When the farming feature in the latest World of Warcraft (WoW) expansion, Mists of Pandaria, was revealed, most media (us included) asked, "What will the players think?" But soon after, another question cropped up: "What will Zynga think?"The house that built FarmVille surely feels some type of way about the largest pay-to-play online game around encroaching on its territory. (That's not to say that Zynga invented the method, of course. But it's safe to say that Zynga has a stranglehold on the play style as far as online gaming is concerned.)
Zynga has several times pointed to the fact that hardcore gamers, too, spend hours plucking digital crops. So, does the social gaming giant feel threatened by WoW creator Blizzard Entertainment riffing on its cash cow? Not quite, at least according to FarmVille designer Mike Perry.
"Farming mechanics are universal. The first game I made at Maxis was Sim Farm, so I love seeing the farming game mechanic in everything. It's something that I think players really identify with," Perry points out after his session at GDC Online 2012 in Austin, Tex. "You don't have to explain anything to anybody what happens when you plant a crop. Everybody knows you have to farm it, fertilize it to make it grow and harvest it. I'm glad to see it."
[Image Credit: WoW Insider]
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