AJ Papa’s Blog

Online patrons and gamers alike will not disagree that signing into Facebook and signing into Xbox Live or Playstation Network (PSN) are almost entirely different experiences, considering both are online networks designed to connect people — albeit Facebook is via the web and PSN and Xbox Live are through video games. On Facebook, amidst the sometimes superfluous verbose list of updates in the News Feed — including which of my friends befriended who, that John just finished eating a sandwich or that my friend just clicked his left mouse button — are updates that tug on my competitive heart strings as a gamer. I can see which of my punk friends beat my high score in Facebook Tetris; or I can follow my friend’s progress in the Facebook game Fight Club and feverishly try to catch up. It’s quite verbose indeed and conveniently presented to you upon entry. Conversely, when comparing my Facebook experience to that of my Xbox Live or PSN experience, it’s quite obvious there is a difference in the level of visible information relative to my network of friends.

This particular realization was clear to me when I signed into both Xbox Live and PSN to curiously see who trumped my high scores in Geometry Wars Evolved and Super Stardust HD respectively. In both cases, the information I was looking for was something I had to actively seek out. It dawned to me that both Xbox Live and PSN could certainly use a news feed feature like that of Facebook to help better guide my experience. It also amazes me that Sony and Microsoft aren’t already doing so considering the competitive nature of video games and especially considering the amount of visible information that can be already found on Xbox Live.

Humor me for a second and consider a sample news feed that I have created that is Xbox Live and PSN independent:

• PotatoHead beat A-Trane’s Super Stardust HD score with a score of 12,567,124!
• CrazyLikeCatfish earned 365 achievement points yesterday
• NJShadow unlocked the Sonic trophy in Sega Superstars Tennis
• PotatoHead is now on Stage 6 in Devil May Cry

A news feed such as the one I’ve presented isn’t designed to overwhelm a player with erroneous information; instead it gives online users added value by by shaping their gaming experience in a social context. There is the added benefit of fostering competition as well as creating the sense of inclusion with friends and people you know — a benefit I’m sure the creators of Facebook were gunning for in their network. Users now have upfront information that can shape their social gaming experience as soon as they log in, saving the user time from actively seeking out the information and even bringing attention to information unbeknownst to the user hadn’t he/she looked. Maybe a user will want to reclaim their top score. Perhaps players will want to keep pace with their friends in a particular game. Much like I’m interested in including myself in the groups my friends have joined on Facebook, a similar experience might arise in which a user is curious to check out a particular game all their friends have been playing for the past week. As long as news feed contains pertinent information that is interesting to players, a news feed can certainly foster a social gaming experience.

Online gaming networks have to stop treating its networks like the old ancient arcades of the past. Xbox Live or PSN shouldn’t be venues for hosting separate virtual arcade cabinets with each cabinet responsible for certain types of information. Instead integrate and aggregate the wealth of information that is already available across all games and the entire gaming experience. In doing so gamers will be compelled to experience gaming in a more social and connected context.

[Update 5.4.08] Recently, I’ve been made aware, through an EA acquisition story on Game | Life, of a new social gaming network in closed beta called Rapture that has implemented a feeds feature across multiple games. Props to them! I hope, through EA’s acquisition, it will lead to support for a growing library of games.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 at 2:10 pm and is filed under The Social Gamer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.