Forbes.com's special games edition has a great analysis of popular social networking sites as games, and how new players in this sphere are explicitly adapting their services to emphasise goal-driven activities. They're doing this by combining the getting-to-know-you raisone d'etre of sites like MySpace with the mechanics of games. In other words, they're giving prizes to people who have the most friends. Rewards can vary from cash (up to $1,000 for achieving a "Level 10" popularity on Xuqa.com) to talent contracts (also on Xuqa), and other prizes (on the Yahoo!-owed Bix).
For anyone who suffered through the interminable popularity contests of their schooldays, this may not be a welcome advance, but for game developers keen to tap into the female market, investing in social networking "games" could be the key to interactive success.
The most interesting aspect of this article isn't this inevitable commoditisation of online community it's how social network site founders view what they're doing:
"Any site with a digital incentive system--like currency, avatars and control over the environment--is a game," says [Xuqa founder] Moiz.
In short, most could call themselves game designers. They're just developing a different type of game than you'd see on an Xbox.
There is a well-documented gender difference between who plays with traditional computer games and who plays in social networking sites. If computer games companies are interested in getting cash out of the female pocketbook, perhaps they should start investing in these social successes rather than pink consoles.
