My newest addiction is Scramble With Friends. This popular game involves creating words out of scrambled letters in a short period of time to accumulate points. This game is played against an opponent. The opponent can either be a stranger assigned randomly or can be a friend found through Facebook friends or contact lists.
A lot of times gamers are stereotyped as anti-social, however, applications such as Scramble With Friends are changing that. For example, this game allows players to challenge their friends and even communicate with them through the chat feature. Not only can you chose to play with people you know, but you can even meet new people through the game. I even read an article about how two people got married after randomly playing each other and then talking through the chat feature in Words With Friends.
I think it's interesting to examine how gaming is changing due to new technology and the applications that come with it. Only a decade ago I got my first cellphone, a Nokia phone with the game Snake. With this game, the only person I could play against was myself. There was no social interaction that came with this game. Now, games present a new social element by allowing instant interaction and communication between numerous players. Whether it is maintaining relationships with family members and friends or creating new bonds with people from all over the globe, there are new opportunities to socialize through gaming. How do you think games will continue to evolve to further facilitate sociality?
Paige Rowin
Paige Rowin
I think this is a very interesting topic to touch on. I am exactly the same as you and was never into "gaming". However, since getting an iPhone, I have become extremely active on Words with Friends, Scramble with Friends, and even the newest Draw Something, a pictionary type of game. In fact, Draw Something has recently become one of the top downloaded games on the Apple "App Store". Following this, last week, Zynga (the company that owns Words with Friends and Scramble with Friends) bought Draw Something for $180 million dollars. I think this is an obvious indication that social gaming is something that is only growing at this point in time. In fact, I was home this past weekend and I watched as my brother and dad sat in the same room, on separate devices playing Words with Friends. When I asked why they weren't just playing Scrabble together on the board they said playing on their iPhone and iPad was just "more fun". Overall, I think this was a very interesting topic to touch on and I do believe that games will continue to evolve to facilitate sociality.
ReplyDeleteEmma Kessler
It really is amazing how cell phone games have evolved from individual games like snake and brick breaker to social games like words with friends and draw something. Although I think it is a bit extreme that people got married because they met on scramble with friends; I do believe these games have many benefits. Not only have these games created a social component but they also are intellectually stimulating games. I recently was talking with my friends and one of them said that they think that the smartest people are the ones who score the highest on scramble with friends and win words with friends. Of course I thought this was a bit extreme considering some people play much more frequently than others and some people cheat, don't have the attention span, or are smarter with numbers. However, it really made me think. My twin cousins are in first grade and they are constantly playing on their ipads. At first I was complaining to my mom saying that they should be outside interacting with other kids, but now I am realizing how technologically savvy they are at such a young age and how that will help them in the future. Apple has introduced its customers to games that are intellectually and socially stimulating.
ReplyDelete-Shannon Funsch
I agree. It is cool to live in a generation where we are watching games change so rapidly right before our eyes. I think with new things like mobile applications and Facebook games, companies are going to try to make games more universal and accessible. Making games more convenient and applicable to a broader amount of people is going to boost business in the mobile and technology departments.
ReplyDelete-Jen Joseph
The Fantastic Four
It really is true that games create a whole new medium of socialization. Not only do these iPhone games foster existing relationships, but they also create new friendships as well. For instance, I currently play several iPhone games with randomized strangers as well as with some of my best friends. While I personally do not talk with the random strangers, I can definitely see how easy it is to form a relationship through these means. Like you said, games present a new method of socialization by allowing interaction and communication between players. I think that it is great that new technology is incorporating this new social feature. As iPhone games are evolving to become less individualized and more social, they may also be changing gaming culture as we know it. Although gaming is typically stereotyped as a very isolated activity, today's new technology may be leading gaming towards a very social, communicative, and interactive culture.
ReplyDelete-Mallory Harwood
The Magic Circle
Growing up, my mom has always been a huge fan of online games. She has played on boxerjam.com, yahoo, google, and even played against herself in minesweeper and solitaire on her old school Dell computer. With that being said, when I somehow convinced my parents to allow me to have my own cell phone in 7th grade- knowing all of the games and the tricks of how to play were immediately thrown in my face. My mother had already mastered the most basic games, and was prepared to teach me how to play "the most fun and intriguing" games that were available on my new LG flip phone. Given this circumstance, gaming on my phone has always been something I have been apart of, and I definitely cannot say I did not become more and more addicted as my cell phones became more advanced, especially with my iPhone. But, at the same time, my parents have always had a strict rule of not allowing cell phones at the dinner table, and they also instilled in my brain that the use of cell phones while being around other people is rude. So, Paige, after reading your blog post about the communication (and even marriage???) of people that stem from gaming, I cannot say that this is such a good thing. Of course I am guilty of breaking my parents' rules, and I'm definitely not one to say that I am not completely addicted to Scramble with Friends; but when I take a step back and look at how gaming has developed over time through phones, it amazes me and disappoints me at the same time. To answer your question, I believe that games will become increasingly more "personal" and competitive, as well as graphically enhanced- following in the footsteps of what is already occurring. But, even though the games do become more "interactive," I think it also tears people away from real face-to-face interactions and more into face-to-phone, which is an apparent problem in society already due to text messaging. I believe that social skills will continue to decrease because of this, and the reliance on a cell phone will continue to increase. I think it is important to look at this aspect of the gaming world too, and not only at the pretty new features and amazing effects of the new games available.
ReplyDeleteAmanda Schmerin
I totally understand what your saying about not being a gamer until you got your iphone. I hardly ever played video games growing up except when I went to my friends house. However now that a game is always at my fingertips its hard to ever avoid taking part in some sort of game or app.
ReplyDelete-Brennan Ouellette- Team Fame
This is very true, the nature of video games is becoming more and more social, in the sense that one does not have to be in the same room as someone to play a game with them. This has been going on for a while now with Xbox Live and another gaming platform's online communities. I think that cellphone makers have made a great decision by starting to include these games. I for one, get bored pretty quickly of single player phone games like Temple Run, but I always get excited when one of my friends makes a move in Words With Friends. The social revolution has passed - the gaming revolution is upon us.
ReplyDeletejonathan miller