Social Media and the Rise of Social Gaming
Social media is something we all seem to use these days. Whether we are sharing images, or letting our views be known on the latest news, it is easy to do. Another thing that is easy to do using social media is play games, and because of this ease of use, this has become one of the most popular things to do on Facebook.
When Facebook was first created it was to be used as an academic tool for students to keep connected. It soon outgrew that and everybody wanted to be on there, it was the next big thing on the Internet. To continue growth, the social network then had to keep extending, one of the ways this was done was through playing games.
We take games on Facebook for granted these days, many of the big titles such as Candy Crush Saga have moved onto mobile devices and become apps. What these apps still keep though are connections to Facebook as a way to keep gamers connected to their friends and keep them connected. This is the power of the “social game”, the ability to connect people, allow them to challenge each other and to play against each other.
Looking at social gaming now, there are many ways to do so. Whether it is on online gambling sites where people like getting edge with free bingo together, or live roulette, or on the latest consoles where people can play against each other in teams, social gaming is now huge. People who prefer solo-gaming aren’t left out of course, but even they connect their games to social media so they can share their latest triumph through image and video sharing.
So what is the future of social gaming? You just have to look at Twitch and YouTube to see that. People now stream their games all over the world, and form communities of fans that they can communicate with. While there are some controversies around this style of play, for now it still remains strong and will hopefully continue so in the future.
The internet and social media has helped gaming becoming a more social pastime, and this doesn’t look to be changing anytime in the future. As technology evolves we can no doubt see new ways to making gaming social, and this will be very interesting to see how it evolves.
