

Social gold: the design of Farmville and other social games - d_r
http://www.slideshare.net/amittmahajan/social-gold-the-design-of-farmville-and-other-social-games-web2expo-2010

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zipdog
I think the most crucial slide is #15: Growing through social. The integration
of social pressures into the core game mechanic is a vital part (IMHO) of the
growth of Zynga.

If the Zynga games were stand-alone, their reach would be a tiny fraction of
what they are. And it's not something that is tacked on as an afterthought -
it's right there in the mechanic from the start.

Last year game designer Brian Meidell wrote an article about Farmville that
covers similar ground, from a different perspective:
[http://meidell.dk/archives/2010/11/25/what-i-learned-from-
fa...](http://meidell.dk/archives/2010/11/25/what-i-learned-from-farmville-so-
you-don’t-have-to-play-it/)

