What Algorithms Want: Imagination in the Age of Computing

by Ed Finn

This perversion of the asynchronous flexibility of typical online interaction created its own seductive rigor for players, leading some to wake up in the middle of the night to tend to their virtual farms. For a certain minority of players, the solution was to make small payments that would waive these oppressive rules, at least temporarily, allowing a crop to grow instantly, for example. That minority has supported the entire business model, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue. FarmVille and its successors are effective at eliciting particular rote behaviors from humans through a combination of carrots and sticks, engaging them in actions that the company can monetize directly or use to expand its network of users.