Farmville Updated with New Features, New Content as Holidays Approach

Zynga's Flagship Social Networking game Farmville is one of the most popular games on Facebook and has been nearly since it was introduced, so news of the recent series of improvements and game enhancements that have been taking place quietly behind the scenes are a well-received addition to the game. The bulk of the improvements and game enhancements are the result of player-suggested tweaks to existing features -- proof that Zynga really does take notice when its gamers have a good idea!

Gaming Update recently sat down with one of the many Farmville Elves behind the changes to chat about what has been getting all of the attention, as well as what has improved on the wildly successful social networking game. The Elf -- who asked us not to identify them due to their not being specifically authorized by Zynga to speak to the press -- has been a valuable source for insider information, is a regular reader at GU, and says that there is much more in store for players as the holidays approach!

If you are not familiar with Farmville -- as hard as that is to believe, there are gamers out there who have yet to be ensnared by its highly-addictive gameplay -- you should know that it is a game that lightly simulates farming and being a farmer, including crops of many variates, as well as Tree Farming, Ranching, and raising the sort of animals one expects to see on a farm, including pets!

In addition to making crop decisions and harvesting their animals on a daily basis, players also complete special missions and quests, grow the resources that are required by a very extensive crafting system, and decorate their ever-expanding farms either by creating the items that they use or buying them from the Farmville Store either with Coin and Farm Bucks earned in-game, or both types of currency that are purchased with real-world money, the latter being the source for the revenue stream for this wildly popular game.

One of the interesting regular features for the game is the constantly changing crop selections available, including limited time seasonal and holiday crops whose relatively short mastery time means that players have to be on their toes and committed to mastery for these often rare and unique crops. Taking a break of even just a week can often mean the difference between adding a new crop mastery to your collection, or missing out on it completely!