tl;wr (too long; won’t read) – Very, very, very, very friendly and warm community. They’ll make you feel like you’re family. You can easily become addicted to it. Not recommended for a hardcore audience.

I. Overview

1. Game title: Faunasphere
2. Publisher and Developer: Big Fish Games
3. Release date: March 2009
4. Category: Casual, social game
5. Development stage: Available
6. Platform: PC, browser-based

II. Analysis

1. Storyline/objective: Build up your Faunasphere (home) and get rid of the pollution.
2. Target audience: Casual gamers – all ages, male or female
   

III. Interview/demo

1. Person: Toby Ragaini
2. Title: Vice President, Community Games
   

IV. Thoughts

1. Self
   i. What I like
   - The players in the game are very friendly! Thanks for the help, BonnieJo!
   - Community is very warm and welcoming.
   - Very cute graphics
   - Game is not too demanding and is meant to be relaxing
   - Did I mention the players are super friendly?
   - The Faunasphere can be used as a way not only to showcase your high level, but also as a way to visually represent yourself
   - It’s free!
   
   ii. What I didn’t like
   - Gameplay is very simple – not very deep
   - While it might be easy to get addicted to this game, the rewards (bragging rights, getting a cool ending, etc.) aren’t very high

2. Target audience
   i. Positives
   - Players will really enjoy how friendly the community is. Everyone is very helpful.
   - Lots of options for customizing your own faunasphere, and even breeding your different faunas to create new ones
   - Game is not demanding at all
   - You can play from anywhere!
   
   ii. Negatives
   - The casual players might be discouraged after seeing other players at much higher levels, but it could alternatively be used as motivation
   
   

V. Assets

2 Responses to “tl;dr – Faunasphere”

1. FP says:

   September 9, 2009 at 6:13 pm

   While your review was essentially accurate I don’t think it captured an important aspect of the game. We have developed a very strong sense of community and friendship that has become the context for playing the game. I don’t think I have every laughed as hard or felt as strong a connection with total strangers before joining the Faunasphere. We even create our own entertainment with talent contests, hide-and-seek, lottery’s with virtual prizes donated by the community, etc. Many of us have never played a MMO game before and were surprised by how much we have come to enjoy it.

   Reply
2. jamie says:

   September 9, 2009 at 6:34 pm

   I really know what you mean by “strong sense of community.” I played the game for about 15 minutes and I had already felt like I belonged. However, due to the nature of tl;dr (too long; didn’t read) reviews, most of the text will be straightforward and concise.

   I’ve made some minor edits that will hopefully give justice to the warming Faunasphere community.

   Reply