Something you and the parent are missing: the Zynga-style "social" games are overwhelmingly (80%+) played by a completely different target group than 99% of all computer games before them: adult women.
They are most definitely not going to disappear unless there is competition that appeals to that target group more, and the (admittedly short) experience says it's not going to be something with a big element of skill.
They are most definitely not going to disappear unless there is competition that appeals to that target group more, and the (admittedly short) experience says it's not going to be something with a big element of skill.