I have been writing for Co-Optimus for over three years now. In that time, I have played many, many games. Some I would have played anyway (Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2), some I picked up in order to play for community nights (Gears of War 2, though I ended up loving the series), and others I only played because I saw the need for a review (Watchmen: The End Is Nigh). Many games in this latter category simply are not very good, and I would have abandoned them had it not been my assignment to complete a review. Sometimes, I just slog through it, and take one for the team, in order to serve the needs of Co-Optimus readers.
When I heard that the ubiquitous Facebook pastime FarmVille added in a co-op mode, though, I drew the line. There are just some things even the most loyal of editors will not do. I am not a hardcore gamer by any means, but I certainly looked down my nose at FarmVille players. They spammed my Facebook feeds, clogged my inbox with requests for rare seeds, and no, I certainly did NOT want to adopt a chocolate cow, thank you very much.
For many months, my mother had been encouraging me to check the game out. "Oh come on, Mom, it's not really a game at all! It's just an annoying Flash clickfest," I would argue. After all, I was busy playing real games. Who had time for such a worthless time sink? Eventually, though, my resolve faded. I was curious about the co-op, naturally, and I did enjoy games like Viva Pinata... maybe FarmVille would be tolerable. The most compelling reason was I felt I could write great article from the experience. I speculated that this article would be extremely negative, making fun of the entire FarmVille scheme, naturally.
But it turns out, FarmVille isn't quite as bad as I thought. It shares many qualities with successful MMOs like World of Warcraft. Most surprising to me, though, was the fact that the cooperative elements were really quite strong. So here it is, dear reader, an account of my FarmVille experiences, as seen through the eyes of a veteran gamer.
Over lunch one day, my mother gave me the low down on tactics and strategies. She told me the best way to gain experience was to plant crops that could be harvested quickly. Strawberries were a good start, but only if I could harvest within eight hours before they withered. Yes, even from the starting line, you feel a strong compulsion to plan your day around your farm. It's a winning formula, reminiscient of Pokemon, where certain critters can only be caught at certain times of day.
As soon as I committed to playing FarmVille, Mom began sending me a steady stream of gifts. She sent all manner of special deliveries, fuel, and other more obscure items that I had no earthly clue what to do with. At first I planted everything she sent, but she performed a very motherly, loving version of a facepalm and told me the best thing to do was sell them for coins, which could be used to purchase more efficient plants. Efficiency is an important part of the game. I would be lying, friends, if I didn't point out the parallels to the min-maxing and optimized builds I had spent time researching in EverQuest, WoW, and countless other RPGs throughout my gaming life.
I gained a couple levels, on my quest to reach level 20, where I could then participate in a co-op farm. At this point, everytime I logged in to Facebook, I was greeted by friend requests from people I had never heard of before. Who were these strangers, and why were they interested in me? They were my mom's FarmVille friends, of course. I was like a new convert who is then watched over by the more established members of the congregation; in this case, folks from all over the world with level 90+ farms were sending me rare goods that it would take me months to find on my own. My mind was boggled: I was being power levelled by my mom's associates. Again, something I had done for others in countless games before.
Greedy with my unearned gains, I maximized my farm in order to gain experience as fast as I possibly could. Every time I logged in, expert farmers would send me new goodies, sometimes even showing up on my farm to fertilize my crops, harvest for me, once even restoring my crops with scarce unwither spray. It was, in a word, glorious. I truly felt like I was part of a team, and we were all working together to level me up.
At this point, FarmVille took a more sinister turn. You see, while my mother's peeps were regularly visiting my farm, I wasn't exactly reciprocating the gesture. I didn't think much of it, especially since I was such a newbie. Why did they need my help? This... displeased my mother. She informed me that being a member of the group held certain responsibilities, and I needed to do my part to help out. She didn't come right out and say it, but the threat was there. These people could stop being my neighbors, and that, my friends, was a BAD THING.
I felt as if I was in a mobster movie, and my mother was the Godfather. "Don't disappoint the family, son," she seemed to be saying, "or you may end up swimming with the fishes." I was terrified; I was in my mid-teens now, my goal so close. I didn't want to jeopardize my chance at being in a co-op, so I stepped it up a notch. I visited all my neighbor's farms, sent special deliveries, and pretty much anything else I could think of to regain standing in "the family".
At long last, I reached level 20. Now, I could participate in a co-op. These worked like special orders, where two or more FarmVille players raised certain crops in order to meet a quota in a given time. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were one early co-op job. I raised the strawberries, my mother the peanuts, and other mafioso.. er... "friends" handled the wheat for the bread. Like a well oiled machine, we raised the proper ingredients in plenty of time, and scored coins and valuable fuel for our efforts
Now that my goal had been reached, my interest in the game waned drastically. Sure, there were more and bigger things to work towards, but I had had enough. I saw the signs, and knew the writing was on the wall. The newness had worn off, and my Xbox 360 and PS3 beckoned me back. I let my crops wither, dug them up, and left the ground a muddy mess. My cows were not milked, and my sheep were not shorn. The constant stream of FarmVille requests didn't stop, though I just ignored them.
I was really quite shocked at the quality of FarmVille. I felt many of the same urges that kept me playing World of Warcraft and other similar games for so long. The social elements, the desire to keep up with the rest of your group, and the feeling of ownership were very powerful. It really does scratch the same itch, as preposterous as that may sound to a hardcore gamer. FarmVille is my mother's MMO, and there is nothing wrong with that. She has her shovels and tractors, and I have my swords and spellbooks. I might need to find a scroll of water breathing, though; I haven't logged in to FarmVille for months, and I suspect I might get tossed off a pier wearing concrete shoes sometime in the near future.