The State of Social in Social Games

1. The State of Social in Social Games Aki Järvinen Lead Social Designer, Ph.D.

2. Background • Aki’s 10 years of experience includes: • Mobile game design • Online & Social game design • Online gambling design • Board game design • User experience design • Product Management • Business development • Academic Research & Development

3. Menu of the Day • Is social broken in social games? • Dilemmas in designing for social on Facebook • Design Concepts for Social: • Social Presence • Social Graph • Social Capital • Case study: Social Space • ‘Less Social is More’

4. Social Games Defined • ‘Online games that adapt your friendship ties for play purposes, while accommodating your daily routines.’ • Social games on Facebook presents a particular instance of this definition • More definitions: http://www.gamesbrief.com/2011/01/what-is-a-social-game/

5. Is Social Broken in Social Games? • From Game Developers: • is sociality in social games something that equals passing notes under the door of a friend - instead of knocking on the door? • are social games turning social relationships into mere game resources? • are social games making players feel like they're playing with their friends even if they're not?

6. ‘Social’ versus ‘More Social’

7. Social seems to be broken... • Players have hard time articulating what they are doing when they are interacting with their friends via a game on Facebook.. • ...even if the games are supposedly built on the premise of being social. • Findings from the SoPlay research project: http://soplayproject.wordpress.com/

8. What if...less is more? • What if social games players do not want any deeper social exchanges in their games? • If we build more sophisticated incentives for social proof, curiosity, presence, etc... • ... will they come? • NO, if it takes too many clicks – i.e. too much cognitive load

9. So what should we do? What is social, anyway?

10. Designing social...games? • ‘Social design is the conception, planning, and production of web sites and applications that support social interaction.’ (Joshua Porter)

11. Dilemmas of social games on Facebook • I.e. why good intentions can be hard to translate into a game’s social design: • Interactions vs. interruptions? • social engagement vs. aggressive acquisition

12. The dilemmas of social games on Facebook • I.e. why good intentions can be hard to translate into a game’s design: • ‘When social goes too far’ • engaging gameplay vs. social barriers for monetization

13. Dilemmas of social games on Facebook • The freemium business model has consequences for social features: • developers build ‘social barriers’ in the shape of collectable virtual items in order to monetize • virtual goods sales indicate these games can be viable as Massively Parallel Single-Player Online Games (MPSOGs) http://www.slideshare.net/christophercarfi/the-six-kinds-of-free

14. How to judge what is social • Yet: Should social games’ sociality be judged with the criteria of social context and how it contributes to the social experience... • ...instead of evaluating the social in gameplay? Gameplay

15. Close your eyes: Virals are social! • A fact: viral feeds are the most concrete, in-your-face form of social in social games at present • Socially acceptable virals are both ‘shareworthy’ and ‘clickworthy’ • Viral has become a retention tool

16. Social games are real games • Key point / provocation: • these products are not, nor will they be, similar to games we (developers and gamers) are used to... • ...so get over it! • i.e. you should disregard any use of words ‘true’, ‘real’, ‘artificial’ and ‘only’ when reading game developers’ comments on social games

17. Social = Communication Presence via asynchronicity?

18. Communication and its discontents • No relationship is possible without communication • Facebook provides the social substrate with its – constantly changing - communication channels. • Are they enough – or do you feel a need to go hardcore?

19. Parallel Play molds social exchanges • Social games facilitate players’ daily routines rather than the other way around • Parallel play: playing independently beside others but checking the others’ progress from time to time. • Affects how fellow players’ presence is experienced while playing. http://ginalijoi.com/

20. Social through Presence • Social presence: • the salience of others when communicating across distance, and the salience of interacting with them in said situations. • the degree of person-to-person awareness that occurs in a mediated environment. • Is more presence necessarily good? http://www.flickr.com/photos/geetaariani/3602456383/sizes/z/

21. Presence requires Immediacy • Social games in Facebook have had a weak impact in terms of social presence: • slipping the message under the door instead of knocking on it. • Immediacy does not belong to the vocabulary of social games.

22. Towards greater Immediacy

23. Social Graph & Capital Food for thought

24. Social Graph gives your game wings, right? • Social graph: • Facebook has largely come to own the concept • implies that it brings additional value to using a social application or site • leveraging the social graph will enrich one’s social experience?

25. Social Graph • Key point: Xbox Live, Steam, etc. create social graphs of their own, but they are interest-driven instead relationship-driven (Facebook)

26. Interest graphs • Social graphs are transforming into interest graphs • Interest graphs are centered around common interests and relations - rather than relationships - between enthusiasts.

27. Kindness of Strangers? • Cooperation and competition have always co-existed in human networks • Yet, there are no strangers in most social games • Because it is safe, and built around the core use case of Facebook. • More social is less...?

28. Takeaway • Does your socially revolutionary game hinge on leveraging ‘real’ friendship ties for more depth? • Or, should you just embrace the ADD ME culture, and also facilitate playing the game without friends, as a single player experience? • (I know.)

29. Social Capital • Social capital: • the intangible value of one’s social network: • The value to be gained from social capital does not lie in the individual but in the structure of her relationships and how they can be leveraged.

30. Social Capital builds bridges and bonds • Two kinds of social capital: • bridging type: weak ties which privilege exchange of information or new avenues of thought • bonding type: a tightly knit web of emotionally close relationships

31. Bonding vs Bridging Social Capital in SNS

32. Games of Weak Social Capital • Social games in Facebook are typically low maintenance: • any social capital that emerges is bridging in nature.

33. Takeaway • When considering the feature set of your game, are you demanding the players to bond? • Do you want them to do that? (That’s ok but hard.) • Or should you let them ‘only’ bridge?

34. Case study: Social Space Making it social

35. Crossing time & space, socially • ‘The Ghost Mechanic’ • An instance of the social grind where the constraint of asynchronicity has been turned into a strength • Contributes to social presence!

36. Space for social • Sense of shared space is paramount to authentic social experience • Social spaces facilitate asynchronicity: • It is no coincidence cafes, restaurants, cities, and other public spaces figure prominently in social game settings http://www.flickr.com/photos/rossatkin/4603446889/sizes/z/

37. Gifting shared space

38. More or less social Some ‘lesser’ concepts & a summary

39. The Less than Obvious

40. When less social can be more • Strive to create opportunities for social exchanges • OR, for the lone grind • ...instead of unconditional barriers

41. When less social can be more • Pay attention to so-called parasocial relations: • on an emotional level, people treat many game elements as real • e.g. call them stupid • characters and celebrities that we come to ‘know’ support emotional attachment • attachment breeds retention

42. Summary • Social is communication • yet extra channels & too many exchanges are intimidating • Social presence requires immediacy • but should you rather build ‘ambient’ social presence? • Social capital requires commitment • are you willing to risk it? • Social space creates familiarity • yes, you want to model that • Viral is social • yes you can

43. References • 'State of Social in Social Games' feature at Gamasutra • Games for Social Networks – Aki’s blog • @aquito at Twitter • Thank You!