TY - JOUR

T1 - „You have a Farmville gift request”

T2 - Thesen zum Erfolg von Social Casual Gaming auf Facebook

AU - Kinder, Katharina

PY - 2012/1

Y1 - 2012/1

N2 - Farmville is one of the most popular games on Facebook and its success has moved ’social casual gaming’ into the focus of interest. The various attempts within the literature to explain Farmville's success mainly focus on the three aspects of sociality, play experience and casual gaming. The following contribution summarizes and critically discusses these explanations in the form of ten proposed theses. Current gaps within research regarding the users’ viewpoint are identified. A theoretical basis is developed that is intended to serve as a foundation for future research of Farmville and social casual gaming. Existing explanatory models assume that games such as Farmville require the maintenance of social relationships and thus serve as focal points for gathering the new ’tribes’ in the internet. At the same time the games enable – through clever design strategies – short term experiences of self efficacy and an uncomplicated integration of causal gaming into everyday life. Within these theories it has gained little recognition that user statistics show the largest group of Farmville players to be women over the age of 35. It is, however, exactly a look at the everyday circumstances of use for these women that could explain which aspects of enabling social relations, providing a play experience and facilitating casual gaming make social casual games so attractive.

AB - Farmville is one of the most popular games on Facebook and its success has moved ’social casual gaming’ into the focus of interest. The various attempts within the literature to explain Farmville's success mainly focus on the three aspects of sociality, play experience and casual gaming. The following contribution summarizes and critically discusses these explanations in the form of ten proposed theses. Current gaps within research regarding the users’ viewpoint are identified. A theoretical basis is developed that is intended to serve as a foundation for future research of Farmville and social casual gaming. Existing explanatory models assume that games such as Farmville require the maintenance of social relationships and thus serve as focal points for gathering the new ’tribes’ in the internet. At the same time the games enable – through clever design strategies – short term experiences of self efficacy and an uncomplicated integration of causal gaming into everyday life. Within these theories it has gained little recognition that user statistics show the largest group of Farmville players to be women over the age of 35. It is, however, exactly a look at the everyday circumstances of use for these women that could explain which aspects of enabling social relations, providing a play experience and facilitating casual gaming make social casual games so attractive.

KW - casual gaming

KW - computer games

KW - games

KW - facebook

M3 - Journal article

VL - 13

JO - Kommunuikation@Gesellschaft - Journal für alte und neue Medien aus soziologischer, kulturanthropologischer und kommunikationswissenschaftlicher Perspektive

JF - Kommunuikation@Gesellschaft - Journal für alte und neue Medien aus soziologischer, kulturanthropologischer und kommunikationswissenschaftlicher Perspektive

ER -