Half of entire online community plays games

Half of the world's entire online community plays web-based video games, new research has revealed.

The most recent State of Gaming Review revealed that players participated in more than 11 billion online games during 2011, equating to 350 games played per second.

The most popular web-based titles were hosted by Spil Games, whose offerings attracted more than 170 million unique users in 2011, up from 40 million in 2010.

In the UK, online gamers are said to have increased playing time from 38 to 85 minutes per month. The most popular game among Brits was Family Barn, compared to Bubble Shooter worldwide.

Social games such as Pet Party were particularly popular among girls, while teens preferred racing games, submitting more than 33,610,844 high scores in 2011.

Spil Games was founded in 2001. The company has a collection of more than 4,000 online games across three social gaming platforms.

Social networking sites such as Facebook are attracting up to 200 million casual gamers, more than Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo combined.

Flash-based game Farmville by Zynga is so popular that it is being considered for a movie adaptation.

Watch a trailer for Farmville below: