Social network game
A social network game is a type of online game that is played through social networks or social media. They typically feature gamification systems with multiplayer gameplay mechanics. Social network games were originally implemented as browser games. As mobile gaming took off, the games moved to mobile as well. While they share many aspects of traditional video games, social network games often employ additional ones that make them distinct. Traditionally they are oriented to be social games and casual games.
The first cross-platform "Facebook-to-Mobile" social network game was developed in 2011 by a Finnish company Star Arcade. Social network games are amongst the most popular games played in the world, with several products with tens of millions of players. Green Patch, Happy Farm, and Mob Wars were some of the first successful games of this genre. FarmVille, Mafia Wars, Kantai Collection, and The Sims Social are more recent examples of popular social network game.
Major companies that made or published social network games include Zynga, Wooga and Bigpoint Games.
Demographics
As of 2010, it was reported that 55 percent of the social network gaming demographic in the United States consisted of women while in the United Kingdom, women made up nearly 60 percent of the demographic. In addition, most social gamers were around the 30 to 59 age range, with the average social gamer being 43 years old.Social gaming may appeal more to the older demographic because it is free, easier to advance through in a short period, does not involve as much violence as traditional video games, and is easier to grasp.
Other games target certain demographics that use social media, such as Pot Farm creating a community by involving elements of cannabis subculture in its gameplay.
Technology and platforms
A social network video game is a client-server application.The client in the web era was implemented with a mix of web technologies like Flash, HTML5, PHP and JavaScript. When mobile games moved to mobile, social game front ends were developed using mobile platform technologies like Java, Objective-C, Swift and C++.
The back end was a mix of programming languages and systems, including PHP, Ruby, C++ and go.
Where social network video games diverged from traditional game development was the combination of real-time analytics to continuously optimize game mechanics to drive growth, revenue, and engagement.
Distinct features
The following table outlines common characteristics of social games, mentioned by Björk at the 2010 GCO Games Convention Online:| Characteristic | Potential enablers | Consequences | Examples |
| Public player statistics Information regarding players' game instances are publicly available |
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| Persistent game worlds Game state is independent from individual players' game and play sessions |
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| Tick-based games Game time progresses according to real time, but in discrete steps |
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| Events timed to real world Game play events initiated by specific real time events occurring |
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| Evolving gameplay design Rules of a game instance change as gameplay takes place |
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| Encouraged return visits Players are encouraged to return frequently to a certain part of game space |
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| Grinding The need to perform a certain task considered easy repeatedly |
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| Drop-in/drop-out Designed support to handle players entering and leaving ongoing game sessions |
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| Private game spaces Parts of the game space that only a single player can manipulate directly |
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| Massively single-player online games Games making use of other players' game instances to provide input to the game state |
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| Construction Changing or rearranging game elements to form more complex structures |
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| Pottering The management of game resources for its own sake |
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| Visits Temporary access to other players' private game spaces |
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| Altruistic actions Actions that have only explicit benefits for somebody else than is performing the action |
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| Non-player help Players can receive help in games by actions from those not playing |
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| Invites The use of inviting new players to a game as game actions |
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| Extra-game event broadcasting Game events are broadcast in a medium where others can perceive them |
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| Collaborative actions Compound actions that require several players to perform actions |
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| Delayed reciprocity Players perform actions to help others under the assumption that they later will be helped in return |
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| Guilting Trying to influence another placer's actions based upon moral grounds |
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| Purchasable game advantages Players can pay real currency to gain some in-game advantage |
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| Extra–game consequences Some actions within a game has pre-defined effects outside the game system |
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- asynchronous gameplay, which allows rules to be resolved without needing players to play at the same time.
- gamification, which video game mechanics such as achievements and points are applied to those experienced when playing games in order to motivate and engage users.
- community, as one of the most distinct features of social video games is in leveraging the player's social network. Quests or game goals may only be possible if a player "shares" with friends connected by the social network hosting the game or gets them to play, as well as "neighbors" or "allies".
- a lack of victory conditions: there are generally no victory conditions since most developers count on users playing their games often. The game never ends and no one is ever declared winner. Instead, many casual games have "quests" or "missions" for players to complete. This is not true for board game-like social games, such as Scrabble.
- a virtual currency which players usually must purchase with real-world money. With the in-game currency, players can buy upgrades that would otherwise take much longer to earn through in-game achievements. In many cases, some upgrades are only available with the virtual currency.