Quote of the Moment: Gamers Evolve

"More gamers means more games, plain and simple. Facebook games have brought a staggering number of people into the fold, and most of them had never played a videogame before in their lives. You might argue that this doesn't make a difference because FarmVille players aren't playing the types of games you love. They may be "casual" gamers now, but a few years down the road, you'll see lots of them step up to more traditional games.

"Gamers evolve; I'm a perfect example. While I played games a lot as a kid on the classic systems like Atari 2600 and Vectrex, coming back into gaming at the birth of the 3D consoles was a little intimidating to me. Back then, I didn't play much besides puzzle or simulation games. I was somewhat scared to play anything 3D until about 2003. I didn't play a first-person shooter until BioShock caught my attention in 2007, and now I'll play just about anything. It's taken almost 10 years, but I've grown from only liking simple games to playing and beating games like God of War III and BioShock on advanced difficulty levels. There's no reason to believe the same thing won't happen with many of the people who currently only play Facebook games.

"To someone who's never gamed before, controllers are scary. Even the Wii Remote can trip up some people. I have a developer friend who watched a focus group where people were holding the Wii Remote backwards. Is it any wonder their first foray into gaming would involve something no more complicated than clicking a mouse?

"By providing neophytes with games they feel like they can excel at, Facebook developers have given them a positive association with playing games. They're having fun, and as they get bored with the simple mechanics of most Facebook games, they'll seek out something a little bit more challenging."

-IGN writer Nicole Tanner explains why people who play social games may eventually move on to the kinds of games that 'hardcore' gamers enjoy.