Until today, I had never even seen FarmVille in action. Sure, I had received all the Facebook notifications asking me to help my friends, but no part of me had any desire to do so. Then I read an article in TIME magazine called Zynga Harvests the Cyberfarmer, and decided to take a peek at this game so I could write about it. The article points out just how scammy and shady Zynga is (or at least was) with all kinds of outsourced offers that snag users into unknowingly shelling out cash.

I won’t criticize players of FarmVille, because I have friends who play it. I can see how the soothing guitar music would suck someone in (I have it playing in the background as I write this), but the game itself seems to just be a time-sucker and not even challenging. There are games out there that require strategy, problem-solving and cleverness. This does not appear to be one of those. As far as I can tell, it’s a simplistic game that depends on spreading the word to friends so that enough people will spend real money to buy farm money.

I understand that the SIMS-y/Second Life-y feel of FarmVille would be comforting to many people who enjoy the social aspect of the game. Hell, the game may even be a way to relieve some stress. According to the TIME article some people have gotten sucked into the darker aspects of the game

But because people who play free games on the Internet like the free part, Zynga needed a third income stream–product come-ons.

These offers are like ads, except that when you click on them, you’re agreeing to try and then buy a company’s service in exchange for game points. Sign up for a Netflix subscription, get two months free plus 100,000 points. Some players cancel as soon as they have the points. Other deals, like those that snagged Michelle, are shady. Michelle took a quiz that required her to enter her cell-phone number and a code. At some point during the exchange, there was supposed to be a notification that she was signing up for an SMS subscription at $9.99 a month. Michelle says she never saw it.

The article goes on to say that “for the moment, Zynga has removed all offers and says it’s going to vet each one before it appears”, but it still seems like the entire point of these games is to drain unsuspecting FauxFarmers out of real money. According to TIME:

There are two ways to move ahead in the game. One is to grind, as it’s known–plow, plant and harvest. Once you’ve grown, say, eggplant, you accumulate enough points to move up to a wider choice of crops. You invite friends to be your neighbors. You exchange gifts and help out, all of which let you accrue the capital you need to expand your farm, thus making it ever more remunerative.

But if you want to skip all that backbreaking plowing, er, clicking, or if you’ve run out of friends who faux-farm, you can buy farm cash and get what you want. These virtual goods are the products that social games are actually trying to hawk. People hand over real money for make-believe merchandise.

As you can see, I’m a friendless farmer, and that’s the way it will remain.

As reported on The Big Money Google plans to prevent you from seeing ads that promise white teeth and a flat belly! Why does Google want us all walking around with guts and stained grills? What does the search engine giant have against its users’ bodies? I explore…

Oh, wait. It turns out that most of those ads are scammy bait-and-switchers that promise one thing but lead you somewhere totally different. Google is taking aim at the advertisers rather than just the misleading ads. According to The Big Money:

If an ad violated one of Google’s terms of use, the search giant would take it out of circulation, but that’s it. Google briefed TBM on its new policy: It will now ban the advertiser, not the ad, effectively neutering the advertiser’s ability to shift from one ad and shell site to another. Think of it like the struggle between the police and a graffiti vandal. Up until now Google has only been erasing the tags after they’ve been put up. Going forward, they’re going to take away his spray cans and put a GPS collar on him, making sure he never does it again. It would be a principled stand by any company, but especially by Google because of its position in the market. I worry, though, that the rest of the industry won’t pay attention. On this issue, Google might be a leader without any followers.

Although I can honestly say I don’t really see too many of these ads, I know they’re out there. I have managed to very successfully ignore them because, honestly, they just LOOK scammy. No good can come from clicking on an ad that promises to

WHITEN YOUR TEETH 9 SHADES AND LOSE 30 POUNDS IN 4 DAYS

IM Not Fooled (please don’t click on links)

oh my God you wont believe this…
http://Face-The-Fact.com/?naughty=my-friend’s-username&image=DSC007956.JPG

hehe  its funny loool )

You may notice that the link did not even use MY username, but my friend’s. Why on earth would there be a link on the Internet that has anything to do with ME that uses THEIR username.

:O oo you and your classfellows had a get together?? i got you
http://my-friend’s-username.Face-The-Fact.com/

brb

Oh wow, that link looks really legitimate, huh? Especially after getting the first message. Not to mention this friend of mine never actually talks to me on IM. Yet some people will click these links.

hey are you on facebook ???
if u are then check this out
http://my-friend’s-username.Face-The-Fact.com/

brb okay

Aside from the fact that this person is a FRIEND on Facebook, why would this link have anything to do with it? And again, with the same Face-The-Fact nonsense. Who writes this stuff?

What Does Norton Say?

A quick Google search led me to a useful site called Norton Safe Web. Here’s what it has to say about Face-The-Fact:

Hey
How is going now !
It is amazed.I got a great website,that guys sell electronics,the price is cheapest and quality is nice.Fast service to receive the products from them.
Go and check it :   [site removed]
Email: [removed]

MSN:  [removed] Download Messenger onto your mobile for free. Learn more.

More to the Story

Being the curious person that I am, I googled the website that is listed above and found out the following from Windows Live Help. Someone posted a question about having a hacked email account because they received replies in regards to having “sent” an email much like the one above. Here’s the answer given by Windows Live Help:

We’re aware of the issue you’ve encountered and we’ve determined that it is due to Malware. Visit the link below to know more about this:

The Link They Give