Zynga Has Killed the Computer Game

I don’t really remember exactly what the first computer game I ever played, but I’m quite certain it was one on the Radio Shack TSR-80 that my high school had obtained in the early 80‘s. As far as I remember, it was the only computer in the school. I remember a text based adventure where you simply typed in a command (such as “go north”, or “look around”) and the story unfolded based on your actions. I also remember a very primitive flight simulator. Just a few straight lines representing the runway and using the arrows to go up and down or left and right. Computer gaming was still in its infancy then.

In the mid to late 80‘s, I purchased an Atari 520/ST computer. Things had come along way in computer gaming already. While you still typed in commands on adventure games, the games now had graphics! And the flight simulators had graphics and the terrain was based on real terrain. In the early 90‘s, I purchased my first IBM compatible computer. (Now simply known as PC’s). Back then, IBM compatibles lagged far behind Atari and Amiga in terms of computer gaming, but they would eventually catch up and become the standard computer gaming format.

Throughout the 90‘s and into the 21st century, the games tended to get better. Better graphics, more depth, more options. With the popularity of the internet, games became more geared towards online gaming where you could play against “real” opponents as opposed to playing against the computer.

A few years ago, the creation and upsurge of facebook had an impact on computer gaming that I did not see coming. Facebook was set up as a social networking site. A place where you could stay connected with your family and friends. Facebook allowed others to create third party “applications” that users could use on their site. And thus companies like Zynga were born, creating “games” as applications. (O.K. ignore the fact that Zynga bought or stole all their game ideas from others.)

Many casual computer users who may have never played a computer game before, started playing these social networking games such as Zynga’s Farmville. (The most popular of online games) Farmville isn’t even really a game. I mean, all you do is move your mouse over a plot of land and click. Sure you can decorate you farm a little, but most of your stuff ends up in storage or your animals are crowded so tightly in a pen that I’m surprised the SCPA hasn’t stepped in yet! There is no way to “win” in Farmville, although you can lose real money playing it. There are no real goals except to obtain more stuff, to become a virtual hoarder.

But if people enjoy playing Farmville, what is wrong with that? The problem is Zynga has killed the computer game. There is such popularity and so much money to be obtained from these pointless games that any developer would be lured into making that type of game as opposed to a real game.

Some of you may remember the song “Video Killed the Radio Star”. A song from the Buggles back in 1979. The song describes a singer whose career is cut short by the introduction of television. A line from the lyrics of that song goes: “we can't rewind we've gone to far “, meaning that now that television was here, we can not go back to the days when radio was king. I fear this has happened to computer gaming. At least Zynga hasn't killed console gaming... yet.