At what point did the concept of social networking really take off? Was when people started to use it to communicate with each other, or was when people start using it to play games with one another? There are more people today playing games on Facebook than there were just a few years ago. Is social networking becoming just another platform for people to play games?
It could very well be.
Welcome to the Future of Gaming
Facebook has really come a long way, and more people are starting play games on the huge social network. It gives people a new opportunity that has never been presented to them before. It creates a virtual meeting place where people can share their thoughts while playing a game of chess or a trivia game or two, but is it a good platform for gaming?
In order to get an answer to this question, you just need to ask anyone of the game developers. They will tell you that Facebook is an excellent gaming platform, and it is an excellent source of revenue for game developers.
Micro-transactions
One of the key elements of social gaming on Facebook is the micro-transaction. Most of the games that exist on the social network are loaded with micro-transactions. In order to get something for your game, you may have to spend a little bit of money. Over a period of time, these micro-transactions can really start to add up, but most players don’t even notice. The initial cost seems small and it is really easy to digest, but they add up quickly. The developers behind these games have got to get paid, and this is the revenue model that almost every single social game has decided to use. Micro-transactions can end up becoming quite large.
What Does the Future of Gaming Hold For Facebook?
As the games on Facebook have started to grow in popularity, some really interesting things have started to reveal themselves to Facebook developers. The initial genre of games was very small, and the actual visual appearance of the games was not even remotely important. What mattered the most was the social connections that people were making with these games. In the future, you can expect these social connections to grow quite dramatically. You can also expect the genre of games to grow as well.
Games that require you to think or use some sort of strategy are going to start becoming the most popular. These games will require more social interaction among friends. Strategy games will also grow in size. Instead of your typical two player strategy game like Chess being popular, you will start seeing strategy games that require multiple people. People will have to start working in teams, and this means they will have to start recruiting more and more of their friends. This is how social games on Facebook will continue to grow. The more popular games will go viral as they spread from friend to friend. The single player gaming experience will soon be a thing of the past.