This was originally posted 16 years ago. Opinions, facts and reality may have changed.
Now I have no definite statistics on this but we must surely be getting to the point where there are more virtual than actual farmers in the world? In excess of 60 million people play FarmVille and, according to the developers Zynga, players receive more than 500,000 gifts in the game each day. Do you want to sit back and soak those figures up for a minute?
And today, FarmVille is continuing its path to gaming dominance with the launch of a version for everybody’s favourite tablet computer, the iPad.
I will admit that, for a while, I played FarmVille, mainly because I wondered what I was missing out on if I’m honest. But, after a short period in rehab, I was able to kick the habit.
I know some people – no names, mainly because she’ll kill me – who have been known to sow certain crops to fit in with their social life and can tell you from 200 yards that a real field is “85 per cent ready”. It’s fair to say that, for some people, Farmville is a big deal.
Mainly played through Facebook, FarmVille – like its numerous spin-off “cousins” Frontierville, PetVille, Yo!Ville and I-really-should-go-outside-and-speak-to-people-Ville – is at the forefront of the growth in social gaming. With a few exceptions (notably Mafia Wars), social games are gentle affairs and – broadbrush stereotype alert – tend to appeal to females. The games grab you in by allowing to achieve initial success quickly, encourage you to visit at regular intervals – often to repeat repetitive tasks – and reward users for getting their friends involved.
Actually, the more I write, the more this is starting to resemble a cult.
Anyway, on an iPad, the developers have replaced Flash – the bedrock of the Facebook version – with HTML5 (no surprise there, as iPads can’t run Flash) and are branding the new version as “FarmVille HD”, as a nod to the presumably standard definition version launched for the iPhone earlier in the year.
As the reasons why your Average Joe or Josephine ‘needs’ a traditional laptop are eroding, then the growth in tablet computers like the iPad will grow exponentially. Could I do my work on an iPad? Not a chance. The applications I use on a daily basis would grind to a halt on the device. But the laptop-based activities I undertake in my leisure time?
I can get on Facebook, MSN and Skype – even better when iPad 2 launches next year which *must* have a forward-facing camera. I can watch TV and films on one. Listen to music. Read the news… pretty soon I believe there will become two classes of personal computer: those for work that require the “grunt” that comes from a powerful machine and the more touchy-feely machines, such as an iPad, which are the centre of your leisure world. And, no doubt, the vast majority of these leisure machines will have FarmVille installed. Hey ho.
Addendum: after writing this post I remembered a status of mine from Facebook, after the site went down last month, causing consternation amongst its user. “Ross Brown – In other news… two would be farmers were trampled to death when they tried to give themselves a FarmVille fix with real cows. And at least 27 people are reported dead after a group of people in Guildford decided to play Mafia Wars for real.” Sometimes some people have to remember: it’s only a game.