5 ms·

Farmville was a great social game and their Words with Friends acquisition was very good... then they started making Farmville clones, blatantly ripping off com

Farmville was a great social game and their Words with Friends acquisition was very good... then they started making Farmville clones, blatantly ripping off competitor's games, and paid $200 million for Draw Something.

bduerst 14y ago
Farmville was a blatant ripoff of Happy Farm - it just happened to be the first clone to hit the U.S. market from China and be successful.
- nekojima 14y ago
  Which was a ripoff of the classic mid-1990s SimFarm.
  - bduerst 14y ago
    Not quite - they both just happen to be farm themed. Happy Farm was legitimately a social game - even further than Farmville ended up being. In fact, almost two thirds of the Chinese population that played admitted they did so only so they could steal crops from their friends. It's almost a case study into the Chinese culture unto itself.
  - mey 14y ago
    Not sure I would call SimFarm (SimAnt or SimIsle) classic. SimTower on the other hand.
    - Danieru 14y ago
      SimFarm was a classic but rather I'd hesitate to call FarmHappy a SimFarm clone. SimFarm is perhaps the most complex Sim game, I had an easier time with even SimIsle. Gameplay wise there is almost no intersection. What disappoints me about the current social gaming genre is how many games what would have otherwise been decent tycoons are ruined with slot machine mechanics.
      - egillie 14y ago
        I've been wondering what the big deal is since these games just reminded me of Tycoons anyways, but you have a point with the "slot machine mechanics" bit...though the Tycoons could get pretty slot machiney. I think a lot of the backlash is the fact that these are popular with casual or non-gamers, so they have an image problem with "real" gamers. You're the first person I've "met" who got SimIsle. Maybe I need to give it another try...
      - mey 14y ago
        As a kid I could not wrap my head around SimIsle, wonder if I still have that CD...
mnicole 14y ago
Even Mafia Wars on MySpace was a clone, I doubt they've ever had an original IP.

bduerst 14y ago

Farmville was a blatant ripoff of Happy Farm - it just happened to be the first clone to hit the U.S. market from China and be successful.

nekojima 14y ago
Which was a ripoff of the classic mid-1990s SimFarm.
- bduerst 14y ago
  Not quite - they both just happen to be farm themed. Happy Farm was legitimately a social game - even further than Farmville ended up being. In fact, almost two thirds of the Chinese population that played admitted they did so only so they could steal crops from their friends. It's almost a case study into the Chinese culture unto itself.
- mey 14y ago
  Not sure I would call SimFarm (SimAnt or SimIsle) classic. SimTower on the other hand.
  - Danieru 14y ago
    SimFarm was a classic but rather I'd hesitate to call FarmHappy a SimFarm clone. SimFarm is perhaps the most complex Sim game, I had an easier time with even SimIsle. Gameplay wise there is almost no intersection. What disappoints me about the current social gaming genre is how many games what would have otherwise been decent tycoons are ruined with slot machine mechanics.
    - egillie 14y ago
      I've been wondering what the big deal is since these games just reminded me of Tycoons anyways, but you have a point with the "slot machine mechanics" bit...though the Tycoons could get pretty slot machiney. I think a lot of the backlash is the fact that these are popular with casual or non-gamers, so they have an image problem with "real" gamers. You're the first person I've "met" who got SimIsle. Maybe I need to give it another try...
    - mey 14y ago
      As a kid I could not wrap my head around SimIsle, wonder if I still have that CD...

mnicole 14y ago

Even Mafia Wars on MySpace was a clone, I doubt they've ever had an original IP.