While successful, casual games are not known for being as social as true ‘social games’

Before there were lucrative games on Facebook, casual games have done very well existing on their own sites and on game portals. The casual game market paved the way for the social gaming market.

Problem is, beyond a leader board and some chat there’s never been anything majorly “social” about casual games. The “socialness” of casual games was the topic du jour for the panel “Casual Games Go Social” at the Social Gaming Summit in San Francisco. Speaking on the panel were:

• James Au, Ohai (moderator)
• Dennis Ryan, PopCap Games
• Mitali Pattnaik, Playfirst
• Jeff Revoy, Real Networks
• Richard Fields, Mindjolt Games

Here are some of the issues came up in the discussion:

• The casual game space has been social for a long time. But the definition of social gaming has expanded beyond just chatting with a player as you’re playing a game.

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