\n
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/d93a7_screen-shot-2016-09-30-at-6-47-21-pm.png?w=640\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
The messaging wars are\u00a0really a battle for attention. It\u2019s all about which comms app\u00a0giant\u00a0can embed\u00a0the stickiest and most addictive features into their platform to keep users inside\u00a0their own well-tended garden, rather\u00a0than peering over the wall at rivals\u2019 plots.<\/p>\n
In Facebook\u2019s case today, that means launching a pared down version of its Messenger app<\/a> to try to extend the edges of its messaging empire to markets where users may not have great Internet and\/or a high end\u00a0smartphone.<\/p>\n But, also today, messaging app\u00a0Telegram<\/a> is going the other way: announcing it\u2019s powering up on\u00a0the chatbot front<\/a> with the launch of\u00a0what it dubs a \u201cbot-powered gaming platform\u201d\u00a0in a bid to\u00a0try to drive more engagement via addictive new features.<\/p>\n The v3.13 update is now live for Android Telegram users to download, and will also land in the App Store for\u00a0iOS users today.<\/p>\n Integrated HTML 5 games inside chats<\/strong><\/p>\n While devs building for Telegram\u2019s open platform could already make text-based bot games for the app \u2014 see, for example,\u00a0PokerBot<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0WerewolfBot<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the new\u00a0API<\/a>\u00a0seeks to step up the stickiness by enabling more\u00a0<\/span><\/span>visually appealing games to\u00a0live inside\u00a0chats\u00a0on the\u00a0platform.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can now use bots to play games in your chats, complete with graphics and sound,\u201d Telegram\u00a0writes in a blog post announcing the new feature.<\/p>\n Examples it\u00a0showcases in the post include a math based challenge game, called MathBattle, that it says its own developers built in three hours, and a football game called Football Star, built by a third party.<\/p>\n Other examples shown in the post include time-challenge games \u2014 such as Corsair, where you have to see how long you can avoid being shot, or, in the case of Lumberjack, avoid being crushed by falling tree branches.<\/p>\n So basically this is super simple mobile games embedded into the chat window and made inherently competitive thanks to an automatic running tally of your contacts\u2019 scores that Telegram\u2019s API enables.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best part of the Telegram Gaming Platform is the competition across all your existing chats. We save high scores for every game played in every chat, and you can instantly check out how you and your friends are doing against each other. Every time there\u2019s a new leader in the game, other playing members of the chat are notified that they need to step it up,\u201d it notes.<\/p>\n There\u2019s about 30 games at launch, with the vast majority made by third party games developer\u00a0Gamee<\/a>. Albeit Telegram is obviously hoping for lots more to flood in \u2014\u00a0suggesting today\u00a0that \u201chundreds\u201d are in the pipeline.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile these demos look basic, Telegram games can be anything from simple arcades and puzzles to multiplayer 3D-shooters and real-time strategy games,\u201d it adds.<\/p>\n Betting\u00a0big on bots<\/strong><\/p>\n Telegram\u00a0was a relatively early mover in the chatbot space,\u00a0launching a bot platform<\/a> back in June 2015 \u2014 months\u00a0before the likes of Facebook<\/a> and Line<\/a> got in on the action, although lagging China\u2019s WeChat platform (which has had automated accounts since 2013).<\/p>\n The question of\u00a0how popular bots end up being\u00a0with users of messaging\u00a0apps in the Western world remains to be definitively\u00a0answered\u00a0at this nascent stage. Really that depends on whether bot\u00a0makers\u00a0can prove their creations\u00a0have staying power and offer more than\u00a0a bit of\u00a0gimmicky novelty. And so far, despite all the hype, bots have been fairly underwhelming.<\/p>\n Telegram hasn\u2019t quantified user engagement<\/a> with bots via\u00a0any solid metrics as yet. And it\u2019s fair to say that Facebook Messenger\u2019s early clutch of chatbots roundly failed to impress<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 it\u2019s since tried to hone the user experience<\/a>\u00a0to dial down user confusion, so a fairly inauspicious start there.<\/p>\n Add to that\u00a0Telegram<\/a>,\u00a0and most\u00a0recently\u00a0Line<\/a>, has\u00a0been actively trying\u00a0to\u00a0encourage\u00a0developers to build \u201cuseful bots\u201d, offering\u00a0cash prizes as a lure. So it seems safe to file much of this chatbot activity under\u00a0\u2018work in progress\u2019 at this stage.<\/p>\n That said, combining bots with\u00a0gaming seems a smart move\u00a0\u2014 with the potential to convert\u00a0group chats into competitive, multiplayer gaming sessions with minimal effort (with the caveat that\u00a0it might also get really annoying, a la FarmVille Facebook spam, from back in the day) \u2014 and thereby ramp up messaging engagement as friends battle it out to see who has the fastest mental arithmetic or dodging skills\u00a0or history knowledge or whatnot.<\/p>\n Telegram is pitching developers to port existing HTML5 games to its\u00a0platform to quickly build\u00a0out the number of games its hosting \u2014 touting the process as quick and easy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe new API is pretty straightforward, so any developer of an existing HTML5-based game can integrate it with the Telegram social graph and competitive leaderboard in a matter of a few hours,\u201d co-founder Pavel Durov tells TechCrunch.<\/p>\n On the user side, to access gaming bots within a chat a user needs to @ the relevant bot to get instructions on how to start playing. For example, to launch the MathBattle bot a Telegram user types\u00a0@gamebot<\/a>\u00a0into any chat and then selects \u2018MathBattle\u2019.<\/p>\n The platform automatically keeps tabs on scoring, maintaining a competitive leaderboard across all their contacts and gaming titles in play. And this\u00a0is where Durov reckons things will get really sticky.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the competitive factor is a game changer here,\u201d he says. \u201cSince every group chat can now be instantly turned into a competition in anything. It can even become a competition in History or Math.\u201d<\/p>\n Let\u2019s just hope things don\u2019t get really spammy. Choose your games (and your Telegram contacts) wisely.<\/p>\n Gamee\u2019s CEO and co-founder\u00a0Bozena Rezab side-steps a question about how long it took the company to reincarnate 23 of its existing HTML5 titles as Telegram bots, noting only that it already had a lot of experience with social gaming. But she was happy to talk up the potential of melding\u00a0bots and games \u2014 dubbing it a \u201cnew era in casual gaming\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is very exciting to play games in the environment, where communication with friends happens,\u201d she said via email. \u201cTelegram has the most advanced inline bot API, which makes it possible to play and compete with groups of friends directly in the chat, no barriers.\u201d<\/p>\n How is Gamee intending to monetize its Telegram gaming bots? The short answer is it\u2019s not \u2014 at least not right now.\u00a0\u201cWe do not focus on monetization here at this point,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n![\"Telegram](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/ea40d_screen-shot-2016-10-03-at-11-06-12-am.png?resize=590%2C583\")
<\/a><\/p>\n