Google+ Games Arrive to Much Anticipation & Consternation

The Google+ Game era has begun, and people are watching it slowly roll out with a mixture of emotions – dread, anticipation, disgust, anger, resignation, joy, excitement. Sometimes many of the above all at once.

Thankfully it’s quickly becoming clear that all the dread and anger is misplaced. People are generally feeling that way because of Facebook’s example of game integration in the social space. Facebook walls get very spammy and if you have game playing friends and can’t stand the spam, you’re forced to spend your time blocking applications so they can’t bother you.

Google+ is handling things very differently, which really should not be a surprise given how the rest of the service works.

Those who have access (which, sadly, does not include me at the time of this writing) will find a Games tab on their interface up next to where the Circles tab sits. Instead of posting game activity to someone’s wall like on Facebook, you post it to people and/or Circles, like any other Google+ Share.

However, this game activity will NOT go to the regular Streams like a normal Share. Instead, your friends will have to visit the games tab themselves to see it.

This guarantees that Google+ will suffer far less game spam. If you have no interest in games yourself, just don’t visit that tab. If you ARE into the games, you’ll presumably know what to expect and so you’ll be ready for it.

In the meantime, if you’re one of the lucky ones who have access to the games tab already, let us know what you think in the comments!