Quote of the Moment: 'People will get burnt out on' today's social games

Better prepare your last words, CityVille. Alright, so the top Facebook game might have longer than that in it, but Glitch developer and Tiny Speck founder Stewart Butterfield says that games designed like Zynga's best can't last forever. Speck, best known for creating Flickr, made the projection during an in-depth interview with GamesIndustry.biz.

"People will get burnt out on this," Butterfield told GI.biz. "Maybe some of them will last for a very long time, but I feel like the easy successes have been taken already, and that won't work in the long run. I mean, I could be wrong about that, and I hope I am, because that would be a lame future for games."

The social game rookie is speaking to how the majority of, if not all, popular Facebook games are designed: the Energy system. Butterfield thinks that social gamers will eventually grow tired of being forced to either wait to progress in a game after their Energy is spent or put up a buck to keep going. (Only it's slowly becoming more like $5.)

"Just my own reaction, the first time I saw that it was okay, the second time I saw that it was okay, and by whatever time it is now I'm like, 'I get this. It's transparent, and I don't give a shit about having a bigger building here that cost me three dollars.,'" the Glitch maker admitted to GI.biz. In other words, he's tired of the gated progress design in Facebook games. Actually, so should we after four years of putting up with it.

Are you sick of Energy in social games? What should social game makers do to change this system yet remain profitable so that they might keep making games? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.