作者：Kate Hancock

公正地说，Facebook游戏开发商做了许多正确的事情，吸引玩家选择社交游戏。现在，我们能否改变只点击鼠标的界面，满足那些有更多需求的玩家呢？

人们点击鼠标的次数取决于他们想要从社交游戏中获得多少东西，比如销售和购买虚拟道具、赠送礼物和帮助邻居、收获作物、喂养动物、打扫和装饰等。

增加娱乐性

社交游戏缺乏的真正可玩性要素似乎是挑战和机会。除了这些之外，多数游戏元素似乎都无趣而且可以被删减。

玩家确实会尝试小测试或偶尔出现的小游戏，但是我们应该考虑的是更现实的问题。单凭点击鼠标来做游戏中所有事情的吸引力在何处（游戏邦注：包括那些猜谜类小游戏）？玩家渴望获得更多内容。

文字游戏、填字游戏、数独和象棋等真正带有挑战性的游戏不是更好吗？传统休闲游戏必然可以用某种方式制成Facebook上的社交游戏，这些游戏将会有很好的表现。

塔防（游戏邦注：如《植物大战僵尸》）、消除、隐藏物品、排序、记忆、解谜、迷宫、快速点击、琐事和卡牌游戏，几乎所有可以想到的休闲题材都可以选择。与Parker Brothers联手推出社交游戏，PopCap也可以选择开发《FarmVille》和《Petville》主题的《幻幻球》、《祖玛》和《宝石迷阵》。光想想这些就让我感到很兴奋。

植物大战僵尸(from news.newhua.com)

付费玩游戏

如果游戏体验更像街机游戏而不是像在逛Facebook游戏的Amazon.com（游戏邦注：作者意指社交游戏只是在展示虚拟商品供玩家购买），我会更愿意在社交游戏中花钱。

为何不参考我在游戏中的行为来发放游戏道具呢？比如，我花1美元购买Farm Cash来参加《FarmVille》主题的幻幻球锦标赛。如果我的得分超过X，我会得到某个特别的游戏道具，兑换成Farm Cash可能价值5美元。

出于上述考虑，为何不出售用充值货币购买的“游戏票”或“锦标赛入场券”呢？如果不奖励特殊的游戏内道具，让我们赢取更多可随心所欲使用的充值货币，可用来购买更多“游戏票”或用于农场、水族馆和城市中的虚拟商品。

此类玩法才是我所喜爱的Facebook游戏，我就不会离开游戏，开发商也无需费神考虑如何说服我回到游戏中。

尽管我不确定为何社交游戏的准则能够发挥作用，但事实确实如此。成功的Facebook游戏开发商已经研发出某些特别的东西，此前无人对其有过描述。他们以我们所不理解的方式来利用玩家的大脑，而玩家正因此而为这些游戏着迷。

尽管点击鼠标的玩法简单且适合于多数社交游戏元素（游戏邦注：如种植、饲养、情节和收获等），我们的想象力和打发时间的欲望也只能止步于此。但玩家确实想要更多的内容，别从小游戏方向考虑，考虑将休闲游戏互动整合到社交游戏中。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Hungry for More Challenge and Chance in Social Games

Kate Hancock

This weekend over at Frisky Mongoose, I rambled off a lengthy list of reasons why people play social games, and I think it’s fair to say that Facebook game developers are doing a lot of things right. Now can they change their click-only interfaces to feed players who are hungry for more?

People will click as many times as they need to make what they want out of a social game. But after all the shopping and buying of virtual items, sending gifts and helping neighbors, harvesting crops, feeding animals, cleaning and decorating…

How about a little fun?

It seems like the only real gameplay elements lacking in social games are challenge and chance. Beyond mystery boxes, most game elements are pretty darn cut and dry.

Oh they dabble – a little trivia and the occasional mini-game – but let’s get real. What’s engaging about clicking a mouse to do *everything* in a game? (Including those lucky-guess style minigames.) Players are getting hungry.

What about word challenges, crossword puzzles, soduku, chess – something with true challenge? (PetVille’s Bubble Pop is a step in the right direction.) Surely traditional casual games could be somehow incorporated into our humble Facebook game abodes, and it would be glorious.

Tower defense (here’s looking at you Plants vs. Zombies), match-3, hidden object, jumble, memory, puzzles, mazes, fastest-finger, trivia, card games, and basically any casual genre thinkable are all viable options. Partner with someone like Parker Brothers and give us social game Sorry! Or PopCap could always roll out FarmVille- and Petville-themed Peggle, Zuma and Bejeweled. I’m excited just thinking about it!

Pay to PLAY

I’d be more willing to spend real money in social games if the experience were more like an arcade and less like Amazon.com for Facebook game merchandise. What I mean is…

Why shouldn’t my in-game item collection be partially based on my performance? Just for example’s sake, say I pay $1 real dollars-worth of Farm Cash to play in a FarmVille-themed Peggle tournament. If I score more than X points, I get a special in-game item that’s otherwise available for the Farm Cash equivalent of $5 real dollars.

For that matter, how about selling “game tickets” or “tournament entries” (for premium currency). And instead of awarding special in-game items, just let us win more premium currency to spend however we like – whether that’s on more “game tickets” or on virtual goods for our farms, aquariums and cities?

If this type of gameplay were available in my favorite Facebook games, I’d never want to leave. So you wouldn’t have to worry about convincing me to come back.

B-I-N-G-O

I’m not sure why it is that the social game formula works, but it definitely does. Successful Facebook game developers have figured out something special that no one has yet been able (or willing) to describe. They’ve tapped into our brains in ways we don’t understand, and we, the players love them for it.

Our imaginations and time-wasting desires can only go so far though… The mouse-click interface is simple and fine for most social game elements (planting, feeding, cleaning, harvesting, etc.) But we’re getting hungry for more. Don’t think mini-games, think integrated casual gaming interaction.

You can lead a player to water, now let him drink. (Source: Triple Point)