mobile games Mobile Games

[Novaer]

Lately, I've been totally hooked on mobile games! I went on a spree, downloading a bunch that seemed super fun, and I'm still making my way through them. I used to be really into Game of War: Fire Age, but it got a bit crazy with how much money it wanted. As I kept playing, it felt like the game's economy got out of control with multiple premium currencies. It became this cycle of spending just to keep up, or risk getting everything wiped out by big spenders. When I realized I'd spent way more than I meant to, I decided it was time to call it quits.

There's a bunch of games out there now that are similar to Game of War: Fire Age. What I noticed is, the longer a server's been around, the more "new features" start popping up—like higher level caps and new currencies. When I checked out a second server on a different phone, it was like going back in time to when my first game started. The level caps were lower, and things were more reasonable currency-wise. After a while, the "new updates" I'd seen before on the first server would start rolling out on the new one, like they're staggered across servers. It gives this constant feeling of updates, but in reality, your server's kind of stuck in a time loop following a schedule. The original server might just have die-hard big spenders left, and I think they might merge those servers when the player count drops, nudging the big spenders to pay even more. At least, that's how it seems to me. By rule, I don't play these types of games, if I discover that it's one of those, I delete it.

I've made it a rule not to spend a dime on games, and I try to play offline whenever possible, although some games aren't too keen on that. I do watch those mobile ads sometimes. I figure the game developers deserve some compensation for their work, you know? With a company I part own, we're actually looking at making our own mobile games, we've already got a bitch basic alpha of a game but it's far from ready to be released. But it is something we're interested in.

Currently I have the following on my phone, and a lot of them I haven't gotten around to playing yet, so I have no idea if they're games I'd like to play:

1. Bitcoin Miner
2. Idle Miner
3. Pokémon GO
4. Lumber Inc
5. Idle Office Tycoon
6. AdCap! (Adventure Capitalist)
7. Legend Slime
8. Eatventure
9. Alien Invasion
10. BitLife
11. Oh My Dog
12. Landlord Simulator
13. MeChat
14. Heros v. Hordes
15. FrozenCity
16. Crypto Miner Tycoon
17. The Tower (I like this one)
18. Tycoon Empire
19. Weapon Craft Run
20. Business Empire
21. Dozer Demolish
22. Idle Mafia
23. Annihilation
24. Fight for America
25. Gold and Goblins
26. Ammo Fever
27. War Regions
28. IdleOutpost
29. Global City
30. Bucket Crusher
31. Dreamdale
32. Rent Please! Landlord Sim
33. Family Island
34. Arknights
35. Royal Match
36. Merge Robbers
37. Idle Breaker
38. Bloodline: Heroes of Lithas
39. Merge Mansion
40. Family Farm Adventure

I'm into idle games, you know? They're perfect for passing the time or when I need a distraction. Anyone else here into mobile games?

And, let's talk about those mobile game ads—wild, right?

I've seen:

• Acting worthy of a drama class in primary school.
• Games advertised that completely rip off other Intellectual Properties
  • Adverts that are clearly for other games (That have had the game name pixilated out) advertising ANOTHER game entirely; even going as far as using the same offer codes - even if the advertised game in question doesn't do offer code claims. 
• Ads that have little demo's in them that in no way shape or form represents the actual game play.
• The most common is that puzzle one where you have to pull pins that hold back lava, water and you have to save the coins or kill the monster.
• An ad that I can only say glorifies sexual assault (No, I'm not joking).
• The Anka Meme for a game that has absolutely nothing to do with anything.
• Many ads that if any advertising watchdog saw, would start frothing at the mouth.
• Any on have similar experiences?

[IsabellaRose]

Those ads are out of control. I'm pretty sure I've seen the sexual assault one, too, and it was on a game my teen niece told me I should try... crazy.

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

I used to play a number of them.  But that was one of the things significantly cutting into my writing time for a while (and got sick of the endless grind built into them).  At this point there are still a few I occasionally log in to, but have more or less dropped them.

[Novaer]

4 hours ago, IsabellaRose said:

Those ads are out of control. I'm pretty sure I've seen the sexual assault one, too, and it was on a game my teen niece told me I should try... crazy.

I know, right? I stumbled upon this ad in a game that's rated for ages 3 and up by the International Age Rating Coalition. It's nuts that such an ad even exists, let alone shows up in an app that kids can easily access. It's just plain crazy. I bet the advertising regulations watchdog in my country would go nuts if they saw that. Awful.

1 hour ago, SataiRolePlayingGuy said:

I used to play a number of them.  But that was one of the things significantly cutting into my writing time for a while (and got sick of the endless grind built into them).  At this point there are still a few I occasionally log in to, but have more or less dropped them.

Yeah, some games are designed to be addictive or bombard you with notifications to pull you back in. I was worried about that too, but I keep my notifications off and only jump in when I feel like killing time. But I totally get where you're coming from.

[IsabellaRose]

12 hours ago, Novaer said:

I keep my notifications off and only jump in when I feel like killing time. But I totally get where you're coming from.

The notifications! Mine are off now, too. Boy was that a mistake when I just hit yes or accept.

But to be fair, notifications are off for everything except work (during work hours) and texts from people on my contact list. Otherwise my phone only comes out when I want to look at it. Those notifications were fun for a while, but I really don't need to see the latest game update or that Sandy took a picture of her tacos from dinner.