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Note: This is just my opinion. This is a blog – not claiming ANY facts or proof. Please do leave your thoughts.

Mike Arrington has a great post on the scam that a lot of ‘social gaming’ companies are running i.e. running offers like ‘fill out a survey’ or subscribe to some service, etc. that are basically lead generation. He goes after Zynga (not an expert so no idea whether he’s got a valid point).

While some offers are from legitimate companies like Netflix, a significant part of them take advantage of naive people (especially kids).

There’s an interesting part in the post i.e.

In short, these games try to get people to pay cash for in-game currency so they can level up faster and have a better overall experience. Which is fine.

Actually, it’s not fine.

Michael Arrington is missing that the MAIN component of these games is unethical.

It’s not just the lead-gen part that is unethical.

What is the underlying reason that people are paying real money for virtual tractors?

Contrary to ‘have a better overall experience’ the reason people do it is they’re addicted.

These games exploit the core human hunter-gatherer instincts to trap people into a loop of ‘leveling up’.

The Step by Step process is usually -

1. Create a free component that gets people invested in a game.
2. In the game replicate natural human patterns of storing resources etc. Basically tap into people’s core hunter-gatherer instincts.
3. Link progress to paid items (or put restrictions which ensure that you cannot progress fast unless you procure paid items).
4. In addition to tapping the hunter-gatherer instincts link in social hierarchy and social aspects to make leveling up even more attractive.

As bad as cigarettes? As bad as the matrix?

It’s all well and good to say people are free to pick their poison, survival of the fittest, etc.

However, a lot of the time it’s people who have no idea what they’re getting into. It’s hurting their health and a lot of other aspects of their lives.

Think about it this way -

1. Take the real world hunter gatherer instincts and transfer it to a game.
2. Let people draw satisfaction/happiness from games instead of real life.
3. The games become more compelling.
4. People start focusing more and more on the virtual.
5. People exchange living in the real world for living in these social games.

That’s exactly what the matrix movies were about.

If 50 million people a month are buying virtual tractors and farming on virtual farms, there is absolutely no way you can spin it as a good thing.

This is not just speculation

Virtual goods and addictive games have reached a point where -

1. China will not let non-Chinese companies sell virtual goods in China.
2. Venture Beat is writing about the dangers of being addicted to social games. They talk about China -
   

   The game is so addictive — with players setting alarm clocks at all hours of the night to check crops — that it 
“destroys jobs and relationships.” “Simplicity and stickiness are behind the global epidemic of farm games. Anyone can learn to grow crops within minutes and reap a reward for getting friends — or the entire office — addicted too,” said BloggerInsight Co-Founder Lucas Englehardt

   An estimated 15 million urban white-collars spend more than five hours a day on Happy Farm, according to data from the game’s creator, Five Minutes.

3. Now, thanks to Zynga and Farmville, we have this same epidemic spreading throughout Facebook.

How are we reacting to it? By praising Zynga. There are articles talking about how virtual goods are the next big thing and companies like Zynga are path-breakers because they are ‘monetizing’ social networks.

If by monetizing we mean getting people addicted and exploiting them – then yes.

The system is not that different from a drug dealer offering you the first few hits for free. Wikipedia and lots of other sources point out that game addiction is very similar to drug addiction.

Perhaps Social Games that exploit hunter-gatherer instincts should be banned

Perhaps it’s as simple as that.

Michael Arrington has done a good thing by highlighting the unethical offers linked to these games. However, the games themselves exploit people.

We can’t have tens of millions of kids around the world (or young people in their 20s for that matter)  -

1. Spending hours a day farming on virtual farms.
2. Spending real money to buy virtual goods that they can’t even sell later.
3. Exchanging the real world for a make-believe fantasy world.
4. Mess up their careers and relationships because they’re cultivating virtual farms for hours and hours every day.

What is the social utility?

100 million people buying virtual goods and doing virtual things to virtual things does nothing for the world or for the people themselves - there is no amount of positive spin that can paint these social games as a good thing. 

Its exploitation of people’s instincts and very unethical.

Closing Thought

• If you sell cocaine on the street corner you’ll probably get arrested and go to jail.
• If you package a social game online that addicts people and exploits them you can make millions legally and get praised for ‘monetizing’ social media.

Perhaps this is the new survival of the fittest. The new predators are not sabre toothed tigers – perhaps they’re unethical people exploiting naive people on the Internet.