FarmVille: 81 Million Users Online?
www.farmville.com
by Gregory West
Over 81 million active users flock to FarmVille to perform virtual farming daily. These people do chores they would have never dreamed of doing a year ago. Some are saying that this game is the largest and fastest growing game in history. Just think, this game started online June 19, 2009. The developer, Zynga, states that FarmVille âis bigger than Twitter and [was] valued at $1 billion last month (mashable.com)â.
FarmVilleâs popularity is exploding online and won the most prestigious award this year: The 13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony declared last month in Los Vegas that âthe top honor in the âSocial Networking Game of the Yearâ category went to Zyngaâs massively popular Facebook game FarmVilleâ.
Since this game is connected with Facebook, the developer Zynga, believes while people check in on their Facebook sites, they will also check into FarmVille and tend to their crops and help their neighbours with their farm work as well.
In the virtual farmland of FarmVille, farmers must first create their own avatar (a virtual image representing themselves). According to the rules there are âsix plots of land, four of which are in the process of growing, and two (eggplant and strawberries) which are fully grownâ. As in real life farming, the market calls the shots where items can be purchased such as âseeds, trees, animals, buildings, decorations, vehicles and more using âfarm coinsâ.
The game comes with a few hooks as well and thus there is some controversy (depending on your viewpoint) in that you can buy virtual goods. âZynga the game-makers encourage you to buy game things with real money. Some people (Techcrunch, Guardian) say that’s an exploitation of users who are swapping real money for fake things,â reports Leach. However, this is nothing new on the Internet and people can spend money virtually anywhere online if they so choose.
Upon beginning a farm, the player first creates a customizable avatar.[8] There are six plots of land, four of which are in the process of growing, and two (eggplant and strawberries) which are fully grown.
The game is based around the market, where items can be purchased: seeds, trees, animals, buildings, decorations, vehicles, and more land using “farm coins,” the generic money of FarmVille (which is earned by selling crops) or “farm cash”. (which the player earns at a rate of one dollar per experience level).
So, all of this begs the question: Why are people so drawn to FarmVille each day to milk their cows and chase chickens into coups and to âsow, grow and harvest crops (Anna Leach of shinyshiny.tv)â?
My wife is also working hard in FarmVille. She says that âyou can play along, online, with all your friendsâ from across the globe. âYou get a sense of guilt when you find your crops in desperate need of water and fertilizing,â she said.
âTo me, Farmville works the same dynamic of calling on your nourishing instinct and then guilt-tripping you. The Tamagotchi effect, reported Leach. Tamagotchi is âa handheld digital pet [online] created in 1996. Over 70 million Tamagotchis have been sold as of 2008 (wikipedia)â. Remember the âpet rockâ several years back? Even my mother bought one of those little pets.
For me, FarmVille is not an attraction. For those of you who are not into FarmVille you can go here to learn how to stop FarmVille posts on your Facebook site: http://tinyurl.com/ydk3ew2
Happy hoeing out there folks…
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Gregory West is a basic home computer consultant for MAC and PC and softwareâ¨reviewer for major computer companies. Also come and join in on his free Basicâ¨Computer Training sessions, held weekly at Central United Church this Fall. For info: http://www.centralunitedsarnia.ca/free_computer_lessons.html
Gregory can be reached at gregorywest@bell.net
Also, check out his Blog: Computer & Internet Tips:
http://tips4computers.wordpress.com
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