Google+ will soon have a game network, All Things D reports, citing numerous sources, which shouldn't come as a surprise: Facebook's growth is attributable in great part to the instant popularity of social games -- something the company wasn't quite expecting, and consequently, didn't plan for well, in the beginning.
As you might have guessed, this coming game platform is yet another reason I think Google needs to stop prohibiting pseudonymous accounts: online games and worlds are a huge source for pseudonyms, and due to their popularity, many people are known more by their gaming pseud, than by their real life name. In my very rough tally of online pseudonyms, there are nearly 90 million of those in the West alone; there's probably twice as many if not more in Asia. Allowing pseudonymous Google Profiles would thus make Google+ more attractive to gamers, while also avoiding a recurring problem Facebook has: Game updates that are inter-meshed with other network interaction in a way that's obtrusive and Spammy to everyone but the gamers. (I.E., "You got my FarmVille notification in my baby photo upload!") By offloading all that Google game network activity into the channels of game-based pseudonyms, Google would avoid that problem while also growing its userbase.
I understand the desire for anonymity on something SL or in an MMORPG but the thing that is winning me over on Google+ is that I don't have bots or fakes poking or adding me to their circles. I want to see real people that I interact with in the real world on there as an extension of the real world. I like what they are doing by making brands wait and make a way to denote them as such. I read this site quite regularly and love the SL info I get from it but really feel lately that it has become a soap box to shout about Google+ needing pseudonyms and its getting old.
Posted by: Jeremy | Friday, July 22, 2011 at 07:45 PM
Ho sorry for bothering you Jeremy... but by the way, isn't not giving your full name your way to stay pseudonymous ? By giving my "pseudonymous" name and linking to my blog I give a lot more about me that you give about your "real you"...isn't it ?
Posted by: DD Ra | Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 06:42 AM