Facebook’s 11 Million Farmers

Had the urge to abandon city life and tend a cornfield instead? Millions of others are getting their agricultural fix on Facebook, thanks to the fast-growing game FarmVille.

FarmVille, which social-gaming company Zynga launched on June 19, is a free Facebook app that lets members grow produce and raise animals. They can harvest fruits and vegetables, collect milk from cows and wool from sheep, and expand their farm by selling the goods. They can help other players’ farms and exchange gifts with them, and enterprising players can get bigger by buying more land for their plots. While there’s no “game over” point, negligent farmers wind up with wilted crops.

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