Facebook is changing the way you play games on their platform – in a good way.
Today on their blog, Facebook announced the new ways they are planning to drive “more discovery for games.” I don’t know about you, but I find it pretty easy to find games on Facebook only because my friends keep on telling me to play games with them. Regardless, there are a few changes in the works to make the discovery process even easier.
A feature of Facebook mobile is now making its way to Facebook proper. A player’s news feed will feature the games they are playing. The idea is to “bring new users” by “encouraging users to discover games their friends are playing.”
The controversial Timeline will also get in on the action by giving users the choice to list Facebook games in their Timeline. The Timeline will integrate a user’s “top game activity over a given period of time.” Essentially, the Timeline will list the games the user plays the most while listing their high scores and achievements.
A small change will be a link on the upper right that will list outstanding app requests. All those ignored requests to play a game will now be constantly displayed at the upper right. Looks like I’m going to have to ignore each request one-by-one to get rid of it.
They are adding a games-only activity feed which will allow users to see which games their friends are playing. The feed is accessible underneath the “Apps and Games” bookmark on the left hand navigation column.
They have also found that the live ticker for games does not drive traffic to said games. They are removing the current version of the live ticker to improve it. They will continue to show bookmarks on games and apps pages.
They also want to remind users that they will be removing all app profile pages on February 1. If you don’t know how to move your app to a separate Facebook page, they have instructions here.