LiveJournal (Finally) Gets Its Game On

[vansau]

LiveJournal (Finally) Gets Its Game On

LiveJournal is finally getting in on the casual game market and adding titles to its website.

When it comes to killing time on the Web, <a href=http://www.livejournal.com>going to LiveJournal probably isn't at the top of many folks' lists these days. It's certainly not where people would go if they wanted to play some free web games. It seems, though, that LiveJournal is finally taking a note from social networks like Facebook and MySpace: it's adding social games to its community.

LivJournal announced today that it's partnered with i-Jet Media and launching games on its website, which are currently playable. According to the announcement, "LiveJournal will cater to its broad userbase by offering a select variety of high-quality multi-player games."

The games on the site are currently in a beta mode. According to Anjelika Petrochenko (General Manager of LiveJournal, US), "This beta version of games is just a starting point for LiveJournal. We look forward to expanding upon this initial offering with a growing suite of social games to suit our users' eclectic interests."

While LiveJournal isn't nearly as big as sites like MySpace or Facebook, it does still have more than 21 million users. Adding games to the service makes sense, since they can help retain members, but I'm honestly not sure if this move will bring in a lot more new traffic.



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[Anarchemitis]

Another nail in the coffin of DeviantArt.

 

[Nova5]

...Adding casual games isn't a magic bullet to generate profit. This seems likely SixApart's 'canary in the coal mine' for further changes to the site.

 

[Juliamon]

From a quick glance at the relevant LJ news post, a significant amount of the userbase is unhappy with the addition of games. It's probably more likely to drive off current users than persuade them to stay. And it sure as hell isn't going to encourage new people to join when Facebook is already working just fine.

Why must companies always try to fix what isn't broken, and put the broken bits on the back burner?

 

[NeutralDrow]

Well, I'm one of those users, so I'll have to see. I haven't really been using my LJ account for much recently, so I might have to check those out.

 

[Dr. Pepper Unlimited]

It might not bring in much more traffic, but I suppose they're trying. I forgot all about LiveJournal long, long ago. Having 21 million users is actually more than I would have thought they had to be honest.

 

[Andronicus]

Wow! A social farming sim and a mobster game! That's totally different from what every other social-networking site on the internet has to offer. Sign me up right away!

 

[Super Toast]

...People still use MySpace?

 

[BlackWidower]

OH MY GOD!! LiveJournal still exists!? Well I guess I can't be too surprised, it has it's charm and obviously it still has an audience. But like MySpace, it's not as big as it once was.

 

[Mimssy]

I just looked up my old LJ account. SO. MUCH. ANGST.
I guess it's time that they got silly games too.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I just realized that I've been posting on Livejournal for 6 years. I think I should back these old posts up though, I was a very different person when I was 17...and 18...and 19 and, so on. Unlike my Myspace and, Facebook profiles, the LJ has never once been deleted and restarted. It always has been and always will be (until the inevitable death of LJ)

As for the games, I don't care about them one way or another. I don't belong to any LJ communities, my only friends were high school people who have long ago deleted their accounts and, the only online games I play are flash based either on newgrounds, adult swim or, kongregate.

The additions of games on LJ doesn't effect me. Now, I need to post a new entry, it's been a few days.

 

[Neesa]

What's next? Xanga and DeadJournal? Man, those were popular when I was like... 15. Blogspot > LJ, kthx.

 

[Nocta-Aeterna]

Meh, if I want flashgames, I go to Kongregate or Armor Games.

Also, looking at the image, I see a game called "Farm Frenzy". I get a feeling Zygna will get all uppity on this.

 

[AvsJoe]

I have never been to this site and this won't persuade me to go. I'm sure that many, many others share the same opinion.

 

[JEBWrench]

From a quick glance at the relevant LJ news post, a significant amount of the userbase is unhappy with the addition of games.

To be fair, the LJ user base is never particularly happy about anything.

 

[opportunemoment]

I have an LJ and still go there most days (I suppose it depends on how many of your friends have them and update fairly regularly) but I'm so uninterested in this. LJ does the thing it does fairly well, I don't get why they think messing with it is the way to make it better.

 

[tahrey]

Am I alone in hating this BS? If there's one reason I'd use LJ these days (though I've never been that tempted over the last 10 years because it simply doesn't fit my style anyway), it's because it's a much plainer, purer proposition that isn't bloated out with all this juvenile trinketry.

It's a journaling service. Why the hell does it need games. F**k's sake. Facebook is bad enough already...

 

[LadyMint]

Y'know, when I noticed the games tab added to my LJ, the first thing that came to mind was how LiveJournal must be trying hard to compete with Facebook. I don't know why they'd need to, though. Both sites are a part of my daily routine.

That said, Sim Hospital is kinda fun. I didn't like the farming game that much, and I haven't tried the other two. You're not forced to play any of them, though. How can someone be upset by the addition of an OPTION?