My gf has taken up the reins of Farmville. I’ve been there. I know from whence I speak and I’m skeered.
What in the sam hell is the appeal? It’s a simple mind-numbing time waster that I enjoyed for several months until I had to say, “Enough.” My surfing was being scheduled around when my crops were ready…<sigh>
How does a simple mind-numbing time waster give you the illusion that you’re doing something productive? My logical mind sees it for what it truly is…but I would still get twitchy if I couldn’t log on to harvest or plant or whatever.
How does Zynga suck the brain cells out of people who would no more BUY a computer game than fly? I don’t even play the free online games (like games.com) even a fraction of how much I played Farmville.
Seriously, if we can figure this out, we could rule the world!
You know how at the beginning of a new semester you get all excited about class choices and degree plans and such? There’s a part of our brains that love that stuff, making progress and getting closer to certain goals. But then it’s time to actually get to work and most of us find our enthusiasm for the whole thing seriously wanes.
Grinding games like that give our brains the illusion of progress without having to get up off our butts or actually think too hard. It’s like a perpetual state of the exciting planning stages without the inevitable “real work” part.
That’s just completely my guess, but it’s how it feels to me.
Because it’s designed to, and designed very well at that. I mean, it’s a shit game, and the CEO of Zynga is an absolute asshole, but as a mechanism to “force” you to come back and do mindless repetitive tasks over and over again (and nickel & diming you the whole way) Farmville is damn near perfect. See relevant Cracked article. And a second one on games designed as Skinner boxes from the ground up.
I’ve been playing for a couple of years. It is a mindless game I can play while watching tv or waking up in the morning. I do like how I can pick how long of a harvest time for my crops. If I’m going to be busy, I"ll pick a 2 or 3 day crop. If I’m going to be spending an afternoon watching sports then I’ll pick a 4 hour crop.
So what you’re telling me is that the Zynga devs just got lucky and there’s not a waft of crack cocaine seeping from the player’s keyboard forcing them to keep coming back for more more more?
You see, there are plenty of games that are simple in strategy and play. None of them have had the broad appeal of Farmville. I’m serious when I say I think someone could write a thesis on the social gameplay of Farmville. Maybe they could even get a government grant to study this phenom.
Oh hell no. It was designed that way. They didn’t just get lucky, they deliberately incorporated psychological pressures and incentives into the structure of the game. In addition to Kobal’s link, I’ll add this one, where he talks about how Farmville is basically one big Ponzi scheme. This incorporates social pressure to play, since now you’re “letting down” your social network if you don’t play.
It’s already been studied in other forms. It’s applied psychology based on behavior modification studies. The game itself is just a pixellated wrapping for the Skinner box.
Is there a certain increased appeal in bugging your friends for stuff? For instance, I’d gladly play a lot of Facebook games if it wasn’t for all the “Jragon wants to be neighbors with you! Do you want to give Jragon beans? Give Grankax The Destroyer Oats and get $100!” I always wondered if that was part of the appeal for some people, because it completely turns me off of Facebook games.
I’m not sure it’s “appeal” but rather bugging you friends = advancing faster = bugging more friends = advancing even faster ad nauseum. It’s a competitive game, you know. <sigh>
