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.