Whether you like it or not, the odds are that some of your employees are probably playing Mafia Wars on Facebook. And if it’s not Mafia Wars, it’s Farmville, or any of the dozens of other social media games that are a part of the Facebook experience now.

These games are part of a new online experience called ’social gaming.’ It’s a form of online gaming – somewhere between the solo games, but not quite on the par of the Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Social gaming is a form that relies on your own social network – you play alongside your friends. How many friends you have playing the game alongside you will often determine the kinds of things you can do in these games – missions, obtaining items, etc. depending on the game.

It’s nothing to feel overwhelmed about. It’s simpler than how it’s presented here, and you can check it out on Facebook any time you want.

The reason why it’s interesting is because IGN has developed a platform dedicated specifically to gaming. Called MyIgn, it’s a network of social gamers. According to Peer Schneider, the purpose is to build on the foundations already established by Facebook.

We’re adding social layers to our existing sites to transform how gamers interact with each other, content and content creators (Peer Schneider, SVP, Publisher, IGN Entertainment).

This doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The social gaming market is booming right now.

This also happens amidst rumors that Google was to open its own foray into social networking. The Wall Street Journal reported such on Wednesday. The Journal claimed that Google had been in talks with Zynga, a company that has profited much from the explosion of social gaming. This comes after reports of Google investing at least $100 million into the company.

MyIGN’s is striving to give its users a certain identity on the network. Using this identity, users can see what their friends are doing across different gaming platforms, and connects them to games, other players, and IGN editors. The service currently caters to a very wide selection of games, meaning that the service can presumably cater to a wide variety of gamers.

AT&T has signed on as the first ‘premiere’ sponsor.

This will be a problem for your employees. Clearly, even though they should be working, they’ll be playing these games. Facebook is now just a bigger distraction than it’s ever been, right?

But it’s not so bleak as that. If anything, this social gaming thing presents a new opportunity for you.

Games have a way of just pulling people together. Go up to someone in the street and ask him about the NFL pre-season. It’s an instant conversation starter. Or go up to a gamer and start talking about the kind of games you play. The very first reaction is to find common games that you both play.

Now imagine that you, the advertiser, play the same social media games that they do. In fact, imagine that you made the game you both play.

That’s not to say you necessarily should do this. Just keep in mind: it worked for D&D.