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"There is noticeably heightened interest being expressed in online gaming - particularly casual online gaming. Call it a World of Warcraft syndrome of some sort. Or call it the Wii Games-effect, if you like. What\u2019s for certain, is that social gaming - and more and more often with Internet-based components - has been reborn, and is now bigger than ever. (Of course, one can argue that the market for multiplayer, whether networked or otherwise, never really diminished in appeal.)\nCurrently, there are three company names that come immediately to mind when conversation of online social gaming is at hand. First, there\u2019s Facebook, which has essentially pioneered the integration of Web apps (a segment of which are designees of the gaming label) with social networking. And then there are two incredibly fast growing competitors: SGN (Social Gaming Network) and Zynga Game Network.\nThe goal of both SGN and Zynga is simple, but much work is undoubtedly involved in getting there. In short, it is to amass attractive catalogues of gaming titles for distribution to various location on the Net where social circles coalesce. As of late, both have even gone so far as to make acquisitions of still smaller production studios to aid their ascent to the top of the burgeoning industry of online games.\n(There are a good share of independent portals that are working to join the fold, too. Doof is one example, which our own Kristen Nicole wrote a review about in early January.)\nEven RealNetworks is purported to be interested in making its name known as a gaming brand of this \u201Cnew age,\u201D at least indirectly, through a possible acquisition of the massively popular Internet game Scrabulous; a title of Indian origins which has drawn the ire (we can smell hints of envy, as well) of Mattel and Hasbro. Both are big-name veterans of the classic board game genre.\nAll in all, there is no question that any and all of these high-profile stories, most of which have individually garnered many millions of dollars in investments at relatively youthful stages in their collective development, are proving that the interest in social gaming on the Web is strong and will only increase with time as cloud technologies targeted at the consumer space further invade the mainstream with each passing week, month, and season.\nTherefore, it is likely time that we (and I include myself in that lineup) hang up any talk of the seemingly ephemeral nature of today\u2019s premier class of social networks. No more talk about the demise of Facebook, alright? Or the chaotic downfall of MySpace. Or just about other big social brand of the moment. Because, if there\u2019s one thing that helps platforms - and the brands behind those platforms - stick around for the long term, its entertainment. And in modern terms, that means games. Games, games, and more games.\nMind you, that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean shoot-\u2019em\u2019-ups. Though that variety of first-person war games regularly attract a great deal of attention, there\u2019s a steadily growing urge for the throw-back, the retro, the classic. The stuff that was so easy, so elementary, yet oh so fun. Which is an almost perfectly-timed shift of mood among the users of today\u2019s set of Web-based social services.\nI\u2019ll be frank with you. I have at numerous moments over the past couple of years predicted the downfall of the online social network. MySpace. Facebook. Bebo. The lot of \u2018em seemed in my view slated for short-term expiration. Be it in 2008, 2009, 2010. Sometime within the near future, I foresaw a fast-diminishing social Web. Primarily because, in 2006 and 2007, the industry appeared entirely inflated without being very much substantive.\nBut no more. The resilience and recent growth of social Web services appears increasingly solid. And the imminent addition of major investments in gaming and other forms of premium entertainment will no doubt contribute greatly to this very positive, marketwide trend.\nHeck, I\u2019m not even a gamer and I can most definitely see that this market is en route bigger and better things. 2008 and 2009 will bring about developments for Web-connected consumers that really ramp up awareness and interest in the social arena. No more tedious \u201Cnews\u201D feed tracking of friends to occupy your idle moments. Things are going to get a lot more fun and a lot less exhausting fairly soon.\nSo I say kudos to Mr Zuckerberg and the folks being Zynga and SGN and all other gaming startups born of the Web 2.0 era. Props for sticking it through this far, and seeing to it that all your ducks have fallen right into line. I can only imagine what the industry will look like in 12-24 months\u2019 time. One thing\u2019s certain. Most all of the names spoken of here will likely be alive and kicking well down the line. There\u2019s many, many years left in this social monster that we\u2019ve all got our eyes transfixed on.\nCan anyone argue otherwise today?"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2008/03/02/social-network-gaming/>