Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
more kinds of resources and new verbs and objects, but advancement involves planting various
crops rather than fighting monsters (see Figure
example, and you can
plant strawberries, which, like all the other crops, exist only as a way to invest more time. When
you plant a crop, you must pay some of your currency and then wait for a certain length of
time—between 30 seconds and 48 hours. When the time's up, you receive an increase in your
currency resource by clicking on the crop, which represents harvesting and selling the crop.
6.13
). Reach level 13, for
Figure 6.13
Grinding in
Farmville
to earn more resources.
The skill involved in
Farmville
is more akin to deciding how to invest your resources and when;
it's still a game with a complex system of verbs and objects that the player has to push into,
but nearly all the resistance of the system comes from waiting for your crops to grow. There's
punishment in
Farmville
as well, but it happens only if the player makes the mistake of waiting
too long to return to the game and harvest—in which case the crops have withered, causing
the player to lose her investment.
Whether it appears as a punishment for making a mistake or is simply required to complete
actions, grinding and rote repetition are still forms of resistance: it's difficult to keep at a task
that feels boring, and it takes patience to wait. This kind of gameplay raises a question for
players and creators alike, however: are these interesting forms of resistance that we want to
partake in? They involve a smaller number of choices than figuring out where and when to
“jump,” “shoot,” and “dodge” in more action-driven games. Although some players might be
more patient or better at enduring
rote tasks, it's a different form of skill. Players who enjoy
