Games Come To The Google+ Project

Google+ games were pretty much confirmed a couple weeks ago, but today brought the official announcement that games are being rolled out starting today. One of the biggest fears is that the pristine environment on G+ will be taken over like Facebook was with FarmVille and the like.

As they say, games are fun and we all like them on some level. Some people may be addicted to a certain game and the metrics of online gaming in a social world can force that person to make requests openly to further advance in the game no matter what other people think. I would probably have done anything to advance in Metroid or Kid Icarus at the time! Others are more casual and may play solo games once in a while. How do you appease everyone?

Google has answered this by separating games completely.

When you're ready to play, the Games page is waiting - click the games button at the top of your stream. You can see the latest game updates from your circles, browse the invites you've received and check out games that people you know have played recently. The Games page is also where your game accomplishments will appear. So you can comfortably share your latest high score - your circles will only see the updates when they're interested in playing games too.

If you're not interested in games, it's easy to ignore them. Your stream will remain focused on conversations with the people you care about.

Games have their own tab marked with this icon:

They are slowly rolling out the games feature. Keep an eye out for the new icon and give them a try once you have access. You can learn even more in the new Google+ Games help section. Game on! Check out this post if you are a developer and want to build games for the Google+ platform.