journal of digital research & publishing - The Sydney eScholarship ...

1 P M J O U R N A L O F D I G I T A L R ESEARCH & P UBLISHING
3. Personalized decorations. Game developers provided players with colorful
decorations allowing them to decorate their farms and build them into an ideal paradise.
This realized people’s dream of beauty.
According to the latest statistics, the largest number of users of this game was up to
16,000,000. Revenues brought by the game were up to 50,000,000 per month. (Wiki,
2009). After the huge online success, a real version of Happy Farm began to appear.
According to a report from Beijing Youth Website, in Beijing people now can rent a small
'$%5%&7D&#3"8&$"&*()(>)&G+%>%&6+%9&53"&,>7G&I%,%63)#%*&3"8&C7G%>*M&B+$*&H$"8&7D&D3>0S&
which was similar to the virtual farm in the game, was very popular among urbanite. They
gradually choose spending weekends on the farm as a major leisure activity.
!"#"$%&'()'()*+,,-).+/0
The advantage of Happy Farm was obvious. On the one hand, it was very easy to play and
do not need complex strategies and sophisticated weapons. On the other hand, this game
was also a good talking topic to increase the interpersonal communication with others. On
some occasions if you do not know how to play this game, you will be viewed as an outsider.
In addition to the advantage of the game itself, the social factors behind it also contributed
,>%36#9&67&$6*&*'>%38M&`"5>%3*$",&*75$3#&'>%**(>%&'(*+%8&'%7'#%&67&4"8&3"&%DD%56$I%&>%#3P$",&
way. In current world, people had to face all kinds of challenges from family, study, and
53>%%>&3"8&*7&7"M&23*6&6%0'7&)>7(,+6&6+%0&+$,+&'>%**(>%M&B+%9&"%%8%8&67&4"8&3&G39&67&
relax. Happy Farm was such a good way. In this online game, players can build their own
farm. They could grow vegetables, raise animals and then sell them to make a fortune.
In this virtual paradise, they would not be disturbed by troubles from real life such as
emotional problems and economic pressure. They would be paid as long as they work
hardly to run the farm. If they could not solve these problems in real life, they would turn
to these virtual technologies for help.
EM&/#$%"36%8&$"6%>'%>*7"3#&>%#36$7"*+$'&D7>5%&'%7'#%&67&4"8&3&"%G&5700("$536$7"&5+3""%#
According to the latest data from China Internet Network Information Center, 63.4%
respondents chose Happy Farm because of their friends’ recommendation (CINIC, 2009).
It indicated that friendship plays an important role in the choosing of games. In such
3& *75$%69& G$6+& 4%>5%& 570'%6$6$7"S& 6+%& $"6%>'%>*7"3#& >%#36$7"*+$'*& 307",& '%7'#%& G%>%&
become more and more cold. Every person as an individual was easy to be isolated from
83