I’ve been playing We Rule for the iPhone for a couple of weeks. I enjoy playing…when the servers are not acting up. Right now it is very buggy, which is a shame because it is a fun game.

For research, I installed my first Facebook application, Farmville. I have serious trust issues with Facebook that prevent me from using my account much. Both games have a similar theme: build your land and play with your friends. However, there is one huge difference.

Farmville: Is dependent on Facebook to log in (at this time). Once logged in, you can see all your friends playing the game and interact on their farms (they can interact on your farm as well).

We Rule: You login using a Plus+ account (free). You can add friends to your Plus+ account and interact on their land (and they can purchase things from you).

The key difference: I can add people to a Plus+ account and that has nothing to do with my contact list on my phone. I added a bunch of random strangers to my account. I have no idea who these people are and I have no way of contacting them. If I decide to delete the application, I will make sure I’ve delivered everything (and have no orders outstanding) and I will not feel like I’m letting my friends down.

With Farmville, I have not added anyone as neighbors. In comparison to We Rule, I do not see myself in the game long. I enjoy hanging out with my friends but I do not want to do everything with my friends. I enjoy interacting with new people and potentially making new friends. I’m not going to add random people to my Facebook account so I have new people to play with on Farmville.

I really do not see the addictive nature of Farmville. Maybe due to it being based on building a farm (versus We Rule building a city), but tending to my friend’s farms is not fun to me. Another annoyance, if I do something on a friend’s farm (scare away animals, fertilize their crops, feed their chickens, etc.) I am constantly asked, “Do you want to let them know you did it?”, “Do you want to send them a gift?”…message after message. I am definitely not their target audience.

Farmville most likely will not last the end of the week before I delete it. The only reason why I’m considering deleting We Rule is because of performance issues. I’m level 18 and I enjoy playing when the servers are not acting up.

One very odd thing: writing this entry made me realize I kind of miss playing World of Warcraft. I made the mistake of allowing the game to be too dependent on the fun I had playing with friends. When the friends left, it wasn’t as fun. I learned my lesson and that’s probably why Farmville doesn’t work for me. It’s too friend dependent.