A Very Social Game

Farmville and Me!

Well I have to say that I really love Farmville….I love the fact that everyone enjoys the same access to the various accoutrement of farming – from the sweet little green sheep to the nursery barn for the baby animals. We as online farmers, all have the same ability to grow our farms as we see fit and to enjoy the colourful fruiting of the trees and harvesting of rich seasonal vegetables.

It is actively encouraged for all farmers to help their neighbouring farmers with the fertilisation of their plantings, the feeding of their chooks plus the removal of weeds and scaring away of rogue animals. All in good fun and to be encouraged because not only do you help yourself; but and it is a big but – and still within the context of the game – you also earn big dollars which you can then spend on the beautification or enlargement of your holdings.

Co-operative farming is now the latest method to get farmers to join together to produce crops and earn bigger income in the market place and it is financially viable if the farmer gets his timing right!

Levels plus the number of neighbours you acquire are important in the game as these objectives go hand in hand with the player’s ability to buy more land and more land and even more land – until you are indeed the King or Queen of Farmville. Once you attain another level you can buy and daily give even better gifts to your Farmville friends and neighbours. And so it goes on…..

What truly fascinates me is the way the individual player sets up his/her farm? There are basic acquisitive farmers who really don’t seem to worry whether their animals have access to water (I know, I know it is only a game but I can’t help worrying about their welfare…….) and as for those poor little creatures with their movable heads all bobbing away while being in straight lines with barely an inch between them how do they manage?? I ask you…. but they – as in the farmers (and in the nature of the game you could say that all the farmers are acquisitive and as indeed am I!) keep on buying , winning so much stuff that it is all piled up every which way while I have noticed that some farmers (mainly the lady farmers) have everything placed just so with the houses, harvests and animals all having room for their on-site farmer to move around with the added bonus of a cottage for the farmer – somewhere to lay his or her head at night – after we (the gamers) have left for the day for comfy houses and our beds.

Then there are those who behave on their farms as they do in everyday life, very neatly with exact delineations of fences and placement of buildings. Among the prettiest I think, are the farms where the farmer obviously has an organic touch and the fruit trees are all mixed up for reasons of colour rather than ease of harvesting, where animals roam free and you may even have a number of different species within the one small fenced off area with one animal outside looking in – wistfully it somehow seems.

Of course if your harvests are unattended and “die” because you forgot to harvest at the right time then you lose the money it cost you to plant, plus the future money from your future harvest; but I guess farmers in this game need to understand commitment and that is not bad.Bit like the way the teenagers take a rubber baby home as a scientific experiment from their local school and after two weeks of committed care (or the baby expires) they may decide that they are not cut out to be mothers and fathers just yet..

But in this particular game and in the magical way of games if you can afford an “unwither” then all is not lost and your harvest can be resurrected – so to speak.

This is possibly a somewhat anthropomorphic attitude but again what can I say – I feel for all the animals and I really love the way the inventors of this game have made them so appealing with their bobbing heads, their mannerisms and the way they integrate right into the scenery.

I really think that the way and manner in which people play this truly fun game is asking for an anthropologist/sociologist to come along and take a really close look at the farmers online habits – make a study of the personal habits of the high fliers and maybe even the newcomers and how their minds become addicted to the process. After which they could possibly produce some type of assessment of the way so many different personalities all manage to play together and remain socially inclined and generous.

It is as if it does not matter which mould the individual fits because of the way the game is structured. it appears that as – via the manner in which the game is played – all the farmers make a positive contribution to each others’ welfare while at the same time the individual is encouraged to forge ahead to reach their particular goal. A positive outlook on life is rewarded.

Now wouldn’t it be good if the many peoples of our world today could take on a similar attitude!

Copyright: a.a.gallagher

22/04/2010

Basic Evony Beginners Guide

Evony is a
free, real time strategy game that is fun and easy to play. Some people may be
new not just to Evony, but also to the whole concept of playing strategy based
browser games. If you are used to RPG games then the good news is that Evony has much in common with many online RPG games, but also it has many differences. This guide is aimed at
helping those beginners enjoy the game by avoiding some of the pitfalls after first signing up to play Evony.

Make the
Most of Beginner’s Protection

When
starting out in Evony you receive a 7 day beginner’s protection which means
that other players cannot attack you.
Use this time wisely and develop your city as far as you can in the time
available. If you attack someone while under beginner’s protection it will be
removed automatically, so only attack when you are sure you are ready. The only
other way you can lose beginners protection is by building your town hall to
level 5 or above. A level 4 town hall is fine for the early stage of the game
and so timing the building of it to level should coincide with the end of your
week of protection if possible.

Successful
Management of Game Resources is Important

Evony Early Game Development

Early Resource Development is Vital

Managing Game Resources

Like most online
strategy games managing resources is a central part of game play and this is no
different in Evony.

The four
basic resources in the game are:

Wood
– Used to make buildings, weapons for troops and also in some types of
research.
Gold
– Used to finance buildings, research and troops, but also to pay heroes and
buy goods from the market.
Stone
– Again used primarily as a building material, but also for some weapons and types
of research.
Iron
– Becomes more important the further into the game you progress, but is once
again used for research and troop building.

Of these
four resources food is important to feed your troops, but so long as you have a
small surplus all should be fine. The
real limiting factor in the early game is wood as it is used for almost
everything. For every five resource tiles you build, make sure two of them are
lumber mills.

The balance
between resources changes as you progress through the game and iron will become
increasingly important, but when starting off wood is probably the biggest
limitation to overcome.

Balance
Attack and Defence

While
building a barracks and training troops is important, you must also realise
that building high walls and traps or other forms of defence also plays a
role. While you cannot lose your last
city in Evony it is very frustrating to be placed under suzerainty and have to
pay a small amount of your income directly to another player. Doing what you
can to help your defence will reduce this risk.

Building
walls and placing archer towers on them can be a really effective defence
against anyone around your own level of strength. When combined with traps that are available
very early in the game these can enable you to win most defensive battles.

It is very
hard to give exact numbers for defensive troops as army strengths can vary so
wildly. Players more advanced may have
armies that number in the millions, so any attempt to tell you that having “X”
defensive troops would be poor advice. So
what should a new player do?

Alliances
Make Playing Evony More Fun

As already
mentioned Evony is a real time strategy game, but what wasn’t mentioned is that
part of that strategy is political alliances.
A beginning player is well advised to join an active alliance. The help
and advice you will receive from a good alliance is invaluable and having other
players to chat with makes the whole game more enjoyable overall.

More
experienced players can help you with resources or help you with basic strategy
if you should need it. If your city does happen to get taken over by another
player, your friends can help you break free too. Overall, joining an alliance
is one of the most fun things about Evony and it can be really great when you
join in at a mass battle with your friends.

And Finally

I hope that
this Evony beginners guide has helped show you a few things to bear in mind
when playing this fun, real time strategy game. There is much more information
available on my website, but in the meantime if you want more information about
Evony or games in general, have a look at some of my other hubpages about RPG
PC games.