Google+ will have games! Surprised? I hope not! Continuing its history of emulating major Facebook concepts while fine-tuning them according to Facebook complaints, Google+ will be adding social gaming to its network, but with a few important usability features that could make all the difference for social gamers. Like Facebook, Google+ will be providing games that are, presumably, played socially, in a browser, while logged on to a Google+ account. Nothing new there.
Unlike Facebook, however, Google has been listening to complaints about Facebook and is working on avoiding some of the established social gaming caveats. For instance, Facebook users have always complained that game notifications clog up one’s notification feed, something Google+ aims to avoid by providing a separate stream for game information and more customization options overall.
Google+, as always, does have some issues to deal with by virtue of being the new kid on the block. For instance, the reigning king of social gaming, Zynga, is already spoken for, and for several more years no less. Besides that, Google+ is just starting from scratch in general, with no FarmVille-esque success by which to gauge their game-plan. (Get it?)
That being said, Google+ does have the huge advantage it’s always had; people complain about Facebook and Google listens. It’ll be interesting to see where Google+ goes with the whole social gaming thing, which is becoming more and more integral to social networking in general. Whatever happens, it’s probably safe to say that as long as Facebook users complain about things, Google+ will have ideas for things to do. Kind of makes you wonder, what if Facebook just started responding to user feedback?
(The Next Web via Reddit)
