Weeds Social Club: Don't Bogart that Joint, FB Friend Written by Ignatius Oyama

Facebook is the arguably the most successful website ever. Now worth an estimated billion and famously offered to be bought for 0 billion by the king of Saudi Arabia to quell the Middle East rebellions, FB cannot be excused of sitting on its laurels.

The site keeps on innovating and adding applications. By August, it will have Weeds Social Club, a game based on the American television hit series Weeds, about a widow who is forced to sell marijuana to support her family and keep their house.

Weeds Social Club will naturally be controversial, with people accusing FB of promoting drug pushing and drug use. It will be difficult for FB to defend itself on this one. By trivializing cannabis, the game of course is like an endorsement. Hey, we’re playing a game that would have us arrested in real life!

It’s not like FB cannot come up with other games. But this is a commercial decision. A game revolving around marijuana selling (and use) is presold. It will have at the very least the curious trying it out. Marijuana traffickers, users, and those who are working to have the drug legalized will have the time of their lives playing this game. It will be better than Farmville and Tetris.

The TV series finds the lead character getting in way over her head, having problems with the law and organized crime. It makes for a quirky program which is not even half as violent as another hit TV series, Dexter, which has a serial killer as a hero. Irreverence is attractive in popular entertainment and we will soon find out how successful or controversial FB new game will be.

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