Lessons from FarmVille
Posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 22:54.
Zynga’s FarmVille has attracted over 44 million monthly active users on Facebook. After seeing it dominate my news feed for months, I finally started playing FarmVille in August. It’s addictive and makes great use of the Facebook Platform, even if Zynga allegedly ripped off the idea. Here are some of my observations that all Facebook App developers should consider if they want to make an addictive viral game.
Promote Activity
- Have lots of quick, little tasks to do that must be done as a process on a recurring basis for easy and frequent play.
- Tease and gradually unlock desirable virtual goods and features only through continued play.
- Require follow up sessions to be rewarded for action in current session (e.g. you must return to harvest your newly planted crops). Negate previous activity if player does not return soon enough (e.g. crops die if not harvested). Set the minimum maturation time to four hours to force another session.
- Give random rewards just for logging in each day.
- Rate of progress increases as capacity to do more in the game increases. Gradually increase the progress required between levels to increase difficulty as players advance and reward early progress frequently.
Promote Strategy
- Provide multiple metrics for progress (e.g. experience, coins, cash).
- Reward accumulations of various activities to generate additional rewards worth sharing in a news feed story (e.g. ribbons).
- On actions that require follow up sessions, provide varying maturation times so that players can schedule appropriately.
Promote Player to Player Interaction
- Provide excuses to explore other users’ creations, such as inspiration for one’s own creation and as a method to earn currency and experience points.
- Make application invitations and notifications meaningful to game play.
- Gift giving at no expense to the player promotes sense of generosity while promoting reciprocity which creates additional engagement. Unlocking gifts available to be given as a progress rewards is a way for a user to brag about achievement.
Promote Virtual Currency Spending
- Provide premium methods to do tedious tasks (e.g. tractor, harvester).
- Make some virtual goods only available through a separate paid currency.
- Engage real world preferences by allowing players to make purchase decisions that reflect personal preference more than strategic benefit (e.g. certain crops are barely profitable but might be more desirable on an emotional level).
Header: Screenshot of Zynga FarmVille. Their copyright.
