When you think of games people play back in the days when digital games are still in its nascency, you can see very clearly that there is still a huge discrepancy in the way people interact around games back then, and the way people interact around games now.

Most games like Monopoly, Cops and Thieves, and in Malaysia, where I come from, more traditional games like Kayu Tiga, the bottle cap game or even sports like Basketball and Football has a deep level of social interaction built around it. Is that level of social interaction available in the casual games like Cityville, Farmville or even Sims Social?

The main differences as of now that are obvious are:
1. It is almost always played amongst a close group of friends with the occasional stranger joining in.
2. The social interactions had deeper emotional relevance in a sense that everyone else is not just “an avatar” that you get additional gold or play coins from and there is actually emotional context. E.g. bluffing a good friend at poker and pulling it off has a different depth than bluffing a random fish on online poker tables
3. People form alliances and collusions with other people to together conquer the world

Can these elements be induced in Social Games today? Let’s see