Are Facebook games such as 'FarmVille,' and 'Mafia Wars' good fun or total scams?

I used to do Mafia wars until I realized that not only was there absolutely no point to the game, it wasn't even fun. Click and wait, click and wait, click and wait, with no real progression.

The only social network game I play now is Zynga poker, which used to be very straight forward, but was recently "upgraded" with levels, special coins you can use for gifts and to skip rounds in the tournaments (for the right price, of course), and Zynga is actually selling chips for rediculously high prices now (hint: use a thrid party chipseller if you're gonna buy chips. You might get caught and banned, but you'll pay 99.8% less for your chips than you would buying them through Zynga).

I like the reference in this article to "The Mighty Boosh"! I have a new respect for Ms Popkins. (sp?) Not that I didn't already like her articles. I really need to stop playing Mafia Wars, btw.

I don't do the app stuff; I find it extremely time-consuming and a waste of my energy. I'm 47 years old and most of that stuff is juvenile and just aimed at getting hold of one's personal information as well as that of their friends. I'm on FB to reconnect with friends from years gone by and to communicate with real adults who have real brains. What annoys me the most is the "Send A Gift" option, where you actually have to pay for gift credits, for "presents" that are no more than a graphic posted on the recipient's page. Give me a break! For this one here, a simple "Happy Birthday" or appropriate sentiment for whatever the occasion will suffice!

Farmville is a totally addictive game but it's all in the fun. I make sure I get my harvesting done everyday even if it means not sleeping enough hours. It has me motivated to look foward to something everyday. I am homebound and disabled. Not much to do here but farm all day. Yes, I have paid out of my own money for Coins and FV Cash...hell yea..would do it again and again.....

I think they are just brain candy, a few minutes fun and distraction during the normal course of surfing, reading email, checking out what your friends have posted. I play Cafe World and haven't spent a cent of real money in game and haven't clicked on an ad to 'get more coins'.

Another place where they have figured out to scam people is Webkinz. People pay REAL money to get clothes, toys, furniture, etc. for a VIRTUAL pet. I think the toys are cute, and my kids have a lot of them. They play the games on-line, but I draw the line at giving my money to something that exists only in the game. That is just too far.

I used a fake ID to get free points in Mafia Wars, so much for those advertising dollars. I would never use my real information for games like that.

Lots of confusion has arisen from the cyber-echo of Arrington's whistle blow on gaming offer-scams. Here's an attempt to clarify: http://tinyurl.com/yke4hza

You only pay money if you WANT TO. THEY'RE FREE GAMES!!! Just GAMES! Would you play football if you didn't like the sport - NO! Don't like it, don't play! I can't believe this is even something to discuss on Newsvine!

I don't take the game that seriously. I got into FarmVille and usually spend less than 10 minutes a day on it and no I don't give out personal info or pay for more coins. (How stupid is that?) I know that I'll eventually get bored with it and stop as I have with other computer games in the past. I do, however, know some who spend entirely tooooo much time with it and are truly addicted to it. I guess it's up to the individual playing the game that determines how good or bad it can be.

Just another reason for people to sit on their lazy asses and get fat instead of going outside and pulling weeds/mowing the lawn/walking around the block/or doing other "productive" things with life!

After a stressful day at work it is nice to come home and spend 15 minutes or so in the fantasy of Farmville and Farm Town. Life is so fast, we are so busy, friends and family live so far away Facebook is a nice way to say Hello, I love you, What's happening. We all have choices. I plan to keep playing...responsively!

Geez, I can't spell! That last word is "responsibly"!

I get SO SIIIIICK of all the posts on my facebook wall about so and so sent you a pig or helped in your garden or whatever.Then they get mad/upset if you don't reciprocate with a cow or something.I wish Facebook would slam the door on this crap.However,considering the size of the cut they are making off of it,that'll NEVER happen.

Playing the games are fun!!! I can't figure out why you, MSNBC are trying to cause an issue here!!!! It doesn't cost a cent to play and you can walk away anytime you want to!!!

Excuse me? You think only people with no lives play these games? Get real and get off your high horse. Sure beats the heck out of going out and paying for theatre tickets so you can hear children screaming and throwing popcorn; sure beats going to a concerts, ball games, races, etc. where people are allowed to get drunk on their butts and make your life miserable for 3 hours. And right now, I know I can't catch H1N1 from Farmville and as someone else has already said - it's free! The information I was asked to provide - is already on the internet because unscrupulous vendors have sold my info and made it public - name, address, phone number - anything more than that - I don't tell. If you get unsolicited pigs, cows or invitations - delete or ignore them - what is the big deal - there are even directions for blocking these posted right on facebook. Frankly, if these games are the only big complaint/issue you have in your life right now, you have it pretty darned good so quit complaining

WOW... MSNBC / Newsvine has finally suck to Fox News levels. The games on Facebook how are they different from your sponsors? You guys get paid BILLIONS of dollars to post crap like this, and people dont complain. Although most people dont realize, that by just clicking onto this story you have increased MSNBC's profits by about .10c, now multiply that by the hundreds of millions of clicks onto this story alone.

Yeah I play Mafia Wars, and all the rest of the games. Although I draw the line at Farmville, And yoville. The games are 100% free, you do not HAVE to pay SFA, you are NOT forced to click on the ads. IF you do not like my games, you can hide the application from your News Feed.

Although Sprintcarpilot69 I am really super tired of seeing how many friends you have added, and I wish you would uncheck "add friends" so I dont have my news feed clogged by your garbage..

As for private Information, again, it is completely upto you as to what information you are going to supply onto the web. How many of you shop Ebay....

I use to play farmville but now I stopped . Due to the fact I was too busy playing the game after work instead of taking care of other things. Total addiction but I conquered it

My friend who worked for years in the Army, and whose dad had been a recruiting officer, had invited me to play some of these games. Behold: my son, who is doing active duty and whose regular notes and free gifts mean very much to me, and I coincidentally located each other as we were playing the games. We play these games only as convenient. "It's the thought that counts," is a pertinent statement during these troubling times. I am very grateful to Matthew for his notes and gifts that he sends easily as he plays these games with his friends and family.

This a total brain numbing waiste of time!

The survey as well as the games!