阐述“社交”在社交游戏中的4大作用

作者：Tami Baribeau

多数人在提到“社交”这个词时，都会想到是与他人交谈。他们对这个词的认识是结交其他人并与这些人交流。你知道，这就是所谓的社交化。这种想法相当合理。但是，如果你认为社交游戏只是玩家在多人空间中互相结识的游戏的话，就不算是完全准确的想法了。

在社交游戏中，社交是“平台”

目前，多数社交游戏存在与社交网络中。你在已经存在朋友的地方玩游戏。通过这项服务，你已经同朋友产生了联系，与他们一起玩游戏只是个功能。这与AOL Chat和《第二人生》有所不同，在这些游戏中，你登陆与从未见过的陌生人或者在这些服务中结交的朋友进行互动。社交游戏借用的是你现存的友谊，让你能够以这份友谊为基础来做某些事情。至于他们在其中扮演的角色有多重要，这就是另一回事了。

City of Eternals(from games.com)

这并不意味着社交游戏仅限于Facebook平台。Ohai的《City of Eternals》在他们自己的站点上使用Facebook Connect来实现上述目标。无论玩家是否通过Facebook来玩游戏，《City of Eternals》都可以算作是真正的社交游戏。而且，社交游戏并不一定需要同步即时互动。iPhone流行游戏《Words With Friends》允许你通过社交网络将自己同已经认识的人联系起来，每天和他们玩类似《Scrabble》的游戏。这款游戏使用信息推送技术提醒你做出行动。这也是款社交游戏，因为游戏构建于你已经拥有好友这个平台之上。

社交游戏中，即时互动并非准则

纵观Facebook游戏，你会看到其中有大量的朋友邀请和朋友推荐设计，但是很少发生真正的即时对话。在线聊天并非新技术，人们已经使用了很长时间。为何Facebook游戏开发者现在不使用这项技术了呢？因为我们已经有其他选择。即时互动并非玩家心中期待获得的功能。互动方式可能随时间流逝而改变，之前提到的《City of Eternals》正是朝着新的方向发展。我们尝试在应用中融入多玩家空间，这对玩家群体来说是个新奇的功能。这并非改变游戏的因素，游戏也未必会因此新功能就发生改变。我们已经拥有了在线即时聊天，但是很多人希望尝试在别人不在线时与他人交流。很有趣的是，我发现许多休闲游戏玩家会关掉自己的Facebook IM（游戏邦注：Facebook中的即时聊天工具）。

尽管传统MMO玩家或许更倾向于登录MMO游戏与公会成员交流建立友谊，但这并非社交游戏中的驱动性功能。这便是社交游戏和MMO的重大不同之处。当MMO开发者们讨论如何将社交游戏中的功能融入他们的游戏中时，如果他们指的是同步功能，我会为他们的行为感到遗憾。因为MMO游戏在这个方面已经做得很棒了。

在社交游戏中，社交是机制

假如这些游戏只是利用了玩家的好友，但玩家又没有同他们进行交谈，那么这些好友的意义何在？如果人们的行为与社会化相反，那么为何还要将游戏构建于社交网络中呢？让我们面对这个问题。坦诚地说，社交游戏玩家都有些自私。他们每天花很短的时间玩游戏（游戏邦注：比如在吃午饭的时候），处理他们的农场或动物园中的事务，随后就登出游戏。社交游戏所体现的就是如此定向的体验，你在登录之前就可以划定自己玩游戏的时间。

好友有以下作用：病毒性扩散、参与度、游戏时间的长度。从病毒性的层面上来说，你需要将朋友当成一项机制，因为你需要玩家来邀请其他人。流行的应用并不只是单纯地想为邀请好友的行为提供奖励，而是它们必须这么做（游戏邦注：当然这种做法必须符合Facebook服务条款）。出色的社交游戏开发商会关注所有玩家自私的行为，围绕这些行为来设计他们的游戏。比如：

玩家都很喜欢收到礼物，所以赠礼就成为了游戏病毒式发展的基本方法。玩家赠送礼物并非出于想要与他人分享的好心，他们分享礼物是因为他们想要得到好友的回赠。现在，赠礼、接受礼品、放置和安排礼物成为了核心社交游戏机制，因为这种设计对游戏的病毒式发展很有帮助，而且也能够提高用户的参与度。

玩家会邀请邻居加入游戏以永久性地增加他们的游戏常客，这样他们也能够轻易地访问邻居的农场、动物园或岛屿。这并非因为他们真正关心好友在游戏中的表现如何，而是因为他们想通过访问邻居来获得额外的经验值和钱币。如果你增加赚取这种访问奖励的难度，你就会发现玩家的访问只是为了得到东西。虽然访问邻居需要耗费大量的时间，但是玩家会为了获得奖励而花费这些时间。

总体来说，你邀请好友加入应用是因为这种行为能够使你获利。你赠予他们礼品也是因为其中的好处。你访问他们建造的东西也是为了利益。你在Facebook上发布信息同样是为了利益。这些都是社交机制。

在社交游戏中，社交是激发因素

与上述所说的机制一样，动机也是个很强大的因素。在《Bubble Island》或《宝石迷阵：闪电战》之类的游戏中，你的好友还有个作用：你可以在排行榜上向他们炫耀。查看他们在排行榜上的位置以及他们正在尝试超越你，这是个核心游戏机制。我曾经说过，如果没有这个功能，那么Facebook上的谜题游戏将变得毫无意义。在这些游戏中，社会认同和相互攀比就是游戏的核心。另外，反馈也是至关重要的内容。

不止谜题游戏可以利用社交作为激发因素。例如《Farmville》中的邻居条显示我的好友已经35级而我只有15级，这让我想要迅速升级并超过他，它给了我一个具体的目标。

游戏邦注：本文发稿于2010年5月13日，所涉时间、事件和数据均以此为准。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Writing Sample – Defining “Social” in Social Games

Tami Baribeau

When most people think of the word social, they think talking to people. They think joining up with people, communicating, getting to know other people. You know, socializing. That’s fairly standard. So when you think of social gaming, this is what it means right? A game where people hang out in a multiplayer space and get to know each other. Well, that’s not actually entirely accurate.

In social games, social is the ‘platform’

Social games as they exist right now (for the most part) exist on social networks. You play them where your friends live. You are already connected with people on this service, and gaming with them is a feature. This is different than AOL Chat, or even Second Life – where you log in and interact with new people you’ve never met, or friends you’ve met on those services. Social gaming takes your pre-existing friendships and gives you something to do with them. How big of a role they play is another story.

This doesn’t mean they’re limited to Facebook games. Ohai’s City of Eternals, is using Facebook Connect on their own site to accomplish this very thing. City of Eternals is very much a social game, whether or not players are actually on it through Facebook or not. And social games don’t have to involve synchronous real-time interaction. A popular iPhone app, Words With Friends, allows you to connect with people you already know by broadcasting on social networks and play a Scrabble clone with them throughout the day – using push notification technology to alert you of your turns. This is a social game, too. It’s built on your platform of friends you already have.

In social games, real-time interaction is not the norm

Throughout Facebook games, you will see a whole lot of inviting friends and recommending to friends – but very little actual real-time conversation going on. Live chat isn’t new technology, people have been doing it for a long time. Why aren’t Facebook game developers using a lot more of it now? Well, they don’t have to. It isn’t an expected feature. This could evolve over time, as games like the aforementioned City of Eternals are heading in that direction. We tried a multiplayer space in our app, and it was a bonus feature to the playerbase. It wasn’t a game changer, and it certainly wasn’t necessary. We have live chat, but if you try to chat with a player on their island, sometimes they’re scared and log off. Interestingly enough, I’ve noticed a lot of casual game players turn off their Facebook IM as well.

While traditional MMO gamers might be real familiar with logging in to their MMO of choice and chatting it up with their guildies and establishing relationships, that’s actually not a driving feature in social games. This is a big difference between social games and MMOs. When MMO developers talk about “putting social game features into their games”, I sigh when it is referring to synchronous features – because that’s missing the point. MMOs already do that well.

In social games, social is a mechanic

So if these games use friends, but players are not hanging out and chatting with them – what good are friends in the first place? Why build upon a social network if people are being “antisocial”? Well, let’s face it. Social gamers are, frankly, a bit selfish. They’re logging in for short spurts throughout the day, perhaps on their lunch break, tending to their farm or zoo, and logging off. Social games are such tight and directed experiences that your play session is mapped out before you log in.

Friends are used for the following purposes: viral growth, engagement, and session length. Virally, you need friends to be a mechanic because you need your players to invite people. Popular apps don’t just reward you for inviting friends, they all but demand it (within Facebook’s Terms of Service, of course). Good social game developers are looking at all the ways that players are selfish and designing their game around that. Examples:

Players love receiving gifts, so a fundamental way to grow games virally is by gifting. Players don’t send gifts because they are sweethearts who want to share with people, they share gifts because they want to receive one back. Gifting, receiving gifts, placing and arranging gifts is a core social game mechanic currently – because it hits on viral efforts hard, and works for engagement as well.

Players invite neighbors to the game to be permanent additions to the bottom of their game client, so they can easily access their neighbor’s farm or zoo or island. This isn’t because they genuinely care about what their friend’s creations look like – it’s because they get leveling and coin bonuses if they visit their neighbors. Try increasing the difficulty of earning this visiting reward, once, you’ll see. Players aren’t visiting for fun, they visit to get something. This is where session length comes in. Visiting neighbors takes a lot of time, but hey, as long as I *get* something…

To sum this section up, you invite your friends to the app because it benefits you. You gift them because it benefits you. You visit their creations because it benefits you. You post to your Facebook wall because it benefits you. These are social mechanics. Seems a bit backward, doesn’t it?

In social games, social is a motivator

Tying in with the previous point about social games being a mechanic, motivation is another strong factor. In a game like Bubble Island, or Bejeweled Blitz – your friends serve one purpose: bragging rights on a leaderboard. Seeing their names there and seeing that they’re beating you – this is a core game mechanic. I’d argue that there is no point in putting a puzzle game on Facebook without this feature. Social proof and comparison is everything in these games. Well, almost…feedback is crucial too.

It doesn’t have to be a puzzle game, either. Having a neighbor bar below Farmville showing me that my friends are level 35 and I’m only 15 makes me want to level up and pass him. It shows me what is possible. It gives me a concrete goal. My life will not be complete unless I pass him. Well, I won’t go that far… (Source: tamibaribeau.com)