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I'm a little disappointed with video games these days because most are just yearly rehashes of previous releases. Thankfully, titles like Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 and Team Fortress 2 stand apart from the rest of the crowd. These titles use social elements to enhance their gameplay in lieu of more pedestrian mechanics.
Even though one experience is strictly single-player while the other is multiplayer, both games reward you for interacting with people.
Persona 4 requires the player to speak with different characters to build social links. These special bonds allow you to create new personas for use in combat.
This system also helps develop the overall storyline. Without the feature, I wouldn't have been able to learn more about Yukiko's ambitions to become the innkeeper of the Amagi Inn, for example.
Team Fortress 2 uses social-based gameplay in a different way. It encourages people to trade items and weapons with fellow players.
Even if you don't trade anything, you're still going to find these items. Unlike some first-person shooters, Team Fortress 2 gives you the chance to receive weapons randomly from your opponents.
During a recent session, I found a special bat-and-ball weapon. Strangely enough, I only received it after someone who possessed the item killed me. I just can't get the same social experience from other FPS games.
I really wish that more developers would try to follow the formulas of Persona 4 and Team Fortress 2. Players need more social experiences, so they don't feel lonely or isolated from the rest of the world. I just hope that I'll find more games like these on sale in the near future.