One of the most popular Facebook applications is Zynga’s Farmville. Farmville was launched June 19, 2009 and it currently has 62.1 million active users. In Farmville, players can plant, grow and harvest virtual crops, trees and livestock. Farmville users spend their time planting and managing their farms. Players must first plow their land, plant their seeds and wait a few hours for their produce to grow. They harvest their crops to get FarmCoins which they then can use to buy upgrades and decorations for their farms. The purpose of this game is to gain experience points from various Farmville activities to level up and unlock new plants and decorations. Farmville also allows its users to give one free gift away to their friends every day. Experienced farmer Kelly McKinley, 12th grader, says, “It’s fun to collect animals, watch your crops grow and make mad money all the while. It’s also cool to look at other people’s farms and see what they’re working with. It’s something different than just looking at people’s statuses and pictures on Facebook.”

Farmville is a free application on Facebook, but one can pay US dollars to get FarmCash. FarmCash, like FarmCoins, can be used to buy things like tractors or dairy farms or red barns. Farmville’s sales of gifts and virtual goods are set to double from last year and may hit up to $1.6 billion next year. Zynga realized that their profit from the game could be put to good use, so they created “social goods” for their game. Farmers can buy “Sweet Seeds for Haiti” with their FarmCash and fifty percent of their proceeds go towards charity.

Farmville even has advanced its social networking outreach to
Twitter. If you follow Farmville on Twitter, you can get updates on the game such as upcoming contests, new accessories and new animals. Games similar to Farmville can also be found on Facebook such as Farmtown, Yoville and Café World. Feel like farming without an internet connection? Try “Harvest Moon,” a video game extremely similar to Farmville for every major gaming system.

A poll conducted at Brandywine shows that 15 out of 20 Brandywine students play Farmville. One hundred percent of the people who play also say they have chosen to play Farmville over school work or studying. As one of the five who doesn’t play, senior Shelby Rushie very vocally believes that, “Farmville is a waste of time. I think it’s childish.” Junior Chelsea Lynch, on the other hand, differs on opinion, “At first, I didn’t understand it, but after playing it a little while, I really like it.”

Regardless of how you feel about it, the Farmville craze is sweeping a ton of computers near you! If you haven’t, maybe you should give farming a try. You might discover you’ve got a virtual green thumb.

Post written by Emily Shustack
Photo courtesy of Zynga