[This was my first attempt at writing an article for the Bitmob Writing Challenge for the "Coins and Sense" theme. I had to edit most of it out for the challenge to keep it to 800 words, so I'm posting the full version here. The shorter version that was posted on Bitmob (now GamesBeat) is here.]
It's easy to look down on Farmville and be a hater because it's a Facebook game. At the start, Farmville was a simple game with a simple premise of repetitive actions that wasn't for everyone. Fair enough. But over time it's morphed from a fun (imho) game to a money making thing to it's current incarnation as an... 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 by Zynga have gone too far. Both in the game itself, and the curious incident where Zynga has allegedly 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 increase 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 so they could build those things. Asking for items is done one of two ways. The first way is a direct request that goes through the game to a specific neighbor within the game. The second way is where the game posts to your Facebook wall on your behalf asking your friends to click the link to send you the items - and any one of a person's Facebook friends who is playing the game can then click the link and it will send the requested item to you. As people got bored and stopped playing Farmville, those who were still playing the game found themselves either struggling to complete things or simply unable to get the materials they needed to play the game. 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 Facebook 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. As it turned out though, other than being another farm that you can go to, or to send a particular mystery box of random things (albeit useful if building older stuff things)... there is no advantage this feature. You cannot request materials directly from these new neighbors. Additionally, they will not see your Facebook wall (and the Farmville posts on it) so they can't respond to those requests either.
The biggest advantage these new neighbors 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 that 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 neighbors that you can send a mystery box OR one of three specific items to... I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know if it's actually helpful for playing the game of if it's another failed attempt at trying to keep the game playable as fewer people continue to play.]
Now that we have covered how requests and getting materials work, hopefully the actual point of this article and it's examples will make sense. Let's start with last Halloween, 2011. One got a Big Jack'o'Lantern to fill up with various goodies that one gets from a variety of things, and a building (Duckula's 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 stages to the building.
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 neighbors on your Facebook friend's list (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 the Holidays, 2011 event.There was a building, which granted snowflakes, and crafted items granted snowflakes. However, the only way to get top hats 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 Aurora Unicorn. We'll need 120 top hats, 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 top hats, not so much. No friends were playing anymore, and I couldn't ask the Farmville only neighbors for them. Interesting. So they were encouraging (by way of forcing down a narrow tunnel) those who wanted items to pay for them with farm cash (in game currency paid for with real money), 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. I was able to attain love arrows from items and neighbors farms. The Bows and Wings were only available to me from friends, or through direct requests to friends. Which again, as a person without many friends still playing, left me unable to participate in the holiday event as much as I may have wanted to. If I had wanted to win any of the other two tiers of prizes, I would either have to cajole more friends into playing, or spend money to buy the items I wanted.
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 won't begrudge them that. What I find so appalling about Zynga, and in this particular case of Farmville, is that the game has become so utterly focused on farm cash items. It is less about playing a game and more about buying digital items. As someone who played Farmville in it's early days, this evolution is simultaneously funny to me (because it has strayed so far from what it was) and horrifying because of how greedy the company seems to have gotten.
So why do I find it 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.
At one point it was about fun perks or special items that enhanced the game (but were not required to play it or participate in events) and now it is almost entirely about special items by the gajillions. One is encouraged in the game to collect more and more, trying to keep up. Quests became timed, instead of open ended. Events that were once open to everyone to enjoy became more and more complex and have left people unable to participate in them and enjoy the game without "paying to win" or spamming their friends with requests. If Zynga's aim was to drive away potential customers and eviscerate customer loyalty, I imagine they've succeeded beyond their own expectations.
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 article, 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 the progression of subtle coercion preying on the Pokemon mentality... to this... blatant gambling. My mouth is agape. Apparently I didn't need to write this article, or ever mention their money trees, because they just hopped straight to the punchline themselves... rampant greed-mongering.
