What is Linkswell?
Linkswell is a game that started with a few friends from the London internet community it belongs to. The goal was simple, to test each others’ “links” to make themselves feel more connected. The game has been played by over 20 million people and still going strong! It has transformed into something of a real community, where most everyone can be found in-game making jokes, including the founder’s grandchildren as of recent times.
Features:
Over 20 million people have played Linkswell. Linkswell has developed a real community and culture of humour. Linkswell is available in 104 different languages. Above all it is the concept behind Linkswell (and the game) that pulls people in. It’s a simple concept, but one that has been developed into an intricate and expansive community over the course of time (original creators left beta around 6 years ago).
Linkswell does not have any specific features or mechanics that distinguish it from other games, only a small collection of others who have played it before. The simplicity of this concept means that everyone can take part and contribute little things here and there along the way.
How to play:
Linkswell revolves around links. Everyone knows of one link, the link to their self. The most important link to have is obviously your own, but the true fun of Linkswell is in establishing your own links and seeing what others have done. Everyone has a different way of playing and finding other players and links in their own way. Some like to play with people they know, whilst others thrive in the online community of Linkswell
History:
Linkswell started in January 10th, 2008. The game was an idea by a member named “gamezenter”. He approached 2 of his friends with the concept and they started making it a reality. After 2 months, they had come up with the basics of Linkswell: literally sending links to one another and seeing who could receive them first. The name itself was just a random thing, but one of the founders thought it sounded interesting so they kept it. Another feature was added when another friend suggested that players should see what information other players have on their profile before initiating a link.
Advantages:
Linkswell provides a simple concept with infinite possibilities. Linkswell is diverse and can be played in many ways, encouraging creativity. It encourages conversation and people to talk to one another, something important in the way that we live today. Whenever you want to play Linkswell, you know who is going to be connected to. There are no limits on links and hence it opens up a wide array of possibilities.
Disadvantages:
The only disadvantage of Linkswell is that there is not much you can do in the game. You can play with your friends and see what they have written on their profile, but you cannot “do” anything. Nevertheless, this has not stopped people from playing and enjoying it. In fact, Linkswell’s GitHub page says that the game was “made to be fun, not to be taken seriously.”
Linkswell’s biggest advantages are its simplicity and lack of seriousness. People love to play it because they can just sit down at anytime and play a game without having to worry about anything else.
News:
Linkswell has recently been mentioned in newspaper articles about the internet and gaming. The New York Times, Vice magazine and Lifehacker have all covered linkswell. The New York Times published a piece on linkswell on January 13th, 2017, entitled ‘A New Kind of Internet Game’. Click here to read the article. Perhaps one of the most mainstream mentions of Linkswell has been in Vice’s article ‘Playing With Google In a World Without Pages’ which was published on January 18th 2017. Click here to read the article .
Controversies:
Linkswell has had several controversies throughout its history and this has caused the game to be banned in some countries. It was banned in Mexico for being “too popular”. Linkswell was also banned in Turkey for being “too inflammatory”. Linkswell’s GitHub page says that even though the game has been banned from some countries, there is nothing they can do about it.
Rants:
Linkswell is famous for it’s rants (or fits, as they are referred to). These are not really rants in the sense that they talk about a lot of things, but rather just a response to something someone has said. Rants have since evolved into a way of writing code inside Linkswell, something that is truly unique.
Technological Advancements:
Linkswell is one of the first game to implement a 3D model of the user. It is also one of the first games to implement live stream technologies in which you can talk with your friends face-to-face whilst playing. Another very popular technological advancement was when Linkswell introduced its “mobile platform”. This meant that people could play on their phones and tablets.
Some other features include:
Someone who has started playing recently could be “followed” by everyone else, so that they can see all the links and rants posted in recent times. Linkswell also has an Events page, which was created for people to post small events and see who is going. It can be any event, small or big.
Why do people still play Linkswell?
The sole reason people still play Linkswell is because of the community. People have built links to one another and they have developed rants that they feel are special to themselves. These rants connected them to other players and in the end it led to a real community being formed around something simple and fun. This is perhaps why Linkswell has been around for so long, even though no one really knows or cares when a new update will be released.
