Chris Higgins
Why Do People Play Farmville?
by Chris Higgins - June 29, 2010 - 12:23 PM

Farmville screenshot by Flickr user Sabrina Dent

Farmville is a popular online game, usually played through Facebook, but now available on platforms including the iPhone. I’ve played several similar games (like We Rule) and found it a baffling experience. The game was simultaneously boring and addictive. “Gameplay” consisted of laborious, mechanical management tasks, and demanded that the player constantly return to the game at specific times to harvest crops in order to get virtual currency, so you could…plant more crops and set your clock again. I kept waiting for something to “happen” to make it fun, but it never did. Why was this such a popular game? Also, as the game progressed, a bizarre social network effect came into play, where achieving many goals required the presence of friends playing the game. So I found myself in the position of asking around to see who else was playing this boring game, so I could get ahead. In a game that I was not enjoying, but was addicted to. Why?!

To make things even worse, to advance in the game you can pay real-world money to get in-game benefits that save time and effort, allowing you to acquire virtual items like animals and buildings and stuff. It’s an amazing system: these game designers have devised a way to addict the player, then monetize that addiction by encouraging the player to bring in friends and (hopefully) pay real money to get ahead. Reportedly, Zynga (the company behind Farmville) raked in over $300 million in 2009 using this formula. Is this the best we can do with social gaming? How can this be, literally, the most popular videogame in America? Is it just that we’re all addicted and can’t give up, now that we’ve invested so much? (I would call this The Social Gamer’s Dilemma.)

To explain the situation, SUNY Buffalo instructor (and student) A. J. Patrick Liszkiewicz gave a talk about the Farmville phenomenon in January, called Cultivated Play: Farmville. Here’s a snippet:

Farmville is not a good game. While [author Roger] Caillois tells us that games offer a break from responsibility and routine, Farmville is defined by responsibility and routine. Users advance through the game by harvesting crops at scheduled intervals; if you plant a field of pumpkins at noon, for example, you must return to harvest at eight o’clock that evening or risk losing the crop. Each pumpkin costs thirty coins and occupies one square of your farm, so if you own a fourteen by fourteen farm a field of pumpkins costs nearly six thousand coins to plant. Planting requires the user to click on each square three times: once to harvest the previous crop, once to re-plow the square of land, and once to plant the new seeds. This means that a fourteen by fourteen plot of land—which is relatively small for Farmville—takes almost six hundred mouse-clicks to farm, and obligates you to return in a few hours to do it again. This doesn’t sound like much fun, Mr. Caillois. Why would anyone do this?

One might speculate that people play Farmville precisely because they invest physical effort and in-game profit into each harvest. This seems plausible enough: people work over time to develop something, and take pride in the fruits of their labor. Farmville allows users to spend their in-game profits on decorations, animals, buildings, and even bigger plots of land. So users are rewarded for their work. Of course, people can sidestep the harvesting process entirely by spending real money to purchase in-game items. This is the major source of revenue for Zynga, the company that produces Farmville. Zynga is currently on pace to make over three hundred million dollars in revenue this year, largely off of in-game micro-transactions.[10] Clearly, even people who play Farmville want to avoid playing Farmville.

Read the rest for a great look at “social gaming” and what it really means for those who play.

Do You Play Farmville?

I’d love to hear why you do (or don’t) play Farmville. Drop a comment and let me know what you think.

(Via Daring Fireball. Photo courtesy of Flickr user Sabrina Dent, used under Creative Commons license.)

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Comments (66)

  1. I started playing to see what all the fuss was about. You are spot on. Boring but addictive. When I found that I was hurrying to my computer to harvest my crops, instead of doing other things I should have been doing, I quit. Interestingly, every time I played I asked myself what my mother would say if she knew I was spending literally hours each week harvesting crops that would not feed my family when it was all she could do to drag me out to the family garden as a kid to help her with real food for real people.

    posted by Hyacinth on 6-29-2010 at 12:31 pm

  2. I’d rather be tilling, planting, watering, weeding, harvesting my OWN veggie garden. And if people are going to play Farmville, I don’t understand why they don’t just plant veggies.

    But then, I feel the same way about the Guitar Hero games.

    posted by G on 6-29-2010 at 12:31 pm

  3. Plus, I realized that it was just another way to attempt to keep up with the Joneses. Who had built the biggest house, had the fanciest looking yard, the biggest farm. Sheesh! I don’t need that kind of pressure from a game!

    posted by Hyacinth on 6-29-2010 at 12:32 pm

  4. “I found myself in the position of asking around to see who else was playing this boring game, so I could get ahead. In a game that I was not enjoying, but was addicted to. Why?!”

    Thank you for capturing the essence of this. Very funny! I’ve never played it. World of Warcraft is just as bad. In fact, I think both of these activities are Backwards Day Jobs. Why do we PAY to do tedious things?

    posted by Carl King on 6-29-2010 at 12:32 pm

  5. Oh, and before the posters go there… I don’t care if anyone else chooses to play Farmville or any other game. And have nothing against any kind of gaming. The comments I posted are my perspective for me.

    posted by Hyacinth on 6-29-2010 at 12:34 pm

  6. I was fascinated with Farmville at first but now I am bored with it. I have moved on to other games, Treasure Island and FrontierVille. I am also one of those people that have paid money to get bonuses.
    Even though I sit at a computer all day at work, I still come home and get on my laptop to play. It is my release from the real world and stress from work.

    posted by Poppy on 6-29-2010 at 12:40 pm

  7. I’d rather pay an actual person to tend to my actual crops. And then use my free time to read a magazine or a book, something a little more productive with my time than clicking a mouse.

    posted by Rachel on 6-29-2010 at 12:41 pm

  8. I started playing and got really addicted (along with a handful of my friends at college) but it was when I spent my first $10 or so that I realized I needed to get out QUICK.

    posted by Sharon on 6-29-2010 at 12:46 pm

  9. I can understand being drawn into an addictive game, I’m a sucker for them myself. But continually paying money to advance through it to make yourself and 500 facebook friends feel more warm and fuzzy, mind you with fake plants, is just ridiculous. And I’m so tired of Farmville requests and postings… I don’t care you harvested a third crop of pickles or traded your daughter for a pig.

    posted by Sara on 6-29-2010 at 12:47 pm

  10. I used to play the Facebook games because I wanted to see what all the hype was. Yes, they are addicting at first but then I realized I was basing my schedule around my crops so I stopped playing.

    posted by Andi on 6-29-2010 at 12:48 pm

  11. I play Farmville (and other Facebook games) as a timewaster. I work from home, and need to take short breaks to help keep myself focused. It’s not a long enough break to read a book or magazine, or do anything of the things most people suggest I do instead of Farmville. I take just enough time to get up and stretch, grab a drink, and harvest my crops.

    I also keep a real garden, btw. I often see people saying that instead of playing these games, we should be doing that. Some of us are doing that.

    posted by Heather on 6-29-2010 at 12:48 pm

  12. Sounds like a simplified, low-tech, non-fantasy version of WoW. So glad I never got hooked on MMORPGs (I prefer single player games with online multiplayer, like Halo).

    posted by Jina on 6-29-2010 at 12:52 pm

  13. Why I don’t play Farmville (or other games on FB): I work full time, run a direct sales business & am trying to get an online business going. When I have time for the computer it is to work on one of these things. If I want to play games I’d rather get off the computer & spend time playing with my three kids.

    posted by Rebecca on 6-29-2010 at 12:52 pm

  14. So it’s about investing (time, money, energy, etc.), and then getting reward, which sometimes does NOT happen in real life, isn’t it?

    posted by tiger lily on 6-29-2010 at 12:57 pm

  15. I was resistant to FarmVille for a long time, but finally relented and set up a farm to give my daughter and husband another neighbor for their farms. I figured I might as well take a look around. I play in cycles — I’ll play awhile, then let it sit for awhile.

    It’s come in kind of handy the past month while I’ve been laid up after knee surgery. Going from being very active to very much not active hasn’t been an easy adjustment, but FarmVille has helped in that it gives me something to do while I sit here day in and day out.

    posted by Kendra on 6-29-2010 at 12:58 pm

  16. Heather, good perspective. Sadly, a lot of people quickly lose perspective when hooked on these games.

    posted by Karen on 6-29-2010 at 12:58 pm

  17. I’ve played Farmville and it’s a timewaster for sure but it does get boring. I also refuse to add a ton of strangers to my Facebook just to get in-game neighbors and I won’t coerce my existing friends into it.

    At least with WoW you don’t NEED other people and don’t HAVE to play based around a certain time frame. Those are certainly true if you’re in a guild or are hoping to get some super awesome gear in a raid but I don’t do any of that and have even gone a few months without playing at all.

    posted by steen on 6-29-2010 at 12:58 pm

  18. FWIW, the World of Warcraft comparison is apt. I used to play that but finally gave up after I realized how much time I was spending on it. I did enjoy it (a lot more than the farm games), since there was more “stuff happening” but ultimately it was a weird stepladder where every achievement led you onto the next rung, and you always wanted to get just a little bit further.

    Seems that the reward mechanism of the brain is at play. :)

    posted by Chris Higgins on 6-29-2010 at 1:01 pm

  19. I have a very hard time staying interested in video games, tv shows, or what have you, so I began playing it and was really into for a few weeks before I got bored and abandoned my farm. I wish I never played because now I continuously get requests for neighbors or gifts etc…

    posted by Heather on 6-29-2010 at 1:07 pm

  20. The reward mechanism is exactly it. I recently broke a Mafia Wars habit (another similar game by the same company, for the uninitiated) after I realized it had become less entertainment and more compulsion. I really appreciated the quote from the article: “Clearly, even people who play Farmville want to avoid playing Farmville.”

    People want to become more powerful, either by having more money and land (Farmville) or levels and abilities (World of Warcraft/Mafia Wars). To what end? At least there’s a modicum of story or engagement in WoW – I’ve found none in Zynga games. It stopped being fun, and when I really understood it was work, I was able to stop playing. Not before.

    posted by Danno on 6-29-2010 at 1:08 pm

  21. I played for a long time, advanced pretty far in the game, and even bought some business cards online to get some FarmVille cash. I’m not proud.

    Then one day, I realized that I was getting absolutely nothing out of this game. I was getting tons of requests and gift items and all sorts of other crap — probably 20-30 notifications a day for FarmVille related things — and I knew right away that it was time to stop — especially when I needed to collect building materials from my “friends” to build a stupid digital barn.

    So I quit. I haven’t looked back since. Just yesterday, my 16 year old niece was telling me, “I wish you’d play FarmVille again” right as she was on her way out the door to go to 7-11 to get some sort of FarmVille tie-in product.

    sigh.

    posted by Bob on 6-29-2010 at 1:15 pm

  22. I play Farmville for harmless fun. I do enjoy planting and harvesting…and getting some of the specialized rewards for doing things with neighbors. I do NOT send requests to anyone who is not playing or has stopped playing. And I REFUSE to pay real money for anything. Sometimes I play regularly and sometimes I don’t. Right now I have wilted plants in my fields (that means I didn’t harvest on time). Oh well. At least it’s not real money or plants.

    posted by Scott on 6-29-2010 at 1:19 pm

  23. I would like to chime in and say that I’m more like Heather. I take classes online, and sometimes need to give my brain a rest during an especially long study session. It is addictive, but I’m able to limit my time in the game if I don’t have it, and the day I decide to put real money into will be my last.

    posted by DL on 6-29-2010 at 1:24 pm

  24. I’ve played both Farmville and FarmTown on Facebook. There is always the lure of earning a bigger, better… something. If you do *this* then you can get *this* and isn’t it an awesome thing!

    I eventually gradually abandoned both games when I realized that they were taking up way too much of my limited time and the stress of having to harvest before losing the crop was starting to wear on me, even when planting the longer (three or four day) crops. I announced to all my friends that I was taking a break. After a week, I realized I felt this HUGE sense of relief at not having to fret over animals, crops, farms, acquiring stuff. At that point, I announced to my friends that I was quitting and I uninstalled and blocked both applications.

    Ahhhhhh, freedom!

    posted by tessler on 6-29-2010 at 1:32 pm

  25. I do not play Farmville, I have other things to do with my computer time…
    I do however own several versions of the video game Harvest Moon, which I adore and have been playing for over 4 years now :)

    posted by Lydia E on 6-29-2010 at 1:32 pm

  26. If I’m going to plant virtual crops, there better be a real objective behind it — like, killing zombies for instance.

    (Thank you, PopCap Games.)

    posted by Mark on 6-29-2010 at 1:35 pm

  27. I have avoided Farmville, but do play Mafia Wars, Treasure Isle and Frontierville. I, like Heather, work from home full time, and it gives me a bit of a mental break. Plus, it’s a form of stress relief. I flat-out refuse to pay money to play, though.

    posted by Krie on 6-29-2010 at 1:36 pm

  28. Oh, I used to play FarmTown (which was like Farmville’s predecessor from another company.) I got bored with it after awhile, and I never saw the point of moving to Farmville instead. I got sick of people sending me Farmville requests, so I wound up blocking the app.

    I used to also play YoVille and Cafe World (other Zynga games), but got bored with those after a while, too.

    posted by Krie on 6-29-2010 at 1:39 pm

  29. this reminds me of an episode of the Simpsons where Marge tries without success to get Bart and Lisa to do yard work. When the family later goes to the county fair Bart and Lisa gleefully play a virtual reality yard work simulator.

    posted by kat on 6-29-2010 at 1:40 pm

  30. This makes me realize how this game i just a big rip-off!
    I used to play runescape, and I wondered what was the point of it…
    I get money to buy some stuff which i cant use…
    I never bothered leveling up because it was too tedious, and I only played the quests and sold earth staffs from the wilderness

    posted by 888chilly on 6-29-2010 at 1:52 pm

  31. My sister and I are both over 60. We found that the feeling we get playing farm games (I prefer farm town) is exactly the same feeling we got as little kids playing with doll houses or imaginary houses made of raked leaves or rocks in a field.
    The boredom/addiction thing is a mystery I’d be interested in hearing more about. I frequently nod off while playing with my farm. I don’t have a very stressful life, so can’t say I need more relaxation.
    Once last year I quit all games cold turkey but over time found that I got sucked in another time. Your article makes me think it might be time to quit again.

    posted by cathysfiddle on 6-29-2010 at 1:54 pm

  32. Sadly, I must admit, that I have paid to play Farmville. I’ve gotten really bored with the game, though. I do like Frontierville and there seems to be a little more actual gameplay and interest in that game. I refuse to pay for another thing, though, in these virtual worlds.

    posted by Meghan on 6-29-2010 at 2:05 pm

  33. Farmville is an escapist activity that evokes satisfaction by evoking a false sense of productivity.

    posted by wordkyle on 6-29-2010 at 2:31 pm

  34. I don’t, I won’t and I can’t–just don’t see the point. Not to mention I don’t see why everyone is so crazy about facebook in the first place.

    posted by Wayne on 6-29-2010 at 3:01 pm

  35. I do not play any facebook aps, primarly because my main constant computer souce is my iphone and to my knowledge does not do the aps within facebook. I do however play tapfarm, when i see is similar to farmville with out the social interaction. I also am terribly addicted to vampires live, zombies live and farm story(like farmvile) all of which require a social network for advancement. since i have gotten to higher levels in the games, I have noticed that it does not suck AS much of my time, but i still get picked on by the hubby for it….;-)

    posted by Jennifer on 6-29-2010 at 3:02 pm

  36. I was assimilated for half a year by the Zynga Collective when a good friend begged me to join her Mafia, as she was desperate for members– “you don’t even have to play!” After a time I gave the game a peek and found myself addicted almost immediately. I became a slave to their time schedules. Even as I was absolutely aware of how detrimental this was to my real life I kept playing it anyway. Soon came the invites and ads for Farmville, Cafeworld, and all other similar games. At least I knew better than to let myself become addicted to yet another game. I finally found the courage to delete the app and I blocked any and all things Zynga. In my opinion, I believe these types of games are BAD for just about everybody– but then again, I suppose there is always that odd “social smoker” out there…

    posted by Nimue on 6-29-2010 at 3:15 pm

  37. Farmville was great last summer when it was easy to advance to new levels and I had a lot of time on my hands. Now I only really have time for playing for limited edition items to decorate with, which is also a challenge, because I’ve promised myself I will NEVER spend real money on a game. It’s all a bunch of pixels anyway. It’s a good distraction, but there’s often other things I’d rather do with my time.

    posted by Grobanite33 on 6-29-2010 at 3:48 pm

  38. I play Farmville sporadically. I don’t plant crops very often, I mainly have trees and animals, and they don’t wilt, so I can harvest at my convenience.

    I also play Petville, Pet Society, Happy Pets, and Cafe World. I used to play more apps, but had to downsize, was wasting too much time when I could be doing other things. Thinking I need to downsize even more, I’m either neglecting my farm, pets, and cafe, or I’m not spending time with my husband, my son, and my REAL pets. My cat jumped up on the keyboard just last night while I was trying to catch up on my harvest, she seemed to be saying “enough already.”

    posted by Carole on 6-29-2010 at 3:55 pm

  39. It’s a way to get people who don’t usually play video games. Any real gamer immediately realizes how shallow Farmville is. Why bother, when there are so many real video games out there that offer a similar but much more satisfying gaming experience. If you were previously a non-gamer and then started playing Farmville, now you know it’s a scam. Why not try SimCity, Populous, Command and Conquer, or Civilization instead?

    posted by Cole on 6-29-2010 at 4:07 pm

  40. I have never played Farmville because I hate harvesting real crops, so why would I do it in virtual life.
    Also when some of my friends on Facebook started playing, the constant news of animals that they found or the structures they made became really annoying so I blocked all the messages of the app.

    posted by Roberto on 6-29-2010 at 4:15 pm

  41. I do play most of Zynga’s stable of games. It’s mindless fun, but I long ago said I would never spend real money on it, and I continue to abstain…there’s absolutely nothing worth real money in a virtual game – especially at the prices they’re charging. Not to mention, of course, the repeated server issues. Why spend money on something that is quasi-likely to disappear upon the next upgrade?

    posted by Day on 6-29-2010 at 4:27 pm

  42. This is why I play World of Warcraft (or used to before I got to busy :) )

    I have tried several of these “social games” and they’re all the same, whether you’re farming, furnishing a house, building a city, managing a theme park or zoo, they are all the same. I never paid money for anything in these games and could not understand why anyone would. Still, to each his/her own.

    However, if 50 million people in America have nothing better to do with their money, I wish they’d give me a call!

    posted by Mark Songer on 6-29-2010 at 4:34 pm

  43. I have played Farmville, and got bored easily with it. I do play frontierville and treasure isle on the Zynga network, as well as two other games. The difference between the games I do play and Farmville is that there are actual challenges. Frontierville has really stepped that up. You are doing things to advance, like a real game should, instead of the same monotonous plant harvest plow routine that farming games have. i am a receptionist, and my sole job all day is to answer phones. That leaves a LOT of free time, so these games help me take up some of that time. Once I get home, the computer isn’t even turned on.

    posted by Jessica on 6-29-2010 at 4:36 pm

  44. Nope. I don’t play any facebook games actually. I prefer portability …or at least doing something other than play a game on my laptop when I’m on the internet. But specifically with the facebook games I got annoyed by being invited to them. I have a lot of them blocked, well, the popular ones, so I don’t get invite and ultimately don’t play any of them. Also, I’m just not into that almost vector ‘cutesy’ art used for the games. I like good vector, that’s not that good.

    posted by JasmineP on 6-29-2010 at 5:35 pm

  45. I play Farmville sometimes, but I only get on when I have nothing else to do. I’m not addicted yet, and I never will be. Take that, zynga!

    posted by Brittney on 6-29-2010 at 6:16 pm

  46. I play Farmville because it’s fun. I’m disabled and don’t go out much. Most of my social life is online. The only time I paid real money for something on Farmville was when Zynga was taking donations for Haiti earthquake relief; in exchange for a $5 donation you received access to a special crop that gave you extra experience points and never withered.

    posted by rainbow on 6-29-2010 at 7:40 pm

  47. I haven’t touched Farmville, but I tried a few other games–notably Mafia Wars, mainly out of curiosity. The sad part is that I played it for over a year before I realized 1)just how pathetic it was, 2)how much time I was wasting, and 3)the fact that I felt distressed at the idea of quitting despite the fact that the game was boring. Catching on to the last one was alarming enough to make me stop “social gaming” for good.
    I think part of why it’s so addicting is the fact that it’s full of small achievements. Any time you finish some kind of task or achievement you get a little bit of endorphins. And with these games, you start out getting achievements rapidly. Once you’ve been playing a while, the achievements spread out enough that you have to put a lot of time into gaining them. It’s classical conditioning and I’m embarrassed that I fell for it. At least I never spent any money.

    posted by JenM on 6-29-2010 at 8:23 pm

  48. I don’t play Farmville, or any of the other games on Facebook. For me, Facebook is meant for communicating with friends, not playing video games. I can play better games by buying them off the Internet, and unlike Farmville, I only need to pay once.

    posted by Sillstaw on 6-29-2010 at 10:10 pm

  49. I began playing because a co-worker who had been playing for a while told me that I would NEVER be able to pass him in xp. I took the challenge and when I started he was at 206,000. After 51 days I passed him 286,000 to his 282,000.

    It certainly is an interesting phenomenon. Although I took to it solely based on the challenge and my competitive nature, I also enjoyed the engineering side of it in devising the most efficient possible way to reach my goal. Now that I have completed my goal I play very passively and enjoy it as a momentary mental diversion every few days.

    posted by Yarney on 6-29-2010 at 10:36 pm

  50. Come on all you FV addicts! I feel sorry for you millions of closet players.

    Everyone raise their hands so we can see you. Stand up and be proud. :)

    I enjoy interacting with other folks and creating a farm unlike anyone else’s funny, beautiful, weird or funny world.

    It’s better to be creative than killing ‘zombies’, or ripping others off on games like World War Craft or Mafia Wars.

    posted by ROTFLMBO on 6-29-2010 at 10:48 pm

  51. Why all the hate? Ppl get sucked into playing a game the same way they get sucked into reading a series of books,staying up til late so you can “finish just one more page”. How is that time table so different from harvesting crops? They both suck up time,there is not a ton of actual real life benefit other than being a part of a pop culture phenomenon. I always feel like ppl have to defend their choice of something they enjoy doing. Same thing with those who like the Twilight,Harry Potter,The Girl With/Who…series,because you just do. It’s your own personal escape for whatever reason.

    posted by lisaj6112 on 6-29-2010 at 11:14 pm

  52. I never started playing it. I heard all my friends chattering away about it, which made me simultaneously interested and put off by it. After I saw how boring it was from watching my brother play, I happily ignored it.

    posted by Kali on 6-29-2010 at 11:50 pm

  53. I really like Farmville. I don’t buy things with real money. I hardly ever spend the money I earn. I’ve got something like 4 million coins I just really like the clicking. Its meditative. The Zynga game I really like is YoVille. The coins you earn are used to buy items to decorate and it takes some real creativity.

    posted by Esmeralda on 6-30-2010 at 1:07 am

  54. I’ve never played it, but I’ve never really wanted to. I’m not big into Facebook games. I’ve joined one for The Last Airbender just recently, but that was more because my roommate said she could needed a friend on there to get more points or something. I played it once, but I wasn’t that impressed, so now it’s just there.

    posted by Janel on 6-30-2010 at 2:02 am

  55. I play. It’s kind of an out for me. I can basically just stare into space while I click, click, click… I also like when I “accomplish” something. Also, I’m the top of my friends, so it feeds my competitive streak, too.

    I haven’t spent any real money on it though. I have a friend who has spent more than I want to know. He says that he felt bad about it at first, but then realized it was the same thing as spending $50 on a game for a console. That made sense to me, but I still wouldn’t spend my money.

    posted by Megan on 6-30-2010 at 2:39 am

  56. I played Farmville for awhile, and it was fun to compete against and yet also with friends, but I finally stopped. They kept slamming us with newer! bigger! more! and the pressure got to me, plus there wasn’t enough room for all the crap… kind of like my real life.. LOL! It was a ridiculous waste of time and was cutting into my sleep hours too…

    I’d much rather play PVZ – it entertains my kids to watch, and doesn’t require a commitment. Plus, I really prefer killing things to milking cows. DOUBLE TAP!!!

    posted by Mare on 6-30-2010 at 3:38 am

  57. I play Farmville, and I’ve been playing it since Aug 2009. All that mindless clicking somehow gives my brain time to relax and de-stress after work. I haven’t, and don’t have any plans to, spent real cash on something that is not even tangible. And maintaining a pretty farm gives me a sense of pride among my farm neigbors.

    posted by Tina on 6-30-2010 at 3:43 am

  58. I play Farmville for harmless fun. I do enjoy planting and harvesting…and getting some of the specialized rewards for doing things with neighbors and friends. I do NOT send requests to anyone who is not playing and I always delete that stuff off of my wall so it doesn’t take up my facebook page. I can go weeks without “planting” “harvesting” or “plowing” as there are other things i can tend to on my farm. You don’t HAVE to get on it everyday, you can plant a 4 day crop and be gone for 4 days from the game. You can also use the biplane and instantly harvest your crops and not have to wait hours or days. You control the game, it doesn’t control you. I like to get on and play with my friends doing co-ops, and achieving goals together, that’s what makes it fun for me. Connecting with my friends in different way,helping them out and in turn getting help and getting the things I need on my farm.

    posted by A on 6-30-2010 at 6:02 am

  59. Farmville? It sounds more like Harmville- or can we say Monotony-ville? I just recently joined Facebook primarily to enter contests and sweepstakes ( from real companies and win REAL cash and prizes). This game seems destined to atrophy any vestiges of brain cells that the participants have while Zinga is financially capitalizing on the players time restraints.I prefer intellectually stimulating games such as scrabble,trivia or crossword puzzles. If you are seeking an online challenge, try Yahoo Answers where you earn Levels by answering questions on a variety of subjects including REAL life FARMING questions. Also, Yahoo Answers does not seek financial outlays to move to a higher Level.Of course, when I need a quick online challenge, I just MENTAL FLOSS for MENTAL GLOSS!

    posted by Diana on 7-2-2010 at 3:44 am

  60. Most everyone has this all wrong. FarmVille is great! Everyone WASTES time doing stupid things. Anyone who says FarmVille is a time-waster is just a hypocrite in denial. I play FarmVille because I have chosen to use it as my time-waster. Some people do Yoga, Paint, Jog, Watch TV, Smoke Pot, Chew Tobacco, Listen to Music, Read, etc. I accomplish so much more than the average person in one day. What I do for a living is highly taxing on my brain. If I want to pay $20 here or there to FarmVille Zynga and it all adds up to $180 over 12 months, cares? Do you pay your cable bill? Do you go out to dinner? Have you ever been to a psychic for entertainment? Or do you shop at thrift stores and tell people how much you save, and how great you are? Most negative emails on here are just people who won’t admit they “f off” in other areas. Save your stupid judgments for the mirror you haven’t held up and looked into. EVERYONE wastes time doing something stupid. Don’t act like you are the “work hard play hard ass” who just can’t let the FarmVille world of weirdos have a stupid hobby. So what. Go do your stupid hobby and post it here. I’d love to congratulate you without judgment. Sheesh. Move on.

    posted by Shawn on 7-4-2010 at 7:51 pm

  61. @Shawn – your outright hostility towards other commenters is disappointing and uncivil, and honestly it kinda ruined my evening.

    I really don’t like seeing this kind of thing and I think it’s uncalled for. I hope the tone of my article didn’t lead you to leave your comment, and I hope you understand that the tone of your comment simply leads to more strife — and hurts actual people’s feelings. If I may suggest another method for the future: explain without hostility and outrage why you are in favor of something (or against it), rather than denouncing others and insulting them for their opinions. I gather from your comment that you personally feel insulted, and that’s your right, but please — stop making it worse.

    You’re welcome to your opinion and I thoroughly agree that FarmVille is a fine time-waster. I certainly haven’t claimed otherwise, and invited commenters to explain why they did or not not play the game, hoping in fact that players like yourself would explain to us what’s appealing about the game. Please don’t insult us by claiming that you’d congratulate others without judgment, when your own post is filled with extensive, vitriolic judgments of others. Okay?

    There are real human being reading these comments. Not robots or mean jerks who are out to insult you. Just people doing their jobs and expressing their opinions. Now please just chill out and express your opinion in a way that doesn’t ruin my evening. Thank you.

    posted by Chris Higgins on 7-5-2010 at 1:49 am

  62. Personally, I play Zombie Farm on my iPod, as does my adult daughter. It’s interesting that we have very different playing philosophies. I’ve never spent one penny of real money, I have substantially more virtual money, virtual brains, and am at a much higher level than she is, but my Zombie Farm is rather boring and plain. She has lots of extras on her farm that make it pretty and she launches many more Zombie attacks, which in the end let you make your farm pretty but doesn’t advance you in levels or cash. It’s better than Farmville in that you get to launch Zombie attacks on farmers, pirates, lawyers, and others.

    posted by Tim on 7-5-2010 at 7:29 pm

  63. I started to play Farmville because my husband did. He doesn’t know the English language and it was easier to ask me for a translation than to use google. Looking at the game for him I became curious and I created my farm.
    The first weeks I was really addicted but then I became less and less. . I started to plant crops that last 4 days and sometimes I don’t plant anything at all.
    I never paid real money to advance quickly or to have things I cannot have otherwise.
    My husband is still very addicted to this game and spend much time on it especially when he is stressed for his work.
    I think it is a way to escape reality and clear our minds from everyday problems.
    Even if I play FV, I continue to read plenty of books and do other things I like. What i do less is watching TV.
    The funny thing is that now, when i go out now, I pay more attention on how flowers and trees are placed in my town :-D

    posted by Silvia on 7-17-2010 at 9:50 am

  64. I enjoy playing farmville sometimes, though I play it irregularly. Facebook games can be fun, although not compared to some other games that are out there. The main aspect I like about them is the decorating. I like showing off my style to my neighbors.

    I started playing facebook games when my cousins showed me how to play cafe world and farmville during winter break. I later got into fishville as well. I spent most of the year in my college dorm, so I didn’t have a real garden to tend. It didn’t have a stove for cooking either, and no fish tank of course. The facebook games were a way for me to get that. I immediately recognized the games as being rather shallow, simple, and tedious kind of like a chore, but it was addicting anyway. I had experience with more exciting games, but those were for console systems, and I figured it wasn’t worth bringing those to college since there was already a lot of demand for the TV in the common room, and it might get stolen if I brought it anyway. I had to bring a laptop though, so the facebook games had that advantage, and they were free too. I never spent any real money on the games.

    I had already added a bunch of strangers to be my neighbors by then as well, so their gift requests helped to keep me playing. I also wanted to accumulate enough coins, etc to decorate my farm/cafe/tank to look exactly the way I wanted.

    I’m very busy this summer though, and now that I’m home I have more access to other fun things, such as my books, garden, and console games. I plan to stop fishville after I decorate the tanks to my satisfaction, which should be pretty soon. I think I’ll continue to play farmville, but only sporadically. Cafe World is my favorite though, so I’ll keep playing that, setting dishes that take 18-24 hours to be ready.

    posted by Elizabeth on 8-6-2010 at 5:01 pm

  65. Very interesting topic. I used to play farmville and stopped with no urge to go back. Just got bored of it. Anyway, as I read some of the comments, it just reminds me that we all have some form of addiction. Some are more serious than others but no doubt we all can’t help but to go back to our nonsensical habits. I do know that there are others with none to very few careless addictions as well. To me farmville is all about getting your reward. That’s what we like

    posted by john on 9-6-2010 at 8:52 am

  66. I don’t go to FB to play games. I don’t have time to sit there and play mindless drivel. I also feel it calming to take a sabatical from FB as well.

    Farmville is like sending your kids out on Halloween to beg your neighbors and friends for candy. Just say no to FV.

    posted by Dee on 11-29-2010 at 12:14 pm

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