Facebook is filled with dozens of games that you can play. Personally, I enjoy playing several of these games with my relatives who are on Facebook. Now, there is a new genealogy based game on Facebook, called Family Village. I figure it’s only a matter of time before one of my relatives sends me an invitation to start playing that one with them.
If I had to guess, I’d say that the most popular game on Facebook is Farmville. Somehow, the idea of growing virtual crops is one that appeals to a lot of people. I started playing this game to see what it was all about, and then my uncle, who is on Facebook, started playing too. It didn’t take long for many of my other relatives, who also are on Facebook, to make me their neighbor in Farmville.
The same pattern happened with Frontierville, and a few of my relatives also play Cafe World. Admittedly, I haven’t had much time lately to spend playing those games. But, even so, it is clear to me how influential it is when a family member starts playing one of these Facebook games with another family member. I now feel like I really should get back into playing these games, just so I can continue to do things with certain family members.
Therefore, I think that this new game, called Family Village is going to be a big hit. This will be especially popular for people who are interested in genealogy. To play this game, you build a village, and then you work on populating it. Only, instead of having virtual non-player characters living in your village, you get to have your actual relatives appearing there.
While you play this game, the game itself searches through the internet for information that is relevant to your family. It looks through census records, marriage records, war records, yearbook albums, and maps. Family Village integrates with the Family Link genealogy website. The game gives you points and virtual money when you accomplish simple genealogy tasks, like filling out your family tree. Your village will have it’s own “Heritage Tree”, and you can make it grow as you add more family members into the game.
I haven’t had a chance to check out this Facebook game yet. To me, it sounds like an interesting way to work on genealogy research. It also seems natural for this game to appear on Facebook, which so many people are using to connect with their relatives.
Image by Micah Laaker on Flickr