''Happy Farm'' was a

social network game A social network game (sometimes simply referred to as a social media game, social gaming, social video game or online social game) is a type of online game that is played through social networks or social media. They typically feature multipl ...

and

massively multiplayer online game A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players, often hundreds or thousands, on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are ...

based on farm management

simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...

. It was played predominantly by users in

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, and was the most popular in terms of players; At the height of its popularity, there were 23 million daily active users, logging on to the game at least every 24 hours. ''Happy Farm'' was developed by Chinese social game developer 5 Minutes. Its development was complete in May 2008, testing was complete in July the same year, and the game was released in late 2008. It allows players to grow crops, trade with others, sell produce, and steal from neighbors. The game was influenced by the Japanese RPG series ''

Story of Seasons ''Story of Seasons'', known in Japan as and formerly known as ''Harvest Moon'', is an agricultural simulation role-playing video game series created by Yasuhiro Wada and developed by Victor Interactive Software (acquired by Marvelous Entert ...

''. Happy Farm was discontinued as of September 25, 2017.

Impact

At the height of its popularity, there were 23 million daily active users, logging on to the game at least every 24 hours. Approximately 15 million urban white-collar workers were estimated to have spent more than five hours a day on Happy Farm. Because of its popularity, the game's host,

Tencent QQ Tencent QQ (), also known as QQ, is an instant messaging software service and web portal developed by the Chinese technology company Tencent. QQ offers services that provide online social games, music, shopping, microblogging, movies, and grou ...

, capped the number of new players per day at 2 million. A number of later games have used similar game mechanics, such as ''Sunshine Farm'', ''Happy Farmer'', ''Happy Fishpond'', and ''Happy Pig Farm''. ''Happy Farm'' went on to inspire many more farming social network games, including ''

FarmVille ''FarmVille'' is a series of agriculture-simulation social network game developed and published by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to '' Happy Farm'' and ''Farm Town''. Its gameplay involves various aspects of farmland management, such as plowi ...

'', '' Farm Town'', ''Country Story'', ''Barn Buddy'', ''Sunshine Ranch'', and ''Happy Harvest'', as well as parodies such as ''Jungle Extreme'' and ''Farm Villain''. ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

'' included ''Happy Farm'' in its list of "The 15 Most Influential Games of the Decade" at #14, for its major influence on social network gaming, particularly for having "inspired a dozen

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

clones," the largest being

Zynga Zynga Inc. () is an American developer running social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile and social networking platforms. Zynga states its missio ...

's ''FarmVille''. In 2009, ''Harvest Moon'' developers

Marvelous Entertainment (MMV) was a multinational corporation that produced animation, music, video games and television series. MMV is known for its involvement in the ''Story of Seasons'' series. They merged with AQ Interactive in 2011 and became Marvelous AQL; the ...

eventually released their own farming social network game, ''Bokujo Monogatari'', for the Japanese site

Mixi is an online Japanese social networking service. It was founded in 1999 and is owned by Mixi, Inc. (). As of September 2012, Mixi had about 14 million monthly active users, with about 8.6 million of those on smartphones. Mixi, Inc. was founded ...

References

External links

Screenshot of Happy Farm

Game Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Happy Farm 2008 video games Farming video games MacOS games Massively multiplayer online games Social casual games Video games developed in China Video games with isometric graphics Windows games Casual games

Impact

See also

References

External links