Free games on social networks

The online games market has been acknowledged as the next evolutionary step in online entertainment, especially the ones that are free of any charge. And one of the most popular new places to play games isn't on a video console such as the Wii or the PlayStation 3, but on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. There are indeed many possibilities, and they keep growing every passing day: you might play a card game like "Texas Hold'Em", a brain game like "Biggest Brain," or a game called "Friends for Sale" in which you buy and sell your friends as if they were pets. Social networks are presenting their members the opportunity to play hundreds of gaming applications, and it's all for free. More importantly, these networks are making it easy for people to combine playing games and socializing with friends into one fitting digital package that even the technologically challenged can use with minimal effort.

Games used to be essentially social activities - back when board and card games were prominent in the real world and people played with real friends on a real table. With the appearance of video games, playtime turned into a more individual venture. And even as the Internet has made it easier for gaming to revisit its social roots, the tricky twists that are often necessary for finding friends online and play games with them, has been quite a turn-off for most people. But with the ongoing expansion of MySpace and Facebook, all your friends are now rounded up online in one easily reachable place. So you can actually play a game with just a click or two and, and what's more, you can be in a game with somebody you know.

The numbers are certainly impressive, and for example, Zynga's "Texas Hold'Em," which appears on Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Hi5, reaches out to 900,000 players every day. Meanwhile, Playfish's "Biggest Brain" draws in some 3 million monthly players on Facebook.

One of the reasons that make these games so suitable to social networks and easy to get started with, is the fact that players don't have to dig too deep to find the games they like. Social network games tend to reach new people by word of mouth, as friends invite each other to play what they're playing.

What a game needs to do well on a site like Facebook is that it has to be easy to jump into, but more importantly they must be intrinsically more fun to play with someone else than on your own.Is with that purpose in mind that games such as "Biggest Brain" and "Word Challenge" all include leader boards that display pictures of your friends and let you check out how their scores measure up to yours. That's because keeping tabs on each other's progress really is part of the fun when playing against your friends.

Yet one more key element for success is something called "asynchronous gameplay" - which basically means that you and your friends don't need to be online at the same time to play games together. For example, the controversial and innovative game "Scrabulous," (now renamed Lexulous), shoot up to success because it allowed players to take turns playing a Scrabble-like game at their own convenience, making moves back and forth with friends across time and space.

Making the gameplay asynchronous fits better with the "continuous partial attention" world that we increasingly live in. With this new kind of games you can play a little bit when you have some time, and at various points throughout the day. Single player casual gaming (like Bejeweled online or on the cell phone) has been the best match for many players. Of course, these are a lot of fun and at least have the "high score" dynamic, but they suffer from the lack of the social side that turn based asynchronous games have to offer.

What's so great about asynchronous games is that they also make it incredibly easier to play against friends. You don't have the need to be sure that you are online at the same time. Playing with your friends makes games more fun, and gives them context because you have an ongoing relationship with your opponent. This also offers an opportunity for true viral growth for the game, as players invite their friends to play.

In many cases, online Games are also having a positive influence on people's productivity at work. A survey from May 2007 showed that 76% of those who play sporadically at work accomplish a better job performance. The research considered whether online game playing at work enhanced worker creativity, stamina and overall productivity. It is very telling that 80% of the responders, who indeed played online games during the workday, felt better focussed thanks to this periodic mental break.

As the Internet keeps escalating in complexity and social networking extends its popularity, game developers will try to use the full potential of these new technologies. Social networks like MySpace, Flickr and Facebook have become the way to communicate and share news, and now they also are trying to establish a strong sense of community and immersion through the free games they are offering.