Howdy Pardner! : On free-to-play, sociability and rhythm design in FrontierVille

Heikki Tyni; Olli Sotamaa; Saara Toivonen

doi:10.1145/2181037.2181042

Howdy Pardner! : On free-to-play, sociability and rhythm design in FrontierVille

Heikki Tyni, Olli Sotamaa, Saara Toivonen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

24 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Despite their rapid evolution and wide popularity social games played on Facebook have so far gained relatively little interest among academic game researchers. A close reading of the Facebook game FrontierVille aims to provide some starting points for the study of social games. The paper starts by outlining the rationale behind the economy based on virtual object sales and examines how also the non-paying players are affected by the system. Second, the paper considers the different forms and functions of sociability present within FrontierVille. Finally, the study explicates how FrontierVille both allows flexible playing patterns and actively builds particular rhythms of play. All in all, the paper argues that design, economics and playing of social games are tightly interconnected and should be studied in relation to each other.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference : Envisioning Future Media Environments
Editors	Arthur Lugmayr
Place of Publication	New York
Publisher	ACM
Pages	22-29
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Print)	978-1-4503-0816-8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/2181037.2181042
Publication status	Published - 2011
Publication type	A4 Article in conference proceedings
Event	15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments, MindTrek 2011 - Tampere, Finland Duration: 28 Sept 2011 → 30 Sept 2011

Conference

Conference	15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments, MindTrek 2011
Country/Territory	Finland
City	Tampere
Period	28/09/11 → 30/09/11

Keywords

facebook
free-to-play
FrontierVille
rhythm design
sociability
social games
social network games
virality
zynga

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Computer Networks and Communications

Access to Document

10.1145/2181037.2181042

Cite this

@inproceedings{62e342fba42e4a93a13682bbf14ecd1c,

title = "Howdy Pardner! : On free-to-play, sociability and rhythm design in FrontierVille",

abstract = "Despite their rapid evolution and wide popularity social games played on Facebook have so far gained relatively little interest among academic game researchers. A close reading of the Facebook game FrontierVille aims to provide some starting points for the study of social games. The paper starts by outlining the rationale behind the economy based on virtual object sales and examines how also the non-paying players are affected by the system. Second, the paper considers the different forms and functions of sociability present within FrontierVille. Finally, the study explicates how FrontierVille both allows flexible playing patterns and actively builds particular rhythms of play. All in all, the paper argues that design, economics and playing of social games are tightly interconnected and should be studied in relation to each other.",

keywords = "facebook, free-to-play, FrontierVille, rhythm design, sociability, social games, social network games, virality, zynga",

author = "Heikki Tyni and Olli Sotamaa and Saara Toivonen",

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language = "English",

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booktitle = "Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference : Envisioning Future Media Environments",

publisher = "ACM",

address = "United States",

note = "15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments, MindTrek 2011 ; Conference date: 28-09-2011 Through 30-09-2011",

}

Tyni, H , Sotamaa, O & Toivonen, S 2011, Howdy Pardner! : On free-to-play, sociability and rhythm design in FrontierVille. in A Lugmayr (ed.), Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference : Envisioning Future Media Environments. ACM, New York, pp. 22-29, 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments, MindTrek 2011, Tampere, Finland, 28/09/11. https://doi.org/10.1145/2181037.2181042

Howdy Pardner! : On free-to-play, sociability and rhythm design in FrontierVille. / Tyni, Heikki ; Sotamaa, Olli; Toivonen, Saara.
Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference : Envisioning Future Media Environments. ed. / Arthur Lugmayr. New York: ACM, 2011. p. 22-29.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

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AB - Despite their rapid evolution and wide popularity social games played on Facebook have so far gained relatively little interest among academic game researchers. A close reading of the Facebook game FrontierVille aims to provide some starting points for the study of social games. The paper starts by outlining the rationale behind the economy based on virtual object sales and examines how also the non-paying players are affected by the system. Second, the paper considers the different forms and functions of sociability present within FrontierVille. Finally, the study explicates how FrontierVille both allows flexible playing patterns and actively builds particular rhythms of play. All in all, the paper argues that design, economics and playing of social games are tightly interconnected and should be studied in relation to each other.

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KW - social network games

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Howdy Pardner! : On free-to-play, sociability and rhythm design in FrontierVille

Abstract

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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Cite this