On beginning a farm, the player first creates a customizable avatar.[6] There are six plots of land, four of which are in the process of growing, and two (eggplant and strawberries) which are fully grown.

The game is based around the market, where items can be purchased: seeds, trees, animals, buildings, decorations, vehicles, and more land using "farm coins," the generic money of FarmVille (which is earned by selling crops) or "farm cash". (which the player earns at a rate of one dollar per experience level). A player can also choose to buy FarmVille coins or cash from Zynga. The player plants seeds, which grow into crops, which can be harvested to earn farm coins. Animals and trees can also be purchased and can also be harvested for profits. The player earns experience points (XP) by purchasing items, and regular tasks such as plowing, planting and harvesting. Earning XP increases the player's level, unlocking more items. Most items can be bought with farm coins, although some (e.g., certain decorations) must be purchased with farm cash.

Each plot of land costs 15 farm coins to plow and depending on the crop planted, new seeds can range from 10 to 220 farm coins. Each crop sells for a set price, strawberries for 35 farm coins, pumpkins for 68 farm coins and so on. Depending on the plant, growth time can vary from two hours (raspberries) to four days (artichokes, watermelon). If the crop is not harvested within the amount of growing time, it will wilt and must be plowed again. For example, pumpkins will grow in 8 hours. If the pumpkins are not harvested within 16 hours of planting, they will begin to wither and die, and the player will not be able to harvest them for farm coins or XP.[7]

As a player progresses, they can expand their farm (for a payment of farm cash) to allow for more room for farming, animals, and decorations.

Like most Zynga games, FarmVille leverages the social networking aspects of Facebook. Along with their own farm, players can invite their friends to join and be neighbors. Acquiring neighbors has benefits in gameplay — not only can one earn money and experience (by visiting and helping on neighboring farms), but with eight or more neighbors, a player can expand their farm and own more acreage. Gifts (such as trees, animals, and decorations) can be sent to both confirmed neighbors and any other Facebook friends even if they do not use the application. The Gifts received from neighbors usually have relatively expensive buy prices in the market; so getting gifts from friends is one of the best ways to get relatively expensive items.

A variety of "Ribbons" are also available to players, representing the player's achievement of a series of set tasks. The player first obtains a yellow ribbon for completing a simple version of the task, then progresses through white, red, and blue ribbons by completing progressively more difficult versions of the same task. For example, the "Fenced In" Yellow ribbon requires that the player purchase and display on his farm 5 sections of fence. The white ribbon for the same task requires 50 sections of fence be set up, and the red and blue ribbons get progressively harder and more expensive to complete. There are presently twenty-seven different tasks, for a total of 108 total ribbons available to be earned. In addition to bragging rights, a player earning a ribbon gets a tangible reward for his efforts, which may include a gold or experience bonus, the award of a special item, or some other benefit.


Controversy

FarmVille had given its users virtual cash for various advertising offers: for instance, you would get some virtual currency for signing up for Netflix. However, FarmVille has been accused of scamming its users through misleading offers, such as filling in bogus survey or IQ tests which in fact subscribe the users to an unwanted service which appears on the phone bill.[8][9] In a video posted November 9, 2009, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus says "I did every horrible thing in the book too, just to get revenues right away. I mean we gave our users poker chips if they downloaded this Zwinky toolbar which was like, I don't know, I downloaded it once and couldn't get rid of it." In regards to business practices.[10] Michael Arrington of TechCrunch accused Facebook of allowing Zynga's FarmVille to continue these practice because a great deal of the money it gets from such leads is reinvested in ads inside the Facebook network.[9] In response to this negative publicity, Zynga removed all virtual cash offers on 8 November 2009 [11], however as of January 2010, several such offers have been reinstated. Zynga is now facing a potential class action lawsuit as a result of these practices.[12][13]