6 ms·

If Farmville is laborious to play and aesthetically boring, why are so many people playing it? The answer is disarmingly simple: people are playing Farmville be

by duck 17y ago

If Farmville is laborious to play and aesthetically boring, why are so many people playing it? The answer is disarmingly simple: people are playing Farmville because people are playing Farmville. Very true from what I have seen. Nobody just starts playing something like Farmville unless someone else has asked them to. It is kind of sickening to think about how much time is lost to crap like this.

ShardPhoenix 17y ago
The time isn't necessarily "lost" if it substitutes for other forms of human "social grooming".
sliderr 17y ago
At least you noticed that you were wasting time. But the reason why people keep playing is not because of the others. The others are the reason why they start, they keep on playing because of the fake sense of achievement this game delivers. See Jessse Schells talk from DICE for details.
watmough 17y ago
I call my wife Farmer Pixel because she's never off Farmville. I've tried to get her to go out in the garden, but no avail!
- duck 17y ago
  Yes, that sounds very familiar here as well. I don't know a single guy that plays it and that led me to search for male/female stats... but I only found that the average Farmville user is a 43-year-old woman (via http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2010/02/this_aint_your_mothers_farmvil.html http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2010/02/this_aint...).
  - watmough 17y ago
    I have one friend (male) that plays these games, but he uses specially created accounts, and is motivated only by being able to mess with other players.
xsmasher 17y ago
>It is kind of sickening to think about how much time is lost to crap like this. That's rather judgmental re: leisure time. Are you sickened by the time "lost" by people following or playing sports, or reading novels, or watching movies?
- neilk 17y ago
  We can make judgments about leisure activities just as we can about any other part of life. Playing sports, reading novels, and watching (good) movies can all make you a healthier, more reflective person, while being intrinsically entertaining. Even WoW, while it has some disturbing aspects, has the wonder of exploring a fantasy world, online society, and some strategy. I don't play Farmville but I don't know of anyone that argues it's time well spent. Players don't even seem to be having "fun" by any normal definition. At best, it exploits social rewards to make you conform to the game makers' agenda. Perhaps it's closer to fashion than recreation; where you're on a consumption treadmill that's largely controlled by others. Without the consolation of having nice clothes or looking any better.
  - robryan 17y ago
    You would have to think farmville would have a high churn rate to, I played it casually for about a month before I realised there was little point continuing. Even some of the most dedicated amongst my friends eventually stopped after a few months. If anything the achievements in the game seemed to keep people coming back, even though some of them were just arbitrary large numbers of things done. I don't think it is really a fun game at all which makes me think how successful a similar game would be if someone got the fun factor right, something like a civ for facebook or something.
    - duck 17y ago
      Yeah, but I think what we would consider fun would pretty much kill a game like Farmville in terms of popularity. I am only guessing... but your typical gamer is not playing Facebook.
    - 17y ago
akkartik 17y ago
It's an interesting experiment to see how long you can try one of the zynga offerings without creating some sort of invitation to a friend. These guys have really squeezed the heck out of their viral loops.
revorad 17y ago
It's the same reason why people are on Facebook in the first place, because well, people are on Facebook.

by duck 17y ago

ShardPhoenix 17y ago

The time isn't necessarily "lost" if it substitutes for other forms of human "social grooming".

sliderr 17y ago

At least you noticed that you were wasting time. But the reason why people keep playing is not because of the others. The others are the reason why they start, they keep on playing because of the fake sense of achievement this game delivers. See Jessse Schells talk from DICE for details.

watmough 17y ago

I call my wife Farmer Pixel because she's never off Farmville. I've tried to get her to go out in the garden, but no avail!

duck 17y ago
Yes, that sounds very familiar here as well. I don't know a single guy that plays it and that led me to search for male/female stats... but I only found that the average Farmville user is a 43-year-old woman (via http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2010/02/this_aint_your_mothers_farmvil.html http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2010/02/this_aint...).
- watmough 17y ago
  I have one friend (male) that plays these games, but he uses specially created accounts, and is motivated only by being able to mess with other players.

xsmasher 17y ago

>It is kind of sickening to think about how much time is lost to crap like this. That's rather judgmental re: leisure time. Are you sickened by the time "lost" by people following or playing sports, or reading novels, or watching movies?

neilk 17y ago
We can make judgments about leisure activities just as we can about any other part of life. Playing sports, reading novels, and watching (good) movies can all make you a healthier, more reflective person, while being intrinsically entertaining. Even WoW, while it has some disturbing aspects, has the wonder of exploring a fantasy world, online society, and some strategy. I don't play Farmville but I don't know of anyone that argues it's time well spent. Players don't even seem to be having "fun" by any normal definition. At best, it exploits social rewards to make you conform to the game makers' agenda. Perhaps it's closer to fashion than recreation; where you're on a consumption treadmill that's largely controlled by others. Without the consolation of having nice clothes or looking any better.
- robryan 17y ago
  You would have to think farmville would have a high churn rate to, I played it casually for about a month before I realised there was little point continuing. Even some of the most dedicated amongst my friends eventually stopped after a few months. If anything the achievements in the game seemed to keep people coming back, even though some of them were just arbitrary large numbers of things done. I don't think it is really a fun game at all which makes me think how successful a similar game would be if someone got the fun factor right, something like a civ for facebook or something.
  - duck 17y ago
    Yeah, but I think what we would consider fun would pretty much kill a game like Farmville in terms of popularity. I am only guessing... but your typical gamer is not playing Facebook.
  - 17y ago

akkartik 17y ago

It's an interesting experiment to see how long you can try one of the zynga offerings without creating some sort of invitation to a friend. These guys have really squeezed the heck out of their viral loops.

revorad 17y ago

It's the same reason why people are on Facebook in the first place, because well, people are on Facebook.