Will "social gaming" steal away the funding for AAA games?

[J T]

Soren Johnson, who was a project lead on Civilization IV summarized some of the talk about social gaming that was all the buzz at the recent Game Designer's Conference. This stuff is recommended reading:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/2775 ... mville.php

Do you think social games will take over the business of gaming?

How long can gamers be tricked by variable reinforcement schedules to play shoddy games?

Will casual audiences wise up to shady marketing gimmicks and cause these kinds of games to slide to the wayside?

Will big budget games be able to get funded in this future where the game industry appears to be becoming more and more focused on using psychological tricks to milk as many dollars from gamers as possible?

[Niode]

Gamers are trapped in skinner boxes and are addicted to pushing buttons for food.

[Pulsar_t]

http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=114390

[AppleQueso]

If it does it can't be too terrible a thing really. AAA games keep trying too hard to be like movies, I think a bit of a dip in funding for them might put those kinds of titles back to where they need to be.

[Flake]

The gamers demands for HD is what steals money away from AAA titles.

[CRTGAMER]

Another form of Facebook.

My daughter and her friends used to be big on Habbo Hotel, which is world wide. Quit playing, bored out of it. I think the Social Sim type game is just another way of connecting and communicating. The gaming aspect just adds fluff or perhaps adds another reason to the connecting and blogging.

Interpretation or "Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder" of what makes an "AAA" game. For a company, profits is the bottom line. For the consumer, the entertainment value, be it a social game or the latest FPS.

Funding for genre, company gamble to stay alive, some great games don't make it.
http://www.unseen64.net/beta-and-cancelled-videogames/

[elvis]

How long can gamers be tricked by variable reinforcement schedules to play shoddy games?

My "golden era" of gaming was the late 80's and early 90's. Quite frankly I loathe most 3D games, and find FPS titles utterly boring. The classification most call the AAA title of today, I consider a yawn-fest.

All personal preference, of course. But the moral of the story is the crisis you're going through now ("ZOMG how long will gamers put up with these shoddy games?!") is exactly what I went through 15 years ago.

The truth of the matter is that tastes change, and the titles you enjoy are a dying breed. One day they'll disappear forever with the rare exception of the odd retro re-release, or some indie developer roughly your age doing some sort of homage for laughs.

And in their place will be a slew of clones of the titles you consider a total waste of time, and all around you younger games will lap them up and call you "oldschool" because you play stuff that was popular 5 years ago (long before most of the said gamers had the dexterity to even hold a controller or use a keyboard).

http://www.xkcd.com/647/ (And read the mouse-hover comment too)

Welcome to being an old fart. It's a scary ride, but once you accept it, things will be easier.