Mama Gambino

November 6, 2009 11:32 AM

My mother spends a good deal of her day playing Mafia Wars and has accumulated hundreds of people she doesn't know on Facebook through the game. She is definitely not street savvy or tech savvy in any way and I'm worried that she may be taken advantage of. I don't play Mafia Wars, but I just don't trust that its taken up such a large part of her life right now. Is it just a way for her to pass the time? Or do I need to be concerned?
posted by Unred to computers & internet (16 comments total)

The game itself is innocuous, unless she's an impulsive spender and would fall prey to the urge to buy points (you get so many "energy points" per day and when they're gone, you can't play anymore; you can, of course, buy refills).

The friending of people that she doesn't actually know, in order to grow her mafia, does concern me a little. I have a family member who fell prey to a Nigerian scam a few years ago and lost everything; I wish now we had never let her get a computer, because she's just too trusting.

So, long story short, it's her use of Facebook that is potentially troubling, not her use of Mafia Wars. Does she live alone? Do you have reason to believe that she'd be susceptible to a scammer if one approached her?
posted by jbickers at 11:38 AM on November 6, 2009

Mafia Wars is addictive but harmless. She can limit the information people on her profile can see with a privacy lockdown (I had to do that for my dad.)

But I don't think the random collection of people playing Mafia Wars are more likely to take advantage of her than the average person she bumps into at the grocery store. There isn't an in-game mechanism for them to get her credit card information or anything, if that's what's worrying you.
posted by DarlingBri at 11:39 AM on November 6, 2009

I can't speak to the interactions she might have with strangers on the internet.

But check out this article
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/31/scamville-the-social-gaming-ecosystem-of-hell/

The nutshell is that to play these games you need energy - which can be replenished in 3 ways.
1. Wait long enough to regenerate
2. Purchase energy from the game provider (one way they make money)
3. (DANGER) opt into a marketing agreement.

These marketing agreements can be dangerous and you can end up getting billed via a cellphone for recurring charges that you don't really opt into. Warn her about these.
posted by bitdamaged at 11:40 AM on November 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

It's just a way to pass the time. There are game advantages for having a bigger "team", and I'll confess that I've added people for just this purpose. But other than game related play, I have little (if any) interaction with them. And even within the game, there's not much "unstructured" interaction. Sure, might become become involved with them outside the game, but I don't see how that poses any more harm than other internet communications with strangers (like Metafilter).

There are lots of Facebook groups related to Mafia Wars for strategy and team building, but I've rarely seen anything unsavory on them. Occasionally there will be warning about adding a certain player... that it will unleash a virus, but I think that's largely been debunked.

Unless she's actually spending money on Godfather points, I don't think I would worry at all. The game is simply mental masturbation, and she will probably become less engrossed over time.
posted by kimdog at 11:43 AM on November 6, 2009

A lot of the "engine" games on Facebook (Mafia Wars, Mousehunt, Pet Society, etc.) allow for quicker expansion the more people you have in your "group", which is defined as the people playing the game who are also your Friends. As such, it's extremely common among players to link up to other players they don't know in order to help their gameplay by becoming Friends with them. The discussion boards of these games are full of "Add Me" threads for just this purpose.

It's relatively harmless- yes, these people will technically see the details of your profile unless you go out of your way to dial it down, but honestly, it's a really inefficient way to source your scam targets. The biggest downside is that it dilutes the value of your social graph and pollutes your Stream.

The simplest thing to do is create a User List (called, for example, "Mafia Wars") that has the privacy dials turned all the way up, and put those people in that list.
posted by mkultra at 11:44 AM on November 6, 2009 [3 favorites]

Occasionally there will be warning about adding a certain player... that it will unleash a virus

100% impossible.
posted by mkultra at 11:45 AM on November 6, 2009

I used to be addicted to Mafia Wars.

I suggest she make a separate group for her mafia and make sure they cannot see any information on her profile. Also make sure that they cannot send her a private message. I got an e-mail from a guy whining about me whacking and robbing him. Then I got a "threat" from someone saying she would have her mafia target me for picking on the guy. Certainly nothing to be scared over, but it made me really careful of who would have the ability to contact me.

Also, if she isn't paying for points and is doing the surveys, make sure she knows that she doesn't have to fill out her real information.
posted by spec80 at 11:51 AM on November 6, 2009

My mother in law, aunt, and mother are all addicted to Farmville at the moment, and seem to spend every waking moment on it. I think it's becoming quite the trend for older generations to get sucked into these games, and my family certainly seem to be enjoying themselves. I agree with everyone else to say that as long as her profile is locked down and she's not spending lots of cash, I wouldn't worry too much. She's probably playing with my mom!
posted by ukdanae at 11:52 AM on November 6, 2009

A little bit more background on #3 from bitdamaged's list.
posted by jbickers at 11:52 AM on November 6, 2009

For what it's worth, provided that she doesn't start paying real life money for anything, Mafia Wars and the other Zynga games are much less cause for concern as time-wasters than video games or MMOs and MUDs. Having played a handful of the Zynga games for a few weeks, in addition to having played video games all my life, MUDs for a few years, and WoW for about four years, the Zynga games take up hardly any time. Once you run out of energy you just have to wait and check back much later before you can even do anything; I'd spend maybe five minutes on Mafia Wars a couple times each day simply because you can't do anything more even if you wanted to; maybe 15-20 minutes a day on Mafia Wars total. There's no worthwhile advantage to watching your energy tick up every several minutes versus just waiting and spending it all later.

All the Zynga games, as far as I've played, have similar time constraints except Cafe World. Cafe World will chain you to your computer since some things take five minutes or less to make, and it's those fast dishes that are worth more experience for the time put in.

Video games and MMOs and such are much more cause for concern because there's always something to be done; they don't have built-in "you can't do anything more for hours" mechanics.

Anyway, a few other notes:
- Adding people you don't know to increase the size of your mafia is really, really common. I didn't do it personally because I don't like adding people I don't know, but not out of any security concerns; I just don't want to wonder if I know someone in real life a long time ago but simply forgot, or if they're someone I never knew, and I don't want to see updates from people I don't know. Unless your mom makes personal status updates or lists sensitive information in her profile, she's in no danger whatsoever. Others have already given good advice for keeping those people in separate groups that can't see any information.

- You might want to elaborate on how Mafia Wars has "taken up such a large part of her life." As I said earlier, this can't really be possible unless she's spending real life money on Mafia Wars, or has opened multiple FaceBook accounts to play multiple Mafia Wars. That would be kind of serious. If she's sitting there watching her energy tick up or something that's really a problem because there's no advantage to doing that, so it would indicate a serious addiction to me if she can't tear herself away even when she's not doing anything.
posted by Nattie at 12:14 PM on November 6, 2009

You can help your mom by making a seperate friend group for her "mafia". For some reason, people find this hard to do, and your help would definitely come in handy. I too have been addicted to various FB games over the last couple of years, and have done some mass "friending" of people I don't know in order to advance in these games. It's harmless as long as you're careful. However, being careful means:
* Hiding all your personal info from unknown people (ie by creating the locked down group)
* Not giving out personal info when filling out all those surveys/offers/etc that promise you whatever currency it is you need to advance in each particular game. This includes cell phone #s (for SMS), credit card info, etc etc.
* If she does want to spend "real" money on these games, make sure it's through a reputable company that handles things for these FB apps. SmallChange is the one I can think of offhand, but I think there are other big players as well.

Other than that, just let your mom have her fun. Eventually, she will move on -- each of these games seems to have a limited time in which they hold your attention. They all get boring and repetitive after a while.
posted by cgg at 12:15 PM on November 6, 2009

I am getting a Mafia Wars ad on the bottom of this post now. Hooray!
posted by outsider at 12:29 PM on November 6, 2009

One more bit of background reading.
posted by jbickers at 1:02 PM on November 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

For the sake of closing the loop, jbickers made a front-page post because of this AskMe question.
posted by Decimask at 2:57 PM on November 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

..You could also inform her that once a "Friend" has been added to your group in Mafia Wars, you don't need to keep them as a facebook friend. Friend them, add them to your family, unfriend them.

..Or point out that it's a dumb game, with no element of skill or luck to it, and it's basically "Progress Quest".
posted by Laen at 3:17 PM on November 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

Thank you all for your help. I'm going to make sure she's NOT spending her own personal money or giving out her personal info to any surveys or new friends (and hope I'm not too late). I hope other people are more aware of the dangers out there. These "games" are not exactly like collecting beanie babies and could seriously become an issue for trusting older people. So...beware (cue spooky music).
posted by Unred at 7:26 PM on November 6, 2009