“This is a mass market thing – if you have 60 million people playing the game, it’s not just geeks anymore,” said Brian Reynolds, founder of Zynga in a keynote at SXSW today. The gaming company responsible for Facebook games like Farmville and Mafia Wars has turned playing video games into a social phenomena – not a private pastime but rather, a hobby to be shared and celebrated.
“If you think about it, human beings are wired to be social. Going all the way back through the history of the human race, succeeding as an individual is a lot about having good social skills to navigate all these different things that go on between people. Even if you’re an introvert you become good at navigating social situations; it’s how we do things, our brains are made to do it and our brains are made to like doing it,” says Reynolds.
A 20-year gaming veteran, Reynolds explains that gaming isn’t inherently social but can be more fun when social elements are introduced. For example, he explains that a game becomes much more fun when you add group, competitive, or cooperative elements into the mix. The epitome of all things social, Reynolds attests Facebook took the idea of social gaming and redefined it.
“Facebook is the phenomenon that took social gaming to a whole new level,” says Reynolds matter of factly.
Reynolds believes the inherent social aptitude embedded in all humans lends itself perfectly to social gaming.
“What’s different in the social networked games is that you’re playing the games in front of people you actually care about with a relationship you’d like to move down the track in a positive direction so the gaming matters more,” says Reynolds.
He says social games are a way of expressing yourself where meaning is placed on engagement and sharing. He explains people care about interesting tidbits from your gaming experience, for example, something funny within the game that happened which you and your friends can have a conversation about.
Reynolds finishes his talk by explaining what makes a good social game. He says adding interesting decisions and interactive elements with choices that make the story more meaningful to the player is key.
