Social Media and Video Games: The Power of Communication

     Everyone at one point has talked to a gamer. Whether it's face to face or even through social media. That's what makes gaming so interesting. The truth is that gaming has revolutionized social media. A great example of this is online multiplayer video games such as Call of Duty or Halo. Each of these have specific details with their own benefits, however one that stays a constant between the two of them is the fact that they both have a vocal chat ability. A vocal chat ability is when a player can connect their own microphone and talk to other players, in actual time, with very little, if not, no delay. If one was to talk to any gamer about gaming online there would be nothing but rave reviews. How do I know this? Because I am a gamer myself. I have been playing multiplayer games online for almost three years now and the most exhilarating part is that I can talk to people from all over the country at the same exact time while doing something that all of these strangers and I love doing, playing video games. That has always made me happy as well as more competitive because I know that I am playing another human and that I have a reputation to build on and hold my head up high about.

      That is not the only impact that video games have had to revolutionize social media. Video games also now incorporate social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Everyone knows this from the infamous FarmVille, which is only accessible to Facebook users. This made big waves in the gaming community as well as the social media community because of the availability and the fact that the users could visit their friends farms and gift them things. This is why  believe Facebook blew up even more, because so many people wanted to play with familiar faces in a game. After FarmVille was such a big hit most of the applications for phones,tablets, and computers now offer, or need the login of a social media site. This allows three main things to happen. The first thing is immediate profit from ads as well as in- app purchases. These allow not only the game developers to have profit, but also the social media sites get much more profit. The second thing that happens is that the social media sites get much more publicity. This is because everyone is talking about that game and how well they are doing in the game. The third thing that happens is that, now people who otherwise would have not even bothered making an account, now make one because they crave the social interaction through the media.

     Video games also have a great impact on social media because, as I stated in the beginning of this blog, it adds competition online as well as in social media. The competitiveness of video games helps social media because people like to brag and build up their player profiles. Player profiles are basically all of the statistics that includes all of the good and bad things that a player has done. In some platforms other players can comment on what statistics and accomplishments other players have made. In a sense this is a form of social media because it allows people to comment on other players achievements, which feeds the ego of the person getting the accolades. This is so prevalent in gaming and social media, that there are gaming competitions, which is heavily followed by social media.