Why isn’t there not a social network for gamers? That a question I asked myself whilst brainstorming for post ideas.. So why isn’t there a gamers social network? There’s already networks like Facebook, Twitter & Reddit. Most of the current networks cover subjects like politics, movies, music & stuff as well as being big parts of people’s lives. I’ve seen many a movie trailer on Facebook and I have many friends locally on there too. There doesn’t seem to be one just for gamers, or anything else for that matter.
I must admit it helped a lot during lockdown to see what was happening with my friends day in day out on my Facebook page, and like I lot of people, I also play games on my phone thanks to Facebook connectivity because it’s designed to integrate with a lot of apps & websites.
What should a social network for gamers look like?
Twitter, Reddit & Facebook are all different from each other with unique features in each, for example I use twitter to connect with my fellow gamers in a way I can’t with Facebook, it’s easy to interact with them & see the latest games related tweets from the 569 odd accounts I follow (not all are gaming related), I also like that you’re restricted to the characters per tweet. Twitter is great as it helps to have a laugh at gaming meme’s, I can also find out if a game is any good or see the latest trailer for a movie based on a game. I’ve have discovered a few blogs via twitter in my time. Facebook on the other hand can be overwhelming, with too many ad’s for stuff I’m not interested in but It is good because it has groups, a marketplace, instant messenger & pages to interact with.
I personally don’t understand Reddit, it’s set up is a bit confusing to me but i hear its great for gaming stuff like twitter is . I think a gamers network should be unique, a combo of all three perhaps but have gaming related adverts, allow gamers to sell their games, consoles etc & cater as a platform just for them.
Can a social network for gamers be built?
Can a social network for gamers be built? Of course it can as the internet makes leaps & bounds every day and WordPress powers a lot of websites around the world; due to its flexibility you could build whatever you want. I think you could build one with BuddyPress or & by selecting the right plugins to go with it.
So what is BuddyPress? It’s a social network building plugin that allows you to create exactly that i.e a company intranet for example. I think there’s probably already some people trying their hand at building social networks for gamers and some may have already failed. I don’t really know but I do think it is a good idea.
What’s stopping me doing it?
What is stopping me building my own social network for gamers like myself? I’d like to say it’s fear but it’s not. Something like this would be a big challenge because it is bigger than just a personal blog as you have to think of how it’ll operate, how it’ll make money & how it will protect itself from hackers who want to cause trouble; I’m already having to do this with my own blog. There’s a lot of personal data held on social networks like Facebook who use your data to make money (by the way Facebook knows more about me than my own mother) and that amount of responsibility isn’t something I’m ready for by myself.
