Earl's Musings: Games and being Social

So, this week I've gone out to a friends place to play games way too much. Like, I shouldn't have done it because I had work to do. But I did it anyway. And it's gotten me thinking about gaming with friends, and since I throw the word "social" around when I think about it, I'm also musing over the concept of social gaming in a way. So now let's talk about all this good stuff while I wait for ideas and motivation to do this new Shield High fight, and continue to neglect Tellulah.

I remember a couple years back social gaming seemed to be this kind of big deal. I enjoyed facebook games, and so did many of my friends, and we'd all send each other things and stuff. And then I developed something vaguely resembling taste and went to play actual games. But this notion of social gaming never really left me, and it seems to have not left the industry either. While the original presentation of them seems to be dying somewhat, with only a small niche still spending lots of money on them to keep them afloat, the idea is still around. The new Sim City for instance appears to have social gaming elements. I don't actually know, I refuse to give EA money on principle. You should too. But if you don't let me know if I'm right about that.

So, social games as we know them seem to be single player games, that are meant to be played by large groups of people who all help each other out by clicking buttons that are basically free, but give the other person some thing that they want. And when I game socially, I tend to play arcade-y, co-op games with my friends, like custom maps on Warcraft 3 or Starcraft 2. Neither of which are social games. Which you might think is silly, as social games should be THE games to play socially, right? Evidently not, that genres fully covered. Yet the idea of social games remains. So...what can we do with them?

Now, this is the part where I stray from fact and wander into wild speculation, but this is just my little take on how social gaming should be done. I think the next big idea behind social gaming should be something that demands people to socialize, and work as a society. Right now social gaming is about doing your own thing, which doesn't effect anyone else, but then being able to send free aid to others, and ask the same thing back. What if we change that idea? What if the game was about playing members of a tribe. The same general gameplay could remain, instead of harvesting crops or something, you go out on hunts, or go out gathering, but with other players, all of you working to survive, or do war with neighboring tribes. Add to this the idea that you need 3 people to go on hunts, or maybe more, and an open chat system within your tribe, and you'd have a very social, but quick and easy to play game.

And now I think I've spent too long writing about silly ideas of mine, feedback is appreciated as with all musing I'll be doing.

Pudding Earl.