2011年社交游戏5大糟糕发展趋势编辑本段回目录
我们回顾过去时，总是希望为一些美好结果而欢庆。那么，那些糟糕的结果呢？2011年发生了许多让我们头疼的事，其中有一些甚至变成了一种让人害怕的趋势。尽管绝大多数趋势会一直延续到明年，但是我们都希望在2012年，这种趋势能够消除影响。
趋势1——恐怖目标隐藏游戏
设想一下你身处于恐怖电影的场景中，这里没有喜剧，没有传记也没有任何引发深思的历史碎片，有的只是各种恐怖的画面。就像是待在鬼屋，收容所或者被遗弃的游乐园里，周边总是围绕着阴冷可怕的氛围。
而如果将电影换成游戏，即“目标隐藏游戏”，也就是2011年游戏领域最盛行的一大趋势。
scary HOG(from gamezebo)
恐怖的目标隐藏游戏并不是新的游戏类型，但是在2011年这种游戏的发展却达到了顶峰。今年，几乎所有登上游戏资讯网站Gamezebo头版的恐怖目标隐藏游戏都致力于让玩家“心惊肉跳”。例如《Shiver: Vanishing Hitchhiker》，《PuppetShow: Lost Town》以及《Twisted Lands: Insomniac》等等。
其中一些游戏，如最近发布的《Mystery Case Files: Escape from Ravenhearst》收到了不少负面反馈信息。有用户评价这款游戏“在某些方面非常粗野，”以及“粗糙，庸俗”。甚至有观察者认为它“不只是主题阴暗，在某些环节上也太过于怪异。”难道这就是我们想要的游戏？
不知大家是否记得《Classic Adventures: The Great Gatsby》这款曾颇受好评的目标隐藏游戏，它至少不会让玩家去寻找失踪的脚或者鲜血淋漓的骨头。这一点很关键！
趋势2——优秀Facebook游戏相继夭折
Zynga是一个能够让你更好地衡量自己实力的公司，因为不论你制作出了多么优秀的Facebook游戏，他们总会想方设法超越你。也许这也是为何这么多公司迅速关闭了自己旗下优秀游戏的原因吧。看到拥有5千万玩家的《CityVille》，哪一款游戏都难免产生压力。
谁也说不准Zynga是否真的是这种趋势的始作俑者，但毫无疑问，2011年最糟糕的一大趋势便是一些大受欢迎游戏的相继夭折。Playdom便是一大受害者，该公司旗下游戏《Social City》，《Market Street》以及《ESPNU College Town》都在此期间相继末落。
Playdom games(from gamezebo)
Playdom游戏用户数量也大大下滑了，如《Social City》的月活跃用户甚至降至27万，与其峰值的百万玩家相差甚远——但与此同时，这款游戏仍然是Playdom十大活跃游戏之一。而且需注意的是，正因为它的成功，Zynga才创造出了《CityVille》这款在Facebook上排名第一的游戏。
不只是Playdom，还有许多公司也难免同样命运，如Playfish关闭了《My Empire》，《Hotel City》等，PlayFirst关闭了《Diner Dash》，这种趋势仍然在蔓延。
趋势3——博彩游戏人气有增无减
在线博彩游戏总是非常苛刻，特别是在美国。这就像是一种商业模式，你与对方签订了协议，将钱存在一个账户里，然后想象自己真正置身于赌场一样，你肯定也会希望能够从中赢回所有的奖金。但是事实并非如此。
如果我说在在线赌场游戏中，你需要支付现金，赌博，然后赢钱，但是却不能收到真正的奖金你会怎样？而如果你预先知道了这个事实但却仍然义无反顾地往里面砸钱，那就说明你已经中了这种免费扑克和博彩游戏的毒了。
Zynga Poker(from gamezebo)
《Zynga Poker》等游戏已经出现有一段时间了，但在2011年此类游戏不仅再次席卷了市场，并且获得了良好的成就。《Zynga Poker》现在仍然能够每月吸引将近3千万的玩家，并且成为Facebook上第四大受欢迎的游戏。如今在App Store的10大热门游戏排行榜中就有两款“免费”扑克游戏，紧随其后的是排名12的《Card Ace: Casino》和排名26的《Slotomania》。
为何玩家宁愿砸钱去玩那些没有回报的游戏也不愿直接去赌场赢钱呢？难怪Zynga要创建着旗下的Zynga Casino游戏品牌。
趋势4——跨平台游戏体验仍然有限
当开发者在单一平台发行了一款游戏，也许我们会觉得没什么，但如果他们在多个平台发行一款单人游戏，我们就看不到这款游戏兼容不同平台的理由了。但如果你的游戏带有社交性以及多人游戏元素，并且投放于多个平台，那就要确保这些平台之间的兼容性不会有问题。
cityville(from gamezebo)
我们不只一次看到许多带着跨平台旗号的社交游戏并未真正具备跨平台元素。尽管你可以在Facebook和iPhone/iPad上玩《CityVille》，但是你却是在建造两座完全不同的城市。尽管《Smurfs’ Village》在今年也进入了Android Market，但是Android版本的玩家却不能与其iPhone版本的好友进行互动。更糟糕的是，Android版本的玩家不能获得iOS玩家所拥有的定期更新内容这项福利。
但也有许多开发者正致力于摆脱这种劣势。《Buddy Rush》，《Shadow Era》以及《Words with Friends》等游戏都让玩家能够在不同设备上获得相同的好友信息。但是这还远远不够，我们希望所有游戏有望在2012年彻底根治这个问题。
趋势5——Facebook仍然主导社交游戏市场
可能有人会说：“Facebook主导着社交游戏。所以除了这里人们还有其它选择吗？”
Google+(from gamezebo)
是否还记得谷歌年初发行Google+平台时，不少舆论认为Facebook将遇到竞争对手的情况？随后谷歌便开始在这个平台上推出Google Games服务，但是这是否说明我们即将拥有一个能够替代Facebook的游戏平台？直到1个月前，Google+仍然只有28款游戏，而绝大多数游戏同时也出现在Facebook平台。
MySpace似乎也认准了社交游戏平台这个发展方向，Hi5仿佛也有同样的打算。但是最后，人们却仍然会选择自己所熟知的社交游戏平台——Facebook。
不知道Zynga即将问世的网站Zynga Direct能否在2012年改变这股潮流？我们拭目以待。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，作者：Jim Squires）
Worst Trends of 2011
By Jim Squires
When we look back at the year that was, we like to celebrate the best of the best. But what about the absolute worst? Yep – 2011 was filled with a lot of stinkers too, and some of those lousy things popped up more often than others. That makes them trends. Awful, awful, trends. And while most of them will carry over into the next year, we’re all going to close our eyes and wish real hard that we don’t see any of this nonsense in 2012.
#1 – Scary hidden object games
Imagine, if you will, a world where every movie that came out was a horror movie. There were no comedies, no biographies – no historical pieces that make you think – just edge-of-your-seat, jump-inducing, pushing the envelope on acceptable, horror movies. Now imagine that they’re all set in a haunted house. Or an asylum. Or an abandoned amusement park.
Swap out the word “movie” for “hidden object game,” and you’ve just described 2011 in a nutshell.
Scary hidden object games are nothing new, but they seem to have reached their zenith in 2011. Nearly every other HOG to hit the front page of Gamezebo this year was something designed to give you the willies. Shiver: Vanishing Hitchhiker, PuppetShow: Lost Town, Twisted Lands: Insomniac… the list goes on and on.
Some of them, like the recent Mystery Case Files: Escape from Ravenhearst, went so far that the game received a bit of blowback from the Gamezebo community. User reviews have described it as “absolutely GROSS in some parts,” and “rude crude and vulgar.” Even our official review described it as “not just thematically dark, it’s also straight-up grotesque in parts.” Really? Is this what we want in a game?
Note to developers: You know what the first HOG to earn a perfect score from Gamezebo was? Classic Adventures: The Great Gatsby. And there’s not a single missing foot or bag of blood-soaked bones to find.
#2 – The untimely death of good Facebook games
Zynga is a tough company to measure yourself against. No matter how good your Facebook game might be doing, they’re bound to have one that’s doing better. Maybe that’s why so many companies are so quick to kill they’re great games. Living in the shadow of 50 million CityVille players has got to give you something of a complex.
Whether the Zynga measurement really has anything to do with this trend is anybody’s guess (though it’s clearly my working theory), but without a doubt, one of the worst trends of 2011 has to be popular Facebook games having their plugs pulled for not being quite popular enough. Playdom has been a pretty big offender here, killing games like Social City, Market Street, and ESPNU College Town over the last year.
Sure their numbers were dwindling – heck, Social City was down to 270,000 monthly active users when the announcement was made, which is a far cry from the millions it received at its peak – but at the same time, it’s still in their top 10 most active games. And considering its success arguably inspired Zynga to create CityVille, Facebook’s #1 game, doesn’t it seem like they could have done something to stay relevant? Come on, Playdom. You have Disney money to throw around now.
It’s not like we’re trying to single out Playdom, either. Playfish killed My Empire, Hotel City and more, PlayFirst killed Diner Dash… the list goes on and on. Come on Facebook developers – if your game gains traction once, it can do it again. Don’t be so quick to throw in the towel!
#3 – Casino games that you can pay into, but never cash out of
Online gambling has had a pretty harsh few years, especially in the US. It’s a business where you sign up, deposit money into an account, play as you would in a casino, and then – hopefully – withdraw your winnings without any problems.
But this entry isn’t about that.
What if I told you there was an online casino community that you paid real money into, gambled, won big, and never saw a dime of the winnings? Now what if I told you that you were aware of this in advance, and yet you still spent the money happily? Congratulations – you’ve just discovered the world of freemium poker and casino apps.
Games like Zynga Poker have been around for awhile now, but 2011 saw titles like this not only flood the market, but actually perform incredibly well. In fact despite its age, Zynga Poker still draws in nearly 30 million people a month, making it the fourth most popular game on Facebook. Two different “free” poker titles are currently sitting the Top 10 Grossing Games list in the App Store, followed closely by Card Ace: Casino at #12 and Slotomania at #26.
Seriously, people. If you’re going to spend the money, why not just go to a casino where you might get some back? No wonder Zynga’s launching the Zynga Casino brand.
#4 – Games that aren’t cross-platform
Let’s not confuse matters any – when a developer releases a game on a single platform, that’s totally fine in our books. Likewise, if they release a single-player experience on multiple platforms, we don’t see a single reason to work any kind of cross-platform compatability into it. But when your games are built around the idea of social and multiplayer elements, and they’re available on more than one platform? Those platforms had better be prepared to talk with each other without fail.
Time and time again, we’re seeing social games hit multiple platforms without any kind of proper cross-platform support. Sure you can play CityVille on Facebook and on your iPhone/iPad – but you have to build two separate cities. Likewise, Smurfs’ Village may have hit the Android Market this year, but iPhone Smurfers can’t hook up with their Android friends. Worse yet, Android gamers don’t seem to get any of the seasonal content updates that iOS gamers do!
There are a lot of developers that are bucking this trend, and it’s something we’re delighted to see. Games like Buddy Rush, Shadow Era, and Words with Friends work beautifully between friends on different devices, but we need to see all games of this nature work this way. It’s a problem we complained about back in June 2011, and hopefully it’s one we’ll see eradicated by June 2012.
#5 – The dominance of Facebook in social games
“Well of course Facebook is dominant in social games,” you say. “Where else are people going to go?” That question, my dear readers, is the very point of this entry.
Remember when Google+ launched earlier this year, and people were abuzz with a viable alternative to Facebook? Then they quickly launched the Google Games service on Plus, and it looked like we were in line for a finely curated alternative to Facebook gaming? That was months ago, and in that time, only 28 games have launched – most all of which, it seems, are also available on Facebook.
MySpace was going to reinvent itself as a destination for social gaming. Hi5 was prepping to do the same thing too. But at the end of the day, people are only going to play where the people they already know are, and that’s Facebook.
Could Zynga’s upcoming network, Zynga Direct, be the thing that changes the tide in 2012? We’re looking forward to finding out.（source:gamezebo）
