Thursday 4 December 2014

The Future of Social Gaming


The concept of social gaming as it stands today involves players competing through a social media platform (smart phones or the Internet) to gain higher gaming achievements and social standing. 



Facebook as a Social Media Gaming Platform

One of the key platforms in social gaming remains Facebook. However with increases in mobile technology social gaming has already extended into the smart phone arena. Social gaming connects people within a gaming framework, allowing players to socialize and play games simultaneously. 

The future looks set to see an increase in terms of gaming as both a social phenomenon, combined with a means to generate money.

How much money is generated by virtual social gaming?

Social gaming itself creates vast revenues. In 2010 it’s estimated that the virtual gaming business generated over $1 billion. With this type of money the future looks certain for the prominence of social gaming. Whether through advertising or virtual trading it’s still a staggering sum of money for playing games. 


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FarmVille and the Generic form of Social Gaming

FarmVille, Mafia Wars, Restaurant City, and the Spirit of Adventure (deemed as the first soap-opera style game application for Facebook) appear as regular applications upon Facebook. Each offers the players a way of communicating within a gaming atmosphere utilizing their own network of friends and like minded players.

Why as Kids we like to play games

Virtual games allow players to assume a virtual persona in effect role-playing, while interacting with people they know. As technology advances, particularly in terms of mobile phones, so the arena opens up to more virtual players through greater coverage and acceptability. 

The unique blend of social gaming combines the real social world with the experience of gaming. From early childhood playing games within either a competitive or non-competitive atmosphere remained integral to growing up. The joy of gaming exists within everyone with the imprints for the experiences ingrained into the psyche at an early age.

Social Gaming is for Adults as well as Kids

However social gaming features not only teenagers, its appeal extends to everybody. Technology at present connects people through the Internet or mobile phones. People of all ages can use social gaming to take enjoyment from their social interactions.

As developers begin to advance gaming ideas, concepts, and technologies so the gaming world opens up to greater social impact. Facebook has over 500 million users so the platform already exists for tapping into the community to extend the social gaming concept.

Social Media Games and Virtual Currency - why spend money of virtual items?

The future holds many promising developments within social gaming. It may even as an extreme offer a source of income for players as they compete and trade virtual non-existent items or currencies. World of Warcraft a MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer On-Line Role-playing Game) contains functional social levels or guilds yet players were able to partake in virtual trades outside the game. 

Virtual gold, characters, and items have sold for vast sums of real money, although Blizzard has effectively stopped this market as it risks damaging the legitimacy of the game and any future expansions.

Social Media Gaming and effective AI

One of the key features of social gaming remains the level of AI (Artificial Intelligence). As computers struggle to emulate human intelligence the ideal playing partner still remains another human being. Yet social gaming unites the players against other friends associates and players, removing the computer assisted AI altogether. 

The social gaming world in the future will advance from pure console or computer driven gaming to a greater social interactivity with increased intelligence and social exchanges.

The real future of Social Media Gaming

Social gaming in the future will unite players from all walks of life through the implementation of Internet and mobile based technology. Revenue streams will allow players to possible trade virtual items for real cash incentives. Even virtual upgrades within the games will add to the already phenomenal revenue generation associated with social gaming. 

As the Atari and Binatone TV gaming systems released in the 1980’s showed people enjoy gaming and socialising at the same time. The advances in mobile technology, and the developers growing enthusiasm for social gaming, will propel the genre forward at dizzying speed. Virtual immersion within society looks very promising and entertaining, too.

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