A Twitter Gaming Mechanic – January 2010 Ideas
The fifteenth idea for my 365 social ideas is about bringing classic games to Twitter in a quite simple, straight-forward way. The same mechanic can be used for simple games like Rock-Paper-Scissor or more complex turn-based board games like Monopoly, Chess or similar.
But before actually taking about the idea, I might as well address the major concern many will respond with: Why even bring it to Twitter? And the short answer is, that is where many people spend a lot of time, so why not? (answering questions with questions is frowned upon, I know). Just like RSS-feeds are a great way of getting the news out and an easy way to follow what happens from small or large publishers, RSS has now been almost completely replaced with Twitter feeds and Facebook page statuses. And in that way, many external non-private interactions will be transferred to where people already are instead of other places, that users must also visit.
The idea is simple, have a central game master, that all participants must follow (to give the game master the possibility to direct message the participants), and then simply start the game by mentioning the game master, the other participants and the type of game. The game master will then mention all participants in return along with a game-specific hashtag, like #chess6f1G. If the game includes some private communications, this will be done in direct messages (like the faces of cards or chosen secret actions), but otherwise it will be done by the participants directly by simply tweeting what they do and add the game-specific hashtag. Every time any player does something, the game master replies with the current status as well as a link to an external site, where the current result/board can be seen.
If the game was Rock-Paper-Scissor for example, the game master starts the next round in a public tweet to all participants, the individual participants direct message the game master with their move, and when all moves are in, the game master announces the result, and then potentially starts the next round for the remaining participants. If the game was chess however, the players would simply tweet their moves publicly, and after each move, that game master will notify the opponent, that it is his move and provide a link to the current board. And if the game was Texas Hold’em No Limit Poker, the message flow would be different, but related.
Why?
Gaming is always fun, and casual games in which you can excel over your friends with nothing at stake is a popular time-waster on many social networks – but not on Twitter due to the limited interface possibilities. With the above idea, simple or complex gaming could easily be introduced on twitter.
What’s next?
Do with this idea whatever you like – expand, implement, trash or forget. Just remember, that if you use it in anyway make sure to attribute me according to the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License, that all these 365 Social Ideas are published under.
Related posts:
Category: API, Games, January 2010 Ideas Comment »