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FarmVille is a real-time farm simulation game developed by Zynga, available as an application on the social networking website Facebook. The game allows members of Facebook to manage a virtual farm by planting, growing and harvesting virtual crops, trees, and livestock.Since its launch in June 2009,FarmVille has become the most popular game application on Facebook with 63.7 million active users on November 9th, 2009. FarmVille started as a duplicate of the popular Farm Town on Facebook.

Gameplay

On beginning a farm, the player first creates a customizable avatar.^[6] There are six plots of land, four which are in the process of growing, and two (eggplant and strawberries) which are fully grown.

The game is based around the market, where items can be purchased: seeds, trees, animals, buildings, decorations, vehicles, and more land using "coins," the generic money of Farmville which is earned by selling crops, or "cash" which the player earns at a rate of one dollar per experience level. A player can also choose to buy Farmville coins or cash from Zynga or get free bonuses by completing an offer from an advertiser. The player plants seeds, which grow into crops, which can be harvested to earn coins. Animals and trees can also be purchased and can also be harvested for experience and profits. The player earns experience points (XP) by purchasing items, and regular tasks such as plowing, planting and harvesting. Earning XP increases the player's level, unlocking more items. Most items can be bought with coins, although some must be purchased with "Cash."

Each plot of land costs 15 coins to plow and depending on the crop planted, new seeds can range from 10 to 220 coins. Depending on the plant, growth time can vary from two hours (raspberries) to four days. Each crop sells for a set price, strawberries for 35 coins, pumpkins for 68 coins and so on. If the crop is not harvested within the amount of growing time after it has grown, it will wilt and must be plowed again. For example, pumpkins will grow in 8 hours. If the pumpkins are not harvested within 16 hours of planting them, they will begin to wither and die, and the player will not be able to harvest them for coins or XP.^[7]

As a player progresses, they can expand their farm (for a payment of either coins or cash) to allow for more room for farming, animals, and decorations.

Neighbors and Gifting

Like most Zynga games, FarmVille leverages the social networking aspects of Facebook. Along with their own farm, players can invite their friends to join and be neighbors. Acquiring neighbors has benefits in gameplay — not only can one earn money and experience (by visiting and helping on neighboring farms), but with eight or more neighbors, a player can expand and own more land. Gifts (such as trees, animals, and decorations) can be sent to both confirmed neighbors and any other Facebook friends even if they do not use the application.

When visiting a neighbor, a player may occasionally encounter some pest or nuisance on the farm. By agreeing to help the neighbor, the player earns 20 coins and 5 XP up to a maximum of one time per day for 20 neighbors. The player can also visit additional neighbors and get five coins and one XP. These helping tasks include the cleanup of scattered leaves or weeds, or chasing away crows, gophers, raccoons or foxes from the neighbor's farm.

A newer addition to FarmVille is fertilizer that can be used on a neighbor's crops. When you visit a qualifying neighbor's farm, you are given five bags of fertilizer. Placing each bag gains you four coins and one XP. A new ribbon was introduced as well to keep track of the number of neighbors that one fertilizes. When the crops are fertilized they sparkle and stand out more than regular un-fertilized crops. Additionally, fertilized crops yield one XP when harvested.

Seeds

Seeds can be planted in small plots of land plowed by the player. Different plants take different amounts of time to grow, ranging from two hours to four days. Once fully grown they can be harvested for coins and experience points. Unlike with trees and animals, crops must be harvested within a time limit. This time limit is usually the amount of time it takes for the crop to grow. If not harvested within this time, the crop becomes withered and no coins given to the player.

Trees

Trees are bought and received via gifts. All trees can be harvested and produce various fruits. Unlike "seed" crops, fruit from trees will not wither if not harvested in a set time.

Trees can also be moved around the farm after planting as opposed to plots of land that must be dug up and eliminated if you don't like where you put them.

Animals

Animals can be bought or received via gifts. Most animals can be harvested after a set time and give eggs, milk or other products.

Roaming animals

From time to time animals will roam onto the user's farm. The user can choose to ignore the animal or publish the 'lost animal' on their facebook activity feed, allowing their friends to adopt the animal and use it on their farm. A reward is also given to the original user posting the lost animal.

Buildings

Buildings can be added to the player's farm. Most buildings have no special effects other then to decorate the farm and to gain XP by placing it. Some buildings do have special abilities such as the Dairy Farm or Chicken Coop, which allow players to harvest milk or collect eggs from twenty cows or twenty chickens simultaneously.^[8]

Decorations

Decorations are often small and have no special abilities, and can be placed around the farm. Some objects can be rotated.

Vehicles

Players can also purchase Farm Vehicles to make planting, harvesting and plowing more efficient. The current vehicles that can be purchased from the market are the tractor, the seeder and the harvester. These vehicles make plowing, seeding, and harvesting more efficient by allowing you to plow, seed, and harvest four plots of land at a time instead of one.

When a vehicle's gasoline runs out, a player can either wait for it to refill by itself after a given amount of time, or buy some more using FarmVille cash.

Ribbons

Players are able to earn ribbons (yellow, white, red, and blue) for their efforts in the game by completing certain prerequisites, such as harvesting a certain amount of animals or placing a certain amount of decorations. Every ribbon earned gives the player an award of coins and occasionally a decoration.

A ribbon recently removed encouraged a user to photograph the farms of their neighbors. However, there was no way to track the farms of those you photographed. The ribbon was removed some time in September 2009 without an announcement but people are still able to take photographs of farms for their own reference.