社交游戏开发商Zynga在上周推出了《FarmVille》的游戏扩展项目“英国乡村”（English Countryside），为已经升到20级及其以上的《FarmVille》玩家提供另一个富有英国田园气息的农场，以吸引这些旧玩家重返游戏。

《FarmVille》总经理托德·阿诺德（Todd Arnold）表示，“我们希望玩家重新回到《FarmVille》的游戏世界中来，保持粉丝的黏性真的很重要，他们希望获得更丰富的游戏体验。”

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游戏邦获悉，这款游戏并非独立的作品，而是原版《FarmVille》的内容延伸。在这个项目中，玩家可以获得绵羊圈、大麦和啤酒花等全新的道具。除此之外，它还结合了《CityVille》等新游戏中的相关功能，拥有比《FarmVille》更为连贯的故事情节，含有多项游戏任务。

如果你已经是一个铁杆农场游戏玩家，那就有可能已经在英国第二块农场上执行这些迷你任务了，但大多数无家仍然在为争取飞往英国的通行证而奋战不已。阿诺德估计这些玩家如果要踏上英国农场的土地，可能还得再努力一周左右。“我们得确保自己提供的是无漏洞的游戏体验，如果每天玩游戏的用户是1400万人，那你推出新项目时就得小心谨慎才行。”

那么，Zynga为何不愿轻易对玩家打开通向英国农场的大门呢？游戏邦认为这正是他们力图吸引老用户重返游戏的策略之一。英国乡村这个环节有许多任务需要用户好友配合才能完成，Zynga希望通过用户向好友发出求助信息，让那些已经退出游戏的玩家重新回头，以此增强用户黏性。可以说，如果你没有一定数量的好友经常在玩这款游戏，你就无法完成相应的任务。这一点正是《FarmVille》实现“社交化”的重要动力。

据最近数据显示，《FarmVille》的活跃用户人数正呈下滑趋势，“英国乡村”扩展项目似乎已初见成效——该游戏的DAU（日活跃用户人数）在过去一周中已增加了24.8641万。因为这个新项目刚刚登场，所以这个成绩还算不赖，但它能否持续保持这种增势仍然有待观望。而《FarmVille》要重现鼎盛时期3200万以上DAU的辉煌，仍然需加以时日。目前为止，这款游戏的每日登录用户还不足1400万人。

这个扩展项目中的农场有哪些新功能呢？首先，就是绵羊圈。玩家可以将公羊和母羊关在同一个圈中，给它们喂食一些催化剂，让它们快速产出小羊羔，这种小羊羔拥有母羊的颜色，公羊的毛质。除此之外，你还拥有一个手工小作坊，可以将英国庄稼制作成美味可口的食物。另外该项目还提供了马厩、鸡笼、更多牛棚和有趣的英国饲养动物等新内容。

如果你已经是升到81等终的游戏老手了，而你的朋友却还只是22级的新手，那也不用担心，因为在这个新项目中，人人平等，大家一开始都处于同一起跑线上。如果有玩家中途退出游戏，也不需要顾虑重返游戏时会出现落后他人的情况。阿诺德对此说明，“我们清楚玩家最级总会处于不同的等级，所以这个新项目可以保持玩家与好友获得无落差的游戏体验。”

不过据游戏邦观察，对骨灰级玩家来说，最让他们困扰的是，他们一次只能管理一个农场。也就是说，如果你正在《FarmVille》这个大本营农场进行耕作，那么你的英国庄稼和牲畜都不会同时成长。你得有所侧重，一次只能从两个农场中挑出一者来管理。另外，如果你在一个农场中养了一只动物，或者种了一棵树，就不能将它转移到另一个虚拟农场中。阿诺德表示，这是为了让游戏内容保持平均水平。这样可以让玩家不需要同时操心两个农场的庄稼是否枯萎，你只需要设置一个定时器。

阿诺德还表示，Zynga了解玩家经营农场所需花费的时间，所以他们不会让玩家难以招架两个农场的琐事，他们只想保持游戏趣味性和社交性。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

“Farmville” Enters the “English Countryside” to Entice Old Players to Return

Having two farms –- and subsequently no social life –- of course! Last week, Zynga slowly rolled out Farmville English Countryside, the biggest expansion to Farmville since the launch of the game. English Countryside gives players level 20 and above an additional farm to tend to.

“We’re hoping to get players who used to play Farmville back into the game,” Farmville general manager Todd Arnold told Techland. “It’s really something to keep our best fans engaged. They’ve been waiting for something big.”

Let’s be clear: This is not a separate entity, but an expansion of the original game. In the English Countryside, you have unique items like a sheep pen and new crops including barley and hops to work with. The game addition also integrates features used in newer Zynga games like Cityville. You’ll finally get a coherent storyline, which is something Farmville has always been missing, and in-game missions.

By now, if you’re a hardcore farmer, you’ve probably zipped through the mini-goals and are on your second farm in England. However, the majority of players are still fixing their zeppelin to the U.K.  Arnold estimates it will take most players a couple of weeks before they’ll touch English soil. “We need to do that to make sure we aren’t releasing a buggy experience,” he explains. “When you have a user base daily of 14 million people playing the game, you have to roll it out in a controlled fashion.”

Okay, but what’s the real reason Zynga doesn’t want to make it that easy to get to the English Countryside? It’s all part of their master plan to get old players who have abandoned their farms back on the plow. Getting to the England involves a lot of additional help from other gamers, and Zynga is hoping that if you annoy your friends who have fallen by the wayside to help you on your U.K. mission they’ll get suckered into playing the game again. In fact, it’s impossible to play the new addition if you don’t have at least a small group of friends playing the game regularly since you’ll need them to give you supplies. It’s all part of the push to make Farmville more “social.”

Recent stats have shown a steady decline in people playing Farmville. The English Countryside expansion seems to be driving players back to the game, however. The daily active users (DAU) has been up 248,641 players in the last seven days. It hasn’t been that long since the launch so we’re keeping our eye on the stats to see if this trend will contune. And Farmville still has a long way to go before they beat their all-time high of over 32 million players a day. Right now, according to this data, less than 14 million players check in once every 24 hours.

So what new features are English farmers playing with? First, there’s the sheep pen that we briefly mentioned above. You put a ram and ewe together in a breeding suite, give them some love potion, and presto, with some luck you’ll get a lamb with his mother’s color and his father’s wool pattern. You get a new crafting pub where you can brew your English crops into delicious products. There’s an additional horse stable, chicken coop, more cow barns and fun English-themed animals to rear.

If you’re worried because you’re a level 81 player and your friend is only at 22, it’s okay because everyone starts out with the same structures, leveling the playing field. It also ensures that players who have been out of the game don’t feel overwhelmed if they decide to return. “We realized everyone ended up being involved at different levels,” he explains. “This is a way to reconnect with all your friends in the play experience.”

One annoying thing for obsessive players is that only one farm is active at a time. That means that when you’re on your regular farm, your English crops or animals won’t grow. You have to choose where your loyalties lie. Another thing is that once you set an animal or tree down on one farm, you can’t move it across the virtual pond. Arnold says that’s because they wanted to keep things at an intermediate level. Instead of having to worry about two farms with rotting crops, you only have to keep your timer set on one of them.

The Farmville GM says they realize how much time it takes to work on one farm, so don’t worry, they won’t inundate you with ten farms for you to look after just yet. They want to keep the game fun and social so you’ll keep playing.

“Give the story a shot, and you’ll see everything new that the English Countryside has to offer,” he says.（source:techland）