What are Social Games?
Social game is actually a genre of Casual Game with the difference that they are designed to be played with your friends asynchronously unlike other games. As the name implies, it is a new way to socialize and connect people together via Social Networks. Thus Facebook games, MySpace Games, games on Twitter and iPhone are a few examples of Social Games.
Why Social Games need social platforms?
Social Games are solely designed to be incorporated in the Social gaming platforms, so social platforms are the basis for the existence of such games. Social games that are able to garner a large user base are able to study their behavior online and optimize the viral loop and engagement loop to optimize the gaming experience and maximize retention.
People could always play games available online but were devoid of the social experience encountered using social networks. They would play alone or race with computer which lacked the Social feature forbidding them from the desire to compete with humans. The origination of Social Games revolutionized the Gaming industry, empowering people to interact with friends. It gives them an identity that would link them to an Online Social Network so people would know whose losing and whose winning.
Facebook-the best platform for social gaming apps:
Facebook, by far is the leading social networking platform catering over 250 million users every month. Though earlier Social Games were played through E-mails, they gained notice and popularity when Facebook rolled out its platform on 24th, May 2007 for application developers enabling them to access social graph and friend data that was not available before.
Facebook has been improving and enhancing its features and policies through the years and is reputed worldwide for being the best Social Networking platform in many respects. Being the initiator/originator of the Social Application platform, it has maintained its status among the app developers for facilitating them in a number of ways.
Why Application Developers go for Facebook?
Here are the key aspects which make Facebook the most appropriate and suitable platform for the application developers:
* As aforementioned, Facebook´s large user base of over 250 million and growing allows for optimal promotion and marketing of social games. With a diverse user base, development of social games can be tailored towards specific demographics. * Your browser may not support display of this image. A key attraction is the fbFund where developers have a chance to submit their application in order to quality for investments to grow their venture. Facebook´s platform is leveraging the social gaming industry by providing Funds, Mentorship and Marketing to the people who are fascinated about games and can define social with a new approach. * Strong Viral distribution is a prominent feature of Facebook that notifies users every time an application is used by their friends. So if I have 30 friends and I played Farmville, my activity along with my scores will be published as a story on all of my 30 friend´s Home page. * People always want to show-off their gaming skills and want to invite and challenge their friends. The viral Feature fulfills user´s wish to provoke user´s friends to compete as well as promotes the application side by side. * Facebook´s platform has been open to developers since 2007. Although Facebook is working on its gift shop and credits, it is doing so without alienating or disincentivizing 3rd party developers from monetizing their games to the fullest capabilities. * Your browser may not support display of this image. Reliability of the Platform for application developers is very important because they invest their money and time. Every application requires separate and customized code for its incorporation on a Platform. The game "Vampires" can be played on both MySpace and Facebook but both have the application integrated with a different coding.
So developers spend their time and money in the development of an application and they certainly can´t risk wasting their resources by devoting them for an unreliable social network. Since Facebook is a big name, its policies are reliable and consistent enough to be invested for. Also it´s Downtime has improved in the year 2008 as compared to other Networks being only 7.2 during the year.
Conclusion:
Facebook seems to be quiet gracious towards Facebook application developers providing them with such great opportunities to excel in the Gaming industry but looking the other way around, it´s not only that application developers need this platform; applications also hold great importance for Facebook as they are the major attraction for most Facebook users.
Applications play a critical role in maximizing Facebook´s user base. Tremendous growth has been observed in its number of active users ever since Facebook opened doors for the developers. So it´s a two way handshake and Facebook has to bestow favors to the app developers in order to maintain the landmark it has achieved through applications.
FarmVille - One of the Popular Games in Facebook
It seems that sooner or later, social-networking platforms will become more of a Social Gaming platform. What do you say?
About the Author
Arnold Smithh is editor of (www.facebookster.com/blog)i have wrote many article for different industries.
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