Gaming as a whole is a very social activity, particularly when looking at online options as they now inherently rely on other players to make up a good experience too – whether this be within the growing esports space particularly for those wagering on esports at bookmaker non aams options, or within something on a smaller scale. But that isn’t to suggest only online games have become home to social features, as even big AAA single player games have moved in this direction to provide entertainment even for solo players – even if these social features are received in a mix of ways.
Elden Ring has most recently shown this to be true for a larger scale single player game – it has continued the tradition of previous Souls titles where players can leave messages for other players to find in something that lends itself to many inside jokes amongst the audiences of the game, in past titles because of the linear nature of the game many of these messages are left around important game landmarks, but with the open world nature of Elden Ring these messages can be found even in the most unlikely of places and lends to some very interesting banter between players in a game that is otherwise non-social.
Of course, games that feature direct social tools such as a live chat or voice chat are a very different matter entirely – in competitive titles, voice chat is all but essential in order for team mates to co-operate in a tactical manner, and for games with a live chat function enable players to develop a rapport with one another through chat alone. Many players have noted in the past that these social features often make or break and experience, and without them the games being played can feel quite stale, and sometimes uninspired as some interaction is essential. As platforms like mobile are still limited in this area for many of their games, it’s something that may be a goal to work towards in the future – other platforms like the recently released Steam Deck have had similar situations as the lack of a dedicated keyboard and it being difficult to type as seen through the history of consoles, a newer solution may be required in order to bridge this gap – given how vital it is to have interaction with other players in games today, getting it right on devices that current struggle to do so could be the catalyst for even further success in the future.
