“Our players almost exclusively play games such as Swimming, Billiard and Quiz Maniac in Multiplayer Mode”, explained Marco Huter, Funworld’s CSO. “Our multiplayer community has already grown so big that one can find a suitable opponent at any time of day and night.”

A new application, ‘Live Video’, is also proving to be popular. Through an algorithm, which was specially developed by the well-known Fraunhofer Institut, a USB wide-angle camera permanently films the player and centres his/her face on the screen before transmitting the video to the co-players, who are thus able to follow all their opponents’ reactions live. For players it is an entirely new experience to see directly what their opponents in Spain or Germany look like.

“Besides local Photo Play tournaments or national and international players’ events, this feature is an extremely important application to support our sports positioning”, said Huter. “Players get to know each other electronically. One no longer plays against a name or a static picture but by gesture and facial expression one can communicate directly with a real person. The better our players know each other, the more interesting international competition becomes, which is why Photo Play events in outlets are so important. Once players know each other personally, competition in play is twice the fun.”

A further way of making contact is by sending messages. Players can post ready-made messages, which their opponents receive in their particular national language. This option is available before and after a game. Thus, communication is assured way beyond language barriers and limitations. “This new means of communicating in Multiplayer Mode will be first presented at the ATEI in London. Live Chat will draw national communities even closer together,” explained Huter. “Our players are supplied with a tool that enables them to chat live.”

“To emphasise the Touch of Sports theme and to fortify challenge, competition and honour, we have also implemented a ranking list system in Multiplayer Mode”, added Huter. “The first multiplayer ranking lists were met with much approval by the players and ranks are fought for as hotly as those for the Masters’ tournaments.” Ranking list scores are valid for four weeks therefore players continuously have to prove their good performance to retain their positions.”

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