You have to give it to Zynga ... companies have found ways to make the game up a lot of people want to play.
The people who gave the world "Farmville" and "FrontierVille" launch of their latest game - "CityVille" - just 12 days ago and already the game build a virtual city has been played by at least 17 million users worldwide, according to Zynga. Other data analytic outlets have reported 22 million users of the game.
Compare that to "World of Warcraft" - which offers 12 million players worldwide. (Though, granted, "CityVille" is free to play and "WoW" is very very not).
But it makes the game most quickly "CityVille" Zynga developing ever and probably the fastest-growing period for the game. And Mark Skaggs, VP of Product Development Zynga, attributes the success of the booming game for the company's new strategy has been used in the past year.
That is, companies that are doing more than anyone to popularize the game of social networking, is now taking cues from the traditional gaming world ... and take the employees as well.
"We have brought a group of people from the traditional game industry, and you see it in the product," said Skaggs me. "We added more than, polish design creativity, and other elements that you would find in a traditional game - you know, the games you might play on the PlayStation or PC game you are not a social Web browser."
Skaggs indicated that one of the hallmarks of the traditional game industry is not only spent years making a game, but put a lot of extra polish and tuning into the game for three or four months before it launched.
"With 'CityVille' we should release it in early November but due to our belief in the experience of quality players, we decided to hold until after Thanksgiving," he said, showed that they took the time to spiff up the game even further.
When it comes to providing a more traditional gaming experience, one thing Zynga focused on is to see "CityVille's". Skaggs said that, for the first time, they are given building games and characters with 3D software as is done in many game industry. And indeed, "CityVille" is the best-looking game Zynga has not.
"With 'CityVille' there is a large amount of detail in the building and everything that happens in town," he said.
It also shows that the developers spent a lot of time in the city-building simulation that underlie that have made the game "CityVille" Zynga is the most extensive and interactive to date.
"CityVille" tasks players with the layout of city planning, balancing the needs of citizens, run restaurants and businesses and, yes, even the crop harvest. Players can also visit the city of their friends. Zynga calls
"Monopoly meets Main Street" - but for those who know the game, more like "SimCity" met "Farmville."
No matter how you describe it - "CityVille" is a boom-town success. When Zynga launches "FrontierVille" earlier this year, reaching 1.2 million players in its first week. In the first week "CityVille's", reaches 3.5 million players.
So what's next for Zynga and his staff grow employees drawn from the traditional game industry?
"We have a slate of new games that come through the first half of next year," said Skaggs. "But we can not talk about details yet."