If you are not big on using Facebook, you may want to change your mind to enhance your Overwatch experience.
These days it seems as though video games are becoming increasingly more geared toward multiplayer and social interaction rather than single-player campaigns.
And it’s more than just mobile apps and casual games encouraging multiplayer; even the blockbuster titles from the biggest developers incorporate at least some form of online multiplayer. Not only that, but more and more games being released today are multiplayer only, or offer scant single player campaigns at best.
The latest game in the Star Wars universe, Star Wars: Battlefront, offered the barest of bones for a single-player campaign, while multiplayer shooters such as 2014’s Titanfall and this year’s smash hit, Overwatch, don’t have single player options at all. Meanwhile, even games best-known for their robust solo campaigns are basically required to offer at least some level of multiplayer experience, as seen with story-driven franchises such as Uncharted and Assassin’s Creed. Gamers are also interacting by sharing their experiences with others as they play, as evidenced by the popularity of streaming websites such as Twitch where they can speak with spectators while they play. It’s like playing games with your friends in your living room back in the day.
Now, games are taking it one step further as Blizzard has teamed up with Facebook to provide players with even more ways to interact with each other. And the partnership will affect much more than just Overwatch. The team-up will encompass all Blizzard games including Diablo, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, Starcraft and World of Warcraft. It’ll allow players to share, view and directly discuss content within the game through the use of the Facebook Live API. They’ll even be able to stream matches directly to their social media timelines.
While it’s obviously fun to play games with other people, half the fun is the ability to be able to share and interact with them. Whether supporting, joking around or talking a good bit of trash, player communication is essential to the online gaming experience. And it’s much more than just shooters and the classic Halo taunts or pre-match lounges where gamers are able to communicate. More casual games are finding ways for players to talk with and interact with each other without having to sacrifice gameplay in the process. A leading online platform provides new ways for players to connect through their favorite games with themed bingo rooms that put like-minded players together—and they’re sure to appeal to gamers of all stripes. The rooms emulate the same experience of a traditional bingo hall, allowing players to talk and interact in real-time as they play the game with up to hundreds of other people. We expect that it will only be a matt
er of time before these games are also integrated into social media, much in the way titles such as Farmville and other social games have incorporated themselves into the social sphere.
As social media is incorporated into AAA titles like Overwatch, it’s safe to say that we’ve come a long way from someone inviting you to play Mafia Wars on Facebook. If this is the quality we can come to expect from social games in the future, then things will be looking bright indeed and we can’t wait to be able to share it with everyone.
