How to Make Sure You Can Get a Lamb or Baby Pig From Your Friends

1. Make sure you have not accepted a lamb OR a pig in the last 24 hours.
2. Make sure that your new friend who is offering to help you has been your friend for 48 hours.
3. It's always best to email your request (vs. a post) so the person doesn't miss your request.
4. If you want to send one to someone, make sure they can accept (steps 1 - 3), that they are online and waiting for you to post, and lastly, lock it to their name. See my video for instructions.

Problem with Flasher Sheep Purchased with Farmville Dollars

They are not producing flasher sheep!! A lot of people are asking me about this. Thanks to  Carol Mendenhall, who contacted Zynga, I learned that Zynga is working on correcting this issue.

I would also like to mention about etiquette. When someone makes you a sheep, try not to complain about it. The nice thing to do is to wait a few days and then ask if that person can try again. When people get really needy, picky, and demanding, it makes the person who is trying to do something nice for them feel used. I understand people's passion for the game but let's try to be more thoughtful of the other person. That's all. : )                    

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Can You Imagine the Enormous Workload of Keeping Over 47 Million People Happy?

Zynga does and has to respond. After having continuous "Out of Sync" issues in Farmville today, I sat back and thought. What a huge customer base that Zynga needs to respond to. As a novice developer, I cannot imagine what their developers go through on a daily basis. What if 10% of players have a problem and contact Zynga? That's 4,700,000 disgruntled people to make happy! It's nice for companies to grow, but managing growth must be a behemoth project for Zynga to undertake.

I felt kind of like a spoiled kid about my sheep rants earlier. This humbled me. I feel pretty thankful that I do not have to pay any money in order to play this fun game and escape the daily problems of life in a fun and healthy (in moderation...lol) way.

Google has invested 100 million into Zynga as of July 2010, which is a good thing since the exponential growth of Farmville was not predicted. It is a good position to be in but not without it's immense workload in just maintaining it, never mind making improvements or adding new features.

So let's thank Zynga for the job they have done. I know they want to profit off certain items that are cost Farmville or Facebook dollars. But it also makes the game fun when you get one for free too! They were quick to respond to us when we were so angry about the sheep breeding yesterday.

Farmville Ribbon Flower Tree Scam

Here is the fake link: (Click to enlarge)

 

 Here is the page it took me to: (Click to enlarge)

 Note the link at the bottom for the fake link: (Click to enlarge)

 

Note the link at the bottom for the real Farmville link: (Click to enlarge)

 

I copied the fake link's code and pasted it into Word so I could highlight the areas below. The words in hot pink tell me that the page gets permission to access the Facebook email addresses from your friends and God knows what else. (Click to enlarge)

I Did the Unthinkable!!!

It looks like the people at Gamers Unite are having to find all of the hacking posts and remove them. It looks like they are also struggling with these issues. They are going to have to start moderating their posts. (Click to enlarge)

It seems like they are working hard on this issue since there are so many people posting this. GU is not easy to reach so I am going to reinstall the toolbar since I need lots of bottles to keep breeding sheep to update my Sheep Breeding Guide and I get soooo many help and gift requests, I can't live without it.

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I succumbed to temptation and installed the Gamers Unite Snag Bar. I know, I know. I protested this for the longest time. BUT! I desperately needed bottles. I was tired of clicking, clicking, clicking, scrolling, clicking, clicking, clicking, scrolling, clicking, clicking, clicking, scrolling, clicking, clicking, clicking...all to get 9 bottles. I also want to say that I have had Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) before and ended up with Frozen Shoulder. I use a computer for work, school, this blog, making all the databases for this blog (sheep, pig, crops, etc.), other games, and learning to update my programming skills. Plus I do not have health insurance (no socialized medicine in US).

I get so many requests (see example below) that if I only use the Farmville "one-click" in the Farmville Loading screen, I would miss the majority of my friends' requests for help with the Royal Wedding, Ducklings, Greenhouse, etc. You already do if you use this feature to accept gifts vs. accepting them one-by-one on the game requests page. (Click to enlarge)

I have it currently disabled since it slows down the game and I have plenty of bottles (and it is nice when I need a boost) but will try to play Farmville the old fashioned way. It has some useful features though. I like the "One-Click Gift" since I can accept all of my gifts in the feed, without losing any (not fixed yet by Zynga, correct me if I am wrong), in one click. I wish it had a "Send all back" feature so I can click again and return all of the gifts in one click. Why doesn't Zynga strike a deal with the Gamers Unite People to help augment this? I know quite a few people who quit Farmville because of all the clicking and the waiting was too much of a time consumer. I think people who say "We should get a life." are these people, lol.

I am going to post a lamb to a friend (upon their agreement that they do not accept it), lock the post so only they can receive it, and then try and see if I can snag it with the game bar. I'll let you know my results. Added: I tested the snag bar. I ran it, made a lamb, locked it to Kim Poe. I went into Kim Poe, after waiting a bit. I didn't see any lambs in the snagged gifts section. I was able to accept the lamb (as Kim Poe). Therefore, all of our fears can be put to rest. THE SNAG BAR DOES NOT GRAB LAMBS - at least if they are locked to one specific person. I have not seen it ever snag a lamb. I have run it 3 times to test it. I disabled it after running the tests. It works great to get bottles in order to breed sheep and pigs. I try to breed different breeds so I can update the Sheep Breeding Guide and have a nice selection to make sheep and pigs to give my friends. So everyone benefits.

As for Zynga and Facebook, I think they realize, as well as me, after much examination and some speculation, that the game bar is okay. We all saw how quickly they stopped the sheep breeding. I think if you overuse the game bar, then you would get a warning. (Click to enlarge)

Besides,many of my best Farmville friends use the gamebar so it can't be that bad. I did notice that AdBlock initially flagged the installation of the bar. Once I run my spyware utility programs, I will let you know if there is a problem. By the way things are working, I feel there is no problem with any malware from this toolbar.

I have reason to believe that Gamers Unite also keeps their snag bar's code updated since so many people are using it without complaints. There was one issue I read about but it turned out to be insignificant. I am sure they do not want to lose people due to any related malware/spyware issues. Time will tell and so will I!!!

What Lies at the End of the Village?

Does anyone know? Can anyone tell me? Does anyone care? lol.

Zynga is Responding With a Listening Ear. Good News Folks!!!

Here is Zynga's Official Reply: http://forums.zynga.com/showthread.php?p=9033179#post9033179 

This is a step in the right direction. But they would have fared better had they told us this BEFORE stating that they were taking the sheep away. I feel that would have been a better public relations move. They really need to monitor their metrics and users more closely before making sweeping changes.

Losing over 36 million users is a red flag. Why did they leave? Did the game get boring with the repetitive clicking, which Zynga has made vast improvements since the game came out. No one needs to get carpal tunnel syndrome or any repetitive strain injury (RSI) from playing a computer/video game. I got frozen shoulder once from playing Rollercoaster Tycoon. (I'm a kid at heart) Let's hope that they will be able to stop the downward spiral since I, and you, my friends, really enjoy the game.

The game is in beta form and maybe they are having us "debug" the game. Notice how Vista was a nightmare and that Windows 7 is much better? That is no mistake, Microsoft basically used the Vista owners to debug it and create Windows 7. I have Vista Ultimate on one computer and Windows 7 on my other. I have noticed that Vista has VASTLY improved since the introduction of Windows 7 now that Microsoft has provided the fixes. But I feel Microsoft gets an "F" in regards to their marketing and public relations strategy. The public now has the opinion that Microsoft has gotten very arrogant since they are so dominant. Zynga can, and should, rise above this poor public relations attitude. They are headed in the right direction with this recent announcement (see link above).

Back to my point, I admire Zynga for stepping up to the plate. I admire them for making Farmville the most successful viral game on Facebook and in the world! I wrote a paper for a class last year titled, "Farmville: A Case Study in Successful Viral Marketing Strategy". They are ingenious with how they bait us with new developments and generate excitement and enthusiasm.

I wrap up this post by saying that I hope Zynga stays sensitive to its remaining loyal Farmville followers and keeps a socially responsible perspective, not succumbing to the temptations of greed. I don't have to see statistics to know how video games and DVD movie rentals have exponentially increased in popularity due to people opting to stay home versus going out. It has taught me a lesson on how not to let my love of this game tempt me into spending money I should be saving, especially in today's economy.

Farmville Loses 36,391,364 Players since May 2010!!!! Here's Why...

Farmville was at  83,755,953 monthly players all-time high, according to Inside Social Games (May 2010). Now the average monthly players are at 47,364,589 MAU (Monthly Average Users), according to App Data, a reliable metric site for Farmville Player Statistics. (Click to enlarge)

WOW!!! That is a loss of 36,391,364 players!!  

I was getting bored and the new English Countryside Farm piqued my interest. But the SHEEP! Oh the sheep, they were the game's saving grace, especially when the ILLEGAL flashers and cammo (Calico on on my Sheep Breeding Guide) were accidentally released.

According to Farmville Freak, Zynga's response is "Certain types of sheep and pig colors/patterns not yet released have been improperly distributed in FarmVille; we are currently going through the process of making sure this practice stops."

Oh so they had these patterns and someone stole them. While I will agree, this is wrong. Zynga is ruining their reputation by their poor public relations stance on this issue. With a whopping loss of over 36 million players worldwide, it would be in Zynga's best interest to do some quick damage control.

A lot of my blogs readers, over 16,000 to date (with 98% occurring in the past month!), have commented to me that they love breeding the new sheep and pigs. It made the loading issues, the lost gifts, the boring/repetitive parts of the game, etc. worthwhile. See proof of my blog's stats below:(Click to enlarge)

I read a lot of the posts on the Farmville Freak link (see link above). The one that really got me was the one from a mother saying how her son would be excited every day after school. He couldn't wait to play Farmville and breed the cool sheep and pigs. She stated that she and her husband spent money buying him Farmville Dollars (not to be confused with coins, which you earn in the game) so he could have the Love Potions and Bottles he needed to breed.

The only way I see that Zynga can save face and prevent losing a ton of more players is to introduce these sheep and pigs NOW or ASAP for FARMVILLE COINS NOT FARMVILLE DOLLARS. Guess I'll be playing Big Fish Games for awhile or try Farm Town again.

ZYNGA STOLE OUR FUN!!! NO MORE FLASHING OR CAMMO (CALICO) SHEEP!!!

 I just want you all to know that Zynga has been most responsive in refunding my money. Please read my posts: http://masteringfarmville.blogspot.com/2011/05/if-youre-angry-with-zyngaplease-read.html
http://masteringfarmville.blogspot.com/2011/05/zyngas-response-to-their-failed.html 

I will keep this post here so those who may have read it (thousands of you) so you will know how I feel now. I apologize publicly to Zynga since I should know better. If hackers can hack their servers to breed illegal sheep, can you imagine the security risk that poses? I was caught up in the game and didn't look at things from the other side. I was not being objective and I admit, a bit childlike. It's just a game and a free one at that. On the other hand, I do empathize that they should provide more excitement to the sheep breeding. I don't know how they tested the Roller Dot Sheep, for example, so I cannot comment on that. I like the game and will continue to play. After all, it is just a game and I have to bear in mind that it's free, it never ends like purchased video games, Zynga tries their best to generate excitement. So I wanted to show my appreciation by posting how happy I was to get a prompt refund, especially when they have over 47 million users!

The following is no longer my opinion:

According to Farmville Freak, we can no longer breed sheep that are fun. I love the Cammo (Calico on my Sheep Breeding Guide) and the Flashers. Why would I want to spend money on Love Potions or Bottles when what I get is BORING,BORING, BORING!!!

 Spread the word and repost!!! Let Zynga know they just shot themselves in the foot. I spent more of my REAL money buying love potions and bottles. Zynga, everyone loses. Please give us our fun sheep back. Repost if you agree! Let's let them know how we feel.

I reposted this on the following pages (Zynga approved sites):
http://farmvillefreak.com/farmville-question/farmville-issues-update-lllegal-sheep-pig-breeding  

http://www.examiner.com/farmville-in-national/breeding-changes-to-illegal-farmville-animals

http://farmvillepost.com/2011/04/27/news-illegal-sheep-producing-plain-lambs/comment-page-1/#comment-69548

 

 

Bottle Shortage!!!! Sheep and Pigs Have Resultant Growth Issues....

We are in the midst of a Bottle Crisis on Farmville! Now we can get lots of Love Potions but am short on bottles to feed our babies. I think we should be able to make bottled milk through our Dairy Farms. After all, WHY MAKE MILK IF YOU CAN'T BOTTLE IT! 

People, please post your comments and I will post on Zynga's Page next Wednesday, May 4th.

Farmville Pig Breeding Guide is Here!!!!

I will update this one like I do the Sheep Breeding Guide. I noticed if you have a female flasher sow and a boar of a plain or spotted color, you will get a flasher pig if you have not bred EITHER of them yet. It seems to work for the first time breeding. Have not had luck after the first time. You can see this on the Pig Breeding Guide. (Click to enlarge)

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WE CAN NOW MAKE LOVE POTIONS IN OUR EC CRAFTING STALLS!!!

This would be a good time to expand your English Countryside Crafting Stall, since we Sheep and, now, Pig Breeders need as many as possible. Remember to always get the maximum of the three ingredients needed: 4 Field Beans, 3 Pink Asters, and 5 English Peas.

Another strategy would be to ask for these bushels and to send them back so  that the people who are kind enough to give you one, can get one too. This way everyone wins and helps each other get more Love Potions.

Here is what it looks like when you level up your Love Potion. Also, your friends get to get a Love Potion, as you will from their posts. (Click to enlarge)

Also note that, depending on your Home Farm Crafting Stalls, you can make a Wooden Board, a Brick, or a Nail!!

Farmville Easter Egg Tree Scam - How to Know!!!

If you cannot see the video very well, you can see it on You Tube

100 Sheep Limit Workaround!!!

Thanks to my friend, Jessica House, we can now breed sheep even though we get the "Sorry Farmber! You can only have 100 bred sheep on your farm. (Click to enlarge)

 Jessica suggested I remove all the sheep from my pen except for the two I want to breed. I did it and IT WORKED!!!!! Thanks, Jessica!

Love Potion, Love Potion, Make Me a Sheep Before I Lose Sleep!

Hey, fellow Sheep Breeders! Don't we love a good mystery? Nancy Drew anyone? Well, we love breeding our sheep. We love it soooo much that it becomes that much easier to click on the little arrow to make sure we get a 100% chance of breeding a sheep.

Okay, I don't know about you but I am having one heck of a time getting Love Potions. Zynga needs to do something about this. I spent a little money on them at first but no more. They should make it that we can get 15 Love Potions every 3 hours!!!

If you agree, please post a comment so I can post a link on their page showing all the requests. You don't have to register, you can post anonymously, as you may have already seen. (Click to enlarge)

How to Get Double Fuel and Other Glitches

You can buy goods in BOTH Crafting Stalls (your first farm and English farm)!!

Noticed that we are not getting all of our gifts in the Farmville window so I am getting them from the Game Requests icon. See below for "Game Requests" icon picture. (Click to enlarge)

I had 89 gifts and accepted them through the Farmville window. Well, i know a neighbor request was in there. It did not show and when i clicked back on the Games button on FB, my neighbor request as well as rest of gift requests were GONE! Who else has this problem???

Sheep Breeding Problems??? I found out why:  "Remember the ZYNGA MASTER rules....you can only adopted one a day and you have to be friends with the person for 24-48 hours before ZYNGA MASTER will let you share with the person." (from Jen Peterson)

Trouble Seeing My Sheep Breeding Chart?

In the Windows Ease of Access Center for Vista, you can make all types of adjustments to accommodate vision and/or hearing deficits.

Here is an all inclusive link for Accessibility for the following Microsoft Products:

1. Windows 7
2. Windows Vista
3. Windows XP
4. Windows 2000
5. Internet Explorer - Versions: 9, 8, 7, 6; For Magnifier, click here (it is same for all I.E. versions)
6. Windows Phone - Versions 7. 6.
7. And More! Here see for yourself: (Click to enlarge)

Facebook Needs to BE RESPONSIBLE!!!!

Facebook should be responsible like CNET! CNET tests all submissions for viruses and malware before they post. Not Facebook! They will take any application from any developer and let them post it. That’s why we get the bogus Farmville links. I think i will start playing from the Zynga site if they can prove to me that they also censor this crap.


I am sorry but I will no longer be able to accept friends' requests on Facebook. My computer got a rootkit that Norton, Malwarebytes, and Windows Malicious Removal Tool could NOT eradicate. I had a friend help me. He is a genius! His name is Jerry C. Thank you Jerry for a tip that only a Computer Engineer who keeps servers safe for a living would know!! 


He told me that there is a new virus going around Facebook that you get when you accept a new friend. It hides in files so we had to delete all the files from my computer.

Want to Post a Gift on Your Wall For a Certain Friend? See Video!

Click Here to Watch It On You Tube

How To Coordinate Getting the 7 Winners Their Lambs

Here are the winners:

1. Laura Petruzziello 
2. Stephanie Dobbins Lee
3. Kalea Marie
4. Debra Rogers
5. Terry Dyer
6. Arianna Lange
7. Yris Iris

 I will contact you to make sure you have NOT been given a lamb or accepted a lamb within the past 24 hours (Hours start from the time you accepted the lamb). Then I will make sure you are online so you can accept the lamb. I will set it up so that only the winner can accept it and no one else.

NOTE: If you have had a lamb and I try to send you one and cannot, your forfeit your chance at a Star Sheep. I will keep a screen shot of the denial notice in case there is any doubt.

Thank you for playing!!

First 7 Contest: Get a Star Lamb!!! ---- Contest Closed! Wow That Was FAST!

Ari Red i will give you a baby if you PROMISE to send me a pic of what s/he grows up to be and email me your wish so I can refer to it and not hunt down for the post. 

The following is not required but it would be cool if you could repost my blog on your FB page. Here is the link: http://masteringfarmville.blogspot.com/2011/03/sheep-breeding-guide-here-are-some.html

The next 7 people who email me their request will get my next sheep bred with my star ram, thanks to my friend, Jennifer P!! 


Here are the winners:

1. Laura Petruzziello 
2. Stephanie Dobbins Lee
3. Kalea Marie
4. Debra Rogers
5. Terry Dyer
6. Arianna Lange
7. Yris Iris

(Click to enlarge)

It Could Happen To You - The OTHER Side of Farmville

I just finished watching this movie and it touched my heart very deeply. The movie is based on a TRUE story about kindness versus greed. I don't want to say anymore in order to not give away the movie but I have to say it is now my all time favorite movie.

Farmville is like this movie. Not only is Farmville the name of a highly popular game by Zynga but it also represents a nice community of people. I have made so many friends playing this game and are touched by the kind things they do for others. As you get more into the game, you know who you can count on to help you in the game. But, going deeper, as we scour our Wall for gifts, we also read about our friend's sister who has cancer or share in the joy of our other friend's daughter recovering from a car accident.

Since I have started this blog, I have received so much support from my Farmville friends. I know its only a game but its about the kind gestures that others do, no matter how small. I even have a friend who has asked me to come visit her....on another continent!

I write this for you, Farmville friends. Thank you for your support. I am glad you enjoy the fruits of my efforts. But most of all, I am glad you are in my life!!! (Click to enlarge)

If You Like My Posts, Your Friends Will Too!!!

Give them the gift of information. Click on the post you like from my main page so only the post you like shows and no other posts. Then, after you are logged into Facebook, click the "Share It" button. See example below. That is it! Plus, they will be able to share it with your friends on Facebook, once you share it, without having to go to my page and do what you just did. (Click to enlarge)

Trick For Getting More Bottles to Feed Sheep in Farmville!

I found a trick to get more bottles in Farmville quickly. It involves using your "Special Delivery" gifts. I am still building a storage cellar so it takes me FOREVER to get the 500 shovels I need to complete it. My Nursery Barn was finished. I had a lamb who needed bottles and all I would get from my Special Delivery gifts were shovels.

I had to act fast because I was dying to see what this little lamb would grow up to look like. So I emptied my Nursery Barn in the English Countryside and sold it. I started building a new one but THIS time, I complete ALL OF IT BUT THE BOTTLES. DON'T USE ANY BOTTLES FROM YOUR GIFT BOX AND YOU CAN GET A MAXIMUM OF TEN WHEN YOU OPEN YOUR SPECIAL DELIVERY!!! Then click on the lamb and select "Feed Bottles" to use them on the lambs without them going to complete the Nursery Barn. Just don't finish the nursery barn and you can still get more bottles!!!! Viola! (Click to enlarge)

 I will update these pictures once I get more Special Delivery gifts to prove my point, but you get the gist.

Last 7 of the Lucky 13 Contest Winners!!!

I thank all of you for your entries and for your enthusiasm for the Lucky 13 Contest!! I sent a message to Kris and the 2 Anonymous people who were having trouble finding "Ari Red" in Facebook but posted that they had contest entries. I have to be fair to them. I hope everyone understands.

Here are the winners: (Click to enlarge)