socialmedian: Warning over Facebook farm game

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Warning over Facebook farm game

Source: The Guardian

Nov 04, 2009

Summary

Popular Facebook game accused of encouraging young people to spend real money on virtual cash

FarmVille, a free online farm simulation game available through Facebook, has been accused of generating "hundreds of millions of dollars" from unsuspecting players, many of whom are children.

FarmVille has soared in popularity in the UK and US since its launch in June and has 63 million users, many of who are young teenagers. The game, which is the largest on Facebook, allows members to manage a virtual farm by planting, growing and harvesting crops, trees and livestock. According to Zynga, the company which developed the game, users have built more than 40m virtual farms, more than 20 times the number of actual farms in the US, and on an average day purchase 500,000 tractors to till their land.

On the surface, it seems a harmless, even beneficial, game, encouraging social networking, budgeting and planning.

But Michael Arrington, founder of the Techcrunch blog, has criticised Zynga for "monetising" FarmVille. He said it encouraged players to buy in-game currency, Farm

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