Minecraft

The book I read to research this post was Minecraft For Dummies by Jacob Cordeiro which is a very good book that I bought on kindle. This book is a For Dummies portable edition so is only around 150 pages but it is a very interesting book. It’s about a game called minecraft which is available as a retail game for both the computer and the xbox 360 and in addition can be played as an online game with both a free basic option and a premium paid option with more features. It can be played as both a LAN multiplayer on online multiplayer game where the various members can work together and build a town rather than just a settlement. To register for this game you must visit http://minecraft.net and normally you activate your account via e-mail. The aims of the game are to build a settlement with stone blocks which always measure 1 metre by 1 metre but can be chopped and shaped by things like a wooden axe. You have to collect various materials and have to keep your avatar alive by feeding him, providing shelter and repeling monsters. It is primarily a stategy with action elements and apparently there are 9 million players around the world. Part of the strategy is for example with various monsters something will work well on one type but not so well on another type. There are wolves in the game which can be a potential problem to you but which you can feed and tame. One of the most important things you can make in the game is gunpowder which can be thrown at things or creatures and explode. Your avatars health is signified by hearts which there can be up to 10 of them and the best way to replenish them is by eating and when these reach zero you die and have to start the game all over again. There are 3rd party sites with various resources but they aren’t covered in this book which assumes you know nothing about the game prior to reading it. I really enjoyed reading this book which was priced at a little under £5 so I think is good value. Finally if you play it as a multiplayer game one of you has to be an administrator of the game and you can enter cheats and commands with the / followed by a command. You can ban players who flout the rules by typing /ban followed by the player name and can give a reason for banning them and they can contact you via e-mail to discuss it.

 

 

Farmville

The book I read to research this post was Farmville For Dummies by Kyle Orland et al which is an excellent book which I bought from kobo. This book which I think is by the same authors was written prior to Cityville For Dummies and I think both games are very addictive. This is a social game by Zynga that you have to have a Facebook account to play. In this game you are given land and must create a farm and it’s impossible to die. Some of the things are obvious like cows produce milk but there are also less obvious things like baby tigers produce good luck. If you get really good at the game there is even a roman villa which you can buy for 1,000,000,0000 farm coins. Like in Cityville people can become your neighbours and they can help you with the running of the farm. There are also co operative tasks that you can do with your neighbours. There are also limited edition items that you can buy with farm money. Some people do spend cash on virtual items but it’s not essential. You can grow crops in Farmville and the better crops can be accessed as you get more farm money. With animals there is a trade off between how much space they need and what they produce. One of the best animals is calves which are small and you can earn 80 farm coins per day per animal.

Cityville

The book I read to research this post was Cityville For Dummies by Kyle Orland et al which is an excellent book which I bought from kobo. Cityville is a social game which means it’s an online game which encourages people to interact and co operate with each other. It’s free to play although you can pay for accessories. Over 100 million people play and have to have a facebook account. The website http://cityville.com is a facebook page owned by the makers of the game Zynga. The game itself is hosted on Zynga servers. One of the beauties of this game which is a bit like Sim City is the city you create is always active and for example if you don’t harvest crops they will wither and die. The aim of the game is to build a city and manage it & as things like population reach certain levels additional features are unlocked. Other players you befriend can become neighbours. These people can help you run your or you can help them. You can probably do most of the tasks regarding your city in a half hour slot each day. This game is so addictive many people play for much longer. In addition to building you must keep your residents & if that is how they will smile. In terms of getting neighbours the upper limit is 300 but if you get close to that you get certain features unlocked. On Facebook there are groups dedicated to getting neighbours for their fellow players. Some scams are going around the Cityville community, one is offering game points in exchange for joining a Facebook group where you never see the free gift. Another is sometimes people will get in touch with you and pretend they are from Zynga and ask for financial details. Obviously the genuine Zynga wouldn’t do that especially if it’s via phone or email.