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As the social gaming space increases in size and big players such as Disney and Electronic Arts move in, developers are now looking at new ways in which their gaming experiences appeal to this market. To be successful the traditional science of game mechanics needs to now be updated and the focus needs to switch from traditional games to something new and with a new focus.

So, what is the best way direction to move in and how do you know what things will and will not work?

Well, the first place to look is everyday life. Most shops now offer some sort of reward scheme, whether it’s coffee shops, clothes shops or even beauty and toiletry stores we’ve been getting hints and tips on what things we can do in the social space for years now. These loyalty schemes keep people coming back and they help generate massive numbers of returning loyal customers. And that’s the primary word ‘Loyal’.

We see many social games rewarding their user base with free virtual goods, money and items. This is not out of the kindness of their hearts this is because they want you to keep playing their games and the longer you play their games the more likely it is you will build up a relationship with your characters, cafe, restaurant or farm. And if this does happen, they then increase the chance of you parting with some hard earned cash.

However this is being done and people will not fall for this much longer, so how do we change the way people think?

It’s not rocket science but it needs to be done in a subtle way, so that you don’t alienate or piss off your user base because once you lose someone, the likelihood of them returning is slim to none.

You need to be smart and don’t just think your social hit will port perfectly onto another platform and earn you even more because it doesn’t work like that. Each platform has it unique strengths and you need to play to these, however most platforms have some sort of social backing, so things you learn on what platform of extremely valuable on another, you might just have change tactics slightly because of some red tape.

There is a good panel video over at Tech Crunch which helps reinforce this as well as detail some of the other ways the likes of Disney Mobile and SCVNGR think and what they’re up to in the future. It’s worth a watch if you’re looking to move into gaming in the next 6 months.

Check it out at the following link