Now everyone's a gamer in their own way.

Mobile gaming is seeing a massive increase in popularity, as games such as Rovio’s Angry Birds are yanking in hundreds of millions of downloads. The article ‘Angry Birds: 200m downloads are the tip of the mobile gaming iceberg’ (19 May 2011) by Stuart Dredge of Guardian (online) illustrate how this game in particular is enjoying an impressive streak of success, seeing a likely expansion of the franchise into motion picture territory, and other forms of promotion (Lacy, 2011).

The craze surrounding this game was mostly initiated by the iPhone and iPad, and from there on in things could not have been more stellar than how they are now for the developers.

This phenomenon demonstrates just how the current discourse of the gaming world is changing, as the gaming industry takes on more innovative ways and seeks to incorporate the social spheres into the gaming world (Innovatrs.com, 2011). Other games such as Farmville and World of Warcraft are similarly successful due to the social factor infused in the gameplay, dismissing the traditional stereotype that gamers are loners lurking in the confines of their rooms.

I for one admit to be rather excluded from the social and mobile gaming loop, regardless of having played a few games in the past. Nevertheless, I acknowledge that new trends in gaming such as these are currently becoming more and more prominent, as the gaming sphere changes and adapts to the times.

The social factor included into current games are becoming increasingly vital in the current gaming landscape, so much so that social games are forecasted to have an amount up to 68.7 million players by 2012 (Schreier, 2011).

Another phenomenon that helps propel such games to spread among a large base of internet and mobile phone users is the ‘viral’ factor, brought about by word-of-mouth and the passing on of information from one user to another (Wilson, 2005). Therefore, when one person plays a certain mobile game, depending on how he or she likes it, he or she will then talk about the game to friends and acquaintances, thus spreading more potential players which ultimately brings about the initiation of a streak of success.

Conclusively, as much as a game can be modern, intricate, and sophisticated, it still relies on good old word of mouth and the social interaction between individuals to truly push it to accomplish big feats. 

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References:

Innovatrs.com, 2011, ‘Social and mobile gaming heralds innovation’, Innovatrs, viewed 12 June 2011, < http://www.innovatrs.com/blog/social-and-mobile-gaming-heralds-innovation/>.

Lacy, S. 2011, ‘Angry Birds tops 200 million downloads; more than double its “crazy” forecast (TCTV)’, Tech Crunch, viewed 12 June 2011, < http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/18/angry-birds-tops-200-million-downloads-more-than-double-its-crazy-forecast-tctv/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29>.  

Schreier, J. 2011, ‘5 top social games and why they’re so successful’, Mashable.com, viewed 12 June 2011, < http://mashable.com/2011/02/15/top-social-games/>.

Wilson, R. 2005, ‘The six simple principles of viral marketing’, Web Marketing Today, viewed 12 June 2011, < http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/viral-principles.htm>.