I bet you haven't seen this one yet. One of the rare occurrences in the FarmVille game. Approximately, 1 in 75 million is affected. *joke. For me, it all started with a simple question.
"Ano nga 'yung game na yun?" (What was that game?)
"The one with the nice tune?"
"Oh, that's FarmVille," my brother said.
I've been seeing Farmville played in a lot of computers and laptops lately. From the "tambay kids" at the local internet cafe, to the nurses at the hospital, to the teachers at the faculty room.
I decided to look and see for myself what the fuss was all about. FarmVille, developed by Zynga has attracted over 73.8 million users worldwide just 6 months after it was released. Philippines is ranked 3rd as the most number of users. The first is USA followed by Turkey. I bet in a few more months, the number of users will be more than the population of the Philippines (approx 92 milliion). As of today, Feb. 1, the number of monthly FarmVille users is a whopping 75,778,293.
At Farmville, you start out with 6 plots where you can plant and harvest a lot of crops. As you plant and harvest, you gain game cash and XP points for leveling up. As your level increase, so does the range of seeds you can plant. You can invite more friends and help out in their farms by fertilizing their crops, shooing away those pesky birds, giving away farm gifts, etc...
Probably one of the best feature of the game is the ability to manipulate and decorate your farm. From hundreds of assorted farm elements you can spell out your name, create your dream mansion, dream farm, or even your own version of "Golden Acres" when you grow old. Some users take it to the limits by imitating Mona Lisa and creating their own personal artworks. Because of all the complexities due to the variety of choices in the game, a couple of fans decided to create a Google spreadsheet for FarmVille. Here's to you all addicts:
So why this interest in farming? Maybe its a way for people to escape reality. Imagine yourself sinking your hands in garden soil, planting the seeds, watching it grow and make money out of it. And you can do it without dirtying your hands too. Who doesn't want to garden anyway? Well, everybody I know loves to garden and this maybe the reason why FarmVille is so popular. BUT, for any addicting game, there should always be moderation. Manage your time wisely. Don't spend too much money at computer cafes if you don't have a computer/internet at home. Don't be like me. From level 1 to level 50 in less than a month. Ha ha ha.
All I can say is FarmVille is firmly planted in our computers and I can't wait to see what Zynga's up to next.
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