MyGameMug: Your Gaming Partners Await

Gaming is a popular hobby. In fact, if you’re taking the time to read a video game news site, you probably already know that gaming has come quite a long way from its joystick and red bottom days. Now more than ever, it’s clear that gaming is not a fad, and won’t go away, so the question now becomes, “what lies ahead?” We as gamers have traveled up ladders; through green tubes and around loops full of rings to discover what lies ahead, but now our most revolutionary path just may lie off the screen.

Enter MyGameMug.com: a website focused on giving gamers the best online gameplay experience possible. How do they do it? Gamer compatibility. It’s like the eHarmony of online gaming. Fill out your profile and you’ll be matched with others who “play nice” or who are compatible with your “gamer type.” But this website is much more than just a gamer matchmaker; users can set up their profile to include their gaming information (consoles, gamertags, etc), pictures and personal interests. Couple this with some social networking functions and MyGameMug could one day become the one stop destination for gamers worldwide.

GotGame recently had the opportunity to interview Co-Founder Raymond Lau, who explained that MyGameMug looks to evolve into much more than an online buddy finder. He says he believes that social gaming is the new frontier of video games and that MyGameMug is here to change the way we all game; here’s what else he had to say.

What inspired MyGameMug to be created?

Due to technology enablement, games are increasingly adopting multiplayer capabilities. And as these online games become more and more social, problems arise. Just like in real life, when you put tens, hundreds, and sometimes millions of people in the same room or server, you will get drama or social disagreements. As active online gamers ourselves, Erik and I are tired of having to deal with guild/clan drama, backstabbers, cheaters, and just the general incompatibilities.

What factors go into how each gamer’s compatibility is calculated?

Our matching algorithm is heavily mathematical and statistical based. There are three level matching:

1. We match you on practical information such as geographical location, which eliminates latency issues. At this level matching, we also make sure your matches share at least one game and one platform as you.

2. The second level of matching gets into the nitty and gritty of every question. By the way, you answer each question on our match test; we take an educated guess on how you would want your matches to answer the question. For instance, if you do not like people who trash talk in games, chances are your preferred gaming buddies wouldn’t either.

3. The final level of matching is the most complex, which is personality. We identified the 10 most important personality traits that online gamers look for–from maturity, intelligence, competitiveness, skills, to your attitude. Do you take gaming seriously, or do you just play for fun?

By running a mathematical algorithm on the three above criteria, we are able to find you gaming buddies who we are confident you will enjoy playing with.

What kind of impact do you believe social gaming sites like MyGameMug will have on the gaming industry? Are there any sites in particular that you feel will have the most significant impact?

I believe social gaming sites will be the future of gaming. Currently, the first generation gaming sites still dominate the market, such as IGN and GameSpot. As both the web and gaming becomes more social, users will demand social interaction on gaming sites as well. MyGameMug is at the forefront of this evolution.

Which feature of the website do you consider most important or groundbreaking? And how do you plan to evolve this feature?

Our matchmaking system is the most revolutionary feature we have. As I mentioned earlier, I think online gamers are just tired of having to deal with incompatible gaming partners. Instead of spending hours jumping from server to server, or having to mute your headset because you don’t want to listen to immature kids screaming, you could just use our service to find people you will actually enjoy gaming with.

In which ways do you hope the website will grow?

We hope MyGameMug will become the destination for gamers for any purpose, while still maintaining a strong community.

What is MyGameMug’s largest goal? What are you setting out to accomplish?

We are here to change the way multiplayer games are played online. Our ultimate goal is to drastically reduce or even eliminate any potential problems that frequently arise in online gaming, including cheaters, hackers, grievers, and all the other annoying and unenjoyable aspects.

In addition, we also want to make gaming sites more social and community-oriented. Unlike the traditional media-oriented gaming sites, we want the voice of our community to be the focus of MyGameMug.

Still not sold on MyGameMug revolutionizing the way you partner up and play online? Check it out for yourself at MyGameMug.com.