Oh yes, the game is still evolving; ranks have been extended from 1-7 to 1-10, with 11-15 on the way. The Covens enable interaction at God level (down to 7 in Vamps, only at 10 in the other apps) and a completely different way of playing the game based on personal interactions, online friendships and sharing strategies. The dread Chicken Suit is being used co-operatively to escalate junior creatures progression upwards. The top players in all the apps are probably now unbeatable by those who have not made the effort to join in and form friendships.
In some respects some tiny aspects of culthood are emerging. So far so benign…and anyway it is a massive amount of fun for all ages. At least five decades are represented so far in the higher echelon agegroups.

Instead of focusing on hardcore v.s. casual online games, why not look at the popular online games that are _already_ being played out there for years?

A trip to Yahoo Games, shows the Top 20 games being played. Pool is #1. It’s funny that Pool was #1 5 years ago. Scrabble is at #7 — except that it is not an online game that runs from your browser.

So the question is, how can we take advantage of the Facebook platform’s social map, and apply that to already popular online games?

Whenever I play games online with someone I _know_ is just 10 times more fun, because when you win, you get bragging rights! Well, Facebook creates a social network of your friends so….

Kashif

–matt

What I find interesting about social networks as a games platform in addition to all the things talked about here is that the amount of play data you have and the willingness of people to provide feedback. With a large, vocal player community and the ability to make instant tweaks to your game based on feedback, social networks should in theory provide the ultimate platform for casual games - even standalone ones. We certainly haven’t been able to resist the temptation to provide little fixes, tweaks and optimisations based on behaviour and feedback.

It’ll be interesting to see how the medium will make games evolve and help us all become better game designers. Posted more on this at http://blog.playfish.com

And I completely agree, Xian: Casual and Hardcore are very nebulous terms.

I have always resisted games, though each of my four sons has gone through periods of intense attachment to them. MySpace is too clunky, Bebo is too childish, but I succumbed utterly to Facebook . I am a Vampire Jedi (Level 5) - and quite absurdly proud of it (while working hard to get to Level 6 as the costume is so much more flattering)…
As a psychology graduate, it is fascinating to observe,as detachedly as possible under the circumstances, my relationship with my avatar. Had I thought of running any baseline test, I think you’d find reduced inhibitions in real life as a result of running around Facebook in a few scraps of lace or ribbons, with fangs dripping blood . But it’s not really gaming as such, even though points are involved. I think it’s something different. More like steps into the world Neal Stephenson postulated in Snow Crash, maybe.
But they’re really going to have to upgrade the artwork and the costumes, too boring wearing the same outfit every day. Have offered my services as a wardrobe consultant…