In my article Minecraft at my friend’s house: organic growth among children, I wrote about how games find organic growth among children and their social groups. In today’s article I will be exploring the culture of sharing that gamers have developed and how it is expressed.

I was recently at a party with my girlfriend and her extended family, and among them were her younger cousins. Knowing how tough it can be to be a younger person among adults at a party I decided to engage with them in all manners of play from doodling with colored pencils, to sharing our favorite mobile games, to creating tabletop games using napkin holders and utensils.

A surprising find among the games that we showed each other was Ookujira, shared by the youngest cousin. Ookujira is a delightful platformer in which the player controls a whale, double, and triple jumping across skyscrapers.

Discovering this game within a young teenager’s collection of games highlights the very nature of gamer culture, as one of sharing our favorite experiences.  Mobile games are particularly easy  to share; games such as Ookujira, for example, feature gameplay which is easy to introduce to new players.

By the end of the night we had shared the games we play, found new games among them, and I even found out that my girlfriend’s uncle and I both enjoyed the simple fun of Flip Diving which I wrote about in my article, Trampoline Hill: the guilty pleasure of an easy level.

Have you ever found an awesome new game via a friend? Do you like sharing your favorite games with your friends? Some people rather hide their games for fear of being made fun of, do you feel that this is more true of your gaming experience? I welcome discussion on this topic and if you have experiences of your own you wish to share please do so in the comments below, or write in to playprofessor@gmail.com.

Andrew Mantilla is a ludologist and video game journalist for Play Professor.  You can check out more of his content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.