Farmville

(continuing my review of Facebook games)

Farmville is a really bad game. Shockingly bad - especially considering how many people play it (Wikipedia claims 80 million installs).

The game mechanics are very simple, you have a set of land (which gets bigger as you progress) which you can fill with crops, trees, animals, and buildings. Buildings serve no point, except to give you experience points (and look pretty).

There is an interesting trade-off between crops and trees/animals.

Every unit of production has some cost, and produces some experience points and money. Trees and animals produce repeatedly, while crops are one-shot. Also, crops will expire (wither) if they are not gathered after reaching term - while trees and animals will keep indefinitely.

The optimal strategy is to maximize your return in money and experience (money can buy experience) for the land you have, and the time you have. If you can dedicate lots of time, you can make a lot of money and experience very quickly.

Higher levels give access to new crops, etc. but this is of limited effect. You have your spreadsheet of $/hr and xp/hr, grouped into time groups (4 hours, 8 hours, 1 day, etc.). Based on your schedule, you put down some crops. If you aren't sure when you will be back, you can invest more in trees or animals.

At some point they added vehicles, which reduces the tedium of plow/plant/harvest some (a vehicle can do 4 at a time). Not really worth the time, though.