Note that this isn't specific to iOS. Back 3 years ago when I went to a lot of social network conferences a common theme among companies that monetized through

Note that this isn't specific to iOS. Back 3 years ago when I went to a lot of social network conferences a common theme among companies that monetized through virtual goods talked about said whales too. Really, its less the social gaming, and more a feature of multiplayer. I know multiplayer is social, but people don't usually label things like WoW, battlefield 3, diablo 2, etc, a "social game" - social games usually refer to multiplayer games with thin gameplay. However, I have seen a few indie WoW-like MMOs with virtual goods that also have whales, which tends to make me believe its more an aspect of multiplayer+virtual goods.