BANGALORE, (Reuters Life!) – For many employers,  Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites are already  a scourge that cut into productivity. Now they have something  else to worry about — the games hosted by these sites.

This new genre of social gaming is called “asynchronous” or  “appointment” gaming and allows people to play with their  friends without having to be online at the same time.

The low-intensity engagement has made games such as  FarmVille, Cafe World, Restaurant City, Pet Society, and Happy  Aquarium — developed by firms Zynga, Playfish, Crowdstar and  Slashkey — popular among employees who often log on during  office hours.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Associated  Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, about 12.5 percent  of productivity in the corporate sector is misappropriated each  day by social networking sites.

“What we are seeing is that more and more people and  organisations are recognising the productivity lost so probably  more chief information officers are blocking Facebook  applications,” Rebecca Wettemann of Nucleus Research said.

Boston-based Nucleus Research, which conducted a recent  study into the effects of social networking sites on  productivity, said nearly half of office employees in the  United States access social networking sites at work, which  leads to an average loss of 1.5 percent of total office  productivity.

Facebook, which has 350 million users, says at least 20  percent of its members play games online.

Sebastien de Halleux, CEO officer and co-founder of online  game creator Playfish said Asia is growing at a faster pace  than other regions.

“We had no idea that it would spread so fast… when we had  100,000 users after one month, we thought it was the biggest  success ever. Now with 60 million users we think this is only  the beginning of something much bigger,” he added.

Playfish is behind Pet Society and Restaurant City.

Zynga’s FarmVille, the best known with over 70 million  active users till date, allows players to own a virtual farm  where they can grow crops, raise animals and build a farm  house.