The rise of online gaming in the Middle East

In keeping with this week’s theme of video games in the Middle East, it has become hard to ignore the browser-based game Travian.  This game is a massive multiplayer game where the user plays as one of three factions of people: the Romans, the Gauls, and the Teutons. Over 5 million people play Travian throughout the world, but the statistic that makes this game remarkable is that 27% of these people are from Saudi Arabia.  This is quite a significant statistic considering a college student in Germany developed the game.  More surprising is that the game’s popularity in Saudi Arabia is not an anomaly. According to the web tracker Alexa, Travian is the 7^th-most popular site in Iran, 9th-most in Libya, 11^th-most in Kuwait, and 12^th-most in Palestine, and 25^th in Iraq.  To put this in perspective, Travian is the 5113^th most popular site in the United States.

This begs the question how a game becomes so popular. One reason is the hardware required to play Travian is very minimal. If a computer has Internet access and can run java, then its user can play Travian.  Because no hardware needs to be installed, the user can play it on public, work, or personal computers with equal ease.  The developers have also created a mobile version where a gamer can play from an Internet-enabled cell phone, further increasing the accessibility of the game.

But why is this site so popular in the Middle East? Unfortunately, not much has been written about Travian’s expansion in the Middle East.  The National, a newspaper run by the Abu Dhabi Media Company, published an article comparing Travian to Chess (a game that originated in the Middle East): “Every individual move is simple, a child can do it. But to understand the whole picture and play against a master will take months or years of practice.”  However, the National fails to understand that the key to being successful in Travian is the ability to build a strong network with other users to reach the goal of endgame.

Nearly all social networking sites facilitate interactions between people, and massive multiplayer games can often act as social networks.  From an intelligence-gathering standpoint, the high degree of anonymity inherent in online games could allow intelligence gatherers to more easily gain access to networks of young Muslims who happen to be playing these online games.