Cyber Farming

Cyber Farming

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Love harvesting crops and owning animated livestock? FarmVille by Zynga has garnered 400 million users and is one of the social game developer's most popular titles. Soon, virtual farmers will be able to take their homestead on the go with FarmVille 2: Country Escape.

The mobile version of Farmville's sequel connects Web and mobile experiences to provide online and offline play. It also boasts Social Control options that let users choose how to socialize—on their own or with friends. And with new technology and intuitive controls, the game responds and learns as you progress. Here's Dave Gray with Zynga: "I really do hope that it does inspire more thought about farming. A lot of people that I speak with in my personal life that have played Farmville are asking more questions about farming. We've heard a lot of positive things from people that, while we are a fantasy game, and pumpkins don't grow in 8 hours in real life, it still invokes an emotion that farming is fun, farming is important." Even real farmers like it. 31-year-old producer Darin Doehring started playing months ago while he was waiting out sogginess that hampered harvesting of his 2,000 acres of real corn

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