The Facebook Gaming Phenomenon and the Morality of Social Gaming Mechanics

Microtransactions have been around since 1887 with the invention of the first slot machine. Social Games are the distilling of the same motivation slot machine players have when they almost hit a jackpot. They focus on the exact moment a player feels compelled to reach for their credit card, then exploit it.

Traditional game developers feel like they're taking the high road by lambasting social developers, when in reality all those developers are doing is fusing the two together.

It's understandable tho that developers who make games out of passion for the medium feel disgrunthed by social game makers with budgets similar to indy games making multiple millions of reoccuring dollars.

Ultimately, this is the same as any other hardcore vs casual gaming debate. If people enjoy them, they'll pay. If people don't enjoy them, they'll go away.

He lost me when he started talking about alcohol sales as morally questionable.