Introduction to Raptr

With the popularity of social networking growing at a rapid pace, it has become part of daily life for people across the world. As a gamer, I've always been keen to share my game records and achievements with fellow gamers. Whilst this is possible on various websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, it lacks the depth avid gamers wish for.

Combining social networking with gaming features, I have found Raptr to be very useful. Founded by Dennis Fong, co-founder of Xfire, in 2007, Raptr is the ultimate social networking tool for gamers. The company located in Mountain View, CA, continues to be a success globally.

Raptr initially launched as a closed beta on February 2nd, 2008. On September 3rd, 2008, Raptr was then launched as an open beta to the public. The company has partnerships with various game publishers, such as Activision and THQ. They partnered with Gamespot in 2009 to provide both communities with extra features.

Raptr calculates the amount of time you spend on various games, then displays them as pictured above. It'll display the six games you've spent the most time playing. As your game collection grows, Raptr will constantly update the time you spend on each game.

Pictured above is a section of Raptr which highlights the most amount of time you've spent on a game, throughout the month and of all time. It also displays your game library and the various formats you choose to use for gaming.

Another interesting feature is the last played section. It displays the games you played last and how long ago you were playing them. If you continue to scroll to the right, you can view games from your collection, and the last time you played them.

Divided into five genres, Raptr displays which genres are the most consistantly played by the individual. Every user's genre calculation will look different, which gives other gamers a better idea of what their friends enjoy playing.

Raptr also displays what achievements the user has recently earned. It also shows how many achievements the user has earned overall, with a ''view all'' option for an individual to view them. These gaming accomplishments can be published on sites such as Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook, for the user's friends who may not be registered on Raptr to view. Raptr allows you to add friends to your profile. This then allows you to view their recently played games, achievements, statistics and engage in conversation with them.

I'd recommend Raptr to anyone, from casual to avid gamers. It's interesting to see in detail how much time you really spend playing games, and what genres those games may be. If you were ever looking for in-depth statistics regarding your gaming experience, Raptr is the tool for you! I really hope you've enjoyed this piece, I hope you consider using Raptr and that you'll send me a friend request if you do. 

Many thanks for reading,
 
Hannah.


source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raptr
raptr.com