最近，前软件开发商Terence McGhee宣称目前的Facebook平台游戏大部分都不适合核心游戏玩家。因此，他决心开发一款符合核心游戏玩家喜好的高挑战Facebook游戏。他认为“游戏要有一定的难度，做到有赏有罚。”Terence McGhee的最新力作Space Force Fleet Commander秉持其理念，主要面向传统游戏玩家。

space force fleet

在游戏Space Force Fleet Commander中，玩家将驾驶宇宙飞船漫游于太空之中。作为一名飞船指挥官，玩家要有足够的实力与外星敌人Xgurg一较高下。战斗胜利后，玩家可提升经验值，技能点和飞船声誉，同时还可以购买更新式更强大的宇宙飞船。

McGhee开发该游戏的理由可以说是和任天堂Wii“开发简单游戏，吸引潜在玩家”的理念完全相反。这也可以是当今社交游戏市场发展的一个方向。以热门社交游戏FarmVille和CityVille为例，游戏中玩家即便做出了不当选择也不会受到任何惩罚，任何心智正常的玩家都可以很快地学会游戏操作。

那么，游戏究竟是应该面向大众呢？还是应该迎合传统游戏玩家的喜好？游戏开发商们正面临着这种抉择。“我当然希望更多的人喜欢和参与到我们的游戏中来，但却又不想开发简单的‘流水账’游戏，我希望游戏可以给人们带去更多的成就感”。然而，任天堂和Zynga等游戏巨头公司却不以为然。

目前据游戏邦了解，Space Force Fleet Commander大约有1400名月活跃用户，这一数据根本无法与CityVille近1亿800万的月活跃用户基础相提并论。但玩家数量果真如此重要吗？休闲游戏公司PopCap的游戏开发理念也与McGhee的相类似。尽管Zynga等游戏开发公司目前领跑了社交游戏市场，但谁知道未来会有什么变化呢？

游戏邦认为，社交游戏应该呈现更加多元化的发展方向。就目前的市场趋势看来，大众化的游戏受到了玩家的广泛好评。但这一情况在未来可能会有所变化，那时游戏开发商必须要能够适应变化。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Terence McGhee, former software developer, believes that not enough games on Facebook are created for hardcore gamers. With that being said, his mission is to develop more games that appeal to those gamers who are looking for a challenge, “A game must have a certain degree of challenge. It must reward good decision-making and punish poor decision-making.” Space Force Fleet Commander, McGhee’s solution, attempts to bring gaming back to traditional gamers instead of ordinary people.

Imagine yourself being the commander of your very own fleet of starships. As commander, you have the power to battle against other leaders and the Xgurg – an alien menace. As you win battles you gain experience, skill points, and ship credits, which then allows you to buy better and more powerful starships. Negotiation is not an option with the Xgurg; they are not interested in peace or coexistence. Don’t worry though, they only seek a certain human substance, which can only be obtained through painful measures. If you think the pain will end shortly because of your average lifespan, think again. The Xgurg posses advanced biological knowledge to keep humans alive for hundreds of years while being subjugated to unimaginable degrees of anguish and torment.

McGhee explains that his approach to gaming is the exact opposite of what Nintendo is doing with its Wii console, “Make it easy for everyone to succeed and more people will be interested in the product”. His comparison to Nintendo’s Wii, in my opinion, is an excellent way to look at social gaming in the market today. If you take a look at games like FarmVille or CityVille, gamers are not penalized for making wrong decisions. In fact, it seems as though any competent person could effectively learn how to play these games.

Should gaming companies create games for the majority of the market or should traditional gamers take priority? This divide in the gaming world is becoming more apparent to developers, “I’m all for more people enjoying the games and the platforms, but I don’t really want my gaming experience ‘watered-down’, so that more people can feel a sense of accomplishment,” McGhee expressed. However, gaming giants like Nintendo and Zynga have taken a different approach to gaming, which leads me to my final comment.

Space Force Fleet Commander generates around 1,400 monthly active users to date. Even though this number is very low compared to CityVille‘s 100.8 million MAU, does it necessarily matter? As I stated in my article regarding development strategies, PopCap has the same mentality towards gaming as McGhee. Sure development companies like Zynga have the market right now, but what about in the future?

My suggestion is that businesses who specialize in social gaming should be diverse. As of now, the market looks as though it wants games for the average gamer. However, the future market may be different. If it does branch out, developers need to be able to adapt to these changes. Specializing in one type of game is not the answer to the solution. (Source: socialtimes)