Social Game Fads: Harassing friends to send materials

Social Game Fads is a new series where we take a look at some of the unoriginal game mechanics that are being reused over and over again in our favorite Facebook games. Are you getting bored of the same ole' thing? We are too, and we're exposing some of the copycats who are to blame.

While Zynga aren't exactly known for being the most creative and morally righteous game developers in the world, they definitely do a few things right. This is evidenced by the number of other games who copy what they have done, and the number of times Zynga reuses their own inventions. One prime example of this is in the buildables that require parts from friends. Originally seen in FarmVille, these are objects that require materials that can either be bought with hard currency or received from friends.