Comments on: Do We Play Farmville Because We’re Polite?*

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 02:51:31 +0000

I am a dedicated FarmVille player who has just reached level 56 (approximately half way through. I am a female between 25-30 and am happy to spend a few hours a week (yes week not day) clicking on cartoons of crops, trees and buildings and I do feel a sense of acheivement earning ribbons and such. I have tried other games and do not enjoy them as much because I do not play a game to try to kill people, for me FarmVille is relaxing and funny. Where else can you see a Cupid’s Castle or own a Chocolate Milk Cow, Bovine-59 Cow, Poncho Llama, or a Golden Chicken? Also, I think the people who work on the artwork for FarmVille do better than most other Facebook games. Many of them are just pixelated cartoons, but not FarmVille.

By: nina

nina — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 23:58:16 +0000

Really? I played Farmville because it was fun. And I didn’t engage in the social parts because it was tedious and a distraction from what I rally wanted to do- build a beautiful farm.
Farmville is fun because it is addictive.It is colorful, you get regular rewards for your actions and they come with nice bright colors and sounds.It makes you feel as if you are accomplishing something and it lets you be a little creative.

By: Fathermocker

Fathermocker — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 16:47:14 +0000

I came here to post exactly this. I think the hypothesis presented by this essay may play a role in this social addiction, but it’s mostly what the Cracked article describes: the game is designed to be addicting.

By: Sam R

Sam R — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 05:16:59 +0000

I play it because I wanted to make a hedge maze. In the end itt turned out that Farmville wasnt suited for it. Now I play it to amuse myself with the irony of playing it.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:10:47 +0000

I think it’s funny the author just flat out states it’s not an enjoyable game at all, period. How does he decide that it’s not fun for anyone at all? I don’t enjoy sports based video games, but I wouldn’t say nobody ever enjoys them. Obviously they are enjoyable for lots of people.

I like arranging my Farmville decorations and animals. I like seeing new decorations and rearranging. There are crop mastery signs you can earn, new businesses where you get bushels to craft goods, pig pens where your pigs hunt for different kinds of truffles, etc.

Sometimes I don’t want a super competitive, complicated game.

By: Rue

Rue — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:23:20 +0000

According to him, “real” gamers play the graphically advanced and difficult games that come on the other two machines.

I love this attitude they get. It’s like they’re doing important work or something.

By: Kira

Kira — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:49:21 +0000

I never liked FaceBook but I signed up because all of my friends and family kept bugging me about it. Then when I did I kept getting Fishville “gifts” and requests. So now I was supposed to tend fake fish and exchange them as well. I liked FB even less at this point. When the ever-increasing privacy issues came to light I bowed out, glad to be rid of it all.

If I want to play a game I’ll play it–on my own terms and schedule. I don’t want to be roped in by the demands of a “social network” or other people.

By: abby-wan kenobi

abby-wan kenobi — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:33:31 +0000

The speed with which Facebook has taken over the world is staggering. I was a 1st gen user, I was in college when it all started and I remember waiting expectantly for my university to be added. I only sign into Facebook a few times a month, but I’m generally surprised when people my age or younger don’t have a Facebook account.

A coworker of mine had an issue last week when she found out her daughter’s cheerleading coach was using Facebook to schedule practices and send out team info. The girl’s mother isn’t a user, but it hadn’t occured to the coach that it might be an inconvenient medium for parents. Such is the ubiquity of Facebook.

By: abby-wan kenobi

abby-wan kenobi — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:10:48 +0000

I’ve read that too. You have to check out of work or you burn out completely by the end of an 8 (or 10 or 12) hour day. Checking out is also good for creativing and problem-solving, your brain uses the random association to work through things.

And personally, Facebook is blocked at my office and I just find something else to distract myself with. Like Sociological Images.

By: Niki

Niki — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:03:10 +0000

You know, this concept of “playing for politeness” could even be extended to Facebook itself. Among my age group – I’m 26 – there are very few people who don’t have a Facebook profile, and some people seem to think that those who don’t are actively choosing elitism over social behaviour; like, if you are in your 20’s and don’t have a Facebook page, you must be an elitist who thinks you’re better than everyone else. To not have a Facebook page is more of a social statement than to have one, and according to many people, that’s not a positive social statement.

By: Niki

Niki — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:56:33 +0000

I am a “casual gamer” myself (and a woman) though I’m not really interested in the online games like Farmville. I live with my boyfriend, who’s a big gamer, and every now and then I’ll pick up one of his games and have a go at it.

But anyway, I had this long debate with one of his friends who is a very hardcore gamer, about the Wii. The Wii has utterly destroyed the Xbox and PS3 in sales, but it’s completely driven by casual gamers like myself. According to him, “real” gamers play the graphically advanced and difficult games that come on the other two machines.

He says this is a travesty, and any real gamer does not look at the Wii as a true gamer’s console. It’s something else; it’s in a different genre, if you will, of gaming. The Wii is the everyman’s machine, and the Xbox is for the more sophisticated elite. He owns a Wii, and admits it’s fun sometimes, especially for parties and stuff, but it can barely be considered a video game console because it has “sold out” to be more accessible to everyone.

His opinion resonates through a lot of the hardcore gaming community, and it’s really weird to me – the massive popularity of the Wii has resulted in its demotion into a lower class of gaming systems, even though it’s probably the most technically advanced at-home gaming system that has ever been mass produced for the market (maybe not graphically, but there’s more to programming than graphics).

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:40:10 +0000

re rom-coms: in some cases I think it’s actually easier for men to watch/enjoy rom-coms because they don’t usually pick up the misogyny as quickly.

By: Rue

Rue — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:23:22 +0000

Ugh. I’ve felt for a while that the term “casual gaming” is coded language. The gaming industry wrings its hands that only a fraction of the population (and so few women!) play games, then it wrings its hands that “casual games” (women seem to love them!) are taking over the industry. The idea that gaming as we know it might have to actually adapt somewhat to accommodate new consumer populations? Perish the thought.

N.B., I think a lot of women bust on rom-com movies as much as men do… a lot of the films seem put together by some producer or committee with their own notion of what women ought to like, and they wind up being pretty misogynist.

By: Rue

Rue — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:11:20 +0000

It’s amazing to me what my friends will do in pursuit of cheevos. Watching that behavior is what convinced me this guy might have a point. How scary.

By: Kishh

Kishh — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:03:03 +0000

I’m a semi-hardcorer, but FV’s looked down upon because there’s really no depth. Click, click, OK to send gifts, click. In MMO/RPGs (which is pretty much also looked down upon as not-hardcore-enough games), you at least have chain quests, and people to talk to live, real-time.

After you get the barn, then what? In the “actual” games, like you said, L4D or MW2, there’s a further goal, or prizes.