Cuppytalk

When most people think of the word social, they think talking to people.  They think joining up with people, communicating, getting to know other people.  You know, socializing.  That’s fairly standard.  So when you think of social gaming, this is what it means right?  A game where people hang out in a multiplayer space and get to know each other.  Well, that’s not actually entirely accurate.

In social games, social is the ‘platform’

Social games as they exist right now (for the most part) exist on social networks.  You play them where your friends live.  You are already connected with people on this service, and gaming with them is a feature.  This is different than AOL Chat, or even Second Life – where you log in and interact with new people you’ve never met, or friends you’ve met on those services.  Social gaming takes your pre-existing friendships and gives you something to do with them.  How big of a role they play is another story.

This doesn’t mean they’re limited to Facebook games.  Ohai’s City of Eternals, is using Facebook Connect on their own site to accomplish this very thing.  City of Eternals is very much a social game, whether or not players are actually on it through Facebook or not.  And social games don’t have to involve synchronous real-time interaction.  A popular iPhone app, Words With Friends, allows you to connect with people you already know by broadcasting on social networks and play a Scrabble clone with them throughout the day – using push notification technology to alert you of your turns.  This is a social game, too.  It’s built on your platform of friends you already have.

In social games, real-time interaction is not the norm

Throughout Facebook games, you will see a whole lot of inviting friends and recommending to friends – but very little actual real-time conversation going on.  Live chat isn’t new technology, people have been doing it for a long time.  Why aren’t Facebook game developers using a lot more of it now?  Well, they don’t have to.  It isn’t an expected feature.  This could evolve over time, as games like the aforementioned City of Eternals are heading in that direction.  We tried a multiplayer space in our app, and it was a bonus feature to the playerbase.  It wasn’t a game changer, and it certainly wasn’t necessary.  We have live chat, but if you try to chat with a player on their island, sometimes they’re scared and log off.  Interestingly enough, I’ve noticed a lot of casual game players turn off their Facebook IM as well.

While traditional MMO gamers might be real familiar with logging in to their MMO of choice and chatting it up with their guildies and establishing relationships, that’s actually not a driving feature in social games.  This is a big difference between social games and MMOs.  When MMO developers talk about “putting social game features into their games”, I sigh when it is referring to synchronous features – because that’s missing the point.  MMOs already do that well.

In social games, social is a mechanic

So if these games use friends, but players are not hanging out and chatting with them – what good are friends in the first place?  Why build upon a social network if people are being “antisocial”?  Well, let’s face it.  Social gamers are, frankly, a bit selfish.  They’re logging in for short spurts throughout the day, perhaps on their lunch break, tending to their farm or zoo, and logging off.  Social games are such tight and directed experiences that your play session is mapped out before you log in.

Friends are used for the following purposes: viral growth, engagement, and session length.  Virally, you need friends to be a mechanic because you need your players to invite people.  Popular apps don’t just reward you for inviting friends, they all but demand it (within Facebook’s Terms of Service, of course).  Good social game developers are looking at all the ways that players are selfish and designing their game around that. Examples:

Players love receiving gifts, so a fundamental way to grow games virally is by gifting.  Players don’t send gifts because they are sweethearts who want to share with people, they share gifts because they want to receive one back.  Gifting, receiving gifts, placing and arranging gifts is a core social game mechanic currently – because it hits on viral efforts hard, and works for engagement as well.

Players invite neighbors to the game to be permanent additions to the bottom of their game client, so they can easily access their neighbor’s farm or zoo or island.  This isn’t because they genuinely care about what their friend’s creations look like – it’s because they get leveling and coin bonuses if they visit their neighbors.  Try increasing the difficulty of earning this visiting reward, once, you’ll see.  Players aren’t visiting for fun, they visit to get something.  This is where session length comes in.  Visiting neighbors takes a lot of time, but hey, as long as I *get* something…

To sum this section up, you invite your friends to the app because it benefits you.  You gift them because it benefits you.  You visit their creations because it benefits you.  You post to your Facebook wall because it benefits you.  These are social mechanics.  Seems a bit backward, doesn’t it?

In social games, social is a motivator

Tying in with the previous point about social games being a mechanic, motivation is another strong factor.  In a game like Bubble Island, or Bejeweled Blitz – your friends serve one purpose: bragging rights on a leaderboard.   Seeing their names there and seeing that they’re beating you – this is a core game mechanic.  I’d argue that there is no point in putting a puzzle game on Facebook without this feature.  Social proof and comparison is everything in these games.  Well, almost…feedback is crucial too.

It doesn’t have to be a puzzle game, either.  Having a neighbor bar below Farmville showing me that my friends are level 35 and I’m only 15 makes me want to level up and pass him.  It shows me what is possible.  It gives me a concrete goal.  My life will not be complete unless I pass him.  Well, I won’t go that far…

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I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see major changes in this.  Even Facebook’s new upcoming changes may affect all this in a big way.  That doesn’t change that right now, millions upon millions of players are proving out these above points.  Don’t take social too literally – these players aren’t jumping up and down at the chance to interact with their friends in new ways.  They’re wanting to have fun playing games, just like every other game.  Social is how these games grow and stick around.  It’s why people who don’t identify as gamers are playing more games than ever before.  Deep down inside, we’re all selfish when it comes to how we spend our time online.  Facebook game developers are just getting really good at taking advantage of that.