Almost every game would love for their creation to go viral to the point where everyone is talking about it and everyone is loving it. Even most wouldn’t complain if the last part of the sentence was removed because if enough people are talking about it then enough people will try it. There is a difference though between having a game everyone is talking about and putting out something that people want to show. Her Story is a great game with a ton of acclaim but is more a piece of art that people want to talk about online rather than being pushed to show off.
In 2015, we have been gifted by not only one but two games that have made you want to show them off in the form of Rocket League and Alphabear. Rocket League from Psyonix is something that I had gotten incredibly excited for in no small part to the super saturated, awe inspiring gifs of cars flying through the air hitting giant balls into a wee goal. It got to the point where it was near impossible to avoid the these little moving pics if you decided to visit reddit. Not only did it look beautiful but it instantly came off as fun. When Rocket League’s beta strolled around I had to play it and it lived up to my expectations. These feats of aerial striking that I had seen now became possible. The gifs didn’t stop coming though on reddit, they only got more abundant and wilder. Now with Rocket League’s release via Playstation Plus, which probably was helped along by social media, the studio behind it now has a major success on their hands. They even included a replay mode in order to get the best view of that near perfects shot. Tons of popular YouTubers and Twitch streamers are having a blast with the game, pushing its message out there even further. With all the buzz also came a Rocket League eSports…league? If this gives racecar-soccer a longer shelf-life then we might be looking at one of the more important aspects for Rocket League’s continued success.
Alphabear, from Spry Fox, integrated the game with social media from the get go. The game takes cues from scrabble and other spelling types but the real reason you play is for the ending pictures. After you complete each run you are greeted with a polaroid looking picture with one of your bears who fill up the tiled field. Each picture has a built in phrase with words you played being inserted into the picture. The results are sometimes…well sometimes not probably what was intended. Or maybe it was which would be brilliant.
https://twitter.com/WasimCast/status/619637822220292096
Well now a ton of people are posting these pics on Twitter and Tumblr since they are designed to be shared. The whole system works because Alphabear is really fun when you get down to it. Never do I feel like I need to buy their free-to-play stuff. Coincidently that is exactly the type of stuff that makes me want to throw money their way.
Social media is neat. You meet so many new people through it as well as find new and interesting things whether they be games or whatever.Both of these games were exposed to me through all your typical sites and they are the perfect games to show off little things from. One producing these totally insane moments and the other allowing you to share pictures of tiny little bears saying foul things. The greater inclusion and spreading of these moments and pictures seems closer to the beginning than the end as far as allowing games to become greater aspects of your life that you would want to share. We all want unique experiences and we all want to show them off. Rocket League and Alphabear are just the tip of the iceberg in that regard.
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