Zynga launched a great promotion this weekend called “Sweet Seeds”, and I thought it deserved at least a little direct attention. So yes, this is “yet another Farmville post” (YAFP).
For quick reference, here are the links to my first five Farmville posts:
- The Personal Economics of Farmville
- The Personal Economics of Farmville, Part 2
- More Farmville Economics
- Farmville Economics: What Price Experience?
- Farmville Economics: Risk Adjusted Crop Profitability
A brief description from Farmville Village:
Zynga has just launched “Sweet Seeds for Haiti” a special FarmCash crop you can buy with 50% of the proceeds going to charity. These plants are unique in that they never wither and give maximum experience points, with a special gift in your gift box for you, too!
My first reaction to this announcement was “Genius!” Not to be cynical, but Zynga seemed to have a pattern of rolling out crops with superior economics and rapid turnarounds to help drive huge activity spikes. (The Super Berries in August, for example, were well timed with a surge over 10M daily active users.)
By rolling out a super-charged crop for charity, they could get the benefit of increased activity and funnel money to a deserving cause. Win-win. It seemed like a brilliant approach to match up business & altruistic goals, and set forward a powerful concept of buying virtual goods as a mechanism for charitable fundraising.
In fact, at first, the only thing that surprised me a bit was that only 50% of the money was going to charity. I suppose there might be some costs associated with payment processing and handling the operational surge of activity. Typically, however, if you are going for a charity, you tend to absorb those costs to avoid the appearance of profiting from people who are looking to donate to a good cause.
Then I actually looked at the economics for Sweet Potatoes. And I was left scratching my head.
The stats for Sweet Potatoes are as follows:
- 3 XP
- 10 coins to plant
- 125 coins at harvest
By itself, these statistics would make Sweet Potatoes truly a super crop, except for one detail:
- 1 day to grow
115 Coins of profit per day puts Sweet Potatoes between Broccoli & Cabbage for daily profit, #16 on the table I published last week. Really not very super. Super Berries had huge numbers because they could be harvested every 2 hours. But a full day? You’d do better on experience and profit planting almost any of the 8 hour (or faster growing) crops.
3XP (+1XP for plowing) does compare favorably with all daily crops, except for Peas. Peas offer:
- 3 XP
- 176 coins of profit / day
As far as I can tell, there is absolutely no reason you would plant Sweet Potatoes if you already have Peas. None. And it certainly wouldn’t be worth $5 (25 FV) to do so. True, this crop doesn’t whither… but that just makes the activity goal even more unlikely.
All this would be different if the crop took 4 hours to grow instead of a day. But with the current numbers, planting Sweet Potatoes just doesn’t make any sense.
I’m going to hazard a few guesses as to why Zynga set these numbers here:
- Theory 1: They didn’t care about people at higher levels. Of my 50 neighbors, only one is at a level where they can buy Peas. So these numbers would look good to at least 98% of the audience.
- Theory 2: The target market is sensitive to time. The 1 day cycle and removal of withering suggests that they were targeting a segment of users that don’t want to spend all day planting & harvesting.
- Theory 3: The load generated by Farmville has been so high on Zynga given it’s phenomenal success, they decided last minute to extend the growing time to a day, to minimize activity for a period of time. In a way, the Sweet Potatoes are Bizarro Super Berries, working to diminish activity, instead of encourage it.
- Theory 4: They didn’t run the numbers on the economics. (I find this impossible to believe.)
I still believe the concept behind the Sweet Seeds announcement incredibly sharp. Plenty of time and opportunity for Zynga to tune these type of events going forward.
Almost genius. Almost.
Update: Here are additional posts on Farmville Economics, published after this one:
haha. one thing u left out.
since cost is only 10 gold,
25 gold = one plot = 4xp
so
25000 gold = 4000 xp
isnt that a good deal? just keep ploting and deleting.
Good point. I don’t spend any time on the “Plow – Plant – Delete – Repeat” path to experience, largely because it makes my eye glaze over with boredom. Click-click-click. Too much time.
I hadn’t thought of that – you are paying $5 to beat the Soybeans trick by 33% in XP (3XP per cycle vs. 4XP per cycle).
They fixed it by requireing higher amounts of gold but its still a good way to gain xp – not as good as before but still working out 🙂
Pingback: Fresh From Twitter today « Rene Glembotzky – My Life, LIVE
Pingback: More Farmville Economics: Treeconomics « Psychohistory
Pingback: The Personal Economics of Farmville « Psychohistory
Dear Dr. Nash (Ph.D in Economics),
I am simply writing this note to inform you of your profound impact on my life. Your groundbreaking research in the field of Farmvillanomics are at the very foundation of my estate planning. The magic that you have worked via the medium of Farmville has fostered incredible growth and created an unforgettable experience. Thank you again for quenching my [previously believed to be] insatiable hunger for Farmville knowledge.
Sincerely,
Jozef
Your Young Padawan
Jozef,
Wow. I doubt there is a way I can live up to that billing. Ironically, I do believe that I have found a new potential dream job: Chief Virtual Economist. For that, I may need to go back to school to get a PhD in Virtual Economics…
Adam
Oh, Adam, Adam, Adam. Don’t believe your fan (and I use the singular on purpose). You are never as good as they say, nor as bad as they say. But I do have a question: if you were a Farmville crop, which crop would you be?
xo, Hannibal
I have at least two fans, since I’m pretty sure my Mom is a fan. 🙂
Based on my own analysis, I feel like I aspire to be a Super Berry, but I’m actually Peas.
Take it for what it’s worth.
Adam
Purchase of sweet seeds for Haiti is purely a charitable gesture. Crops that never wither…hmmm. Great but does that also mean you must never harvest them . I am assuming they don’t magically replace themselves once harvested. Hence the 7-day availability of seeds, once purchased.
Intrigued by all these possibilities I purchased some today, yes got out the visa, something I swore I’d never, ever do in a virtual reality. Getting closer to ‘genius’ all the time isn’t it.
You guys have way to much time on your hands
Pingback: Farmville Economics: Flowers & Updated Tables « Psychohistory
Pingback: Farmville Economics: What Price Experience? « Psychohistory
Pingback: Farmville Economics: Cranberries, Pattypan Squash, Acorn Squash « Psychohistory
die ich in meinem ganzen Leben gelesen habe! mach weiter so! mfg John
Farmville just rocks. Please keep us uptodate!