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Play With Me? Understanding and Measuring the Social Aspect of Casual Gaming Adam Alsén Julian Runge Anders Drachen Daniel Klapper Wooga, Analytics and Wooga and Humboldt Aalborg University and Humboldt University Data Science University, Berlin The Pagonis Network Berlin [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Abstract non: By August 2012, Facebook had 235 million monthly Social gaming is today a pervasive phenomenon. Driven by active players which amounts to roughly a fourth of its the advent of social networks and the digitization of game monthly active user base at that time [4]. distribution. In this paper the impact of digitization and so- To enable viral spread of the games on the social net- cial networks such as Facebook on digital games is de- work, developers made these games very accessible scribed and evaluated. This impact follows several vectors, including the introduction of new game formats and extend- through simple gameplay and well-designed tutorials aim- ing the traditional audiences for games, which in turn has ing at onboarding players smoothly [5-6] as well as by increased industrial revenue. The industry is in turn shaped using the and by using the Free-to-Play (F2P) business by new business model such as Free-to-Play, digital distri- model [7]. This high accessibility and social mechanics bution and the use of viral social features. These changes do made the games appeal to audiences that were not previ- not only appear irreversible, but more importantly, play a part in shaping the future of digital game design, notably for ously involved with gaming. mobile devices. The paper presents new knowledge from In parallel with the rise of SNGs, the introduction of controlled live experiments from a casual social game mobile platforms enabled games to spread from social across Facebook and mobile platforms, finding positive re- networks and unto this new platform. This led to new game turns by adding social gameplay features. This suggests that forms focusing on the mobile platform, of which many not only social network games, but also casual mobile games can benefit from deeper social gameplay mechanics. inherited the social mechanics of the SNGs, including link- Given the impact of social features on gameplay, Game An- ing with the Facebook accounts of the players. While Fa- alytics will need to evolve to be able to handle requirements cebook is just one of many online social networks (e.g. that arise from the introduction of social features, e.g. how Steam, the Playstation Network and the Xbox Live ser- to measure engagement against social features and shaping vice), it is by far the most dominant social network for organic and viral spreading of a game. mobile games, as is evidenced by the Facebook account connect offered in the 100 top grossing mobile titles. While I. Introduction most mobile games have social features, they do not al- ways work equally well and questions such as when to Within the past decade, the proliferation of social net- include Facebook-connect, when to use deeper social works, notably Facebook, led to the emergence of a new gameplay, and when no, are pressing issues in the mobile type of game, Social Network Games (SNGs) [1-2]. SNGs game industry. are played via online social networks [3], make use of the Some casual mobile games are played directly via a social features offered by the network and extend them hosting social network similar to SNGs, whereas others with their own social functionalities and asynchronous simply integrate some of the same social mechanics. How- multiplayer mechanics. In the case of Facebook, players ever, social mechanics are not common in casual mobile can send notifications to friends that invite them to play games, despite the success of some titles that take ad- along and offer them free virtual goods, they can post to vantage of social gameplay or link to social networks such friends’ walls and they can share status updates from the as Facebook, e.g. Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga game to the news feed. [24]. In summary, despite the popularity of SNGs and so- Additionally, some of the games allow for in-game so- cial casual mobile games, there has been no work pub- cial interactions like visiting a friend’s garden in Farmville lished which investigate the effect of introducing social or competing with friends in tournaments or battlefields. networks in mobile games. This is in contrast to work fo- SNGs on Facebook, and Social Gaming with it, experi- cusing on the impact of social networks in businesses and enced massive viral growth pretty much simultaneously industries outside games [3,8-9]. with the platform itself. SNGs are a pervasive phenome- II. Contribution side of social networks. There are a number of defining characteristics for casual social games: This paper has three main contributions: 1) We present a • High accessibility and engagement: These games have condensed review of the impact that social networks have a flat learning curve and a casual gameplay that is easily had on gaming and the games industry, across SNGs and accessible [1,5] (“easy-in, easy-out” [11-12]). This allows casual social mobile games. Due to the lack of academic non-gaming customers to get into the gameplay [10-11,13] work on SNGs and mobile social games, knowledge from and often stay engaged for a long time due to smart game the industry forms the majority of the current state-of-the- design [1,14].• Inclusion of viral/social features: A dis- art. 2) The paper presents an analysis and description of the tinguishing feature of casual social games are the included game-session play patterns and audience characteristics of social features, e.g. gifting of virtual goods, sharing three SNGs. 3) We present evidence from a live, controlled achievements, posting to friend’s walls, that reward viral experiment investigating the impact of introducing social sharing and hence facilitate sociability and viral growth of gameplay features on an existing mobile game, Diamond the games [1-2,4,15]. Dash, showing positive returns via the adding of social • Free-to-play: Most casual social games follow the gameplay features. This suggests that social mechanics, as freemium business model where the base version is offered found in SNGs, provide a potential source of increased to the customer for free and premium upgrades can be pur- return in casual mobile games. Finally, approaches towards chased for real money. F2P is the formulation of the free- including social features in mobile games are discussed. mium business model for gaming [7,13]. Most casual so- cial games offer a form of virtual currency that can be pur- III. Background: Casual Social Games chased for real money [16-17,30]. In this paper the term “social game” is used to describe any • Strong sociability around the game [15]: Lewis et al. game that includes social gameplay features and thus either [1] noted for SNGs that: “social interactions around SNGs permit or require social interaction. This covers a broad are clearly a central aspect of the pleasure of the experi- variety of digital and non-digital games. However, here the ence for many players”. This feature is also found in focus is specifically on “casual social games” (CSGs), CSGs, and is enabled by the accessibility of these games which form a subset of social games, and adheres to four and the resulting large communities around them. The so- design principles outlined below. The term “casual” here cial dimension of CSG reaches beyond the social interac- refers to the minor temporal investment needed overall and tion inside the games [2,15,19-20]. per session by the players to play these kinds of games. A Casual social games cover a variety of genres or types of casual game can be played infrequently and in short ses- games. However, the main game genres traditionally are sions, while potentially also enabling more frequent and resource management and simulation games (e.g. longer-session play. A casual gamer plays infrequently, Farmville), Social Casino games (e.g. Texas Hold’em Pok- and in short sessions. There are no standards defining the er) and Casual/Arcade games (e.g. Diamond Dash). This is limits on the term “casual” nor “hardcore”, and a broad of course subject to change over time. Genres that experi- definition fits the current investigation well as we are tar- enced growth more recently are Strategy, Hidden Object geting the discussion from a top-down perspective. and Match-3. The term “social game” can be used as an umbrella con- cept, which include also SNGs. Sometimes SNG and social Players of Casual Social Games games are used interchangeably [10], and SNGs did bring With the introduction of SNGs, the reach and depth of en- social games much of the widespread distribution this gagement in games increased. Using historical data and game form is currently experiencing. SNGs is used to de- forecasting, Borrell Associates [20] predicted that the aver- scribe games that are hosted on a digital social network, age daily time spent playing video games per capita will go and which integrates the social features of the network. from 18 minutes in 2008 to 28 minutes in 2018. Wohn et al. [2] stated that: “what constitutes a SNG is de- The design of early casual social games made it easy for termined more by the technical aspects of how it is ac- Facebook users to get hooked to the games [1]. The built- cessed and distributed, not on the genre of the game”. Ad- in viral features require players to engage their online so- ditionally, SNGs can be viewed as a sub-category of social cial networks to remove blockers in the games or obtain games, as are casual social games.

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