Dragon Age: Origins Goes Social, Shares Single Player

BioWare has announced that it plans to make sure that all players of Dragon Age: Origins have an option to actually follow the progress made in the role-playing game by their friends and, why not, their enemies. The idea is that all copies of the game, be they on the PC, the PlayStation 3 or the Xbox 360, will be linked to a Social section of its official site and will collect certain data from the single-player experience as soon as the title is saved for the first time.

Players will be able to share the stats of their characters, showing how they are developing them in the game and also sharing details on the actual choices they made at key points within Dragon Age: Origins. The idea is to actually offer the details needed to make gamers think about playing the RPG with a different character and making different choices, encouraging replayability. Only the most current save will be taken into account, meaning that no continuity issues will be popping out on the Social site.

Fernando Melo, who is an online producer on Dragon Age: Origins, told Kotaku that, “One of the things for us that was really important and we're clearly seeing it on PC games – and coming across to consoles – is basically having a social experience of some sort.” The game diaries for those playing on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 will be more sparse, as the consoles do not allow screenshots to be taken and automatically uploaded to their profiles. PC gamers will have a large degree of control over their stories, being able to upload their own shots in addition to those automatically taken by the game for every boss fight.

Melo is also saying that, once Dragon Age: Origins ships, the social aspect for all versions of the game will be enhanced, encouraging players to actually share their experiences and talk about it.