Comments on: Social Games Really Are Social — A Majority Play With Friends http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2010/07/15/social-games-players-majority-play-with-friends/ Tracking Innovation at the Convergence of Games and Social Platforms Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:17:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mike Sellers http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2010/07/15/social-games-players-majority-play-with-friends/comment-page-1/#comment-20823 Mike Sellers Sun, 18 Jul 2010 23:26:29 +0000 http://www.insidesocialgames.com/?p=15769#comment-20823 "Play with friends" covers a lot of territory. Very few FB games have any actual interactive play that you do with someone else -- pulling weeds in their garden or being their "neighbor" are not interactive and aren't really done "with" anyone else. As I pointed out in a post about the <a href="http://onlinealchemy.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/the-psychological-development-of-social-games/" rel="nofollow">psychological development</a> of games, most Facebook games are still in the "onlooker play" or "parallel play" commonly found in young children. As the FB audience's familiarity with games grows, and as game developers increase their design and technical sophistication (designing and developing true multiplayer games is <i>much</i> more difficult than single-player ones), we'll see them move on to associative and cooperative play, along with various forms of more direct competition. I think what we're going to find is that adding truly interactive multi-player experiences where you <i>can</i> play with friends is going to turbocharge virality beyond what we're seeing now with the stream of same-old same-old games. “Play with friends” covers a lot of territory. Very few FB games have any actual interactive play that you do with someone else — pulling weeds in their garden or being their “neighbor” are not interactive and aren’t really done “with” anyone else.

As I pointed out in a post about the psychological development of games, most Facebook games are still in the “onlooker play” or “parallel play” commonly found in young children. As the FB audience’s familiarity with games grows, and as game developers increase their design and technical sophistication (designing and developing true multiplayer games is much more difficult than single-player ones), we’ll see them move on to associative and cooperative play, along with various forms of more direct competition.

I think what we’re going to find is that adding truly interactive multi-player experiences where you can play with friends is going to turbocharge virality beyond what we’re seeing now with the stream of same-old same-old games.

]]> By: Shmuel http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2010/07/15/social-games-players-majority-play-with-friends/comment-page-1/#comment-20759 Shmuel Sat, 17 Jul 2010 09:08:08 +0000 http://www.insidesocialgames.com/?p=15769#comment-20759 "Add me, daily player, will gift/click" ... :) “Add me, daily player, will gift/click” … :)

]]> By: Jack, Has Standards http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2010/07/15/social-games-players-majority-play-with-friends/comment-page-1/#comment-20660 Jack, Has Standards Thu, 15 Jul 2010 23:57:20 +0000 http://www.insidesocialgames.com/?p=15769#comment-20660 Ah, but many of these "games" (Clicking Activities) PUSH you to play with your Facebook friends CONSTANTLY. So how are these numbers actually insightful? You don't compare them to anything else. Many of these games penalize players (sometimes strongly) who don't play with friends. Is this truly an optimal strategy? Ah, but many of these “games” (Clicking Activities) PUSH you to play with your Facebook friends CONSTANTLY. So how are these numbers actually insightful? You don’t compare them to anything else.

Many of these games penalize players (sometimes strongly) who don’t play with friends. Is this truly an optimal strategy?

]]>