[This was my first attempt at writing an article for the Bitmob writing challenge and I ultimately had to edit most of it out for the challenge to keep to 800 words >.< So I'm posting the longer version here. ]
It's easy to look down on Farmville and just be a hater because it is a
Facebook game. At the start, it was a simple game with a simple premise
of repetitive actions that weren't for everyone. Fair enough. But over
time it's morphed from a fun (imho) game to a money making thing to
this... awful greed monster of a thing. On one hand, I'm fascinated and
amazed. On the other, seriously disgusted. There is nothing wrong with
making money, but the methods used both in the games themselves to the
incident where
Zynga has apparently copied
another studios game....
I
realize it's pretty easy to just sling things around. So I've gone
through the last few seasonal events, which show a remarkable amping up
of the money hounding that goes on in the game.
Farmville
as it once was, was a game that I found relaxing. Mundane, but
relaxing. I could either get to my crops in time, or not. It was a game
to explore, and have fun with on my own time. Eventually they added the
ability to build things, and one would need to ask their neighbors for
items. This is done one of two ways. There is a direct request, that
goes through the game to a specific neighbor. The other kind is one that
is a general post to your facebook wall that anyone who plays the game
can click on and help out with. Things went well for a while, but then
people got bored and stopped playing. Which is all fine and good, but
those still playing found themselves needing to get materials and being
unable to do so. Which in turn, drove another bunch of people away from
the game.
Eventually, they added a feature where you
could be neighbors with people who were not on your own friends list,
and maintain your privacy. Which, in theory, is a faboo feature. I
refuse to add random people that I don't know to my facebook page just
to play a game. Well, the thing is, other than being another farm you
can go to, or sending a particular mystery gift box of random things
(albeit useful if building older stuff)... there is no advantage. You
cannot request materials directly from these new neighbors. They will
not see your farmville feed, and be able to respond to those requests
either. The biggest advantage they provided was the ability to buy
larger spaces for your farm. And other than random gift boxes, the
occasional lost animal request, and unlocking seeds request, there is no
point to having these additional neighbors. This is a fine example of
granting a feature that leaves the impression it will be helpful to the
players, but in fact, more or less leaves them just as locked down as
they were before the feature. [Update March 2012: It seems that they have added a feature on the send to a friend box that lists all your farmville friends that you can send a mystery box OR one of three specific items to neighbors... I haven't tried the actual feasibility of it yet, so I don't know if it's another bait and switch thing with giving us something we want and need to play the game, but not really enough to actually accomplish what we want...]
Now that we have covered
how requests and getting materials work, hopefully the actual point of
this post and it's examples will be made clear. Lets start with last
Halloween, 2011. One got a Big Jack'o'Lantern, that one can fill up
with various goodies that one gets from a variety of things, and a
building (Duckulas Castle) to build. At this point, it has become fairly
standard to have a building that produces an item for the event, and a
container that stores the items from the event and awards prizes.
Once
upon a time, there were 3 levels of building. The more you put into the
building, the fancier it got. By the time we've gotten to Duckula's
Castle, there are 6.
And
in the case of the Huge Jack-O'Lantern, you can contribute treats that
are gotten from "harvesting" Duckula's Castle, from items sent from
actual neighbors (not the farmville only ones) and as rewards from using
crafted items for the holiday. Multiple sources into one currency for
the event.
Now
lets hop to Holidays, 2011.There is a building, which granted
snowflakes. Crafted items granted snowflakes. The only way to get
tophats was from asking friends. Meh, all fine and good right? Let's
take a look at the balance of items needed, shall we?
Lets
assume we're insane and really want the top tier Aurura Unicorn. We'll
need 120 tophats, and 28 snowflakes. Within the game, it's exceedingly
easy to get the snowflakes. I had 100 in a day or two. As for the
tophats, not so much. No friends are playing anymore, and I couldn't ask
the farmville only neighbors for them. Interesting. So they were
encouraging (in the way of forcing down a narrow tunnel) those who
wanted items to more or less pay for them with farm cash, as that is the
only way to get items when you don't have enough friends as neighbors
to play the game. Hm.
Moving forward to Valentines, 2012. Same thing, a building that
produces an item (Carriage that produces love arrows). I must admit to
being so disgusted by all this I didn't pay attention if there was a
craftable item that produced a reward or not. From what I found though, I
was only able to attain love arrows from items and neighbors farms. The
Bows and Wings were only available to me from friends, or direct
requests to friends. Which again, as a person without many people
playing, left me not able to participate even less than the holiday
event. In order to win any of these prizes, you have to pick and choose
what you are going to try to go for, as it is now divided into three
divisions of prizes, and pushing the invest in our game agenda even
further.
Now, outright, I see nothing wrong with in game currency
and it being bought with real money. That is, after all, how most of
these games make their money. And I wont' begrudge them that. What I
find so appalling about Zynga, and in this particular case, farmville, is that the game has become so utterly
focused on the aspect of farmcash items. It is, quite honestly,
just funny to me at this point because it is so preposterous as someone who had played it in the early days.
So
why do I find it greedy? Because unlike at one point when it was about
perks that enhanced the game (but were not required to play it or
participate in events) and special items here and there - it is almost
entirely about special items by the gajillions, that one is encouraged
in the game to collect like pokemon to keep up. Events that should be
open to everyone to enjoy, became more and more complex and have left
people unable to participate and enjoy the game. Which if their aim is
to drive away potential customers and eviscerate customer loyalty,
they've succeeded beyond their own expectations, I imagine.
It's greedy because it's now impossible to play the game without
buying into it. I loved it when the English Countryside was introduced
and there was a variety of quests to follow. It was leisurely and I
could progress at my own pace and with the friends I had. Then came the
Lighthouse Cove, which I found impossible to keep up with, because every
quest was timed. Then the Winter Wonderland, and soon there will be a
Hawaiian something or rather. All with timed quests that draw you in
then cut you off at the knees if you refuse to pay loads of actual money
or add people you don't know for the sake of playing a game. And by
draw in, I mean they ask for 4 of something, then 8, then 12... it's
subtle, but insidious.
Maybe you already hate Farmville (or Zynga)... maybe you love
them. But I logged in the other day to make sure I wasn't missing
anything for this, to open up to this:
Moving on to slots eh? Catch those gamblers! But wait! Then I logged in today.
It's
like a train wreck. I just can't look away. It was one thing to see
this progression of subtle coercion playing on the Pokemon mentality...
to this. My mouth is agape. It's so blatant. Apparently, I didn't need
to write this article, or ever mention their money trees, because they just hopped straight to the
punchline. Rampant Greedmongering.
