Why do traditional gamers dislike Farmville?

It's no secret that Farmville is completely dominating gaming right now.  And not just social games, it's the top dog in gaming with over 85 million players logging in monthly.  No one is denying that Farmville (and its developer Zynga) are hugely successful.

However, if you spend much time on gaming blogs such as Kotaku, Joystiq or Massively, you'll notice a general disdain towards not only Farmville, but social games in general.  A post that talks about Farmville is likely to have dozens of negative comments insulting either the game, or the blog post's author.

Why is this?  Why do traditional gamers despise Farmville, and what can be done about it?  Let's take a peek at many of the reasons that hardcore gamers use to backup their  hate for Farmville.

Farmville is Spammy

One of the more common issues that people have with Farmville (and Facebook games in general) stems from the fact that they can be obnoxious on Facebook.  Over time, Facebook has evolved from being a social network to share thoughts and pictures with real life friends and more into a platform for companies to run businesses on.  Facebook actually isn't set up to handle a huge volume of noise from different applications, however, which is why users who have zero interest in Facebook games complain about the unsolicited invites and gifts received.

Luckily, Facebook has  been reacting to this and making gaming on Facebook an enjoyable experience for the people who love these games, while being able to segregate non-Facebook game players from having to see the 'spam'.  Facebook released a new games dashboard that gives players easier access to find new and exciting games.  Notifications will be going away, so you will no longer see an update in the corner of your screen about being hugged by someone or having a friend fertilize your farm.  Invites and gift requests will be moving to their own inbox, enabling people to support and filter them if desired.

It is clear that Facebook is reacting to the customer's complaints about the spamminess of applications.  For the meantime, most games on Facebook use these built in features through the API to connect their games with other potential players.  Is this wrong?  I don't think so - they're using the tools that were created for them.  This will evolve over time to be an experience the appeals to everyone as more and more games and game players emerge.

Farmville isn't fun

For many traditional MMO gamers, they don't find Farmville to be a truly engaging experience.  They don't see the challenge, the excitement, the desire to log in and keep playing.  Many of these players found the obsession with the Sims and its 5 billion expansions to be uninteresting as well.  These same players do, however, find it fun to kill the same types of monsters over and over again to watch their experience go up.  Put it on a farm and put a few hours of delay, and all of a sudden the core gamers are not interested anymore.  Put housing in Everquest 2 and players call it immersive and fun.  However, decorate a farm with unique limited time items and it is no longer a fun game.

Farmville isn't actually aimed at the core gamers.  It's aimed at those with brief periods of time throughout the day to log in now and then.  It's made for the office receptionist who logs in on her lunch break.  It's made for moms, teens, non-gamers, grandmas, housewives, and those with little time on their hands.  It's made for people without beefy computers, with netbooks and mobile phones.  Farmville pulls non-gamers in and does it well.  Most core gamers aren't interested in the same kind of game mechanics as Facebook gamers.  They want their big, expansive MMOs on Facebook (unfortunately, they'd see little success there...since that's not what Facebook game players are looking for).

Farmville isn't pretty

Core gamers are enticed by graphics, deep sound design, high resolution environments.  Farmville is a Flash game filled with pixel art, and most of it doesn't match.  This is unimpressive at first glance to traditional gamers.  Luckily, on Facebook, graphics don't mean much right now.  They're starting to matter more, but the key is 'feedback'.  It doesn't matter how the game looks as long as it causes the same emotions within the brain.  Facebook games are wittled down to the core game without any of the bells and whistles tacked on. 

Farmville isn't a game

Another common complaint is that Farmville isn't a game.  "It isn't fun, it isn't challenging, it isn't immersive, it isn't social."  These are the same people who don't understand that a game is far less than what they're used to.  Bouncing a ball against a wall, is a game.  Having a thumb war is a game.  Clicking the random button on StumbleUpon is a game.  Pulling the slot machine handle and hoping you win is a game. 

A game doesn't need to be social to be a game. The challenge can be minute - so much as choosing the correct crop, coming back at the right time, grinding the levels to unlock new decorations.  One of the more common complaints is that Farmville simply isn't deep enough, but the fact is that games don't have to be deep to be a game.

Farmville is a scam

Anyone who follows tech news is aware of the Zynga offers scam, where many of the 3rd party offers that Zynga were using as a method of payment were actually scamming their users.  This issue has since been resolved (and most of their games no longer allow offers as a form of payment) but traditional gamers have a vendetta against the entire social games genre because of the actions of one developer.  Meanwhile, there are 65+ other social game developers who have over 1 million players each month.
 

Microtransactions are scary business

Facebook games are inherently free-to-play, and companies monetize customers by allowing them to pay real life cash for items, game features, convenience items, avatar customization/clothing, and other decorations and random items.  Paying for items outside of a game subscription is still scary territory for many gamers.  They feel that people are being scammed out of their money, the game companies are being greedy, or that nothing in the game is worth their money.

However, the fact that the game is free to play is a huge bonus for most people.  It means that 90% of people will play for free and get an enjoyable form of entertainment without paying a dime. It also means that 10% of players will be hardcore, dedicated, paying users who support the other 90%.  Core gamers are used to their skill and time spent being the indicators of how 'good they are' in the game, and allowing people to buy items with real life cash that cannot be earned otherwise is threatening to them.  Many people feel these games were made cheaply, stripped down to the barest of components, and then optimized to suck money out of people.  

Luckily, because the monetized items are often luxury, appearance, or decor and are rarely core game mechanics - it is quite easy to avoid paying money if you are uninterested in supporting the developer.  Through viral features such as wall posting, inviting friends, and sending gifts - chances are you will invite at least one person that will pay for themselves, you, and 10 of your friends. 

There are many more reasons why Farmville doesn't appeal to people who typically call themselves 'gamers'.  Compared to traditional games, Facebook games are simplistic, almost childish in art style, relatively shallow, not too difficult to master, and not "cool" to play or talk about.  None of this changes the fact that there are tens of millions of players enjoying them every day.  Facebook is now a gaming platform in addition to a social network and business tool.  It is one of the largest gaming platforms out there right now.  These games are a huge amount of fun to the players who enjoy them, and they are gamers too. 

There are many different genres of gaming, and they can all co-exist quite nicely.  For some reasons, MMO and console gamers love to insult Farmville and games of that nature in an almost-defensive sort of way.  It's almost as if social games threaten their identity as gamers, or bring other people into their exclusive no-moms-allowed club.  It's perfectly fine to not enjoy the game or not have fun with it, but the arrogance in posts lately from gamers who have nothing to do with social games is quite rampant lately.

Dislike Farmville for another reason?  Comment here and let me know!

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