游戏邦注：本文作者为m.seakins，文章主要探讨社交和休闲游戏给社交网络互动带来的影响。

游戏如今开始成为用户尤其是社交网络用户，在线互动的主要内容（游戏邦注：特别是热门社交网络Facebook）。社交休闲游戏如《FarmVille》、《宝石迷阵》和《黑手党战争》的兴起表明休闲游戏未来几年将会持续发展。休闲游戏提供很多同社交网络类似的互动，这些网络我们定期登陆，有些休闲游戏俨然已经成为社交网络的主要内容。休闲游戏的发展给社交网络用户的在线互动方式带来什么影响？休闲游戏的盛行如何推动当前社交网络的形成？

宝石迷阵 from 17173.com

我们很难给休闲游戏下明确定义，而且这个问题也引起有些在线用户的激烈讨论。Juuso也参与到有关休闲游戏定义的有趣讨论中，其中达成的谐趣共识是，“如果我妈妈懂得体验这款游戏，那么这款游戏就是休闲游戏。”除了有趣之外，这个定义其实是对休闲游戏的准确再现，休闲游戏同掌机或者典型PC游戏不同，这类游戏通常容易参与，且不需要玩家长时间投入。休闲游戏协会（Casual Games Association）给出的官方定义是，“休闲游戏是针对大众设计的电子游戏，其中包括那些自认为是非游戏玩家的用户。”带给社交网络和社交联络显著影响的游戏包括《FarmVille》、《哈宝旅馆》、《宝石迷阵》和《黑手党战争》。我相信大多社交网络用户都有体验过这些游戏。各款游戏分别提供不同体验或不同社交网络互动方式，有些甚至建立起休闲社交网络。

休闲游戏互动和社交网络随时间共同发展，并相互给予对方很大影响。《哈宝旅馆》是社交网络游戏之一。这款游戏的某些方面同热门虚拟世界游戏《Second life》颇为相似，但同时也存在很大不同，其游戏粘性等级和休闲游戏更为相似，而非《Second life》。《哈宝旅馆》是基于云端的游戏，游戏中玩家化身哈宝，在虚拟世界游荡，并且在模拟生活中同其他哈宝玩家展开互动。网站社交功能通过玩家互动方式一览无余，同时由于游戏依托数字游戏平台，游戏从很多方面看更像是社交网络，而非游戏。游戏同数字平台的最大互动体现在玩家之间，玩家之间的聊天创造了社交环境（游戏邦注：其中玩家能够同线上和线下好友社区进行互动）。游戏的其他社交元素还包括可编辑用户资料（玩家可以添加图片、视频，以及和在线好友交流）。有个游戏开发者将其比作社交网络Facebook，他表示“这是个玩家能够和其他玩家共同活动的体验空间。”《哈宝旅馆》也受到众多公众批评，这是因为游戏诱惑粉丝掏钱购买虚拟道具。虽然受此批评，但《哈宝旅馆》依旧在玩家互动中占据十分重要的位置。《哈宝旅馆》是首款引入在线支付微交易模式的社交网络游戏，其中少量付款行为能够丰富玩家帐户数据或者存储物品。这种形式的付款行为依旧延续至目前的社交网络，文章稍后将将进行详细阐述。《哈宝旅馆》为众多玩家提供了游戏对照索引，同时社交网络促使《哈宝旅馆》能够顺利发展成如今更受欢迎的社交休闲游戏。

哈宝旅馆 from kuaiwan.com

依托社交媒体平台的游戏促进社交网络互动方式的形成。Facebook应用巩固了很多社交网络功能（游戏邦注：在这些应用中，游戏居于主导地位）。排名前30的Facebook应用中，有10款是游戏，遍布手机应用和定制HTML工具当中。这些游戏的流行并非单纯依赖Facebook名气，游戏同时还鼓励玩家定期互动。许多Facebook休闲游戏采用各种策略吸引玩家定期体验。诸如《宝石迷阵》和《祖玛闪电战》的游戏有为玩家提供每日奖励，如提供“奖励积分”，鼓励游戏玩家定期登陆收获奖励。如今很多社交网络游戏玩家都会定期体验游戏，网站用户的增加也会相应推动游戏玩家的拓展。娱乐和社交的交织是Facebook游戏成功的助推力，这两个元素的互动推动了社交网络应用的成功。通过把社交爱好和娱乐趣味融为一体，用户因此定期访问游戏，在这个空间里实现各种个人需求。

社交游戏对于我们在社交网络的互动方式会产生积极和消极影响。Rossi把两种截然不同的在线游戏活动形容为“真实社交”游戏和“知识/技能”游戏。他表示真实社交游戏相比其他游戏而言，对社交网络的意义更大。《FarmVille》是Facebook第5大最受欢迎应用以及第2大每月体验最频繁的游戏。《FarmVille》如今已经成为Facebokk最具影响力的应用，直接影响社交游戏活动的定义。《FarmVille》为用户提供积极社交互动，旨在通过社交网络强化社交联系。就像Mark Newheiser曾表示的那样，若不是系统不断向玩家发送消息，玩家也许会无视《FarmVille》的存在。这种类型的通知有助于推广游戏，同时还促使玩家了解其他游戏玩家。游戏同时还提供合作玩法，帮助拓展玩家农场，玩家通过花时间收割好友农田或获得礼物或获得道具。《FarmVille》通常会向游戏Facebook消息发布的活跃玩家发送帖子，通知他们取得的游戏成就，及给予其他玩家的帮助。这种活动能够鼓励社交网络的社交行为，同时是众多借助Facebook交流用户的共同兴趣所在。

游戏也会给我们的在线互动行为带来消极影响。Newheiser表示《FarmVille》之类的游戏具有成瘾性，同时Zynga通过这样的方式保证玩家体验时间：玩家需在庄稼种植12个小时后及时返回游戏收割庄稼，否则之前所消耗的时间就白白浪费了。这种体验模式对很多玩家来说具有成瘾性，进而产生消极成瘾行为，同时通常会带来消极社交互动。Patrick Liszkiewicz 提出，这种成瘾性背后的推动因素是社交义务的交织，从而迫使玩家保持定期访问游戏。

虽然这种合作游戏体验在Facebook平台上十分盛行（游戏邦注：这是另一种影响我们社交网络行为的竞争式游戏）。玩家通常能够通过不断重复短暂休闲游戏体验同好友竞争高分位置。这些通常需要凭借玩家技术，能够测试反应速度、打字速度和知识面。这些游戏的典型代表包括《宝石迷阵闪电战》、《祖玛》和《Typing Maniac》。这些游戏界面的旁边均设有排行榜，目的是增加体验竞争性。同时，这些游戏效仿合作式游戏，发送通知鼓励玩家发布相关游戏成就。鼓励竞争式游戏是否会阻碍社交网络体验？Rossi表示玩家主要以从众心理体验这种类游戏，因为玩家通常不需要花费很长时间这些游戏（通常是1-5分钟），玩家通常为流连不同游戏之间的各类型社交网络用户。体验这类游戏的唯一刺激因素似乎是能够同其他游戏玩家展开竞争。Rossi表示，事实上很少玩家对游戏本身感兴趣，相反他们更多是喜欢挑战自我，同其他游戏玩家竞争。

虽然多数Facebook游戏都被视为积极游戏体验，但其实它们也蕴含严重负面评论，影响玩家在线行为。微交易是社交和休闲游戏的驱动因素（游戏邦注：这是社交和休闲游戏赖以生存的营收渠道）。微交易是指游戏当中的购买行为。

这个道具要嘛能够帮助玩家更有效体验游戏，要嘛能够帮助玩家在技术/技能游戏中获得更高分数。技术/技能游戏鼓励玩家尽可能参与这种类型交易，因为少量忠实消费者更可能进行购买行为。围绕这类交易的负面报道主要针对社交游戏巨头Zynga。Zynga推广各种获得免费积分的方式，其中主要通过进行游戏消费获得。Zynga引导用户访问网站获得免费积分，接着提示用户填写电话号码，这反过来促使用户注册免费SMS服务，花费用户几百美元。很多人可能会因此对Zynga游戏以及Facebook游戏产生消极情绪。Facebook因此引入自己的游戏货币系统Facebook credit，这个货币能够应用于所有游戏当中，从而减少诸如Zynga游戏含有的欺骗因素。

Facebook credit from avenuesocial.com

Facebook存在不同等级的游戏，或高参与性的“完全社交”游戏，或“知识/技术”游戏（游戏邦注：前者玩家体验时间长，后者玩家体验时间短）。这些游戏不仅影响我们同Facebook好友的社交互动方式，同时还影响我们花费在社交互动的时间。社交和休闲游戏如今在塑造社交网络服务方面还扮演着很多其他角色。我们很难明确界定这些互动是积极的还是消极的，但我们使用这些服务的方式无疑给网络带来明显影响。随着新游戏技术的开发，以及社交网络服务的发展，游戏势必成为我们社交网络娱乐时间的重要内容，这些互动将会继续定义我们在线交流的方式。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

How are casual games affecting social media interactions?

By m.seakins

Gaming is becoming a large part of how people interact online specifically in social networking circumstances and specifically on the popular social network Facebook. The growth of ‘social casual games’ such as Farmville, Bejewelled and Mafia Wars has ensured that the casual gaming industry will thrive for many years to come. Casual games have helped to create the interactions that we have on many of the social networks that we now use on a regular basis and some casual games are actually the basis of a social network. What (if any) effect is this growth of casual games having on the way we interact online in social network environments and how has the prevalence of casual gaming helped to form social networks as we view them today?

A concrete definition of casual gaming is difficult to come by and has attracted some reasonably heated online debate. Juuso (2007) facilitated an interesting discussion surrounding the definition of casual games and the humorous consensus was that “If my mom can play it, it’s a casual game”. Amusing as it is, the definition can actually give an accurate representation of what casual gaming is, casual gaming differentiates itself from console or typical PC gaming by being a form of gaming that is easy engaged with and generally does not take a users full concentration for prolonged periods of time. Officially the Casual Games Association (2007) describes casual games as ’Casual games are video games developed for the mass consumer, even those who would not normally regard themselves as a ‘gamer’ (IGDA, 2009). Some popular examples of these social games that will help to form the arguments for their effects of social networks and social networking are; Farmville, Habbo Hotel, Bejewelled and Mafia Wars. These are all games that I am sure the majority of all social network users would have engaged with at some point. Each of them provides a different experience or interaction with a social networking service and some even create a casual social network within their architecture (Rossi 2009).

Casual gaming interactions and social networking have grown together over time and have influenced each other greatly. Habbo Hotel is the social networking service (SNS) built within a gaming architecture. Similar in some ways to the popular virtual worlds software Second Life but also vastly different and the engagement levels fall much closer to the casual gaming bracket than that of Second life. Habbo Hotel is cloud based software in which players use ‘habbos’ as avatars in the game and move them around a virtual world and interact with other avatars in a simulation of real life (Griffiths, 2008). The social features of the site are very clear in the way users interact and while the game is built on a digital games platform the game seems to become more of a SNS than a game in many ways.  The main interaction with the digital platform is with other users and chatting to them creating a social environment where you can interact with both your ‘online’ and ‘offline’ friendship communities and hence being able to build both relationships. Other social aspects of the game include an editable user profile in which you can add photos, videos and also converse with your online connections. One of the games developers has likened it to the SNS Facebook saying that it is a ‘play space in which you can do stuff with people’ (Griffiths, 2008). Habbo has been slammed many times in the public (BBC, 2010) due to the nature of the service where many unsuspecting users have been scammed out of virtual items that have an actual monetary value (Griffiths 2008). Despite this negative publicity Habbo has still played a vital role in the way we interact socially. Habbo was one of the first SNS to employ the micro transaction model of payment online where small payments were used to boost the account stats or inventory of a player (Griffiths 2008). This form of payment still continues on the social networks of today and will be discussed in more detail later in this paper. For many Habbo introduced the cross reference of gaming and social networking simultaneously making transitions to todays more popular social casual games much easier.

Gaming on social media platforms has helped to shape the way in which we interact on social networks. Facebook applications underpin much of the social networking capabilities of the popular platform – and of those applications, games are a top contender for domination of the category. Of the top 30 Facebook applications 10 of them are games (All Facebook, 2011) scattered among mobile applications and custom HTML (or FBML) widgets. The popularity of these games not only relies on Facebook’s popularity to survive but also encourage users to engage with the service on a more regular basis. Many of Facebook’s social casual games use a variety of tactics to draw in Facebook users on a regular basis. Games such as Bejewelled and Zuma Blitz have daily rewards for playing and engaging with the games such as ‘bonus points’ which encourages users who are involved with these games to log in regularly to collect their rewards. Users are now more likely to engage with the social networking service on a more regular basis and it can encourage use by many members. The driver behind the success of games on Facebook is their crossover between entertainment and socialization (Ines, 2010) this interaction of the two elements creates the driving force behind the success of social networking services. By combining the love of socialization and the joys of entertainment users are drawn to engage with the services regularly to fulfill multiple personal needs in one space.

Social games can have both a negative and positive impact on the way that we interact with our social networks online. Rossi (2009) describes two distinct forms of games online being ‘truly social’ games and also ‘knowledge/skill’ based games. He suggests that the truly social games have a much larger implication on the social networking environment than other games. Farmville is the 5th most popular application on Facebook and the 2nd most played game on a month-to-month basis (All Facebook, 2011).  Farmville has been one of the most influential games on the Facebook landscape and has helped to define Facebook’s social gaming experience. Farmville provides some incredibly positive social interactions between users and is built to encourage increased connections through the social network. As is mentioned by Mark Newheiser (2009) you can not so much as sneeze with Farmville without the system recommending that a notice be sent to your well. This style of notifications helps to promote the game and also to keep players aware of others who are playing within their network. The game also offers co-operative gameplay to help to further a players farm, weather it is spending time harvesting a friends farm of giving them gifts or items. Active users of the game’s Facebook feeds will generally be filled with posts from Farmville notifying their network of the game achievements and also any help that they gave to other players of the game. This kind of activity can help to encourage social behavior on the network and serves as a common interest for many who are already communicating on Facebook.

This same game can also have a negative effect on the ways which we interact online. Newheiser (2009) claims that games such as Farmville have an addictive nature and that Zynga (Farmville creators) have carefully ensured that a players time commitment to the game is maintained through ensuring once a players in game crops are planted they are available for harvest for a 12 hour widow otherwise the time investment previously made in the game is then lost. This type of playing can become addictive for many players and lead to negative addictive behaviors and also a negative interaction with social networks in general. Patrick Liszkiewicz (2010) theorises that the drive behind this addictive nature is a web of social obligations that forces users to continue engaging with the service on a regular basis.

While this form of cooperative gaming is the most popular on Facebook – another competitive form of gaming also affects our behavior on social networking sites. Generally involving a short casual gaming experience that can be repeated numerous times to compete to reach a high score against friends within your network. These games usually rely on the skills of a player and can test things such as reaction time, typing speed and knowledge. Some popular examples of these types of games are Bejwelled Blitz, Zuma, and Typing Maniac. In each of these games a distinct leaderboard is displayed alongside of the playing interface to increase competitiveness. Also, mimicking their cooperative gaming counterparts these games have ‘push’ notifications that encourage you to display you success within the game. Does this competitive form of gaming encourage of hinder the social networking experience?  Rossi (2009) Suggests that these type of games are played in a type of pack mentality, as there is no form of long term commitment to these games (Generally being able to be completed in 1-5 minutes) users of the game tend to vary widely as ‘groups’ of social networks move from game to game. It seems that the only real driving force behind playing the game is the competitive aspect of being able to compete against your peers in a social networking challenge. Rossi suggests that there is actually little to no interest in the game itself rather the interest in the challenge presented by competing within the games infrastructure against peers with your social network.

While gaming on Facebook is seen as a largely positive experience, there has been some strong negative publicity across all forms of gaming that has affected how people play online. Micro transactions are the driving force behind social and casual games and rely on this type of monetization to survive. A micro transaction involves a purchase of some sort within a game.

Whether this is an item to help play a truly social game more effectively or boosts to help gain a higher score in a knowledge/skill based game. Social/casual games tend to push users to engage with this type of transaction as much as possible hoping that the because of the small monetary commitment users are more likely to make a purchase. The negative publicity surrounding this type of transaction is mainly through the social media gaming giants Zynga (responsible for games such as Farmville). Zynga was promoting ways to gain ‘free’ points that generally were gained through spending money in the game. The users were directed to websites to gain their free points that then prompted them to fill in their phone number that in turn signed them up to a premium SMS service costing some users hundreds of dollars. For many this led to negative emotions towards Zynga games and also Facebook games in general. Facebook has since put in place its own system of in game ‘credit’ which can be used across all games and is hence monitored to minimize scams such as the one that Zynga was a part of.

Gaming on Facebook can happen at a variety of different levels whether it be high involvement ‘Fully social’ games that keep users engages for long periods of time or ‘knowledge/skill’ based games that maintain users attention over a short time period. These games affect the ways in which we interact with our networks on Facebook and also the amount of time spend interacting with our social networking service. There also lots to be said about the role of social and casual gaming in forming social networking services as we see them today. While it is difficult to say if the interactions created are either positive or negative it is clear that the way that we use these services can have a clear affect on our network. With the development of new gaming technology and as social networking services evolve we are sure to see gaming as a large portion of our entertainment time on social networks and these interactions will continue to define many of the ways we communicate online.（Source：networkconference）