The Social Gaming Industry Explained In 13 Words

The Social Gaming Industry Explained In 13 Words by Nicholas Carlson.

I don't agree with the notion in the above article FarmVille is like PacMan in that it creates "friction". That article described people would become addicted to games like PacMan because the game got progressively harder. Players kept feeding quarters into a machine in an often-failed attempt to beat the game.

There is no friction in FarmVille. Quite the opposite. FarmVille is easier to play the longer you play it.

First of all, there are two denominations of currency in FarmVille. Coins and cash.

It is really easy to accumulate coins with regular play, and the more often you play it the fast you earn coins. The main way to earn coins is to plant crops and harvest them later for a varying percentage increases over the initial virtual investment. As you gain experience points the game allows you crops with a higher yield ... thus easier to play. Coins are easy to earn, so any player that bought coins is just looking for an instant reward without the work.

Cash, on the otherhand, is accumulated more slowly and tied to experience levels. Players earn very little Farm Cash. No one needs Farm Cash to obtain virtual items to decoriate their farm with. However, Farm Cash is the only way to buy certain virtual goodies that FarmVille creates. Any player that buys cash is just looking to buy specialty items that make their farm unique and creatively decorated.

Basically, FarmVille is like creating a virtual doll house, or creating elaborate train sets, or building models. The point of the FarmVille has nothing to do with skill that becomes progressively harder to master. The point of the FarmVille is to create an elaborate, creative virtual world.