( CNN ) -- Even as Facebook titles like `` FrontierVille '' and `` Restaurant City '' continue to attract millions of players , interest in social games may be waning . A rise of tongue-in-cheek parody games that poke fun at these popular outings points to rising discontent amongst both gaming fans and industry insiders . `` There 's a general feeling of discomfort and bafflement with all of the FarmWhatever and MobsterBoss notifications you see on Facebook and other social networks , '' said Persuasive Games founder Ian Bogost . `` It 's become almost absurdist . '' Witness Bogost 's new social gaming spoof , `` Cow Clicker , '' a Facebook game in which you click on cows to earn the right to click on more cows . It 's a form of biting interactive satire . `` Any cultural force that we do n't grasp but that seems to overtake us becomes ripe for parody , '' Bogost added . `` I created 'Cow Clicker ' in part to give myself and others a second look at 'FarmVille ' and its ilk and force social-network games players to ask themselves what these [ titles ] are and why they 're so compelling . '' From social-gaming protest groups to fake `` FarmVille '' commercials , there are plenty of signs that other social networkers share similar sentiments . This year has also brought `` Progress Wars , '' a game in which players repeatedly click to complete random missions such as `` ambush silk traders '' or `` slay dealers . '' Creator Jakob Skjerning 's blog said he analyzed popular Facebook games and distilled their gameplay into core game mechanics `` to point out the pointlessness of many casual games . '' Some gaming experts claim that social-network games put business concerns before artistic ones and are specifically designed to prompt base Pavlovian responses and keep players clicking away . According to New York University games researcher and theorist Jesper Juul , social games are `` brain hacks that exploit human psychology in order to make money . '' `` There are forces that compel us humans to do incredibly counterintuitive things , '' concurred Bogost. `` 'Cow Clicker ' is a game in which you click a cow , and yet that simple act can still swallow us whole . We like to think of ourselves as rational beings with control over our faculties , but far more often , we are at the whim of things rather than master over them . '' Some professional game makers even accuse social network titles of promoting addictiveness and using shame as a motivator . For example , `` FrontierVille '' players who fail to accept requests from friends or upkeep their virtual homesteads may be subject to public mockery . Social networks like Facebook offer gamers the ability to interact easily with millions of other users and rally support for positive causes , Bogost says . But he believes that their potential is being underutilized by Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs . `` It 's not the idea of social games that are the problem . [ It 's that ] nobody 's talking about what would make them good art but only what would make them immensely profitable , '' he said . Naturally , social game makers beg to differ . Brian Reynolds , chief designer for `` FarmVille '' creator Zynga , whose games also include such Facebook hits as `` Mafia Wars , '' believes that social games `` tend to be vastly underrated by many of gaming 's opinion leaders . '' `` This is partially I think because they 're so simple , '' he suggested , `` and partially because people just are n't used to the business model or games being able to speak to such a large mass market audience . '' Reynolds , the former head of Big Huge Games and a strategy game designer whose credited work includes contributions to the `` Civilization '' franchise , thinks social network titles are a major positive for the field . `` Working in social games feels more like the games industry did when I started 20 years ago , '' he says . `` Small , scrappy teams working on games that emphasize fun and playability , and not so much huge technology , 3-D engines and full-motion video . For designers , it 's a really fertile space to be creative . '' Despite a steep drop off in popularity since Facebook shut off social games ' ability to spam user profiles with messages and updates this year , Reynolds argues that the market for social gaming has n't peaked . He cautions that some user attrition is inevitable and that an ongoing evolution in social gaming is needed to stave off player boredom , and he believes that the fundamental multiplayer context of these games will ensure their survival . `` That 's the real nuclear bomb for me , '' he said . `` Unlike previous games , you 're playing light games with real friends that you have actual 'real-world ' social connections with , not meeting strangers online . '' Bogost believes traditional game developers are `` stuck in a strange no-man's-land '' between the entertainment industry and the high-tech industry . `` At the same time , traditional developers are understandably startled and even jealous of the massive and sudden success of social games , '' he said . `` So there 's a good deal of self-loathing at work . ''
Interest in social games , such as Google 's ` ` FarmVille , '' may be waning . Some experts claim social - network games put social interaction before artistic expression . Zynga designer : Social games ` ` emphasize creativity and creativity '' over complex technology .