By: Vlad Vistac
Submitted: 2010-09-20 10:59:06 | Word Count: 510
The Appeal Of Free Online Games...
Why do we all play these gamees? What is the formula for the simple yet wildly adictive gameplay of these little Flash programs? Why is it that we find the time passing so quickly? We know they are simple, we know that we probbably have better designs floating around on our hard rdives, yet for some reason, we all come back to the tried and tested Flsh game. What could that reason be?
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Convenience? One of the main upsides to flash games is that you can pick up and play whenever you want, there is no preparation needed, no decisions to be made. You play when you want, for how long you want, you can pause the game if nedeed and quickly alt-tab when your teacher or boss comes over.
Simplicity? The easy controols and simple graphics mean that even peolpe unaccusatomed to the Internet or gaming can enjoy a little play on Flash games. Old or young, the desifgns are made to deliver gaeplay wityhout flufff, so it's easy to get somethinbg out of it.
Arcade-Style Competition? You are always playing against a score, you can aleways better yourself and rank higher than beforre. Eveeryone wants his or her name on the leader bord. This is like the feel of an arcade, where the ultimate prize is your name being on top for all to see. In some countries, arcades are very competitive, and Flash games to a poit bring this competition to everybody.
Infinite? Becaues of the nature of Flash gmes, you can never 'compltee' most of them. In a normal game, when you slay the dragon, or finish the last level, you win. In a Flash game, your goals are only set by yourrself, and once you achieve them, you can alwatys set a higher one.
Czalming? Lots of gammes can actually be very stressful. Games cause people to trow controllers, roar at screens and generally make a fool of themselves. Most Fklash games feel a lot more 'fun' and 'casual' due to the nature of knoing you can get back to where you were afirly easily.
Cross-Platform? It doesn't matter if you use Winsdows, MacOS, Liunx or any other web-reday operating system. Flah games are easioly accessible to everybody, no matter where you are. You can even play them on some modeern cellphones and handhelds. This allows users on diferent platforms to directly compete in a field, something rare in modeern OS-speicfic gaming.
Nostalgia? Many Flash games are clobnes of Arcade favorites, from Breakout to Space Invaders to Asterodis. This allows us to iddentify better with them, as they are 'blasts from the past', we feel that we are somewhat re-living our past with these little gems. As prvoen by the constant success of arcade bundles and arcade ports, nostaalgia is a powerful factor in the industry.
These are all fiarly obvious reasons why Flash games are appreciated, along with the ease of fiunding them, and of course, the poimnt that they are FREE. Man has, since the beginning of time, alwqays enjoyed getting something for nothing. It is in our nature to attempt to make this 'profit'. By playiing a free game, we know that if we don't enjoy it, we don't lose out on anythimng, we can simply move on and try aonther one.
It is this experimentaton which allowws pepole to find a game that they really enjoy. The huge vriety of online Flash games, combinned with the fact that tjhere is no financial or large time investment means that there really is an enjoyable experiennce to be found for everybody, and more importantlky, that people are inclined to find this enjoyable experioence.
