Thinking of all my hardworking ancestors toiling away on family farms, trying to provide enough food for their sprawling German- and Irish-Catholic families makes me wonder: What would they think of an immensely popular game about farming where players can risk virtual cows for cash? Zynga, the makers of popular online game FarmVille, is taking the next step in gaming by applying for a license to gamble in Nevada. [More]
farmville
Zynga-Branded AmEx Prepaid Card Lets You Earn FarmVille Cash In The Real World
By 5.22.12
This site does not, in general, approve of Zynga’s freemium addiction-based gaming model or fee-laden prepaid debit cards. So we are amused and slightly dismayed to bring you the news that AmEx and Zynga have teamed up to bring a Farmville points rewards card into the world. Fill up your card, spend the money, earn points to buy in-game stuff. How could this product possibly go wrong? [More]
FarmVille, CityVille Are Bigger Than Madden, Halo
By 2.4.11
Hardcore gamers my scoff at free-to-play Facebook games such as Zynga’s FarmVille and CityVille, but the social games have proven to be more popular and lucrative than most major video game titles, according to estimates from IGN. [More]
Game Developer Says Farmville Is Designed To Be "Negative" And "Draining"
By 12.9.10
So-called social network games like Farmville and Mafia Wars are intentionally designed to not be fun and cause you anxiety, says a well-respected game developer. [More]
Advertisers Want To Manipulate Minds Via Social Gaming
By 12.6.10
Social games such as Farmville and its ilk suck in loyal, engaged followers, making advertisers salivate. [More]
30 Million Farmville Users Get Lives, Stop Playing
By 11.24.10
After a 15-month reign of inexplicable Facebook domination, Farmville has ceded its crown to Phrases, a quote, image and quiz-posting app. [More]
Mom Kills Baby For Interrupting Farmville Session
By 10.29.10
Parenting and computer game obsessions don’t mix. News of unspeakably sad proof of this came from Jacksonville, where a mother has pleaded guilty to murdering her baby, who wouldn’t stop crying as she played Farmville. [More]
Congressmen Demand Answers On Facebook Privacy Issues
By 10.19.10
It’s always nice when a Democrat from Massachusetts and a Republican from Texas can work together, though Facebook bigwig Mark Zuckerberg might disagree. The website’s CEO finds himself being asked to answer some tough questions from a pair of Congressmen from those two states. [More]
Report: All Top 10 Facebook Apps Leaking Personal Information
By 10.18.10
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, a large number of the most popular applications on Facebook — including all of the 10 most popular apps — have been improperly transmitting user info, including names and possibly names of friends to advertising and internet tracking companies. [More]
Target Sells Facebook Gift Cards
By 9.2.10
This holiday season, give the gift of Mafia Wars addiction with Facebook gift cards from Target. [More]
This Is Your Brain On Farmville
By 8.30.10
“I justify this as being my only source of entertainment, and I’m forgoing movies and dinners out, so it’s OK,” one Farmville addict told Cnet. Frugality, or self-deluded rationalization? [More]
Woman Quits Job By Outing Boss's Farmville Addiction To Staff
By 8.10.10
UPDATE: It appears that this was all a hoax perpetrated by the editors over at thechive.com. [More]
Tragedy Strikes: Facebook And Farmville Make Nice
By 5.19.10
Facebook and Farmville and Mafia Wars-makers Zynga were bickering over in-game currency and the social network took a stand that hampered the game publisher’s ability to advertise through pseudo-updated on the site, causing the games to lose millions of players. [More]
Kid Racks Up $1,400 In Farmville After Stealing Mom's Credit Card
By 4.8.10
A 12-year-old kid is probably getting his crops slashed and burned by his mum after he racked up $1,400 in Farmville purchases, draining his own savings and running up charges on her credit card. [More]
Mafia Wars CEO Brags About Scamming Users From Day One
By 11.9.09
From the beginning, the profitability and viability of popular Facebook social networking games Mafia Wars and Farmville were predicated on the backs of scams, boasts Zynga CEO Mark Pincus in this video. “I did every horrible thing in the book just to get revenues,” he crows in the clip to a gathered bunch of fellow scumbag app developers.
