Tag: social games

The coming launch of Zynga’s CastleVille is spurring new debate over whether social games are truly fun. One side — let’s call them the Intrinsics — says the ceaseless clicking that social games require is ultimately shallow. The opposite camp — the Extrinsics — says millions of people who play social games every day wouldn’t be doing it if they weren’t having fun. Who’s right? We asked Nicole Lazzaro, a psychologist and an expert on what makes games fun to play. Lazzaro, who has spent years dissecting all manner of bestselling games to discover the essence of fun,  boiled it down to four ingredients. Put simply, fun games engage players’ curiosity, allow players to socialize with friends, challenge players to overcome obstacles to achieve goals and somehow relate to people’s lives in a meaningful way. In her opinion, the vast majority of top games have ...