Facebook Monster World

We live in a world of apps. Our phones need apps and our Facebook account needs apps. Without apps, we would have to talk to each other in real life.

Monster World on Facebook represents the epitome of app opportunities. The monsters are friendly and you get to farm stuff. It's also free. A more optimal combination of internet-based entertainment may exist, but it only runs on a Mac.

Take a close look at the world of monsters hosted at Facebook.com. It's fun, easy to play, and mostly engaging. A Facebook account and oodles of free time are all that's required. Dedicated programmers and graphic designers did all the heavy lifting: all you need to do is point and click.

We jumped into the monstrous world of agrarian monsters with only a few clicks. Did we mention it's free to get started? All we had to do was agree to give up a little semi-personal information. What monsters plan to do with our friend list or our birthday remains a mystery. Perhaps these monsters are friendly creatures who enjoy a good party.

The monsters aren't scary. They're cartoon monsters with colorful personalities. They scuttle to and fro as birds chirp contentedly in the background. It's a monster playground before the USDA shows up to help.

Our first challenge, such as it was, required harvesting lemonade bushes from well-tilled tiles. A friendly creature performed the grunt work: all we had to do was point and click.

The lemonade bottles turned out to have great value to a robot-monster (why are all robots monsters? Are there no friendly robots?) who offered us coins in exchange. We gladly accepted the offer since we currently have sufficient numbers of lemonade bushes in our life.

Did we mention that Monster World was free? It doesn't have to be free. Should you find your PayPal account or credit card balance comfortably under your credit limit, feel free to invest in additional monstrous coins to advance your position in the game.

Use the coins to purchase more stuff. We all need more stuff in our online monster games.

As with all online free monster-based games, Monster World on Facebook includes a veritable plethora of levels. Your level increases as you plant/harvest repeatedly and sell your crops to the robot monster, which is connected via WiFi to trading markets around the monster world. As far as we know.

Levels increase based on 'points', which increase based on number and type of products sold to the robot. The second level is easily reached after only a few planting cycles, but the third level requires more time and effort.

Level three brings with it additional planting plots. Into these plots you can plant lemonade bushes and diamond flowers. From these lemonade bushes and diamond flowers come more lemonade bushes and diamond flowers, which can be planted to yield...

We purchased an adorable umbrella. Farms can't have too many umbrellas. Interestingly enough, the purchase cost 500 coins, but rewarded us with 10 points. Monster farms are magical places.

After two simple purchases, we were promoted to level 3. It felt good. The new level offered additional gaming opportunities such as "Change your monster" and "Expand."

Apps, or application programs, proliferate throughout Facebook and elsewhere on the Internet. Monster World is a 'third-party' app, meaning that Facebook assumes little responsibility for it. Design and programming originate elsewhere but the software is hosted and delivered by the Facebook web site. The hyper-popular app "Farmville" is also third-party.

Many online apps are programmed in Flash, which is wildly popular for game developers and mostly harmless to game players. It's also free. Facebook sends the programming to your computer and the Flash program executes it locally. It is a download, but a relatively safe download when compared to virus-laden programs from less reputable sites.

The Abobe Corporation distributes the Flash Player. Your computer must have a current version of the software installed: it's also free and pretty much ubiquitous. Abobe regularly releases security patches and updates for the Flash Player.

Cheats? We don't need no stinkin' cheats. Planting, harvesting, and wholesaling are straightforward tasks. It's easy enough to eke out an honest living on the monster world virtual farm. Look online for devious multi-key combinations that will make your monsters work faster or your plants germinate more rapidly. Perhaps there's a combination of clicks and keys that yields a richer soil in the north 40.

Another extremely efficient time-waster. It's briefly visually engaging and very easy to understand. Monster World joins the pantheon of activities offered through Facebook.com. It won't change your world, but it will give you something to do instead of working.