FrontierVille!

My latest addiction is a Facebook Game called Frontierville. It's like Farmville only cuter, faster, more pavlovian. The rewards for my patient clicking come more quickly and do-able tasks pop up one after another, letting me know once again I have done a good job providing for my family on the Frontier. I beleive it was a psychologyofgames.com article that discussed how if we got that kind of guaranteed gratification in life, we wouldn't be playing Farmville so much. I can't wait for the day that shiny .gifs saying "Well Done! Ten Points and a Pig!" come exploding out of my screen when I finish a big spreadsheet.

kekeke

OMG it is so on. Thank you Farmville for kickstarting April Fools!

I was like "OK OMG WTF" when I first saw this pop up:

I was thinking, is Farmville really going THERE now? Would I continue to use it if it did? Of course, but luckily I was not thrown into a moral quandry as it was just an awesome April Fools Day prank. Boosh!

The Zen of Farmville - Your Electric Bonsai

My buddy Ed sent me a link to a funny Kotaku Article about Farmville...it made me laugh, especially the author's description of his farm being a 'pathetic fallacy' (Much like growing plants, it takes a few months to get pimpin...you must bend like the Tall Grass...). Also, until today I'd never read the 'rules' to Farmville, much less the Zynga-reccomended Way.

Well I was aghast. If you play the way the rules would follow to the end of a singular logic chain, I guess you would just want more money and a bigger farm. But that would be the lamest game ever! Gah! No wonder people who are used to the logical rules of a traditional video game don't like it. This is a free for all.

Check out my farm, yo. It's my little country home away from home. I have a ton of decor in storage or sold away because I'm very picky. I also have far less plowed area than I could, because jesus who has time for that? I'd rather jump in my hot rod tractor and plow some corn quickly, then get back to treasure inventory and management. You'll note my gorgeous pink-themed topiary garden, just like the topiary garden I've always dreamed of playing in in real life (probably watched The Shining too often).

You want to keep a Farm that you WANT to come back to every day - a self-sustaining fun farm, not another job. A few weeks back I sold off each but three or four of every tree and animal I had (save for single clicks like my dairy full of cows). Do feel free to run through my topiary maze, I even have a snow blanket I can put over everything to make it more Shining-Like.