no appeal here. In fact, keeping my distance from this place helps me keep tabs on the big picture. These blocky little people may like it here, but I’m definitely on the outside looking in. Grade: F

* Promise (“the temptation of further possibilities”): Uh, no. The only “further possibilities” I can see with this game are more floors followed by more floors. I suppose building a ridiculously tall tower can be seen as promising to some, but I can’t see myself devoting that much time to such a repetitive game. Grade: D

So, as you can see, Tiny Tower fails the Tom Francis test. But wait. I made my own list of “Fun Factors” awhile back. Maybe this game delivers on some of those. Let’s check and find out…after I install some dollar slot machines in my casino. Because, see, if I get a celebrity in here any time soon, this floor will deliver major moolah that I need to open more apartments. Because I need more workers in this joint. Because I’ve been evicting dead-weight tenants left and right.

Well, I just consulted my Fun Factors Catalog, and guess what? That’s right, Tiny Tower stumbles badly again. Puzzle solving? Nope. Sense of danger/fear/surprise? Nope. Learning from failure (i.e. “the hard teacher)? Nope. Competition? Nope. Creating and feeling connected to a character? Nope. A heaping mound of fail.

Tiny Tower is hopeless. As game design, it’s a disaster. Clearly, the players who enjoy this type of game fall into one of two categories: 1) People with empty lives. 2) People who can’t handle real games. I’m glad I don’t fall into either category, because if I did I would feel worthless and pathetic. I play games like Outland – a game for people who truly appreciate video games. I’ll write about that one very soon.

In the meantime, I need to figure out if it’s possible to sync my Tiny Tower saves between my iPhone and iPad. This one feature would improve my quality of life dramatically. Because I can’t always carry my iPad with me, and those coins really add up when you’re not playing. Plus, somebody just delivered flowers to Dora Spencer, and how is she supposed to get them if I’m not there?（Source：brainygamer）