If you’ve been on a social networking site lately, you may have noticed the buzz of social gaming activity. Many of your friends are making posts and scoring points in games such as Farmville, Mafia Wars, Café World and many others. If you haven’t yet played them, it’s time you checked them out.
Since pairing up with social networking sites such as Facebook, social games have been growing and gaining in popularity. By allowing developers to reach a wider range of players, designers like Zynga can now test out, tune up and deliver gaming products that are fun, rewarding and customizable. It’s a winning combination that opens up new possibilities for developers, programmers and, of course, gamers!
Social gaming offers a unique, interactive experience for gamers, by not only depending on the players’ interaction with the game, but also by allowing players to be involved in each other’s games. Friends can send you gifts, help you score points and provide the necessary parts to help you advance in your game. You can also keep track of your friends’ scores for a little friendly competition. If you’re a fan of video games, you’ll enjoy these even more. Have a look at a few of today’s top games. Best of all, it’s free to start playing!
Zynga, the leading game developer on the Facebook gaming circuit, is the creator of many popular social games. Zynga’s lineup of games includes Farmville, Texas Hold ’em, Café World, Mafia Wars and Treasure Isle. According to the website AppData.com, Farmville hosts an average of more than 80,500,000 active users a month. Players enjoy tending their crops, acquiring animals and building and maintaining their farms. Have your friends become your virtual neighbors and enjoy the world of agriculture, livestock and strategy, together. Players earn points and save up to buy necessities and decorations to improve the farm. From designing your character’s appearance to blue printing the layout of your on-screen property, there is an amazing amount of customizing and personalizing in many of the social games.
In Café World, which boasts about 28,800,000 active users per month, players are invited to cook up a storm, expand a café and decorate with a variety of themes. These social games stay interesting thanks to the constant upgrades and features that are frequently added. Beware – if you’re away too long, things may either start to go wrong on the farm, or your café food might expire. Therefore, the games require frequent participation in order to avoid loss of points and the shame of having your virtual farm or café look neglected.
If you like to play cards, Zynga’s Texas Hold ’em Poker is your deal. The game has about 29,600,000 active users in a month, at an average of more than six million people each day. The game invites players to engage in virtual poker hands with their close friends and other players from across the globe. Plus, you receive complimentary chips added to your stack each day you participate.
You can build your own crime family in Mafia Wars. The game, which has more than 24,070,000 users per month on average, recruits you and your friends to fight rival gangs. Mafia Wars features multiple levels depicting various cities. Characters need to keep up their stamina (and committing crimes can be a very draining task) to gain wealth and power. It is arguably the most popular virtual crime game out there.
If you like searching for lost jewels, or just want an island all to yourself, Treasure Isle is the game for you. Other Zynga games include Fashion Wars, Blackjack, Scrabble and Sudoku.
Pick a game, invite your friends and start playing. Virtually everyone is!
For more information on these games, visit www.zynga.com.
