Facebook games - a student newscast

Another group created a newscast about facebook games



Here are their show notes
Show Notes for Facebook Games!
Group Members:
 Sarah Lounsbury
 Colleen Muldowney
 Dave Zhao
Introduction (Approximately a minute long – gives the audience a general idea of what topic we will be discussing) (News Anchors: Colleen and Sarah)
“According to Nielsen NewView numbers for September, people spent an average of 5 hours and 46 minutes on Facebook. That is three times the amount spent on Google!”
Recently, gaming on social networks has become a very popular activity for the young and old alike.
Currently, Farmville is the top ranked game (with the most players) on Facebook. The top games in order of ranking are: Farmville, Mafia Wars, Farmtown, Pet Society, YoVille, TexasHoldEmPoker, Restaurant City, Mind Jolt Games, Farkle, and Bejeweled Blitz.
Farmville has 51.5 million users; Mafia Wars has approximate 22 million users; Farmtown has approximately 19 million users.
To attempt and get an idea of what all this hype was about, we created a blog and asked current Farmville players three questions: What they like about this game? How did they get involved in this game? What is their present level?
We will now cut over to Dave Zhao at the news desk to tell you a little background information on the Facebook game, Farmville.
Facebook Games: Background of Farmville (News Anchor: Dave)
Facebook has become one of the most popular social networking sites to date. And with the popularity, comes an innumerable amount of games. Millions of users log on in order to play these highly addictive games. One of the current most popular games happens to be made by a company known as Zynga. Zynga, founded by Mark Pincus, is the known creator of games such as Farmville. Farmville, a role-playing farm simulator, allows players to take to the fields and manage crops, livestock, and other farm related tasks. Gamers receive experience and wealth through successfully harvesting their crops, and over time, increase their overall experience level. As they increase in levels, players unlock a greater range of crops, livestock, and many other farm materials. Such simulators however, employ time-based systems. For instance, Farmers must wait anywhere from hours to days in order for their crops to be harvested correctly. This common “real-time” quality of Facebook games compels players to take a break, leaving players wanting more. Now I’m going to send it back over to Sarah who will discuss some of the first-hand accounts of Farmville users.


Opinions from real Farmville players off the forum we started (New Anchor Voice: Sarah) (Pictures of our neighbors farm’s on Facebook will scroll on the screen while Sarah reads some comments)
Hoosiermama63 – “Very cool project you've decided on! I'm currently level 34 and still enjoying every minute of my time spent playing this game. I got started playing when one of my FB friends sent me an invite, and became addicted quickly! My farm is my Happy Place. I love the quiet time I spend on here just doing my planting/harvesting/plowing. I enjoy getting ideas from other farmers on this forum and incorporating them in my version, on my farm. This is my little space on the web, away from the sometimes loud, oftentimes distracting hustle and bustle of everyday living.”
KeyboardWarrior – “Yea.. considering IPod takes 3 years to have a market share of 50million.. Facebook took 2 years. Farmville? In just about 3 months.”
BigMonster – (Reponding the question: What is your current level?) “35, and is the king in my office of 800 co workers, about 20% play the game and I love to brag about my achievements with co workers.”
Aiona – “it's also remarkably social. i have met tons of really cool people from all over the world through this game. i LOVE that. i also find myself keeping in better contact with my real life friends and family because of the time i spend on facebook playing farmville.”
Miss Molly – “I started playing several months ago. This is the first and only game I play. I am level 38. Reason I love it: No shooting and killing. Meet new friends and neighbors all over the world. I was introduced to the game by my children.”
Conclusion (Back to Sarah and Colleen)
We are about out of time but we thank you for tuning in. If you would like to read more comments from Farmville players please visit the link on your screen! (HYPERLINK "http://forums.zynga.com/showthread.php?t=223377"http://forums.zynga.com/showthread.php?t=223377) Have a good night.
Material that we researched but got cut out of the actual video footage:
Facebook has become one of the most popular social networking sites to date. And with the popularity, comes an innumerable amount of games. Millions of users log on in order to play these highly addictive games. Two of the current most popular games happen to be made by a company known as Zynga. Zynga, founded by Mark Pincus, is the known creator of games such as Farmville and Mafia Wars games. Farmville, a role-playing farm simulator, allows players to take to the fields and manage crops, livestock, and other farm related tasks. Gamers receive experience and wealth through successfully harvesting their crops, and over time, increase their overall experience level. As they increase in levels, players unlock a greater range of crops, livestock, and many other farm materials. Similarly, Mafia Wars parallels the life of a mobster, as players complete tasks such as robbing a warehouse and mugging. Mobsters gain levels by completing these, and other tasks, while also being able to battle other players. Weapons and getaway vehicles are among a few of the many items players can purchase as they progress through the game. Both of these simulators however, employ time-based systems. For instance, Farmers must wait anywhere from hours to days in order for their crops to be harvested correctly. Likewise, in order to complete jobs, mobsters in Mafia Wars must meet the required energy amount. Players recover energy gradually with time. This common “real-time” quality of Facebook games compels players to take a break, leaving players wanting more.
Some Facebook games come from board game type games (Simon, Uno)
Some games take off of the other games like Super Paper Pong, Crazy Taxi, and Snake
There are Facebook game groups
The games are FREE!
The games are very social and you can challenge your friends/family
Some of them encourage you to add news friends
Some will give you frequent updates and ask you come back and play the game again
The games try to put “advertisements and achievements” on your wall
Some of the games, like Farmville, even involve real money!
References:
HYPERLINK "http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/arts/television/11facebook.html"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/arts/television/11facebook.html
HYPERLINK "http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25521"http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25521
HYPERLINK "http://www.urlesque.com/2009/10/02/7-addictive-facebook-games/"http://www.urlesque.com/2009/10/02/7-addictive-facebook-games/
HYPERLINK "http://www.zynga.com/about/"http://www.zynga.com/about/
HYPERLINK "http://forums.zynga.com/showthread.php?t=223377"http://forums.zynga.com/showthread.php?t=223377  This is a post that we created for this project. If you read the first comment it will explain what information we asked players for.
HYPERLINK "http://www.facebook.com"http://www.facebook.com