Social Games are exploding
Recently, I've been spending a lot of time playing games games on social networks. FaceBook in particular has quite an ecosystem going -- lots of experimentation, iteration, testing out ideas. It feels like a bubbling caldron of game ideas.
Here's a few articles I've found that summarize what's happening.
Social Games" (aka The New Hotness)
The Four Viral App Objectives (a.k.a., “Social network application virality 101″)
More Than Games, a Net to Snare Social Networkers
What's Wrong with FaceBook Games
Many of these posts are from blogs that also contain other great articles, so browse around more if you're interested in this topic
In today's FB games, I see a lot of virility at the expense of depth - which is reminiscent of a Multi-Level-Marketing scheme. There are also (not surprisingly) a lot of "poke" and "vote" games that are loads of fun for college students and young adults - but not so compelling to working adults with limited free time who'd like to connect with friends, family and colleagues in a meaningful way.
That's the itch that Scrabulous scratches - and along with a few other old-skool casual games like Texas Hold'Em, that's an area to keep an eye on. Anecdotally, I've heard that adults over 35 are the fastest-growing audience segment on FaceBook. I think we'll see some upcoming FB games that go way beyond MLM virility, and deliver deep and meaningful social gaming experiences in a new, highly social format. Stay tuned...
Too bad Scrabulous got enough attention that Hasbro is going to shut it down...
Posted by: F. Randall Farmer | January 16, 2008 at 01:25 PM