Social Media and Games

My response to MyEmpire is that the game is a solid example of what one to should expect from a social game, where the player is expected to try to involve their friends to get ahead, pay money to get ahead, or deal with limitation before getting ahead. I like how the game takes the theme of Roman empire and allows the players to try to build up their own Simcity like civilization. So far my experience in the game has been as well as a free user can be, although it does get a bit annoying waiting for the tax collection to occur. Nevertheless, most of my gaming experience has been getting as many workers into my village for the purpose of both creating buildings and gaining as much tax money as possible.

MyEmpire capitalizes on my social network by allowing me to try to get friends involved by directly messaging their facebook account, which provides me with benefits in game and promotes the game for the game’s publisher. The reality is that I may gain some in-game reward that only matters in the game’s universe, but the game’s publishers may gain more ad money and somebody that may pay real money. So bascially MyEmpire capitalizes on my social network by maybe attaining new players that may or may not have money signs hanging over their heads.

So far, I can’t say I like this game very much. I am not won over by the visual elements. I play a similar game that has the ability to toggle the graphics on and off with off displaying data numerically. I prefer to see things in straight numbers rather than the animations.
Being a social game, I understand the drive to develop friendships, however, I don’t like how it seems as though the game depends on friendships. It is worse for me than others, I am sure, since I created a false Facebook account in order to play these games, therefore I only have a few friends, and do not wish to bug them with this game.
The idea behind the game is cool and as it was mentioned by another member of this group, it is very much like simcity or even civilization for the historical effects minus the war.

I will continue to play for a little while longer, but the lack of a decent tutorial and fun has me deterred.

My experiences towards Empire are good because I can customize my character and I can choose which village I want to work with. I am free to do whatever I want to do and make peace with it. I am on Level 2 and I decided to create a pit that was made from dirt. The controls for the game are great and I am able to move around in different areas.

MyEmpire is a simplied version of SimCity, limiting the game to two important factors players must be concerned about: Population and Happiness. Other than that, players can build, collect taxes, and invite friends to increase the speed of your Empire’s growth.

MyEmpire capitalizes on Facebook by forcing players to invite friends to help construct buildings (one can’t level up without completing mission goals). Certain buildings, such as Stonehenge, require players to either receive tar from friends to finish construction or through the Rare Goods Pit (which requires real money in order to build!).

With friends, players can trade between eachother’s Empire, while encompanying eachother to create buildings. Thus stimulating teamwork through Facebook.

Currently, I’m only Level 6 with a population of 600. Unfortunately, without inviting friends or paying real money, I can’t advance in the game without game money. Game money can be received through real money, invites, waiting about 3 hours for tax collection (a real time waster!), or by other means.

In terms of game review, the interface is easy to learn. I love how the game slowly introduces new game concepts and buttons to the player, allowing a new player to learn quickly and efficiently. In addition, worrying about only two concepts, Population and Happiness, is a breeze, requiring barely any time commitment in terms of game management.

The music can be a bit annoying at times, but has a warm and welcoming feel to it. The music is simple, elegant, and very ambient. After a while, the music fades into white noise. Although after a long while, the music soon gets very annoying. Contradictory? Very much.

The graphics are very much like Farmville – Cartoony, simple, childish and colorful.

All in all, the game is very enjoyable and watching an Empire slowly grow from literally nothing is cool to exciting.