So I got the email many of you I’m sure have gotten as well, that The Secret War (TM?) has begun. And gosh, while we got your registration for the Beta, you know we can’t guarantee anything, but hey, if you sign up for this new phase of the process, including linking us on Facebook, you could play our many games and maybe earn yourself Guaranteed Beta Access (TM?)!
So now I’m trying to decide if its worth it or not. As time has gone on, I have been less and less impressed withe what (little) I’ve seen from TSW releases. Partner that with the problems that faced Age of Conan (including some questionable design decisions) and I’m both more and less anxious to follow the game. More because I want to see if Funcom has improved their proverbial “game” any (pun intended, and I think they may have) and less because I’m just not really into using Facebook for games. I know its like, a billion dollar industry now, but…I think the games are hideous and they bore me greatly. So there is that stigma to overcome as well.
Anyway, if any of you decide to sign up and give a run, let me know. I’m interested to see how it works and I’m at least open to the idea. But I’m also a little irked at the suggestion that my beta access sign up is worth less because I’ve been following the game longer. But hey, that’s apparently a common trend in the MMO industry right now.
Harbinger Zero 
Not a chance that I will “friend” TSW or Funcom on Facebook. I barely use FB as it is, and willfully resist most attempts by commercial enterprises to exploit the “friendships” of social networking. In a broader subject, I think social networks in general–and Facebook in particular–overstate their impact on the economic activity of individuals, because they overestimate the ties between people in the network. All this is my own opinion, I suppose, but must of the people in my network are old friends from high school, with whom I would have little or no contact if not for the network itself. We share more background than current common interests. Twitter is a little different because my network in that service is composed almost entirely of people with whom I share a common interest in video games, but individual viewpoints still vary widely.
I signed up to the original TSW registration, got that email, and thought something had happened, so I re-registered for the beta. And apparently it’s still not ready for anything else other than registrations. I added it to my Facebook (mostly out of curiosity) and I haven’t found / seen anything on Facebook about TSW. So – very Secret. I’m not terribly thrilled at the moment. The hype machine seems to be broken and repeating itself rather than offering anything new or exciting.
I had a friend tell me that at a business conference they went to an expert on social media told them that if a business is not utilizing social media as a “two-way street” then “urdoinitwrong.” So I like the idea of a mini-game of sorts leading up to release, and FB does make sense as a place to host that minigame. But…yes, there is some definite lacking in the execution here, as both of you have noticed, and furthermore I agree that Funcom (and other companies) overestimate the impact that social media can have on their product. Perhaps in part because their product (at least in this case) is a form a social media. Ouroboros anyone?