Isn't FarmVille a Flash game? If so, it presumably uses Flash XML sockets instead of Comet-style browser hacks.

We use AMF protocol as XML is slow to parse on the client

Thanks for sharing that. What are you using on the backend to handle all of those AMF connections? I'm not intimate with AMF but it seems there are at least 10 server implementations that support AMF.

Don't forget WebSocket ;)

True, but I don't think development versions of browsers have 75MM users at this time. Maybe in 2020 when HTML5 is ratified. :)

FWIW, close to 10% of Mibbit are already on WebSocket. It's supported in the non-dev latest Chrome, which the majority of Chrome users are using, since the browser has a proper update facility.

Ignore things at your peril, although you're probably right. People playing FarmVille are unlikely to be early adopters.

I'm betting majority of farmville players are on work computers... instead of solitaire or yahoo games, there's farmville!

idk, I think a ton of bored housewives play it. It'd be interesting to see demographics.

With 75m monthly actives, I'm pretty sure almost every demographic is covered.