However, in light of the release, some of the new terms and policies within the game have FarmVille addicts storming the Zynga forums and Facebook, animated pitchforks in hand.
The cause of all of this drama? Rather than allowing users to maintain both farms simultaneously, moving from one farm to another puts the dormant farm in “pause mode.” That means that crops don’t grow, trees don’t bloom and animals don’t do whatever it is that makes that shiny pink dot appear above their heads.
The decision to pause farms makes it difficult for power players who want a way to maintain both farms at the same time. Because English Countryside gives users a fresh slate, so to speak, it takes time to grow crops so that money for new animals, buildings and land expansions can be earned.
A post asking for player feedback regarding the pause issue on the official FarmVille forum spans more than 830 pages and 8,300 posts. Most of these posts are full of anger and frustration. An anti-pause PicBadge is making its way across Facebook. Nearly 12,000 people have joined a Causes petition on Facebook asking for the option of keeping both farms active.
Before we go any further, I should note that ever since I was asked to write up FarmVille for iPad last October, I have found myself addicted to this game. You can laugh at me all you want — I own it. That said, because I don’t play FarmVille like it’s World of Warcraft, I probably am not as affected by the pause issue as some of the angriest players.
For Zynga, the problem is that the angriest players are some of the most active...
