Chores are never fun. Whether it is mowing the lawn or trimming the shrubs, people hardly ever love these monotonous tasks. Even jobs like tending a garden or harvesting crops do not cause rejoice.

The secret to social game maker Zynga’s success — the creator of FarmVille —  is its ability to convert these seemingly unexciting tasks into games played by hundreds of millions of users.

FarmVille affirmed Zynga’s status as the premier developer for Facebook gaming. By jumpstarting the virtual-good economy, Zynga has been able to successfully make money from means other than traditional online advertising. But, for better or for worse, Zynga is seemingly intertwined with the news cycle regarding Facebook.

Between August 2009 and December 2010, FarmVille was the most popular game on Facebook. It boasted millions of users’ logins per day. The incredible popularity of the game made it commonplace in our lexicons and on our computer screens. Since the game is heavily integrated with Facebook, competition among friends helped foster a staggering average playing time.

Several of Zynga’s games, including FarmVille, cause procrastination during work or school for most of their users. Aspects such as harvesting crops and planting seeds require constant monitoring.

Five percent of Zynga’s 300-plus million residents of FarmVille buy currency to advance faster in the game. Advancing can mean buying floorboards for your virtual house or a virtual garage to store your virtual tractor.

These virtual goods amassed nearly $1 billion for Zynga in the last year. The virtual-good industry in 2010 alone was worth almost $9 billion. PrivCo, a financial analyst firm, believes it is difficult to diagnose the actual value of Zynga because its main revenue stream may be dependent on a fad rather than an emerging market.

FarmVille and its multiple spinoffs have drastically lost popularity during the past year. Zynga’s stock price fell precipitously from its high of $15 to its current price of $3.

Zynga’s initial public offering was in late December and debuted at a stock price around $10. Due to its recent inability to produce another widely popular game, investors are bailing and quarterly forecasts are shrinking.

Facebook’s cliff-like dive since its botched IPO has resulted in lost confidence in its business model and the social-media industry in general. At TechCrunch’s Disrupt Conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg finally acknowledged — albeit through a nondescript announcement — the company’s floundering stock. This caused an immediate bump to the stock prices of both Zynga and Facebook.

But questions have been raised as to whether Zynga’s virtual goods, product placement and banner advertising have enough financial viability to propel it forward as a publicly traded company on its own.

Zynga may be treading in dangerous water if the success of the company is directly correlated with Facebook’s performance. Zynga’s mission statement directly relies on the popularity of Facebook.

Even though Facebook is the primary vehicle through which users interact with Zynga’s games, it should not quantify as a core principle of the company. Zynga’s future success hinges on its ability to generate buzz by creating games that are not only addicting, but also infiltrate the top of smartphone app stores.

As a social gaming platform, it will be Zynga’s job to convince its players that virtual tractors, flowers and cars are all worth real-world money.

Jared Rosen is a sophomore advertising and marketing management major. His column appears weekly. He can be contacted at jmrose03@syr.edu or followed on Twitter at @jaredmarc14.

Published on September 18, 2012 at 10:44 am