The Facebook token isn't an issue, that is how Facebook authorization works.
Recording single player games and then sending them to other users to work as fake real time multiplayer games seems like a very clever move and is probably the reason this game is doing so well. Not that I have heard of it before this post, though. It's a good hack that capitalizes on the way a quiz game works and doesn't have any real differences to true real time multiplayer except for the likely lack of real time messaging. The same could be done for any game in which people compete yet do not directly influence each other.
The benefits are very clear: reduced matchmaking times, eliminates latency issues, eliminates signal loss issues. All of these are major hurdles to multiplayer cellphone gaming, so I don't doubt that this game would be pretty successful because of it.
Sending users data to other users without permission like that feels like it should definitely be a punishable offense, but then the legal system doesn't work on logic so who knows.
> Not that I have heard of it before this post, though.
Tetris Friends does this for their multiplayer games[1][2]. When you "play against people", what you're really doing is playing against their replays. It's quite clever, and it had me fooled for a while while I was still in college.
The interesting consequence of this is that since you can react to the repalys, and the replays can't react to you, players will almost subconsciously play attack and defense in a smart way to win the game. So most players will have a win ratio of over 50% in a multiplayer game. It's a neat trick to keep everyone happy.
Recording single player games and then sending them to other users to work as fake real time multiplayer games seems like a very clever move and is probably the reason this game is doing so well. Not that I have heard of it before this post, though. It's a good hack that capitalizes on the way a quiz game works and doesn't have any real differences to true real time multiplayer except for the likely lack of real time messaging. The same could be done for any game in which people compete yet do not directly influence each other.
The benefits are very clear: reduced matchmaking times, eliminates latency issues, eliminates signal loss issues. All of these are major hurdles to multiplayer cellphone gaming, so I don't doubt that this game would be pretty successful because of it.
Sending users data to other users without permission like that feels like it should definitely be a punishable offense, but then the legal system doesn't work on logic so who knows.