"But fundamentally, Facebook has always articulated its value proposition as a more efficient way to share information in a trusted way. Personal data shared by Facebook users is what makes the News Feed--the core of Facebook’s information distribution system--so compelling to hundreds of millions of people. In cases in which the News Feed is filled with content from random gaming friends, it’s quite possible that Facebook could see much lower retention rates from its core features over time, instead more heavily relying on games to drive engagement and growth. If that were to indeed be the case on a wide scale, that could present some tensions for Facebook’s core product design--and business--over time."
The rapid rate of growth of Facebook use in Taiwan, if correctly estimated, is quite astounding. I have many relatives there, and they mostly use Facebook in the "western" way, as communication among real-life friends. (Most of my practice in reading Chinese online recently comes from reading relatives' Facebook status messages on Facebook.) But if there is a new pattern of gamers having random "friends," that would indeed change the Facebook experience for many users.