Indie Dev Jonathan Blow: “Social Games Are Evil”

In a recent interview, Jonathan Blow, designer for Braid and developer of the upcoming puzzle adventure game The Witness, voiced his opinions on the social gaming market. In the interview he stated that social games are “evil”, and that developers who make these games know exactly what they’re doing: They’re degrading “the player’s quality of life.”

In regards to his bold statement that social games found on sites such as Facebook and Myspace are no good, Blow backed up his belief by saying, “Of course you can debate anything, but the general definition of evil in the real world, where there isn’t like the villain in the mountain fortress, is selfishness to the detriment of others or to the detriment of the world. And that’s exactly what [most of these games are].”

Blow stated that games are about giving to the players. and that social games do anything but give to gamers. Instead, Blow stated that the main purpose of social games is “to string the player along and to invade the player’s free time away from the game.”

“It’s not about giving people anything,” emphasizes Blow. “It’s about taking from people.”

[Source]