Welcome to FarmVille

Rosie Khdir takes a look at Facebook’s number one application that has got over 72 million people farming mad!

Who ever thought so many people would be willing to get their hands dirty with farmyard chores? The new online gaming phenomenon of FarmVille has a bigger population than that of the UK!

Facebook has taken people back to the days of “hard labour”. Ok, so clicking the mouse is hardly “labouring” but progressing through the higher levels of this application is considered hard work!

FarmVille is a game by Zynga the creators of other popular Facebook application such as Mafia Wars, Fashion Wars and FishVille.

How does it work?

You start by creating yourself, the farmer, choosing everything from your face shape to your lip colour. After this, you start your trial where you are told how to use the different functions of ploughing, harvesting, planting and buying new accessories for your plot.

This cute little game is reminiscent of The Simms and Second Life but in a more simple and yet imaginative way. You can grow coffee and corn on adjacent plots and they grow in a matter of days, the animals obey your every command and you can buy pink cows that produce strawberry milk!

The objective of the game is to take your six fields, 200 coins and various seeds and build a farming empire. Players must progress up the levels of the game by earning money, expanding their farm and inviting friends or “neighbours” to play.

Highly addictive

This seems like one of those infuriatingly addictive computer games that you find yourself criticising but then secretly playing when no one is looking. I only went on it for research and now I find myself checking on my eggplants every few hours!

Facebookers from all over the world are united in their new found obsession for FarmVille. One player wrote on the games’ Facebook page:

“I spend more time on this pesky game than I do playing guitar, argh!”

The Simple Life

It’s going back to the simple pleasures that seems to appeal to players; the life that many people who are buried deep in the cities cannot have, can be fulfilled through this application.

However, this game like many other before it can be addictive, something that is becoming an increasing problem in our digital age. Players can actually invest their farm in exchange for Farm Cash or Farm coins; this I’m is where I would personally draw the line.

It’s all fine and dandy to play Old MacDonald in your spare time but the day you decide to pay for a new virtual pond instead of paying your gas bill is the day you retire from your farming career.

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Image credit: Sabrina.dent