One of my biggest pet peeves about playing FarmVille and other Facebook games is accepting gifts from friends. It's a needlessly laborious process, so much so that I put it off during the weekdays and then set aside an hour on the weekends to accept all of my virtual booty. Then I gripe to myself as I click back and forth between the Facebook gifts page and the dozen or so games I play on a regular basis. It's during these moments that I sometimes wonder when playing games started to feel more like work.
Until yesterday. I spotted a red button on my Facebook game requests page -- right above my FarmVille gifts -- that said 'Accept All.' Is this something new from Facebook? I wondered. I clicked the button and noticed that one-by-one my gifts were being processed and accepted for FarmVille. Awesome! Then I did the same for Mafia Wars, then FrontierVille. And, always a skeptic, I double checked my games to make sure my gifts arrived -- and there they were. Sweet!
And then I noticed that this new 'Accept All' button was not from Facebook, but a new offering from Gamers Unite!, a clever and semi-controversial application that help you find friends, lets you trade virtual items (when possible) and -- what's frowned upon the most -- automatically snags all game bonus items from your Facebook feed, no clicking required. Basically, using the Gamers Unite toolbar can get you banned from certain games, and I personally know a few players who will unfriend people who use this application.
So, if you're in the anti-Gamers Unite! camp -- you're probably not going to like what I have to say next. The new one-click gifting is ingenious, so much so that I'm counting down the hours until Zynga or Facebook either put a stop to it or simply buy the app to make it official.
Whether or not you use GU's one-click gifting is up to you, but either way, this new add-on just underscores how badly the social gaming gifting process needs a complete overhaul, making it as easy as possible for us farmers, mobsters and restaurateurs to get our quick game fix without any distractions.
What do you think about Gamers Unite!? Do you use it? Sound off in the comments below. Add comment.
Check out the rest of our FarmVille Cheats & Tips right here.
Until yesterday. I spotted a red button on my Facebook game requests page -- right above my FarmVille gifts -- that said 'Accept All.' Is this something new from Facebook? I wondered. I clicked the button and noticed that one-by-one my gifts were being processed and accepted for FarmVille. Awesome! Then I did the same for Mafia Wars, then FrontierVille. And, always a skeptic, I double checked my games to make sure my gifts arrived -- and there they were. Sweet!
And then I noticed that this new 'Accept All' button was not from Facebook, but a new offering from Gamers Unite!, a clever and semi-controversial application that help you find friends, lets you trade virtual items (when possible) and -- what's frowned upon the most -- automatically snags all game bonus items from your Facebook feed, no clicking required. Basically, using the Gamers Unite toolbar can get you banned from certain games, and I personally know a few players who will unfriend people who use this application.So, if you're in the anti-Gamers Unite! camp -- you're probably not going to like what I have to say next. The new one-click gifting is ingenious, so much so that I'm counting down the hours until Zynga or Facebook either put a stop to it or simply buy the app to make it official.
Whether or not you use GU's one-click gifting is up to you, but either way, this new add-on just underscores how badly the social gaming gifting process needs a complete overhaul, making it as easy as possible for us farmers, mobsters and restaurateurs to get our quick game fix without any distractions.
What do you think about Gamers Unite!? Do you use it? Sound off in the comments below. Add comment.
Check out the rest of our FarmVille Cheats & Tips right here.
