Discussions about Farm Cash

[Mr. H]

I agree with JAS, posting things on your FB status won't do any good.

Everything you've said has been posted on this forum dozens of times and the developers, evidently, don't agree.

Personally, I think it would make sense to have, smaller, coin versions of most all the tools available, particularly for the newbies. And, that those tools work on the owners farm and when working for others. I think it would keep some people playing and increase the odds of them spending real money down the road.

[tnbskts]

Originally Posted by Mr. H

I agree with JAS, posting things on your FB status won't do any good.

Everything you've said has been posted on this forum dozens of times and the developers, evidently, don't agree.

Personally, I think it would make sense to have, smaller, coin versions of most all the tools available, particularly for the newbies. And, that those tools work on the owners farm and when working for others. I think it would keep some people playing and increase the odds of them spending real money down the road.

The 3x3 tools are available for coins, and can be used on farmers' own farms. I agree it's a pain to not be able to use the coin tools on other people's farms, but we have 260 levels and counting, which is 260 free FC, and the 4x4 harvester and plower are 45 FC each. It doesn't take that long to get to level 90.

I think we're really fortunate that Farm Town isn't going the way of some of the other games, with weekly limited-edition cash items for one theme or other, and with most of the good decorations available for cash only - that really does make the game into different experiences for the haves and have nots. At Farm Town almost all the animals, trees, flowers, and decorations are for coins, you just need to unlock them at different levels, and half the facilities are also for coins as well as most of the basic tools. Things could be an awful lot worse.

[Mr. H]

Originally Posted by tnbskts

The 3x3 tools are available for coins, and can be used on farmers' own farms. I agree it's a pain to not be able to use the coin tools on other people's farms, but we have 260 levels and counting, which is 260 free FC, and the 4x4 harvester and plower are 45 FC each. It doesn't take that long to get to level 90.

I think we're really fortunate that Farm Town isn't going the way of some of the other games, with weekly limited-edition cash items for one theme or other, and with most of the good decorations available for cash only - that really does make the game into different experiences for the haves and have nots. At Farm Town almost all the animals, trees, flowers, and decorations are for coins, you just need to unlock them at different levels, and half the facilities are also for coins as well as most of the basic tools. Things could be an awful lot worse.

True, but they can't be used on others farms and I don't believe there is a coin fishing boat, flower harvester or combine. Not to mention that there are nearly 50 FC facilities now so someone that can't afford to spend real money on the game is forced to do without tools or do without any FC facilities.

It's great, for the decorator that most decorations in FT are available for coins but it puts the burden of paying for the game solidly on the backs of the producers.

Since you mentioned other games, FV does charge FC for lots of cool decorations and animals. But I've never had to pay for any tool or any thing else that is a significant producer of coins or points. My 5x5 combine was free and built with the help of friends...as were all the animal pens and sheds and any other functional building. I've spent quite a lot on that game but never spent a penny on anything that was necessary to gaining points or coins.

[StoneFace]

Yeah, I can understand the newbie looking up at the every-growing mountain of high level players..... wishing someone would "give" him the opportunity to be high on the mountain too..... and complaining because the game won't change to accommodate him/her.

And I hear again the complaint that those capitalistic greedy developers are making money on their ideas, their work effort, and their product.

I try to get away once in awhile from the country's politics and the same kind of "arguments" I hear from a particular side of the political spectrum in this country: ... not fair, rich should pay their "fair share", give ME what you have....

blah, blah, blah

However.... perhaps since the game needs more new players (and it is ONLY a game).... the devs could have some "special tools" for the lower levels, say levels 1-50 or 1-75 that would allow them (give them for their non-effort) to have a taste of the "good life". And then the tools or whatever would become inactive and useless at the 50th or 75th level, and they could again play the game the way everyone else has been playing it ....

or go play farmville.


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[Mr. H]

Originally Posted by StoneFace

Yeah, I can understand the newbie looking up at the every-growing mountain of high level players..... wishing someone would "give" him the opportunity to be high on the mountain too..... and complaining because the game won't change to accommodate him/her.

And I hear again the complaint that those capitalistic greedy developers are making money on their ideas, their work effort, and their product.

I try to get away once in awhile from the country's politics and the same kind of "arguments" I hear from a particular side of the political spectrum in this country: ... not fair, rich should pay their "fair share", give ME what you have....

blah, blah, blah

However.... perhaps since the game needs more new players (and it is ONLY a game).... the devs could have some "special tools" for the lower levels, say levels 1-50 or 1-75 that would allow them (give them for their non-effort) to have a taste of the "good life". And then the tools or whatever would become inactive and useless at the 50th or 75th level, and they could again play the game the way everyone else has been playing it ....

or go play farmville.


.

My ideas have nothing to do with politics or any sense of entitlement and are solely proposed to address the fact that there are only 1.5M left playing the game. That's down from nearly 19M at it's peak. Every week, 20,000 more people quit the game then start the game. It is the 248th most popular app on FB. It was once in the top 20..maybe even the top 10.

I do not begrudge the developers a profit. In fact, I've contributed greatly to their profitability. I want to see them continue to be profitable and more players mean more profits. This is not a game, it's a business and as with any business keeping customers (players) happy is an important part of their success.

[JAS0643]

Originally Posted by Mr. H

True, but they can't be used on others farms and I don't believe there is a coin fishing boat, flower harvester or combine. Not to mention that there are nearly 50 FC facilities now so someone that can't afford to spend real money on the game is forced to do without tools or do without any FC facilities.

It's great, for the decorator that most decorations in FT are available for coins but it puts the burden of paying for the game solidly on the backs of the producers.

Since you mentioned other games, FV does charge FC for lots of cool decorations and animals. But I've never had to pay for any tool or any thing else that is a significant producer of coins or points. My 5x5 combine was free and built with the help of friends...as were all the animal pens and sheds and any other functional building. I've spent quite a lot on that game but never spent a penny on anything that was necessary to gaining points or coins.

I agree with MrH on this. People need to remember 2 things one is that the developers make money off the game 2 ways they are people buying farm cash and the adds on fb. The game didn't have one single farm cash item the first 8 month the game existed so the devs where making enough money to keep it running at that time so they must get a good profit form the adds. The other thing people need to be made aware of is that less the 10% of the people that play these games spend money on them. This was told by one of Zynga's top guys in an interview he did on the internet not long ago.

I think there is a happy medium for everyone. Let people build most of the cash tools and facilities with the help of friends and have some decorations for cash. Now before some of you scream at me the way zynga does this is if you don't want to beg your friends for parts you can use farm cash to buy them so you can still get your credit card out and buy the items and not have to ask one single person for a part to build something. Now I do think that these facilities or tools should be level dependent, not high levels but so a person can't start the game today and have all the cash facilities and tools built a week from now and they are only at level 20. One thing that is hurting the game is the high cost of land. Those of us that have all the cash facilities are making billions of coins and can easily buy the land but a player that can't get the cash facilities can not buy the land. People can say all they want that the game is free but it really isn't free. To play the game to the fullest you need the cash facilities to buy the land and to make stuff in other facilities. The coin facilities have a lot of products that are dependent on the cash facilities or cash water so there are a lot of stuff people can't make in the coin facilities because of that.


Now I am not against the developers making money or fc items in the game. There can even be fc tools and facilities that can't be built with the help of your friends but the bottom line is the developers need to do something or they will have no players left soon.

[wsbohannon]

This is a GAME. NOONE is twisting ANYONE's arms to play it. When you start playing, you know the rules etc. You can quit at any time. Noone is forcing anyone to play. I have worked on my game for 2 and a half years to get to the level I am at, the farms I have, the tools I have. I have CHOSEN to use MY money to buy what I want to buy. Why do people start in playing and then start whining because they can't seem to level up as fast as they want without paying their dues... This issue of GIMMIE cause 'it's not fair' is rather sickening to me.. Grow up people.. Play is you want to play or stop... quit with the stupid whining.... Sorry if this is harsh, but i get sick of all the people on here whining and wanting things given to them when there are those of us who have worked hard and enjoyed Farmtown as it is presented to us.....

[StoneFace]

Originally Posted by Mr. H

My ideas have nothing to do with politics or any sense of entitlement and are solely proposed to address the fact that there are only 1.5M left playing the game. That's down from nearly 19M at it's peak. Every week, 20,000 more people quit the game then start the game. It is the 248th most popular app on FB. It was once in the top 20..maybe even the top 10.

I do not begrudge the developers a profit. In fact, I've contributed greatly to their profitability. I want to see them continue to be profitable and more players mean more profits. This is not a game, it's a business and as with any business keeping customers (players) happy is an important part of their success.

[1] There are undoubtedly many times more "apps" and/or games on Face Book now than there were 2+ years ago..... so to be fair... let's acknowledge the competition

[2] if Farm town is the 248th most popular, and you have the numbers at hand, perhaps you can share the numbers for:
[a] the most popular at the moment
[b] the average for the top 10 at the moment
[c] the duration, or life expectancy, of the top apps/games, and whether they even have 1.5 million after 2+ years on Face Book

If only 10% of the 1.5 million spend $10 that is back to the $1.5 million each year, and I could live on that.


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[Mr. H]

Originally Posted by StoneFace

[1] There are undoubtedly many times more "apps" and/or games on Face Book now than there were 2+ years ago..... so to be fair... let's acknowledge the competition

[2] if Farm town is the 248th most popular, and you have the numbers at hand, perhaps you can share the numbers for:
[a] the most popular at the moment
[b] the average for the top 10 at the moment
[c] the duration, or life expectancy, of the top apps/games, and whether they even have 1.5 million after 2+ years on Face Book

If only 10% of the 1.5 million spend $10 that is back to the $1.5 million each year, and I could live on that.


.

The top game is Cityville with over 75M players. The number 10 game is Pioneer Trail with 21M. The average for the top 10 is currently about 38M.

I believe that when FT was at it's peak it didn't take quite as much to get in the top 10 but I'm not sure. I haven't been following the numbers that long.

Now, to address your question, there does seem to be some ebb and flow. I don't know that games have a life expectancy but they do tend to peak in popularity and then fall back.

Which brings us to the comparison that begs to be made. Farmville.

Farmville is currently 5th on the list with nearly 36M players. Farmville and Farm Town have both been around about the same time. Farmville peaked around 84M players while Farm Town peaked around 19M. Here's what's scary. Farm Town has lost over 90% of it's players from it's all time high and continues downward. Farmville has lost 57% and although they gain and lose they seem to be holding around that number. They gained over 500,000 last week.

[knighta]

Originally Posted by tnbskts

The 3x3 tools are available for coins, and can be used on farmers' own farms. I agree it's a pain to not be able to use the coin tools on other people's farms, but we have 260 levels and counting, which is 260 free FC, and the 4x4 harvester and plower are 45 FC each. It doesn't take that long to get to level 90.

.

At level 260 you can get more than 260 free farm cash. At level 1 you start out with 5.