

Having to cap @ 2 million registrations a day . . .  - aresant
http://www.chinasmack.com/stories/happy-farms-popular-online-game/

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maxklein
Reason why this works:

1\. You have to keep playing the game otherwise you lose. You can't just stop
and go on later, once started, you are invested

2\. When you play, you get your reward kick, which is the basis of all
addiction. Every small achievement makes you more and more stuck to it. So
achievements are small but constant.

3\. Other people grow rich when you grow poor. I.e, people steal your stuff,
and humans have an instinct against allowing people steal their stuff. So you
always come back to watch it

~~~
sfnhltb
Yeah, I tried Evony for a while recently, and it has the same effects - it
starts to interrupt your sleep because you don't want to risk not being there
and someone attacks you. That is when you know you shouldn't be playing it any
more. Even then I bizarrely caught myself spending several hours taking down
my cities to ensure there was nothing left to steal after I stopped playing
(conversely this is a deliberate tactic to use to stop yourself being tempted
back so maybe it was a worthwhile investment).

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ced
Right now, I'm in a Chinese net cafe, and 2 out of my 6 nearest neighbors are
on Happy Farm.

Net cafes in China get a _lot_ of game playing compared to any other place
I've been to (50-70% of computers in my quick sampling). and interestingly,
all of it is translated in Chinese. It must be an insanely huge market.

Popular games: WOW, Warcraft 3, Counterstrike, and a bunch of stuff I have no
clue about. It's also IE6 over here, but the machines are pretty high-end.

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clemesha
This is so interesting, yet I feel like I'm out of the loop. I recently heard
that FarmVille on Facebook is one of the most popular apps there, and now this
Happy Farm craze.

What is it about these apps that have such an amazing pull?

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catch23
I thought happy farms came first? I assumed most US companies quickly copied
the Chinese version, FarmVille being one of the last clones, but more
successful than their predecessors (like farmtown).

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bdr
Nice. You could have a Dropbox party every night.

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codyrobbins
[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/en/images/6/66...](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/en/images/6/66/Ktarian_game_graphics.jpg)

~~~
abalashov
Hahaha. Good call.

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hussong
This game is taking off like a rocket. I wonder whether they cap the signups
at 2M/d for scalability reasons or to generate extra buzz.

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jacquesm
Every now and then someone recycles simcity or a variation on the theme and
scores wildly, check this out on the 'maximum' length graph:

<http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/myminicity.com>

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paraschopra
Can anybody describe the basic concept behind the Happy Farm game? I am
intrigued by "stealing farms" but wonder how it can be so damn interesting (as
the article describes)

Has anyone played this game here?

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yannis
My wife is Chinese and she is hooked on it. Basically there is something like
a vegetable patch and you grow fruit or vegetables in it. There is also an
oversize dog that is supposed to guard your patch, but he only reacts if you
buy food for him (in real money). You can steal as well as sell your products.
There is also a big element of social media as you can interact with other
players. With qq you can send messages or talk.

It is very addictive, as my wife never used to do much with her computer but
now spends a considerable time with the game.

The game looks are elementary as if it came out of a children's book. The
beauty of web applications they never stop to surprise me. Who ever thought
twits or happy farm would be so successful.

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turtle4
This sounds like an Animal Crossing MMO. That seem right to anyone with more
knowledge of it?

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robryan
Hopefully slightly more interesting than farmville.

