FarmVille is a farming simulation

Simulation video game

A simulation video game describes a diverse super-category of computer and video games, generally designed to closely simulate aspects of a real or fictional reality.-Sub-genres:-Construction and management simulation:...

 social network game

Social network game

A social network game is a type of online game that is played through social networks, and typically features multiplayer and asynchronous gameplay mechanics. Social network games are most often implemented as browser games, but can also be implemented on other platforms such as mobile devices...

 developed by Zynga

Zynga

Zynga is a social network game developer located in San Francisco, United States. The company develops browser-based games that work both stand-alone and as application widgets on social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace....

 in 2009. It is similar to Happy Farm

Happy Farm

Happy Farm is a social network game, or massively multiplayer online game, based on farm management simulation. It is played predominantly by users in Mainland China and Taiwan, and is the most popular MMOG in terms of players...

, Farm Town

Farm Town

Farm Town is a free, Flash-based browser multiplayer simulation game for the social network platforms Facebook and Myspace. It is social media developed by software company Slashkey in early 2009...

,, and older games such as the Harvest Moon series. Gameplay involving various aspects of farm

Farm

A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...

 management such as plowing land, planting, growing and harvesting crops, harvesting trees and bushes, and by raising livestock

Livestock

Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...

.

It is available as an Adobe Flash

Adobe Flash

Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...

 application via the social-networking website Facebook

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 and Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

's MSN Games

MSN Games

MSN Games is an online games site devoted primarily to casual games, both stand-alone and multi-player online games. Games are available in free on-line versions, trial versions, and full feature pay-to-play versions...

, and as an app for the iPhone, iPod Touch

IPod Touch

The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...

 and iPad

IPad

The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...

. The game is a freemium

Freemium

Freemium is a business model that works by offering a product or service free of charge while charging a premium for advanced features, functionality, or related products and services...

 game, meaning there is no cost to play but players have the option of purchasing premium content. It was once the most popular Facebook game, however recently has seen a decline in popularity. As of September 2011, FarmVille is the third most popular Facebook game, behind CityVille

CityVille

CityVille is a casual social city-building simulation game developed by Zynga, and released in December 2010.The game is very similar to SimCity and Farmville,. The goal is to develop a city by farming, constructing buildings, and collecting rent...

and The Sims Social

The Sims Social

The Sims Social is a Facebook addition to the Sims series of videogames. It was announced during EA's 2011 E3 press conference. As with the original Sims games, this addition lets users create their own customizable characters. In this version, though, players use their characters to interact...

.

Gameplay

Upon beginning a farm, the player first creates a customizable avatar which may be changed at any point. The player begins with an empty farm and a fixed starting amount of "farm coins", the primary currency in the game. Players also earn XP (experience points) for performing certain actions in the game such as plowing land or buying items. At certain XP benchmarks, the player's level rises. As the player obtains more items and progresses through levels, crops and animals become available to them via the "market" where items can be purchased using either farm coins or "farm cash". Farm cash is earned by leveling up or completing offers, or purchased for real money.

Crops

The main way a player earns farm coins is through harvesting of crops or visiting their neighbors. The player does this by paying coins for plowing a unit of land and for planting crops, such as tomatoes on it, finally harvesting them after a certain amount of time has elapsed. The amount of time it takes for a crop to mature, and how much money a crop yields when harvested, is dependent on the crop planted and is noted on its entry in the "market" dialog. They will wither, or they will be of no use when a crop-specific amount of time has elapsed, the amount of time being equal to 2.5 times the amount of time taken to grow the crop (for example, crops which take 8 hours to grow will wither after 2.5×8=20 hours). However, a player can use farm cash to purchase an "unwither" to rejuvenate the crops or can use a biplane with "instant grow" to cause crops to be immediately available for harvest. Although the biplane can be purchased with coins, this special feature is only available for farm cash.
As a player levels up more, crops with a higher payoff and economy will become available. Sometimes a crop will need a permit that costs FC in order to be planted.

Livestock and other plants

A player may also buy or receive from friends livestock and trees or bushes, such as cherry trees or chickens, which do not wither but instead become ready for harvest for preset amounts of money a set amount of time from their last harvest. Trees and livestock cannot die.

Social interaction

Like most Zynga games, FarmVille incorporates the social networking aspect of Facebook into many areas of gameplay. Players may invite their friends to be their neighbors, allowing them to perform five actions on each other's farms per day by "visiting" it. Neighbors may also send gifts and supplies to each other, complete specialized tasks together for rewards, and join "co-ops" - joint efforts to grow a certain amount of certain crops.

Gifts

Neighbors may also send gifts to each other in the form of mystery gifts with expensive, but random items, special deliveries with building supplies, or by choosing a particular item to send. They cost the sending user nothing. For FarmVille's 2nd birthday, a series of different mystery gifts were added to the Gifts Page.

Decorations

Decorations can be purchased in the market for coins or cash or can be sent in the form of free gifts. Decorations include many items like buildings, hay bales, fences, nutcrackers, gnomes, flags, topiaries, etc. There are sometimes limited edition items depending on the theme such as a Valentine's Day theme, halloween theme, winter theme, etc. Decorations also give experience points (xp) depending on the cost. During the summer, Zynga releases an event called "The 7 Days Of Summer", where they re-release a different theme every 24 hours.

FarmVille English Countryside

This expansion was rolled out on March 23, 2011 for players at Level 20 only. It is a secondary farm, accessible from the user's own.

FarmVille Lighthouse Cove

This farm was rolled out on September 12, 2011 with an express ticket for 55 farm cash, and on September 19, 2011 for the free ticket. It is a third farm, similar to the English Countryside. There are exclusive crops, trees, animals, buildings, decorations and new quests. The Lighthouse Cove is a Fall Getaway and Coastal Farming Village.

FarmVille Winter Wonderland

Farmville and Zynga have officially released the early access to Winder Wonderland on November 28, 2011 for 55 Farm Cash as Special Train Ticket. Exclusive Challenges with special rewards awaits the VIP Farmers and have a chance to grow new crops, breed new trees, raised new animals and buy new buildings and decorations before anyone else. Free access to Winter Wonderland has not been announced yet as of November 30, 2011 but is expected to roll out hopefully by the first week of December, 2011. The Winter Wonderland is a fourth farm, similar to the English Countryside and Lighthouse Cove.

Originality

FarmVille has been criticized for being "almost an exact duplicate" of its previously released competitor Farm Town

Farm Town

Farm Town is a free, Flash-based browser multiplayer simulation game for the social network platforms Facebook and Myspace. It is social media developed by software company Slashkey in early 2009...

.

Critical reception

In a December 2010 interview with Gamasutra

Gamasutra

Gamasutra is a website founded in 1997 for video game developers. It is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb , a division of United Business Media, and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine Game Developer...

, game designer Jonathan Blow

Jonathan Blow

Jonathan Blow is an independent video game developer. His game Braid won the "Game Design" award at the Independent Games Festival in 2006. He is currently developing The Witness, to be released in 2012....

 criticized FarmVille for being designed to create an atmosphere of negativity, requiring an unprecedented commitment to the game, and encouraging users to exploit their friends. In August 2011 a court heard that Adam Hamnett, of Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

 was so desperate to buy virtual animals for his FarmVille account that first he robbed from a blind man, Brian McKenzie, and then murdered Peter Boustead when his friends threatened to report the matter to the police.

Partnerships

FarmVille runs in-game partnerships where users can visit another company's farm and/or buy or receive items with their logo and colors. For example, as of June 9, 2011, users could get free McDonald's

McDonald's

McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...

 hot air balloons, McCafe products, and the ability to visit McDonalds' farm. Other brand partnerships have included Cascadian Farm, Megamind, Farmers Insurance, Bing

Bing

Bing is a web search engine from Microsoft.Bing may also refer to:* An onomatopœia of a bell sound* Bing cherry, a variety of cherry* Bing , Chinese flatbread* Bing , a German company that manufactured toys and kitchen utensils...

, and 7-Eleven

7-Eleven

7-Eleven is part of an international chain of convenience stores, operating under Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd, which in turn is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co...

. FarmVille also offers engagement advertising where users can interact with a brand in exchange for free farm cash through an ad platform called SVnetwork

SVnetwork

- SocialVibe Ads:SocialVibe is a digital advertising platform that reaches over 200 million unique consumers each month, making it one of the largest on the Internet...

Awards

FarmVille won an award at the Game Developer's Conference for the "Best New Social/Online Game" in 2010.

External links

• FarmVille - The official website