Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Politician removed from office for playing Farmville at work

It's no secret that just about everyone has either tried or is currently playing Zynga's hit, Farmville. It is the most popular game in the world right now. But what happens when people with important jobs are playing Farmville instead of working? They lose their position.

Dimitar Kerin, City Council member for the Plovdiv City Council in Bulgaria was warned several times for his addiction to Farmville. After playing on his virtual farm during a city council meeting, a proposal to remove him from office was initiated by Todor Hristov who was quoted saying that the Kerin "needs more time for his virtual farm". The vote was passed 20-19, and Dimitar Kerin has been removed from the City Council.

Kerin is not the only councilmember playing Farmville on the job. The council was granted brand new laptops and a new wireless internet service, and many of the councilmembers have been playing Farmville instead of working. Kerin argued that he is only level 40, and other members of the council are higher in level than him - indicating that they are playing more than he is.

Farmville is a game that by design requires you to check in multiple times per day to advance quickly. Many Facebook games are designed like this, with an intention to bring players back in several times per day. This can be troublesome for people with addictive personalities who have a completionist mentality towards gaming. Farmville has been seen in a negative light for being spammy and manipulative to Facebook users, but many people truly enjoy playing the game.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

What Farmville co-op farming on Facebook might be like

armville on Facebook is going co-op. As faithful farmers have seen by the latest teaser on the loading page, co-op farming is coming to Farmville soon . While Zynga has been a bit stingy with the details, by looking at what co-op farming is and wading trough the most persistent leaks about how this will change playing Farmville on Facebook a clearer picture of what is ahead can be speculated with a fair degree of accuracy.

Simply put, co-op farming outside of the virtual world is when a group of farmers pool their resources to make headway on a certain aspect of their activities. By sharing resources they also share the rewards. What will this all mean on Farmville?

To a degree Farmville is already a co-op of sorts. Friends chase away pesky critters, feed chickens, fertilize crops, and of course share fuel with one another - not to mention the never ending barn raising parties, horse stable construction parties, and gifting that goes on daily. In these activities you help a neighbor out and you get a reward.

Where it appears Farmville on Facebook is headed now with co-op farming is a bit deeper. According to a leak on a popular Farmville fansite - which may or may not be valid - co-op farming on Farmville is going to take a huge step towards allowing you to actively farm your neighbors fields and help them with harvesting activities. It is believed that each farmer will be able to decide who they allow to access their farm and what each person will be allowed to do.

In the simplest terms, suppose you visit a friends farm that has been inactive for some reason for a day or two and notice their crops have withered, or maybe their field is barren - with co-op farming you would be able to take over for them and do the planting yourself - or even the harvesting to help stay ahead of the game. For your help, you would then receive a portion of the profits for the work you have done. This could be applied to harvesting trees and animals as well.

In theory you could have a group of neighbors helping you with each aspect of your farm - and they would prosper as you do. While that all sounds great if true it comes with some very big questions - and until the actual launch of co-op farming on Farmville or the validation of the leaks not everyone is excited by this idea.

The biggest concerns loyal farmers seem to have is how it will impact their experience points. Will the actual farm owner be able to share in the experience points if someone else does their plowing and planting? Will there be a way to put some sort of hold on people working on your farm? Many people want to actively work their farm and get their full points and gold coins, but are willing to allow others to help out if for instance 50% of the wither time for a crop has elapsed.

It is believed that no visiting farmer would be allowed to make structural changes like deleting plots, moving things around, storing them etc… Nobody knows what the co-op split will be and that has been a topic of much speculation. Just one little teaser screen has launched a flurry of “what if’s” and a few supposed reliable leaks have further heated the farming frenzy.

For Zynga this makes good sense. It keeps people playing their game longer, being more apt to nudge inactive farmers back to the game, and more likely to spend real money to tend virtual plantations. Farmville on Facebook is the Zynga Games cash cow so it makes sense they would constantly find ways to not just keep people playing but lure them back after a hiatus. Co-op farming may just do the trick.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

FarmVille locked box: Find out what's inside

In February, FarmVille released a special locked box to a select group of virtual farmers. Boxes can be found while plowing and will appear in the gift box. Here's the catch -- to open this, you 'll need a passcode and the only way to get that is by signing up to receive FarmVille emails. Once the signup is complete, FarmVille will email you the code.

Is the lockbox worth lusting after? We'd say that -- for the most part -- yes. Items found inside range from the rare to practical. Here's a list of items discovered so far, per FarmVille Wiki (If you've found anything else, please leave a note in the comments below!).

* 5 or 20 Free Fuel Refills
* Arborists
* Farmhands
* Golden Chicken
* Gold Gnome
* Mammoth Statue
* Platinum Gnome
* Totem Pole

FarmVille locked boxes are expected to roll out to everyone sometime in March.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

More Free Fuel in FarmVille!



In an update made on 03.04.10, FarmVille added more opportunities to gain free fuel!

You can now gain free fuel by plowing or helping out on your neighbor's farms when fertilizing their crops. You may also find free fuel offered on your FarmVille neighbors Facebook newsfeed by sharing and also find it in Mystery Gifts or Mystery Eggs .

Free Fuel is always nice, especially if you are using the gas-guzzlilng Hot Rods!

For more information on Free Fuel read here from Official FarmVille Forum Moderator Lexilicious:

"There are now new ways to find fuel for your vehicles! In addition to purchasing fuel and discovering it in Mystery Gifts or Eggs, you are now able to find fuel while plowing your Farm and when fertilizing a Neighbor's farm.

Plowing Your Own Farm – Sharing Fuel with Neighbors

When plowing on your own farm, you have a chance to find fuel once per day.

When you find fuel on your farm, you can share this fuel with your Neighbors by posting a feed to your wall. Up to 150 of your neighbors will be able to click this feed once to get fuel of their own.

After clicking the feed, they will be taken to a page that will inform them of how much fuel they have earned. The amount of fuel your Neighbor will receive from clicking on a feed is determined by how many plots they have on their farm. The more plots they have, the larger the amount of fuel they'll receive. This fuel is added directly to their overall tank.

When clicking on a Feed from a Neighbor, you may be told that you have too much fuel. In order to find more fuel, you'll need to use some of the fuel that you've gained to make room for more.

Fertilizing Your Neighbors' Farms – Earning Fuel for your own use

When fertilizing your Neighbors' farms, you have a chance to find fuel that you can use on your own farm.

When this fuel is found, it will appear as a fuel canister rising up from the ground (like the coin you see when plowing or seeding your land). Fuel that is found from Fertilizing is added directly to your overall fuel tank. The amount of fuel you receive is also determined by how many plots you have on your farm.

The more plots you have, the larger the amount of fuel you will receive. You can find fuel once for each neighbor's farm that you fertilize. However, at a certain point while fertilizing your neighbor's farms, you may notice that you are no longer finding fuel. In order to find more fuel, you'll need to use some of the fuel that you've gained to make room for more.

Whether you are collecting fuel from your neighbors' feeds or by fertilizing their farms, you will gain either one or two small tanks of fuel from each discovery.

In order to balance out the new ways that we've added to find fuel, we've slowed down the rate at which fuel naturally regenerates. All farms will be able to regenerate a full tank of fuel over time, but now this rate is determined by how many plots of land you have on your farm. The more plots you have on your farm, the quicker your fuel regenerates.

The quickest you'll be able to regenerate a full tank of fuel is 24 hours.

Note: If you have not yet purchased a Vehicle, you will still be able to collect fuel as long as you are level 12 and above."

FarmVille kicks off St. Patrick's Day celebrations

FarmVille fans woke up this morning to a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, which coincidentally enough happened to be in their Gift Box. St. Patrick's Day celebrations have kicked off in FarmVille, and this year they're all about putting some gold in your pot.

Gold is available for free as a giftable item, and can be traded in for exclusive St. Patrick's Day themed gifts. You'll be able to send gold to your friends who will add it to their pot and vice versa. If you can't wait, you can purchase a Gold Chunk for 5 FarmVille Cash, which will increase your pot by 5 pieces of gold.

Zynga isn't spilling the beans on which gifts are up for grabs, but several items have already been uncovered by players. The Shamrock Sheep, Spring Flower Cart, and Leprechaun Gnome are available for 10, 20, and 30 pieces of gold respectively.

Much to our surprise, shamrocks weren't included as a limited time festive crop.

FarmVille Dog: Coming Today?

We know that the FarmVille Dog will be coming soon, but will it debut today?

Zynga has hinted via a FarmVille Podcast that the Dog will be an interactive pet and include customizable features such as the ability to name your dog. A lot of farmers are wondering exactly how much we can expect to pay for the Dog? Many people suspect the Dog will cost farm cash.

Even though there has been an overwhelming response by farmers requesting a dog, Zynga has held out releasing the FarmVille Dog. It has been the most anticipated item in FarmVille thus far, so it is not too surprising they have made us wait this long. With long waits and a build-up like this, we hope it will not disappoint! However, as FarmVille Freak Terrible Ted's altered FarmVille teaser image below depicts, with all FarmVille releases there are sure to be complaints.

The teaser picture from the FarmVille loading screen shows the dog in the same colors as the Dog we've seen on the FarmVille Official Forum's Banner and FarmVille Twitter page. Hopefully we will have customizable options to pick color choices and features as well.

Wouldn't it be great if the Zynga gods considered making a range of Dog breeds available in FarmVille? Many dog lovers would love the option to choose their favorite breed of Dog!

What breed of Dog would you like to see in FarmVille?

Thursday, March 4, 2010

FarmVille Hot Rod Seeder and Harvester now available for everyone

Along with Tuesday night's other updates to FarmVille, Zynga has announced that all Hot Rods including Hot Rod Seeder and Hot Rod Harvester should be available for all farmers, depending on if you meet the requirements determines if you can actually purchase.

Previously the newest Hot Rods were only available to a limited amount of farmers. If you were experiencing difficulty accessing these Hot Rods, but met the requirements to fulfill the access, please try again now.

Official word from FarmVille via Zynga forums:

"Bug preventing players that began playing Mafia Wars at less than level 10 from unlocking Hot Rod Seeder fixed. Hot Rod Harvester now available to unlock for all FarmVille players. "