Free online games are taking over the internet world. People play online games predominately to pass time, have fun, to learn skills, to refresh the mind and to socialize with like minded people.
There are some important reasons why free online games are so popular:
Free Fun Pastime
When something is free, fun and help people ‘pass’ time, it is inevitably going to be very popular. Most people grow up playing games – whether it is board games, school yard games, card games or sports. They associate games with relaxation, fun, competition, learning and social interaction. As they grow up, these associations stay with them.
Free games that are now widely available online include puzzles, brainteasers, card games, online adventure games and many hundreds of other games. Children and adults alike are continuing to access these games through websites when they seek a little fun and release from mundane moments in their lives. People gravitate to free online games because it is fun and games help them realize and remember that life is meant to be fun too!
Get Social Online
As people find social connections from games, free online games become more popular and widely used as an interaction tool. The growth of social networking sites show that human socialization is more and more being conducted online. Games are often interactive and competitive so they are innately social in nature. Interactive games like virtual reality games are a big part of this growth in online networking. Online strategy games, free online casinos, card games, video games, battle games, fantasy games etc are bring people together online everyday from all over the world.
Game Educator
The fun factor helps most people enjoy games without pressure and pretence. This makes free online games a great educational tool people of all ages. Music, language, vocabulary, mental skills, physical skills, problem solving techniques, trivia, facts can all be learnt through playing games. Because free games are such a good educator, parents and teachers alike are encourage their children and pupils to regularly indulge in learning through free game interaction.
Take an example of an adventure game – a player needs to travel through different world cities to find answers and solve riddles. Through a game like this, the game player is not only learning problem solving / riddle solving skills, but engaging in learning about geography.
Games can also build confidence and self esteem in its players. It can help players overcome phobias and develop positive personality traits. By winning and succeeding in online games, a player can become more confident in dealing with real life situations, as games often simulate life. Even Benjamin Franklin agrees, observing that “Games lubricate the body and the mind.”
Marketing Games
Free online games are a great marketing tool. There are hundreds of ways in which marketing savvy firms are using free online games to deliver a message, generate interest and brand recognition and get people to come back to websites again and again. The key is creating a free and fun game, build in a bit of humor and creativity, and a marketing loop, and you have a very powerful marketing tool. Word of mouth on the internet (viral marketing) can help games (and therefore marketing messages) spread very quickly into email inboxes and get downloaded onto computers.
There is no doubt that marketing is helping drive the popularity and development of free online games. At the same time, consumers are demanding and enjoying free games – so you can say that marketers are fulfilling a need and getting their message across at the same time.
Technology revolution
In a way, the growth of electronic game technology (think Nintendo, Xbox, Wii etc) is also fueling the demand for free online games. As people get into enjoying games they pay for, they also develop a taste for trying out free online games. Even more significantly, the development and spread of technology including internet, connection speeds, and mobile technology is boosting the rise of the popularity of free games. Game addicts can now access free online games anywhere and any time to keep themselves entertained. When FREE is combined with fun, technology, marketing, learning and escapism, it is no wonder free online games are so popular – and is predicted to remain so.
Escape With Games
Free online games – online adventure games and fantasy games in particular – provides gamers with escapism. They are able, through these games, to leave their real lives and enter into virtual reality where their electronic lives are less complicated and more fun. Even playing simple games like puzzles and Sudoku games can help people escape the pressures and chaos of real life – even just for a moment. Free games are become so popular partly because our lives are becoming more pressured and chaotic – so more and more we need that escapism! As journalist Robert Lynd wrote, “It is in games that many men discover their paradise.” Online adventure games – get into them!