Farmville Message Board older than one year ago

#friendorfarmvillain Certainly. More »

#video Sex slavery, human trafficking, detention camps: The next big Facebook game forgoes farming and city building to explore concepts of universal human rights, violence against women and a future America stripped of civil liberties. More »

"...we used to give people 10 horseshoes when they start the game - then we did a little test of, 'Well, what if we gave 15?' We thought that maybe the would help them get over the hump of building the cabin because we noticed that people who make it to finishing the cabin were more likely to stick and keep coming back. We tried 15 horseshoes and sure enough we had a substantial uptick in early retention - in people getting to the cabin and therefore sticking as players. In that way, essentially, it made the game more fun." — That's the lead creator of FrontierVille, Brian Reynolds, telling Industry Gamers why caring about the metrics of how people play their games is a plus, not some anti-fun, accounting-as-game-design misery. More »

#farmville Hey, Farmville fans. When you log on and plant seeds, you're not actually enjoying a game. You're stuck in what's called the "Sunk Cost Fallacy". More »

Ex-Tecmo Koei head Kenji Matsubara is sheathing his sword on console gaming and headed for FarmVille, as the Japanese executive has been announced as the new CEO of Zynga Japan. After stepping down from Tecmo late last year citing "personal reasons," the Japanese game industry vet had yet to reveal his plans ... until Zynga Japan's announcement this week.

"I am very pleased with the inauguration of Kenji Matsubara and his talent," current Zynga Japan head Robert Goldberg said in the company's press release. Goldberg will stay on as CEO until May 9, when Matsubara will be passed the company torch -- Goldberg will then take up a consulting role to the new CEO. And yes, as far as we can tell, that is kind of like getting paid the same to do less and have less responsibility. Hats off to you, Mr. Goldberg!

Being enormous fame monsters ourselves, we really appreciate it when others like us -- say, Lady Gaga -- use their monstrous fame for good. Which is exactly why we were so glad to see Ms. Gaga's massive $1.5 million contribution to Zynga's continued Japan relief efforts, half of which joined Zynga's donation, adding to the $2.5 million already raised in the past two weeks by the company's Facebook games. That brings Zynga's grand total in donation to just over $3 million.

"I'm inspired that my little monsters banded together to help those affected by the terrible tragedy," Gaga colorfully noted. The money she raised came from the sale of $5 "We Pray for Japan" bracelets that her fans bought, with all proceeds going to charity. "What Zynga's players have done for the cause is equally inspiring, and I'm thrilled to partner with them to raise money that will go to Save the Children and the American Red Cross," she added. You can donate directly by heading to SaveTheChildren.org or RedCross.org.

#expansionism How do you expand a farming game played by more than 44 million people a month? You give them another farm. FarmVille English Countryside expansion gives FarmVille players a whole new row to hoe. More »

Zynga, the developers of games like FarmVille, have launched a new virtual currency. Surprisingly, they're not called CashVilles. They're called zCoins. More »

#facebook FarmVille players in China have access to some incredibly bizarre vegetation. Take the "Watermelon Baby," for example, a Chinese exclusive crop that bursts forth with a pink, fruity fetal-thing that demands a player's attention. More »

Get this. Zynga, the company behind social games like FarmVille and CityVille, has an estimated worth of between seven and nine BILLION DOLLARS. Or, as they would call it, CashVille. More »

#social If you've ever felt like comparing how much money a "traditional" video game makes as opposed to how much a Facebook game makes, check out this chart. It makes for interesting/depressing reading. More »

#crime British hacker Ashley Mitchell thought it would be a hoot to steal $12 million from Zynga, the creators of Facebook games like Farmville and Cityville. And it would have been! If he hadn't been caught. More »

There's an immense power struggle happening right now, in the deep, deep folds of the social gaming universe -- a struggle over ownership of an extremely lucrative word fragment. Zynga recently sent a cease and desist letter to Blingville LLC, the creators of an upcoming Facebook game that shares the name of their company. According to Zynga, the use of "ville" in the game and company's moniker infringes on its own collection of social gaming trademarks.

Blingville, not a-feared of Zynga's assumedly massive litigatory army, has filed a letter to the West Virginia U.S. District Court, seeking a declaration from the court that their game doesn't actually infringe on Zynga's trademarks. The studio also hopes to have Zynga foot the bill for any legal fees potentially accrued during a legal battle. We'll keep you updated on how this turns out -- but until it gets settled, we'd suggest developers and city planners alike avoid using the suffix. (Hear that, Louisville? You're officially on notice.)

The people who make FarmVille and CItyVille (Zynga) now own the people who make Drop 7 (Area/Code). The result: Area/Code is now Zynga New York and the game-design credentials of Zynga just got another upgrade. More »

#deadrising2casewest Blood spattered across his pants and canary yellow racing jacket, Chuck Greene stands uncomfortably in front of the bathroom stall. More »

Much like the offspring of real-life rural families yearn for a slice of that big city livin', the world of Zynga's Facebook-based social game CityVille has passed up the monthly active user count posted by former genre leader, FarmVille. In December -- the game's release month, no less -- the urban development sim pulled in 84.2 million active users, slightly edging out FarmVille's record of 83.7 million users set in March 2010.

However, CityVille hasn't had the daily active user retention that FarmVille managed to maintain at the height of its popularity. At the end of its release month, CityVille was pulling in around 20 percent of its monthly user base every day, slightly less than the 30 percent DAU retention FarmVille regularly boasts. Then again, is it that surprising that country folk are more dependable than city slickers? They clean up animal excrement like, every day, and they never even complain.

#guide With about 68 million players worldwide, Cityville blends the best of Sim City and FarmVille into a Zynga Facebook game that actually plays like a game. Kotaku went straight to Zynga's CityVille team for some tips and tricks on how to turn your one-horse town into a bustling metropolis. More »

#screengrab By Virtual Shackles, via Gizmodo. More »

#iphone Zynga, the social games powerhouse behind games like Farmville, made a significant purchase today, scooping up Newtoy, the developers of super-popular iPhone game Words With Friends. More »

Zynga, the company behind FarmVille and the brand-new CityVille loved the company Newtoy so much that they said today that they've bought them. Newtoy? They make Words With Friends, just about the best game on iPad. More »

#zynga Social gaming smash hit FarmVille officially goes to Japan, signing on with the country's biggest social network, mixi, and resulting in the best Zynga photo op possible. Over there, they call it FarmVillage and telecom powerhouse SoftBank is helping to spread the cow-clicking obsession. [GameWatch] More »

#legal Zynga, makers of Farm- Frontier- and all things -ville on Facebook, slapped Disney with a lawsuit after it acquired social games competitor Playdom and, Zynga alleges, hired off ex-Zynga workers to learn its "secret sauce." The matter is now settled. More »

Zynga and Disney-owned Playdom have reportedly reached a settlement in their 2009 legal dispute over an alleged conspiracy by Playdom to hire Zynga employees and retrieve Zynga's "playbook" -- a book Zynga described as "the company's key and collective efforts to develop and fit games to the social networking platform in the most successful manner ... It is a 'how-to' manual that belongs to Zynga." Next-Gen.biz confirmed the settlement with Zynga, though neither Disney nor Zynga provided details of the arrangement.

Zynga did, however, issue a statement stating that it's "extremely pleased with the final resolution of its trade secret suit against Playdom and various individuals." The company added, "The settlement reflects the very serious nature of the conduct involved, as reflected by the preliminary injunction, restraining orders, and contempt order issued by the Santa Clara Superior Court. We have great respect for Disney and are thankful that following its acquisition of Playdom, Disney resolved the matter to our satisfaction." We have to imagine Disney sent over at least five or six Mickey Mouse hats to really seal the deal.

#facebook It's finally happened. After an amazing fifteen months spent atop the Facebook application charts, Zynga's Farmville has been knocked off its perch. More »

#clips A life well lived is a life well documented on Facebook, it seems. More »

#freegaming You spent enough money on that shiny new iPad. You shouldn't have to pay for games as well. Here's a selection of the finest free iPad gaming has to offer. More »

#zynga Tomorrow all 17 million plus players of Zynga's Facebook game FarmVille will be getting a new neighbor: The villainous star of DreamWorks Animation's Megamind, opening in theaters this Friday. More »

#crime A 22 year-old woman from Jacksonsville, Florida has pleaded guilty to killing her baby son over a game of...Farmville. More »

We can't help but be kept awake at night, a constant state of worry hanging over our heads, wondering whether Zynga is financially surpassing the EAs and Activisions of the world. According to a Business Week report, it seems that Zynga recently did just that -- finally -- with SharesPost Inc. reporting Zynga's stock value at $5.51 billion, a full $29 million above EA's NASDAQ valuation of $5.22 billion.

ThinkEquity LLC analyst Atul Bagga told BW that Zynga's valuation "is not that crazy, given what's going on in the market," noting that growth prospects over the next three years help add value to the still nascent social game company. Bagga estimates Zynga's virtual goods profits will rise from approximately $1.6 billion this year to $3.6 billion by 2013, making Zynga a riskier, but potentially more lucrative investment. That is, of course, if people keep buying ... whatever it is they buy in Facebook games.

#guesteditorial For PC Gaming Week, Kotaku has invited top people in video games to share their vision for the future of computer gaming. First up, Mark Skaggs, the man at social gaming juggernaut Zynga who led the creation of arguably the hottest PC game going: FarmVille. More »