FrontierVille

FrontierVille feels a lot like FarmVille 2.0. It's just as relentlessly viral as other top social games, with frequent prompts to invite friends, buy Horsehoes (the game's premium currency purchased with real money), and post updates to friends' walls. However, the gameplay feels much more like a traditional online role-playing game thanks to a greater focus on collectibles, badges, and quests that give the player specific goals to complete and introduce story arcs and new characters to the frontier.

The social features of FrontierVille are quite robust. Players can visit neighbors' homesteads to tend their animals and crops or clear debris, or hire neighbors to work on their own homesteads. The gifting of free items between friends is also essential in completing buildings and quests. FrontierVille can certainly be addictive; but the variety of things to do, coupled with frequent updates, gives players plenty of reason to keep logging in besides a simple compulsion to click on crops.

Online interaction: Neighbors are essential in FrontierVille, and players benefit from having as many neighbors as possible. Some items can only be unlocked by having a certain number of neighbors, and most of FrontierVille's quests have a gifting component that requires players to send items to each other. Although FrontierVille doesn't have a built-in way of adding strangers as Facebook friends like CityVille does, there is a temptation to ask for neighbors and items through online message boards, which can give strangers access to private info on your Facebook page.