Draw Something, Play Anything!

Social media has seemed to blossom within the past 10 years becoming a powerhouse within the internet. Yet, there have been other platforms rising within them at the same time. Slowly gaining weight with every new addiction caused, gaming on social media has become a fad for every age. This is not only people simply playing games online, but using the social media as another platform to connect to others. People are joining social networks for the games and then staying for the everything else. And in other cases, they have the network and now need something do with it. This social network platform has also led to the development of much larger gaming areas or the same types being converted into apps for android and apple.

The two biggest parts of social media gaming has to be 1) the craze and then 2) the addiction. We have all heard of Farmville, and at some point graced its presence (though I am luck to not have). This online game gained notoriety when it become integrated into Facebook. From then on, it skyrocketed to success becoming one of the most played games on the web. But there was a dark side to this. Two separate instances and probably countless others that are undocumented tell of people going crazy to play Farmville. The Manchester Evening News reported a man who was so desperate for money to play Farmville that he stole a credit card from a blind man and proceeded to kill his mother's ex-lover for more money to by crack. Another incident cited was a mother who killed her 3 month old son after interrupting her Farmville game by crying. Like all other games, they lost popularity and eventually dwindled down to only some remaining users. Yet, it led to the promotion of making other social media games and apps. Another notorious one was/is DrawSomething. A social media game integrated into Facebook allowing players to challenge friends and even random opponents.

Even with all the negatives others are promoting the use of social media gaming. Some argue that it will improve the learning process and help kids understand concepts much easier (Article).
"What will the outcome of these games be in the future?"you ask. Well, who knows? With how technology is advancing these days it might not be too long until our social media sites can do more than just make the game interactive from computer to computer.