China SNS Gaming Applications: What’s Next?

Gaming applications are enormously popular on social networking service (SNS) platforms in China—practically the main reason for logging in. Gamers, mostly students and twenty-something white collar professionals, devote massive amounts of time to parking their cars or tending to their gardens. Walk into any university library and you will no doubt find students procrastinating on Xiaonei. Some offices have even restricted access to Kaixin001 to prevent SNS gaming on the job.

BloggerInsight wanted to find out what makes gaming so “sticky”. Our expert bloggers will also share what they want to see in the future development of SNS games.

Trending Summary

Despite what you may have heard, gaming applications do more than just kill time and allow idle young netizens to engage in escapist fantasies. Gaming provides a different avenue for establishing new “relationships” with their real world friends.

Other factors integral to the success of SNS games are:

• Visual appeal and quick loading
• Few barriers to entry for new players

Visual appeal and quickly load times help make a game simple, accessible, interactive and mobile. Chinese gamers on SNS platforms want to play with their friends and make new friends, so they should be lighthearted and not overly complicated. Some games have low retention rates because eager new gamers are frustrated by the advantage in points and privileges enjoyed by early adopters. The unequal playing field encourages new gamers give up early on. These games are popular with the early adopters, but eventually even they lose interest when they’ve maxed out and it is no longer challenging.

We’ve reached a point in the development of SNS games at which certain types of games are met with strong resistance from gamers who feel adamant about their futility.

Vegetable farming...and theft...on Kaixin001.

The games on Kaixin001 are merely playing to the lesser aspects of the human experience, like stealing vegetables, taking advantage of people and being complacent in boredom. They are popular because you can use virtual cash and goods to do whatever you like, but soon you’ll find that the accumulation of all these virtual things means nothing, especially in the real world. Furthermore, even the purported interactive and interpersonal aspects of the games on SNS platforms are very limited.  The only thing you accomplish is wasting time.

Farming on Xiaonei.

With Chinese social gamers more tech-savvy than those in older markets, games will have to go mobile. Chinese social games should not compromise visual quality for mobility.

Bloggers’ SNS Games Wish List

Despite the dominance of Xiaonei and Kaixin001, Chinese gamers are constantly seeking out the next big thing in social media, which is determined in large part by who can come up with the most innovative games. Our bloggers came up with a list of social games they want to see in the future. The common themes are: reinvented classics, simplified popular computer and console games, mental stimulation, virtual reality and role-playing.

Reinvented classics: Old school games that never lose their appeal

SNS platforms are excellent channels for friends to play a quick game of cards, chess or checkers. Games under this genre are instant crowd-pleasers because there is no learning curve; everybody knows how to play. While most sites have versions of most classics, innovative game developers can still attract a large following with visual appeal, superior interfaces and intuitive keyboard commands.

Simplified popular computer and console games as SNS apps

Best-selling computer and console games already have a significant fan base. The trick is remaking them into SNS-accessible applications that stay true to the original.

I am a big fan of Championship Manager [British football-management  simulation computer game]. It would be great if there was a simplified version available on SNS platforms. It would be a sure hit with football fans in China. An SNS version should include FIFA teams and players, allowing gamers to simulate the management of an actual football team: setting up practice regimens, buying and selling players and competing against other teams.

Mental stimulation: Brain training

Our bloggers also expressed a fondness for games that “train the brain”.  These games rely on puzzles much like the hit game Brain Age by Nintendo. Tending gardens and parking cars do not require any brains, so it is no surprise that gamers want alternatives. 

I like games that rely on brains and foster creativity.

Virtual reality

Gamers want to see games that allow for interaction in a virtual world where they experience everyday life through their customizable avatars. These games are thought to be a respite from real world monotony and pressures. Gamers are attracted to totally comprehensive worlds, i.e. Second Life, and virtual reality games that are theme-based. A participant in our blogger focus group wanted the following:

My ideal SNS platform game would be based on the health and medical profession in which gamers can learn about health issues through different scenarios that come up during gameplay. Exercise, nutrition, stress and sleep could be some of the metrics for avatars, requiring gamers to maintain the upkeep of their health.

Another participant wanted a virtual reality social game that would allow her to simply go on dates, where all she has to do is customize her character beforehand.

I’d like to see a dating game where players would have to customize their avatars for different dating storylines. The right outfit and accessories will be crucial to winning the date’s affection and racking up a  high score.

Role-playing games

Our focus group participants expressed a great desire for role-playing games set in historic periods. In China, the Three Kingdoms period is an enduring favorite as evidenced by recent video games, television shows and blockbuster films, such as John Woo’s Red Cliff, that depict the glory of Chinese military history. Below are some of our bloggers’ ideas for role-playing social games.

I want more strategy games based on China’s long military history. I want to wage war and form alliances with friends to build a new empire.

There should be a game based on the hit period drama series, The Bund, in which players assume the role of gangsters vying to be the gang leader. I imagine the game resembling Facebook’s Mafia War.

Mike Fung (@MikeFung) contributed to this article.