My new addiction

One of the reasons Facebook becomes much more popular than Friendster or Myspace is its shitload of applications. The networking site has all kinds of online applications imaginable, ranging from silly personality quizzes to gift applications to all sort of individual and group games. It's kinda ironic because it's supposed to be a networking site first and foremost, yet people seem to indulge more in games to the extent that they even compete with each other. There's one game that is pure fun though, as it involves no competition (though it DOES encourage hedonism and consumerism), and after trying a number of applications, this is the one i'm most addicted to.

Pet Society is one of the social games created by Playfish and is probably their most successful product. It's a hybrid between Barbie and Tamagotchi: you not only get to create your own pet and feed them, but also decorate their houses. And this is the most fun part. The Pet Society shops have the miniatures of all kinds of stuff you find in real life: from fridges to cabinets to television sets to water fountains. The shops stock new items every week and they even have special items for special occasions such as Christmas, Easter, Chinese New Year and Cinco de Mayo. The clothes and costumes and home accessories are beyond cute and you find yourself scrapping every penny there is to be able to buy them. And here's where the trouble comes in. There's not much you can earn by following the usual money-making rules: even if your pet has more than 50 friends you visit everyday and never misses a single race, you can only make an average of 1,500 coins per day, and many good stuff in the shops are priced around 1000 coins. It's no wonder that there are many cheats for the game, ranging from applications that allow you to earn coins by rubbing your pet all night while you sleep to tips and tricks that utilize the loopholes in the game. I personally prefer the latter rather than installing weird applications or messing with the game's codings. Thanks to a group called pscoin.com (which has promised many tips but so far only gives one), i know how to earn money quickly and get the best stuff by messing with mystery boxes. And creating another pet with a bogus account helps a lot too.

All in all, despite its shortcomings, Pet Society does encourage you to be a smart money spender and think outside the box in home decoration. Below are some pictures from one of the best pet houses in the game (courtesy of Pet Society Anonymous blog):