With the continuing growth of smartphones, mobile gaming continues to become more and more accessible to millions of cyber citizens. Some of the best titles require you to fork over some money, but there are a surprising amount of quality games that can be enjoyed for free. If today's news is any indication, some of those free games might even lead to romance.
The social gaming giant Zynga has released the results of its now annual Valentine's Day poll, and the data shows a surprising number of people using the company's popular games to flirt with, impress, and initiate contact with someone they're attracted to.
Zynga's unscientific poll was comprised of more than 6,000 of its 72 million active users. It found that thirty percent of the players surveyed have used the games' chat feature to flirt with their opponent, while nearly 25 percent said they try to play higher scoring words against someone they're attracted to. Since a lot of games are randomly generated, a lot of these results hinge on the fact that players actually know their opponent in real life.
What's more, over 50 percent of those surveyed said they're more attracted to opponents with a wide range of vocabulary at their disposal, proving that the value of the English language will remain high for at least another few years.
Rounding out the results, 26 percent of married players said they play the games with their spouse (a highly dangerous situation if the Checkers games I play with my girlfriend are any indication), and almost 25 percent of players are more competitive when playing against someone they have feelings for (a number that I feel is mercifully low compared to my own experience).
According to Zynga, there have even been a few marriage proposals conducted in-game, which is either cool or weird, or both.
The questionnaire targeted users across all six of the company's titles: Words With Friends, Scramble With Friends, Gems With Friends, Hanging With Friends, Chess With Friends, and Matching With Friends.
