In a rare fit of whatever mood this is, I shall help you cross off three things from your “I didn’t know, I didn’t know that” list.

1.The Brazilian counterpart to Facebook is Orkut.
2.One of the most popular games on Orkut is Vida Rock
3.Vida Rock is now on MySpace.

See? You didn’t know, you didn’t know that, did you?

A few weeks back, one of your loyal peers alerted me that Vida Rock was coming to MySpace. Now, before we go too much further I have to be totally honest: I hate these kind of games.

Not because they’re hard, or boring, or anything but because there’s no risk. No matter what you pick, choose, or take an option for you will succeed. You’ll still gain points, still increase your skill level or whatever. As long as you keep clicking the button, you keep winning. These “casual” games, and I hate to lump them in with casual gaming, are the lowest common denominator in gaming. Any idiot who knows how to left click and show back up later on can succeed at these games.

Which is good, even the homeschooled need a game to play, well, once they’ve outgrown Operation, that is.

Vida Rock is right on target for this kind of game.

Vida Rock separates itself from the Mobsters, Vampires, Knights, or Farmville crowd in that you get to be a rock star, form a band with your mates, and challenge your friends.

The game uses a mix of “strategy”, and I use that word lightly, and asset management. The strategy part comes in where you choose what skills you want to focus on, and taking low level gigs or practicing to increase those skills.

This would be the left clicking part. There’s a lot of it.

In case you’re thinking of left clicking like mad to ramp your skills up instantly, the developers have already thought of that. You have an energy pool, and each action drains that pool a little for every click. Once you reach 0, you have to wait for the pool to recharge.

Which is where the showing back up later on comes in.

The recharge rate is not fast. On purpose.

Which, I imagine, is supposed to be part of the strategy. What skills do you increase first so you can maximize your intake of money? How do you spend that money to maximize your bonus and skill point gain? But, let’s be honest, no matter what you pick you’ll still advance. You’ll still gain points, or stars, or whatever. There’s no right or wrong, no penalty and no real reward for making your selections. No matter what you do, you will succeed.

Which, from a design perspective, is pretty hard to do. Think about it, how are you going to present a game that engages your interest, keeps you coming back, but doesn’t punish you for staying away too long?

Well, being a Cybermonkey, I had to find out. I logged into our MySpace page- you do have us in your Top 8, right? Anyway, I logged in and signed up for the game. In no time, I had designed my own rocker- I went for a Punk look- and set about increasing my skills.

True to form, no matter what I did my skills were increased, my energy pool was depleted, and I gained stars or whatever it was I was supposed to gain. Not too tough.

Which is the problem with these sort of games, any idiot can play them.

The guys at Color Cube Games have done a good job of producing a social network application game. It’s different from the rest, you’re a burgeoning rock star instead of a vampire, shepherd, or whatever, and there’s a lot of left clicking involved.

It has some nice features, in terms of customizing your own rock-god look. You can form a band, or be a solo artist if you prefer. And when you’re ready, you can go head to head against other players, which I have to say, is a nice feature.

Definitely better than stealing dice, minions, or tipping cows like the other games have you doing.

So, if you’re tired of working for someone else’s mob, being their vampire, or whatever other time waster you’re sneaking through the corporate firewall, give Vida Rock a shot.

You might like it.

Oh, and it’s coming “soon” to Facebook, so if you’ve abandoned your MySpace page don’t worry. You’ll have a shot at Vida Rock soon enough.