Facebook is the king of social gaming, with millions of people logging on each day to play Candy Crush Saga or Criminal Case. It wasn’t long ago that social gaming didn’t exist, yet now it’s a worldwide addiction. Here are the top 10 ways that Facebook has changed the gaming world.
1. Asynchronous Social Gaming
People used to play games against their friends, but you usually had to be online at the same time. With Facebook, you play when you want to, and your friends play when it fits their schedule. It doesn’t matter if you’re on different schedules.
2. You Can Try it Out for Free
It’s easy and free to try a new Facebook game – you just add it to your account. Studies have shown that people give a game about one minute to decide it they want to continue. It’s easy to try a bunch of games, and only stick with the one you like best.
3. See What Your Friends are Playing
Facebook games like you to invite your friends so they can expand their player base. When you get an invitation from your friends to play ChefVille, Restaurant Story or Farm Heroes Saga you’re more likely to try the game yourself since you know you have friends playing.
4. Play for Free or Not
Most Facebook games are free to play, but offer opportunities to spend real money. This model has proven quite lucrative for some game developers. If you want to advance faster in the game, you can pull out your credit card. Other people choose to play for free, realizing it means a slower game.
5. You don’t Need Non-Stop Excitement
Unlike fast-paced shoot-em-up games on other platforms, Facebook games tend to be slow. On the surface, it doesn’t look too exciting to be building a farm and planting potatoes, but there are millions of people who play Farmville, enjoying that sense of progress.
6. Keep Playing on a Schedule
Many Facebook games have routine activities that happen with a specific schedule. If you plant potatoes, they are ready to be harvested in three hours in Hay Day, and if you wait a day without logging on, your potatoes are ruined. The exact same principle applies in Restaurant Story where if you don’t log in on time, you food rots and you’ll have to throw it into the garbage. This keeps gamers logging into Facebook on a schedule, to check on the next tasks in their game.
7. Make New Friends
In Facebook games, you can help your friends, and vice versa. Most games have features where the more friends you have playing the game, the easier you can complete certain tasks and challenges. You can meet and friend other people online via a game, that you would never have known otherwise.
8. Play in Bite-Sized Pieces
People with busy schedules don’t have time to sit in front of a game console for hours. It’s hard to make that kind of time commitment. Facebook games are designed so that you can go in and spend ten minutes now, then log back in a few hours later for another bit of gaming.
9. Share Achievements with Your Friends
When you finally conquer the evil villain, or get to level 100 in your game, you can share your achievement with your Facebook friends. Most games encourage you to do this, as a way of spreading the word about their games.
10. Facebook Games Reached the Female Market
Before social gaming came along, most gamers were guys. Facebook reached the untapped market, with games like Bejewelled and Cafe World, that appeal largely to women.
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