The Experiment: FarmVille > WoW

For those who don’t frequent the world of Facebook, FarmVille is one of those ‘apps’ that users play to pretend they aren’t stalking people kill time between status updates.  The video game was created by Zynga , a company that specializes in these types of social distractions.  I call it a video game very loosely, because it plays more like a board game than even the most casual of titles.

The gameplay is basic, even for 1980’s standards.  You own a plot of land, you plow it, plant seeds of your choosing, wait for them to grow and harvest.  Animals and trees follow the same basic principles, with each harvest (how do you harvest a pig without making it succulent bacon?) returning some money and experience.  Very basic, right?  For someone who adored Lion King (SNES), the Donkey Kong Country series and Tetris, I was in disbelief that FarmVille managed to suck Ms. iTZKooPA in.

She’s become attached to the game, carrying the laptop with her all over the house, obsessing over the growth rates of specific plants, extending her land, attracting new neighbors and even browsing the RMT area of the site.  She’s logged more time on FarmVille than I have in WoW since she began playing in earnest a few weeks back.  She hasn’t spent any actual money on the title, but she has contemplated waking up at 5:00 AM to harvest various imaginary crops.  I think it is fair to bring up the word obsessed.

I’m not here to judge her choice in games (how date she not love WoW!), but as a consummate game critic of game design I must admit that FarmVille, as primitive as it may seem to us, has elements that WoW lacks.  You may recall that Lilyterrain’s owner had some serious beef with WoW, calling it “a chore.”  And yet the designers of FarmVille managed to make harvesting crops/animals seem like a reward to her, rather than a tedious act.  The genius is in the very platform the game calls home, social networking.

First off, I doubt she would have ever given FarmVille a second look if one of her best friends wasn’t already playing.  Knowing someone playing a game, any game really, is a powerful force.  I’m sure everyone reading this has meet tons of people playing WoW, but due to server design, the chance of ever playing with them is slim to none.

Zynga’s integration techniques extend the title’s reach past the basic word of mouth.  It’s part of Facebook, using the platform’s status updates (optional) as a means to spread its name, and tempts current players to hook others with neighbor benefits and other carrots.  Once your in, the cycle continues due to the community.  The social engineering causes the denizens of FarmVille to be incredibly kind.  In FarmVille, people are rewarded for helping others.  Be they neighbors or complete strangers, fertilizing, prepping the land for additional crops or just handing out gifts is a common occurrence.  It isn’t an act that is entirely altruistic, you do gain things.  But how often do random people hand you items of value in WoW?  Or dive in to your PUG without needing anything themselves?  From a social standpoint, the simple little game of FarmVille may very well have WoW beat.

Of course, the fact that FarmVille is F2P is another reason that the lady in my life dove in.  No monthly fee to fear, or act of commitment.  She stays active to remain as part of the community.  The power of social connections will never cease to amaze me.

Does anyone actively play FarmVille in the greater ProjectLore readership?  Care to share why it has managed to keep you so attached?  Ever been tempted to hand over a fistful of real money for it?