A controversy is brewing over a popular Facebook application called PackRat, where users collect sets of illustrated cards for points and levels. The company behind the application, Alamofire, says that users generate up to 500 daily page views per day on the application trying to hunt down the right card to complete a collection.
A big part of the game is “stealing” cards from friends, and so a lot of users add other users as friends so that their cards can be obtained. The application’s popularity has also led some users to create Facebook accounts for the sole purpose of playing the game.
Some of those accounts are now being disabled by Facebook, according to this discussion forum on the application site.
What’s curious is the email sent from Facebook to one deleted user, which states that Facebook isn’t a social network (it’s a “social utility”) and isn’t meant to build large groups of new friends. Instead, Facebook is meant to reinforce “pre-existing” social connections:
Please note that Facebook accounts are meant for authentic usage only. This means that we expect accounts to reflect mainly “real-world” contacts (i.e. your family, schoolmates, co-workers, etc.), rather than mainly “internet-only” contacts. As stated on our home page, Facebook is a social utility that connects you with the people around you, not a “social networking site”. It is meant to help reinforce pre-existing social connections, not build large groups of new ones. If this is in direct contrast to what you expected as legitimate Facebook usage, I apologize for any confusion. This is simply the intention behind the site.
Accounts that are used solely for the purpose of applications are in violation of our Terms of Use. Unfortunately, I will not be able to reactivate your account. Sorry for any inconvenience, but this decision is final.
Thanks for your understanding,
Lauren
User Operations
Facebook
It’s true that Facebook has stated clearly that their intention is to be a sort of mirror to the real world social graph. But it’s unavoidably true that new friendships are made on the site, too. Even friendships forged for the sole purpose of playing a game made by a third party developer.
Even former Facebook President Sean Parker (and current stockholder) said recently at TechCrunch50 that he had far more Facebook friends than real world friends.
Facebook’s real message here may be “please don’t make fake accounts just to play this game,” but that isn’t what they’re saying. Techcrunch emailed them for clarification.
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The US space agency is exploring the possibility of developing a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game.
The virtual world would be aimed at students and would “simulate real Nasa engineering and science missions”.
The agency has published a “request for information” (RFI) from organisations interested in developing the platform.
Nasa believe the game would help find the next generation of scientists and engineers needed to fulfil its “vision for space exploration”.
“A high quality synthetic gaming environment is a vital element of Nasa’s educational cyberstructure,” the RFI reads.
“The MMO will foster career exploration opportunities in a much deeper way than reading alone would permit and at a fraction of the time and cost of an internship program.”
Space mission
Nasa already has a presence in the 3D virtual universe.
The agency owns an island in Second Life where individuals and groups with an interest in the space programme can meet, share ideas and conduct experiments.
CoLab, as it is called, is the brainchild of scientists at the Nasa Ames Research Center in San Francisco.
The agency hopes that the environment could one day be used to allow the public to take part in virtual missions.
“We at Nasa are working hard to create opportunities for what I might call participatory exploration,” the director of the project, Simon Worden, has said.
“We are looking at how this island can be a portal for all to fly along on space missions,” he told delegates at the National Space Society’s (NSS) conference last year.
“When the next people step onto the surface of the Moon in a little over a decade, your avatar could be with them,” he said.
The latest proposal was published by Nasa’s Learning Technologies Project Office which supports and develops education projects to promote science and technology.
Job seeker
The document says that games are becoming increasingly important in education and could be useful for teaching a range of skills.
“Virtual worlds with scientifically accurate simulations could permit learners to tinker with chemical reactions in living cells, practice operating and repairing expensive equipment, and experience microgravity,” it says.
The document calls for a game engine that includes “powerful physics capabilities” that can “support accurate in-game experimentation and research”.
“A Nasa-based MMO could provide opportunities for students to investigate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics career paths while participating in engaging game-play.”
Other organisations such as the US armed forces already use online gaming as a recruitment tool.
America’s Army for example introduces players to the “seven Army Core Values” and now claims to be one of “the most popular computer games in the world”.
Nasa has asked for interested organisations to respond to the request by the 15 February.
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Wii might be scooping up all the sales, but the game lineup for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is just as strong as for Nintendo’s fun little console. And not just because of Halo 3: Games for every kind of player surface this month. Here’s what we’ve been playing.
The Orange Box
Valve’s The Orange Box, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, is crammed to the gills with value. There’s so much content that I couldn’t devote more than a few hours to each of the three games in the box.
Storytelling is the strength of Half-Life 2, a critically acclaimed shooter originally released in 2004 and making its debut on Xbox and PS3 in this collection.
From the opening moments, when you step off a train into the grip of a prison city controlled by an Orwellian dictator, Half-Life 2 builds its world and characters in a realistic, subtle fashion that makes most other game narratives seem ham-fisted. It doesn’t hurt that the shooting action is also excellent, or that the package is completed with physics-based puzzles (stacking up bricks on a seesaw so the other half supports your weight, for example).
I sank even more time into Portal, a brilliant experiment in game design included in The Orange Box. In this first-person puzzle game, you get from place to place by creating portals that warp the fabric of space and time.
Retraining your brain to think outside the boundaries of physical space is a fascinating and often challenging concept, supported by a hilarious comedic story line.
If it’s multiplayer action you’re after, Team Fortress 2 is where you’ll spend the most time. Like most squad-based online games, your team has to take over the enemy’s base or capture their flag. But here, you can choose from nine totally different character types every time you respawn.
Do you want to lug around a massive gun and blow away the opposition? Fine. But you can also be a battlefield medic, healing your friends. Or (my personal favorite) become a spy, don the enemy’s colors and infiltrate their base without them even knowing.
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