Real-time based games are those annoying things that you see on Facebook all the time. They hook you in by doing a certain amount of tasks and then BAM, please wait till tomorrow until you have more energy or, conveniently, you can purchase this item for .99 that will refresh you.
If you’re like me at all, you’d rather just pay for the darn application instead of waiting or filling up on coffee.
(Although if they had you filling up on Chai, it might be a different story)
The great thing about these games is that they bring you absolutely no joy- that couldn’t already be found in casual type games. Stick anyone stuck on FarmVille on Alice Greenfingers and you’ll realize there is hope for recovery after all. The problem is Facebook hasn’t been able to make a market with buying apps, and developers kinda need to eat. So, they find creative ways to make money off their ‘free games’. On the iOS however you shouldn’t have this problem since developers can charge you for the app right away….right?
Wrong.
People like free.
You see just as many waiting games on the iOS. Many of these games also have a Facebook counterpart, so you can check your energy level wherever you are. These games just get downloaded so much that almost every time I check the top Apps on the ‘free’ and ‘grossing’ side there they are. Many of them end up staying there for weeks, making it to that list must guarantee downloads. I admit I’ve downloaded 4/10 of today’s top apps simple trying to figure out why they’re ranked so high, I still don’t get it. I can only assume most of them are on the list since there are other curious people like me out there, or that someone has downloaded simply enough games that makes them wait that they just bounce back and forth between games until all their energy is up.
So, how do you avoid these games?
- Don’t download anything generally starting with a My/Tiny or ending in a ville/town/city
- Look up Kairosoft, trust me on this.
- Go see if some of your favorite browser games have become an app, I know mine did.
- Search for reviewers who you can stomach. The positive note to this is a lot of the times they’ll inform you when an app is goes free for a limited amount of time. I like using Pocket Gamer, Touch Arcade, and Jay is Games.
- Lastly, just have fun searching. Type in a random word and see what kind of game it lead you too, it’s how I found Sushi Boy after all.
I love Chai!