Farmville is an online game produced by Zynga that has seen huge success due to the free and social nature of their games including Marfia Wars, Cafe World and Fishville. However it can be argued that their overall winning tactic has been the link to social media, such as Facebook, where I first discovered Farmville. This link allows gamers to create a bookmark to return to the guilty pleasures of virtual farming and creates various notifications and social interaction that draw you back to the game time and time again, it’s addictive!
So by now you can probably tell that my little experiment has turned into a full blown obsession. How could a rational person like myself be suckered into such a mindless farming fantasy? This is the power of social media and interconnected links that optimise the huge audiences of these networks. I have five “neighbours” on Farmville who are also some of my friends in real life, but this game lets us connect in a new way and send each other fun virtual gifts. In a way we perpetuate each others activity, as is seen in other forms of social connectivity.
If this is the kind of response that Zynga has experienced from teaming with social media, imagine the possibilities of other business connecting with this realm. I believe it is definitely something worth investing in.
Sadly, if you’re wondering what I’ll be doing on a Saturday night before heading out, I admit I will probably be harvesting and ploughing away. Although for this experiment I have learnt that you can not judge popular media until you have a go and desperately try to resist it, so critics you can eat my level 19 dust!
