The document summarizes a study of social interaction mechanics in social games. It found that the most common interactions are friending via friend bars, asynchronous visiting of friends' spaces, gifting between friends, and leaderboard-based challenges. Interactions usually focus on trading virtual goods and leaving traces of visits rather than meaningful communication. Recent innovations include real-time challenges and synchronous chat, but most games still prioritize solo play over cooperation.
140. Data Dump Game DAU/MAU Visiting benefits the space Dungeon Overlord 36.2 No Bejeweled Blitz 36 n/a Farmville 29.5 Yes Frontierville 28.6 Yes Treasure Isle 21.5 Yes Café World 20.9 Yes Texas HoldEm Poker 19.4 n/a CSI: Crime City 17.2 No Mafia Wars 17 n/a Warstorm 16.4 n/a
141. Data Dump2 Game by DAU Interact w/Avatars visited CityVille No Farmville No Texas HoldEm Poker No FrontierVille No Bejeweled Blitz n/a
142. Data Dump3 Game by DAU Quests Req Friend help/VC Grouping Mechanic CityVille Yes No Farmville Yes Yes Texas HoldEm Poker Yes Yes Frontierville Yes No Bejeweled Blitz No No Café World Yes No (?) Treasure Isle No No Mafia Wars Yes Yes Pet Society Yes No It Girl Yes Yes
Farmville before I got going, but note the relative simplicity: plant crops; decorate farm; acquire animals and trees
FameTown: when friends visit, they increase the rating of any movie currently in production Cityville franchises allow for friends’ personalization efforts to persist across their friends’ spaces
It Girl, Big City Life allow challenges that test players based on stats, items, cliques, and so on BCL allowed voting on hottest outfits, across friends and strangers
Healthseeker lets you challenge friends to healthy lifestyle quests
asynchronous
asynchronous
How could a social game have a component that similarly engages players when they aren’t actively playing?
Social Book, as depicted in the video below, enables friends to read a book together even in different locations. Readers are able to share any part of the content with their Facebook and Twitter friends. The content could also be changed in real time by authors or even the readers. It works pretty much like Google Docs. Social doesn’t just stop here. Users are also able to purchase a book from a friend’s bookshelf, making eBook libraries connected, searchable and shareable. Lastly, it doesn’t matter whether you’re reading from a Blackberry or an iPad , the application is built to be able to read and share on any device. But for a start, it will launch as an iPad application first before expanding to other platforms.