Perhaps in the wake of recent efforts to be more transparent over apps and games with in-app-purchases, or maybe just as an answer to the cries from users about games that require an internet connection to function, Google has highlighted an entire list of games within the Play Store that can be played completely offline without the need for internet. Games are becoming increasingly more popular on mobile and on Android and as a society we are becoming more and more mobile in our daily lives. Although many of us may be busy on the day to day, a quick little game session can sometimes be just what you need to perk up your spirits and give you a sense of enjoyment or even a boost of energy, even if only for a few moments.
That becomes harder to do though when the games that you want to play require the user to be connected to the internet to play, either preventing any gaming at all or forcing the gamer the find something else to play while they still have time. While there are actually many games that don’t require any internet connection to play them, creating a category for it within the Play Store is a clear move on Google’s part to highlight some of the best games that can be played offline so as to help individuals find them more easily. Google also has a passion for making some of their own services offline compatible, and we can’t help but think that someone over there feels the same as we do about offline gaming compatibility from time to time.
Although it isn’t much of an issue that some games require the web connectivity to play them, it would be a silly thing to make a claim that I have never personally ran into a situation where I was wanting to play a certain game, but was not able due to the internet connectivity restrictions and requirements. Does it happen often? For me no. For many others though that may be a huge and constant frustration. As always Google is trying to make things simpler for the user here, and while most of their “offline” focus tends to revolve around productivity and the ability to use things like Docs, Sheets, and other core Google apps in an offline mode, more recently they have been making a push to highlight offline features from some of the more “entertainment” oriented areas of Android and Chrome OS with things like Play Movies in offline mode for Chromebooks, and now this highlighted Offline Games category for Android devices. It never hurts to be a little disconnected once in a while, and no one ever said that being disconnected in a truly hyper connected world like we live in today couldn’t be lots of fun. If you check out the offline games section you’ll even find that some really great games have found a spot among the others in the list. Do any of them surprise you?