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The Sims Social: Facebook Application
by mattconnect
So The Sims Social Facebook application has just gone into beta status as of last week and a few days ago, I finally got myself into the game and I can safely say, I'm hooked! The Sims Social already has over 3 million users (and rising), and will definitely be a contender to other games such as Farmville.
The premise of the ... game is very much like any Facebook game and very much like any Sims game. Instead of trading cows and sheep, this is a far more social game, based on real life actions. You start off designing your character or persona by customising their hairstyle, facial features and clothes, choose their trait, before being moved into your virtual house.
After a brief under-five minute tutorial with your new computer-based neighbour Bella, you are free to do whatever you want, guided by 'neighbours' who appear as icons on the left side of the screen, who give you tasks to do in exchange for rewards, experience and 'lifetime achievement points'.
Tasks include working on skills (cooking, painting, writing, playing musical instrument), interacting with neighbours (such as doing mean actions, gossiping, requesting items) and doing remedial tasks such as cutting grass, repairing objects or other household chores.
Experience allows you to level up and unlock objects. Physical rewards include certain items needed to progress the game and household objects. Lifetime achievement points can be used to purchase traits, such as 'Ninja' which allow you to teleport, Insane, Ogre and Great Kisser. I'll let you figure those out for yourself ;)
As with any Facebook game, Sims Social will constantly require you to annoy your friends by asking them to help you with many tasks. In order to build furniture, level up skills and even pass certain tasks, certain objects are unobtainable by just playing. In order to obtain them, you must send your friends notifications asking them to send it to you, which in turn requires them to play.
This I find truly annoying as my Facebook philosophy is that I don't bug people with these games having been bugged by the numberous Farmville requests (which I've not blocked) so to be forced to publish something on my wall in order to proceed the game is just unforgivable!
However, there is a shortcut to doing all this, why it's the sneaky Simcash! Using Simcash allows you to bypass any task and purchase rare, beautiful objects and clothes. But it comes at a cost, a cost that applies to you in real life, yes, I'm talking about real money.
At the heart of any Facebook game is their way of making money, and whilst I don't condemn them for doing it (they make A LOT OF MONEY from casual gamers), it really bugs me that players who aren't willing to pay do not get the full experience, or rather, miss out on the 'best' items.
What I like about the game is that it is essentially a stripped down version of 'The Sims'. I love designing and decorating my house. That is perhaps the primary reason for me to play, earning money and buying new stuff for it. Another thing I love about the Sims which is transferred to the Facebook version is the hilarious interactions.
In Sim Social, you can do both friendly and cruel actions, such as place dirty underwear in friends' drawers, place whoopee cushions on their couches, rearrange their keyboard. At the other end of the spectrum, you can make you and your friends' sims become best friends or even lovers! Now the repercussions of that in real life, I'm yet to be able to report on.
Unfortunately, as with all Facebook games, it is pretty much a complete waste of time and after a few months of playing, you soon realise how much time you've wasted on it, or sometimes meet goals you cannot complete without paying and give up, rendering your efforts obsolete. If only I had a better computer and can play on the ACTUAL Sims 3 game...
At the time of writing, I'm at level 18 and I've completed lots of tasks and there's still more coming. The items in the catalog that are yet to be unlocked go up to Level 32 or so, so I'm pretty much going to be swamped with things to do until I reach that level, and for all I know, it'll be out of beta stage by then and more objects/items/tasks will be regularly added! Make sure you check it out!!
UPDATE: I'm currently at level 31 and have completed all the tasks, so upgrading my house like mad. The game is now out of the beta stage, but encountering lots of loading glitches, though they are quickly being resolved.
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FarmVille - Facebook Application
by holz1
I'd heard about Farmville before I joined facebook. Some of my friends used it and said they really enjoyed it. So after joining FB I decided to see what Farmville was all about.
Your avatar farmer can be customised by choosing a gender, changing the facial features and choosing clothes.
You start off with 6 plots ... of land, some coins and 5 FV dollars. You have to plough these plots, plant seeds then harvest. You choose seeds from the market. Each has varying levels of cost, what they sell for, XP (Experience Points) and the length of time needed to grow. There are lots of different things to plant. There are fruits, vegetables, grains, flowers and other stuff to choose from. If you fail to harvest the crops when they are ready they can become withered and so you lose out on any profit from these.
Once you reach level 10 you then start earned mastery points for crops and trees. Each has 3 levels of mastery and each time a level is achieved you're given coins and XP. When the mastery is completed you get a mastery sign for that crop or tree and it can sometimes unlock other seeds. You have the chance to expand your farm. You can do so if you have a certain amount of neighbours or you can use FV dollars. Obviously the bigger the farm the more you can earn and the quicker you go up through the levels.
Each time you harvest your crops you earn coins and XP. Increasing your XP helps towards reaching the next level. When a new level is reached you are awarded 1 FV dollar. Each time you harvest your crops this gives more coins which means you can add more plots to enable you to produce more crops which in turn gives more coins and XP.
You can purchase vehicles like a tractor, seeder, harvester or a combine. These are essential once your farm really expands as it makes it so much easier and quicker to plough, plant and harvest crops. Obviously these vehicles required fuel though. This can be bought for FV dollars but it's very pricy. The best way to get this is to place a crafting building on your farm. You can choose from winery, spa or a bakery. Bushels are used from your harvested crops to make the goods for the crafting building. Once the goods are ready these you get to keep on and the others are on sale to friends. You exchange these goods for fuel. The higher you go up the levels on the goods the more fuel they can be exchanged for.
Once you've been playing a little while you can then start to add stuff to your land such as a chicken coop, dairy farm, nursery barn, horse stable, pig pen, turkey roost, sheep pen etc. You can have lots of different trees that can be harvested for coins and mastery points. Also you can choose from many different animals such as sheep, horses, pigs, turkeys, hens, cows, cats, squirrels, bears, pheasants, rabbits, bees, deer, dogs, goats, llamas. Lots of decorations are available from the market, things like cottages, plant pots, flags, barns, vehicles, duck pond.
Collections can be completed by finding things around your farm whilst harvesting. Once all items of a collection have been found this collection can be redeemed for a reward. This could be an animal, fuel, coins and XP, decorations etc.
When you harvest the stables you may get a pony. One is kept for yourself and you can share this among friends if you like. The same thing happens with the dairy farm, when harvested you may get a calf. Ponies and calf's can then be put in the nursery barn where they will grow to become adult cows or horses.
Many of the things in the market cost a lot of FV dollars and really I don't think these are obtainable unless you're willing to actually spend cash on this game. Coins and FV dollars can be purchased via credit card, PayPal ect. A tab at the top of the app allows players to do this.
You can visit you neighbours farms to fertilise their crops, feed the chickens, harvest trees and animals. For doing this you are rewarded with some coins and XP. You may find an egg when feeding the chickens; this can be shared with friends if you wish. You can send your friends gifts such as animals, trees, decorations ect.
This is a fun game but can get a bit addictive and sometimes even competitive. It has millions of players worldwide.
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