I’ve been working on a design for a heavily social Facebook game. What I mean by “heavily social” is that the game is ultimately all about working with others. It’s not that you’ll invite your friends to play with you because it helps you get an achievement or simply because you’re a taste-maker/salesperson who is sharing the news. You’ll invite them because working with them in the game is inherently satisfying.

Or that’s the idea, anyway. The question I’ve been mulling over for the last few days is this: if the point of the game isn’t to relax, experience a power fantasy, or “just have fun” (as is the case for most videogames), then what *is* the point and most importantly: will it be compelling?

Your thoughts here suggest to me that I might want to attempt to tap in to our hunter-gatherer mindset to find social interactions that are inherently satisfying and that feel meaningful to explore with others.