Neighborly Games: Facebook and Web Game News and Reviews
May 20, 2010 3:38 PM Subscribe
Neighborly Games: Facebook and Web Game News and Reviews
It seemed to me that I didn't have a place to go to find out what Facebook games didn't suck, and then when I looked around I couldn't find one. So I built a site to do just that. It's been up for a couple of weeks now, but I'm just getting to the point where I have enough content not to look entirely pathetic. I'd love to know what y'all think - review requests are welcome, too!
A note on the layout: I'm using a slightly-modified free Wordpress template and Paint-derived art for the moment because I'm moderately underemployed and don't have the money to have it done properly. If, however, I start getting a reasonable amount of traffic, that's first on my list. I can rip off php and conceivably Javascript if there's need, but I'm not actually a designer and cargo-cult programming is tedious.
It seemed to me that I didn't have a place to go to find out what Facebook games didn't suck, and then when I looked around I couldn't find one. So I built a site to do just that. It's been up for a couple of weeks now, but I'm just getting to the point where I have enough content not to look entirely pathetic. I'd love to know what y'all think - review requests are welcome, too!
A note on the layout: I'm using a slightly-modified free Wordpress template and Paint-derived art for the moment because I'm moderately underemployed and don't have the money to have it done properly. If, however, I start getting a reasonable amount of traffic, that's first on my list. I can rip off php and conceivably Javascript if there's need, but I'm not actually a designer and cargo-cult programming is tedious.
Thanks! I've been getting good responses so far, although building an audience is a process.
Facebook games are not necessarily aimed at kids - the demo is largely older, by all the research I've seen - but I think parents should have a way to be informed about what their kids are doing. Also some of the web-based games are aimed at kids with laserlike intensity, and I definitely want a space to mention anything iffy with those titles.
I'm trying to pick out things someone might find NOT kid-friendly and mention them. Some games, like Farmville, just plain don't have adult themes, but for example Battle Punks got the following note: "It’s a fighting game, but there’s no blood or graphic violence – just cartoon combat." And My Tribe got "Yes, unless you don’t consider two opposite-sex characters disappearing into a cabin to “summon the stork” euphemistic enough."
I assume that as I get feedback on individual reviews I'll refine that down, but for now I'm just trying to pick out the danger signals. If it's something that attracts attention, I may end up making "Kid-friendly games" its own category so people can look for them specifically.
posted by restless_nomad at 1:14 PM on May 22, 2010
Facebook games are not necessarily aimed at kids - the demo is largely older, by all the research I've seen - but I think parents should have a way to be informed about what their kids are doing. Also some of the web-based games are aimed at kids with laserlike intensity, and I definitely want a space to mention anything iffy with those titles.
I'm trying to pick out things someone might find NOT kid-friendly and mention them. Some games, like Farmville, just plain don't have adult themes, but for example Battle Punks got the following note: "It’s a fighting game, but there’s no blood or graphic violence – just cartoon combat." And My Tribe got "Yes, unless you don’t consider two opposite-sex characters disappearing into a cabin to “summon the stork” euphemistic enough."
I assume that as I get feedback on individual reviews I'll refine that down, but for now I'm just trying to pick out the danger signals. If it's something that attracts attention, I may end up making "Kid-friendly games" its own category so people can look for them specifically.
posted by restless_nomad at 1:14 PM on May 22, 2010
I really like this. As the list grows it would be neat if there was a a way to parse what the least spammy best games were, even if it's just you reviewing the top ten from the past year or something.
posted by edbles at 12:54 PM on June 4, 2010
posted by edbles at 12:54 PM on June 4, 2010
That's a good idea, actually. I'm getting to the point of needing to sort by categories anyway, and I can do that a number of ways. Sorting by low-spam is definitely possible.
It's an interesting problem - some of my favorite games are spammy as hell, but I don't mind if I'm already playing it. But my two current favorite games have no systems designed around spamming, and they seem to be doing just fine, numbers-wise.
posted by restless_nomad at 1:40 PM on June 4, 2010
It's an interesting problem - some of my favorite games are spammy as hell, but I don't mind if I'm already playing it. But my two current favorite games have no systems designed around spamming, and they seem to be doing just fine, numbers-wise.
posted by restless_nomad at 1:40 PM on June 4, 2010
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Cool site. I don't play facebook games, but I like the project. I especially find the magenta box [containing: Kid-friendly, spammy, need lots of friends, and Need to buy in].
Just wondering, what was your reason whether or not it's 'kid-friendly' ? Are you going to attract a certain demographic or do you think that whether a game kid-friendly is an important aspect of the review ?
posted by fizzix at 8:49 AM on May 22, 2010