Video: How to Play Farmville, the Facebook Farming Game
You know farming has reached faddish proportions when there's a Facebook game devoted to it. Farmville was launched in June but now has nearly 60 million users. It's somewhere between the Sims and Charlotte's Web where players harvest raspberries, pumpkins, and other foods, then sell their bounty for online coins. As this recent New York Times piece points out, more and more people are becoming obsessed with putting on their virtual overalls.
"The game seems to have mesmerized people from all walks of life. Every night for the last two weeks, Jil Wrinkle, a 40-year-old medical transcriber in the Philippines, has set his alarm for 1:30 a.m., when he will wake up, roll over and harvest his blueberries." See how the game works, after the jump.
Farmville, the Facebook Farming Game
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
19 Comments:
Erin:
You should know that I only play Farmville because SeriousEats hasn't created its own online game.
BrianYarvin at 12:16PM on 11/02/09
You should also add that they have a game called Cafe World which is about cooking food and serving it in the same way that you play Farmville.
Its a bit newer but catching on with the same people who play FV.
plazmaorb at 12:27PM on 11/02/09
I've been playing FV for awhile now but I would NEVER set my alarm to get up and pick anything. I do, however, revolve some activities around picking and planting my farm. Thank god my husband is hooked too or he'd think I was nuts!
arm1970 at 12:38PM on 11/02/09
Farmtown is just as bad in term of addictiveness!
Maureen at 12:54PM on 11/02/09
@Maureen - I play that one too. LOL
arm1970 at 1:15PM on 11/02/09
I'm totally addicted to Farmville and Cafe World. I would love to stop playing, but then what would happen to my crops and food??
emgroff at 1:16PM on 11/02/09
Farmville, Farmtown, Cafe World, and Restaurant City have all stolen my soul. I have to play Mafia Wars just to feel normal.
hbomb1013 at 1:32PM on 11/02/09
my sister's obsessed with farmtown.
i don't know how anyone has time for it...far too demanding for me.
gastronomeg at 1:50PM on 11/02/09
i can't fathom having that much free time on my hands.
falnfenix at 2:00PM on 11/02/09
I had to stop playing farmville (I actually blocked the application so I won't be tempted). My farm just got too big and it took to long to harvest, plant, seed, etc.
Café World, on the other hand is AWESOME!
kellybelly223 at 2:27PM on 11/02/09
It's not about having the free time, but making the time to do stuff like this.
I refuse to play any of the games on FB, but I understand how it is. My husband and I used to set our alarms to do stuff on WoW, SWG, and EQ for 10 years. laf
Cassaendra at 2:30PM on 11/02/09
I get these game addictions. One summer, my friend from Hong Kong came to visit, we played all day and all night, changing shifts so we could build the greatest empire the virtual world has ever seen! hahaha those were the days.
catmistress at 3:45PM on 11/02/09
i am all about cafe world!
(the other night my husband called on his way home and asked me what i was doing. i told him there was a few minutes left on my roasted chicken. he was excited that his vegetarian wife was roasting him a chicken. when he got home he couldnt wait to see the chicken. so i showed him the chickens i was roasting in cafe world. he was not happy)
nalega at 4:54PM on 11/02/09
@nalega: ROFL what a tease...
Cassaendra at 7:41PM on 11/02/09
I'm hooked on Farmville and Cafe World. Farmville is a bit time consuming, but once you have things up and running, it really doesn't take all that long, and with both, once you learn 2 basic game cheats, things move along swimmingly. Now if only I could figure out how people much lower than me in ranking at the Cafe have managed to get 20 stoves at a time, my lunchbreak time would be complete. :-)
chisai at 6:07AM on 11/03/09
I need to join a Farmville twelve step program. It's such a time waste. I try to quit but I keep sneaking back to harvest my trees and cows!
Ahem, Chisai...what two basic game cheats?????????
hkydiva at 3:13PM on 11/03/09
@hkydiva - Teleporting and door removal. Makes all the difference. Check out the forums and they'll explain all.
chisai at 4:13PM on 11/03/09
i need a couple more neighbors so i can expand my farm. most of my friends think it's too dumb to waste time on. want to by my neighbor?
nightmoon at 5:47PM on 11/03/09
Love playing farmville, found some nice tips and tricks websites http://www.farmvillegamecheats.com and http://www.farmville-cheat-codes.com
rickyw at 8:32PM on 11/11/09