Abstract
Social Networking Games (SNGs) on Social Network Sites (SNS) is a popular online game genre at the present time. The purpose of this chapter is to explore motivations and investigate exclusively “Generation Y” playing social media games from the point of uses and gratifications theory experience. For this study, a focus group and in-depth interview methodologies were chosen. The results of this study provide evidence that Generation Y in Turkey play social networking games with an aggregate of motivations based on psychological and social reasons, such as to retire from the stress of daily life, to relax, and to spend time with friends as a consequence of sense of wonder and their advices. Based on the fact that they state that SNGs create a feeling of pleonexy, it can also be deduced that Generation Y approaches these games from a critical perspective.
TopIntroduction
The Internet which has become a part of leisure and entertainment culture, has given rise to important and various studies on this phenomenon. According to this era, SNS are one of the major communication domains which are web-based services such as Facebook and MySpace. Boyd and Ellison (2007) define SNS as web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. SNG’s concerning a part of SNS, is one of the popular online game genre at the present time. SNG’s are gaming applications which integrated into SNS and in-browser games accessed through social networks incorporating both solo and multiplayer games (Hou, 2011; Lautmann and Curran, 2012). In 2012 SNG's constituted 36% of the online gaming market and 13% of the global video game market. The market which counts 5.4 billion Euros in 2012 is expected to be 10.7 billion Euros in 2016 (IDATE, 2012). Youth and the Internet which are two concepts mentioned together in the field of social sciences, Generation Y called as “digital natives” have been subjected to different age groupings and definitions. In this study, we have tried to reveal Generation Y relations with SNG’s and deal with their motivations to use social media games, as well as critical readings bowed set forth by the users.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Conventional Games: A kind of game which has found its place in folk culture including not only the games requiring irony, intelligence, capacity of agility in a time when entertainment facilities and choices were much fewer which were played all together and brought along more sincere relations, sharing and solidarity, but also the video / console games.
Digital Games: Based on advanced computer and internet technology and upon a virtual platform, the games which let the individuals interact with each other individually or collectively and turning gamers to more active individuals.
Generation Y: The generation who were 1977-2000 and who had a critical view of point as well as being the major followers of digital technology, who don’t give up the traditional structure of the society.
Uses and Gratifications Aspect: A communication theory which aims to analyze the questions such as why individuals benefit from the mass communication medias, to what level these medias satisfy their needs and what kind of satisfaction they obtain.
Critical Readings: An evaluation method based on the timeline interrogating what kind of events, phenomena, art works, arts events, mass communication and digital means exist and for what purposes they exist as well as their sources.
SNG’s Motivations: The psychological and sociological factors such as feeling of curiosity, advices of friends and requirements of socialization which lead individuals to play games in social media.
Social Network Games: The games played on social networks.