Several different articles have recently been posted about where social gaming is going in the future. Deeper player engagement via the blurring of reality and the virtual world seems to be a recurring theme as does the idea that social games will become even more…social. Mobile social gaming is also an unstoppable juggernaut of a trend.
Gamezebo has an interesting post from Julie Shumaker, SVP/GM of Media at RockYou
” Technology will allow the games to be integrated with real-life experiences and augmented reality will make games more social as gameplay is woven into everyday life. The real world becomes the game as much as the game influences the real world, as brands offer more valuable experience to users and become more seamlessly woven into the fabric of the games and users’ reality. “
Also, read Julie Shumaker discussion on social games becoming more social at the recent Marketing Intelligence 6 Conference here
Gamasutra has a very good piece written by veteran game designer Greg Costikyan regarding ways to make social games a more socially rewarding experience for players.
” The peculiarity of this is that social networks are actually far better suited than most online environments to fostering social gameplay. Messaging and chat are built into the system, and need not be separately implemented by developers; but more importantly, the social graph allows players to interact with people who are their actual friends. “
Gamezebo provides another interesting article by Mike Sego, CEO of Gaia Online. Mike discusses how developers are beginning to fill in the “missing genres”.
” The value proposition of being able to instantly play your favorite games, with your friends, through a service you’re already using every day, all for free — that’s compelling to any audience, especially those who love playing games. This leaves us with an enormous population of gamers who currently don’t play games on Facebook but will once a wider variety of games and genres become available. “
GoMoNews discusses the growing importance of mobile social gaming within the context of the recent OpenFeint acquisition.
” By centralizing the development of your game, it allows you to ensure that the game experience is completely identical across all platforms, and that every single update is rolled out to every platform at the same time. It makes all of these processes easier and faster. “
CNET has an article discussing Deni Dyack’s perspective that social games will “crash and burn”.
Original article on Industry Gamers here
” We asked Dyack if the rise of social and the migration of traditional talent to the social space is a detriment to the traditional games market. He answered, “It is damaging traditional gaming for sure but… how it’s going to work out is anyone’s guess. The trend that I see is it’s probably going to be one of the biggest bubbles and explosions that our industry’s seen in a long time and I think when it crashes it’s going to crash very hard. I don’t think there’s an economy there.”
Playstation University interviews Paul Wedgwood, Director of the new multi-player game Brink.
” According to Splash Damage’s CEO and game director Paul Wedgwood, social interaction is the future of gaming. With the development of Brink, gamers are one step closer to a first-person shooter without bots or NPCs but actual characters within the game, multiplayer or single-player, that are all controlled by human opponents. “
iMediaConnection interviews Jimmy Kim, Founder and CEO of NexoNova Studio
” I think during the game development and operating process the concept of “playing anywhere” is becoming more prominent. As a result, game design should now take into consideration multiple access points, such as devices, and different kinds of gaming experiences (single vs. multi-play, mini game vs. scenario play) through those devices, as well as making sure the total user experience is connected throughout the different platforms. “
Video – Future of Social Gaming panel Discussion
Social Game News 