FarmVille frenzy hits fever pitch with this week’s new features

Disclaimer. I don’t play FarmVille and don’t understand the mystique.

However, judging by my friend feed and internet chatter, this was a big week for the fake-farming Facebook app, with users buzzing about a “mystery box” and crops on FarmVille “fertilized by a friend.” From what I can see, the FarmVille “mystery box” was a bit of a non-starter. Anyone who has seen the episode of Family Guy where Peter picks a box over a boat should know better, but “mystery boxes” are generally a big fat jack. Users were quite disappointed to have shelled out $15 in FarmVille currency for items that failed to titillate, like garden gnomes and lawn chairs.

The “fertilized by a friend” thing is a new feature that saw random users gifted with fertilizer to use on friends’ crops. Crops that have been fertilized by a friend are visibly larger and sparkly. FarmVille users are pretty excited about the new fertilized by a friend option, but how it works seems to not be fully understood by the users. Some report getting coins for fertilizing a friend’s crops, but no one seems to sure what action instigates getting the fertilizer to use in the first place.

If anyone’s got more information on new FarmVille features, I’d love to hear about them in the comments. And also, please explain to me why people are playing this game so feverishly- what’s the big draw? Fans, what say you?

[Image: Farmville Freak]