[casual_games] Multiplayer casual games

[Derrick Morton]

Another challenge in multiplayer gaming is matchmaking. 
 
In a single player game you can fine tune the AI to ramp the complexity of
the game as the player becomes more comfortable with the mechanic and
challenges. In multiplayer games you have the issue of rookies going up
against experts, getting their butt beat and having a bad experience.
Griefers will often hang around the novice area of any game taking joy in
wiping up the floor with those precious new customers you just paid a $2 CPA
for.
 
If you don't have a way of forcing skill matching, players get frustrated
and leave.
 
I'm sure our friends at Skilljam/WorldWinner and King can go on and on about
this stuff.
 
D


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I went to the recent Seattle show to get a better sense of the Casual Games
industry. GameTable Online, as a game developer, has not been a part of this
industry so this was mainly a research trip for me.

 

One thing that I found interesting was the fact that "community" was brought
up a number of times as something that's really important, or something that
will be important but there wasn't really any follow up to this that I saw
at any of the sessions that I attended.

 

What I was wondering is this: If people think community is important, why
don't we see more multiplayer games in the casual space?

 

It seems to me that multiplayer games are a natural for building community.
So why don't we see more of them in the casual space?

 

-        Jay Adan

-        GameTableOnline.com

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