farmville

The Crying, Spying, and Shit Lists That Built FarmVille

Ryan Tate · 11/28/11 02:50PM

As a rule, you'd best avoid peering behind the scenes of your favorite online pastime; you probably won't like what you find. Drill into the backstory of "Mafia Wars" creator Zynga, for example, and you'll find a sweatshop where ruthless managers closely monitor the performance of even cafeteria workers, and where employees are pitted against one another and bullied into emotional breakdowns.

Emma Stone Abandoned Facebook After Becoming Addicted to FarmVille

Matt Cherette · 08/12/11 03:14AM

Emma Stone has had three movies come out in as many weeks, so naturally she's been on just about every talk show imaginable recently. You'd think she's run out of interesting anecdotes by now, but Stone's interview with Jimmy Fallon on tonight's Late Night was actually kind of adorable. Watch Stone discuss her paranoid fear of Twitter and the FarmVille addiction that forced her to delete her Facebook account in the clip above.

Farmville's Sketchy Parent Company Worth Over $7 Billion

Max Read · 02/14/11 12:46AM

Hey! Looks like exploiting the weaknesses of addicts and kids does pay off: Investors are considering pouring another $250 million into gaming company Zynga, Inc. "in a deal that could value the three-year-old start-up at between $7 billion and $9 billion," according to The Wall Street Journal. That's right, the company behind Farmville is worth—according to always-rational investors—seven billion dollars. Time to short the human race. [WSJ]

The Secret Dealer for Farmville Addicts

Ryan Tate · 09/10/10 10:48AM

The company behind Mafia Wars and Farmville doesn't like to talk about the sad addicts who fuel its profits. But it does quietly run a special store for them, where imaginary credits are bought with very real bank transfers.

Kid Spends $1,400 on Facebook Game

Ryan Tate · 04/08/10 10:50AM

A British kid stole his mom's credit card and blew more than £900 on FarmVille, the Facebook game infamous for its seedy advertisers. And amazingly the shameless company that runs the game won't issue a refund.

When Farmville Takes Over Your Life

Matt Toder · 04/08/10 08:40AM

Last night's South Park illustrated the growing problem of Farmville addiction. Apparently, full-fledged breakdown can be reached with only three days of your farm's growth stagnating. Thankfully, Stan fertilizes Kyle's farm and everything ends well.

South Park Explains Everything That Is Annoying About Facebook

Matt Cherette · 04/08/10 12:23AM

Tonight, South Park made comment on Facebook and its obsessives by brilliantly taking every ridiculous thing about what the social network has become and explaining it with hilariously awkward (and eerily accurate) "IRL" interactions. Inside, the best—and funniest—moments.