Harvesting virtual strawberries
If you're a Facebook user, it probably seems that in the past month or so, your news feed has been swamped with updates about people becoming better farmers, finding lost cows and asking to be your "neighbor." What at first seemed like a mild annoyance has now become a fun way to kill time before (or during) work. Don't worry though, you're not alone. FarmVille has officially become an Internet trend to be reckoned with.
According to AppData.com, as of 9/16/09, there are over 43 million active users that have been harvesting, gifting and playing the flash -based game FarmVille. It may also seem so prevalent because that number is up about 24 million from just 30 days ago.
Even more telling about the recent popularity of this game is that 90 days ago, the number of active users was just over 4.6 million. That's a growth of just over 38 million people in 3 months time. So you can relax, you're not going crazy, it really does seem like everyone is playing this game.
Now I may have broken the first rule of FarmVille, which is that you don't talk about FarmVille, but once a co-worker told me that he couldn't grab lunch because he had a crop of rice that was about to wilt, I figured that it was OK. Yes, I have a virtual farm. Yes, I go to my "neighbor's" farm and help rake leaves and chase away crows. No, I don't want you to gift me a mailbox, that thing is really useless.
Any games that you can't get enough of? Is there an emerging Internet trend that you've noticed? If so, let me know! There is no lack of ways to contact me.
kstuef@gmail.com
@KyleStuef
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Kyle Stuef is a marketing consultant who blogs on Internet/technology trends, and being a young professional in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor for The Deuce and AnnArbor.com
Graph Images Courtesy of: AppData.com Famrville Image Courtesy of: Zynga
Comments
Kyle Stuef
Fri, Sep 18, 2009 : 7:01 a.m.
@ Sarah : I am a horrible virtual farmer, and still consider myself a good person. My crop alarm is someone at work who tells me when things are ready to harvest.
Kyle Stuef
Fri, Sep 18, 2009 : 7 a.m.
@ cymk: And after Fish World? Tiger Trainer? Sandwich Shop? What other fake lives can we live?
Kyle Stuef
Fri, Sep 18, 2009 : 6:58 a.m.
@ Angela: I think it comes from the fact that we don't have to be as responsible in virtual world as we do in real life. I know for a fact that I have rice that is wilting right now, for example.
cymk
Thu, Sep 17, 2009 : 8:10 a.m.
Whoalooks like I was a fairly early adopter of Farmville. I've gotten bored with it now. Onward to Fish World!
Sarah Smallwood
Thu, Sep 17, 2009 : 8:05 a.m.
This is one I actually considered using, unlike the Mafia or Vampires or other Warcrafty games. That is, until people couldn't go places because their cows got loose or their coffee crop failed. If I'm going to invite that level of neurosis, I'd rather have an actual harvest of actual plants that I can, y'know, eat. It also filled me with a panic that my virtual farm would not do well, and by extension I would be a bad person. Same reason I never had a gigapet; if I killed it, I would feel irresponsible having children.
Angela Smith
Thu, Sep 17, 2009 : 7:43 a.m.
allright I am big into facebook, but I really just don't get the Farmville thing. Why are my grown-up friends playing with cartoon cows and posting about it incessantly?? Why?