CityVillereasons, objectives and priorities for online play and communication

Abstract

The game CityVille, developed on social networks and focused on virtual city construction, allows players to have fun interacting online and collaborating with others in order to make their cities grow. The survey performed among members of the Fans-Cityville multinational community on Facebook (N=105) –63.0% men and 37.0% women– clearly shows that playing and sharing their hobby makes these individuals happy. 47.0% of them play between 3 and 6 hours every day and, although one can play for free, almost half of the players spend 8 USD per month on average to progress faster. Unlike men, whose outstanding competitive profile explains their exclusive goal of reaching the highest level –communicating with others only as a way to obtain new resources and win– women prioritize collaborative entertainment and thus assign more value to strategy exchange, mutual collaboration, and the opportunity to broaden their network of contacts and friends.