Kongregate Site

With over 3,000 free flash games and approximately 8,000 users online at any one time, Kongregate has become a major player in the online games market in just over two years. Founded in 2006, Kongregate is now a leading online hub of user submitted flash games; it focuses on a strong sense of community and has a number of social networking features, whilst still maintaining the characteristics of a modern online games site.

Kongregate receives approximately 1.8 million hits a month, and in 2007 received $5 million of investment from Greylock partners to fund their premium developer program. The site has distinguished itself from others by maintaining a strong relationship with its independent developers whilst having a hugely popular community.

Users who sign up are given profile much like any other social networking site. The profile shows any of the games which he/she has marked as a favorite and any badges which they have earned. Members are able to send messages, post their achievements, and rate games. There is a significant social side to Kongregate which makes it such a popular site to use. As a member, you can upload any flash game you like; the watchful community will flag the game as “inappropriate” if they are not comfortable with it. This is one of the beauties of Kongregate, you can upload a game and see it live within seconds, while being safe in the knowledge that the community will handle anything which doesn’t belong there.

Every game has a chat window which is available to members, you can use this to view high scores (which are updated in real time directly from Kongregate’s server) or chat with other members who are playing any of the games online. One of the most unique features of Kongregate is its reward system. Users can earn points, which are effectively prizes you are given for voting or completing a Kongregate Challenge. These are just two ways to gain points; there are many others such as by referring friends and uploading games that you own. At the time of writing, members can advance levels by gaining points. There have been plans expressed for the future which speak of points being redeemable for prizes.

Users can also receive cards for accomplishing challenges, which are in the future to be used in a collectible card game that is currently in development. Kongregate doesn’t just stop there with its reward system; they also offer badges which can be won by reaching requirements to earn an achievement. When a badge is awarded, the points reward is directly related to the difficulty of achieving the requirements to receive the badge. One can expect to receive 60 points for an “impossible” badge, 30 points for a “hard”, 15 points for “medium”, and just 5 points for an “easy” achievement.

The Kongregate developers clearly have big plans for the site, claiming that they want to build a middle ground between free online games and more expensive options, but working with independent developers and using advertising revenue as a reward. This sharing of advertising revenue has made the site extremely popular with new developers, their website states:

“Kongregate operates with an understanding of how difficult it can be for talented game developers - from the aspiring gamesmith to the independent studio - to get the recognition and compensation that they deserve. That’s why Kongregate shares micro transaction and advertising revenue with contributing developers, who retain the full rights to their games.”

The speed and simplicity of Kongregate is also a major strength and advantage over many of the other, heavy, online game sites that currently exist. The developers have streamlined the site nicely whilst not compromising on the design, which works very well with the community features.

There are thousands of games to be found on Kongregate, and it’s really not hard to find some real gems on the site. Take a look at the homepage and you’ll instantly find your new favorite game. The community surrounding the site is so strong that the best games are certain to come to the forefront of the site, allowing you to feel safe in the knowledge that you aren’t missing out on anything.

If you’re a big time flash gamer, or you just enjoy the occasional session, Kongregate is perfect for you. It has a massive community of like minded gamers which easy and fast to join. It really isn’t hard to start feeling the full benefits of the many features that Kongregate has, and whilst these features make the site stand out from the crowd, you can be sure that flash games are still the most important aspect of the Kongregate community.