Farming Simulator game a good teacher
Farming Simulator is a game that focuses on the everyday tasks and challenges of the agricultural industry.
“Farming Simulator teaches players many things, depending on their level of agricultural knowledge,” Dennis Reisdork, Content Marketing Manager for GIANTS Software, says. “The learning spectrum ranges from learning the basics of different fruit types, required field preparations and crop protection to all the different tools and complex machines used in real-life farming.”
Players, Reisdork says, take on the role of a farmer with basically complete freedom and no pre-set goals. Reisdork says that in the game, players are free to explore, plant whatever crops they prefer, tend to livestock or focus on forestry and invest their money in additional fields and equipment. Multiplayer mode allows cooperating with others. In addition to the two ways to play, Reisdork says that Farming Simulator 19 features more than 300 authentically digitised machines from real-life brands by world-leading manufacturers.
Reisdork states that Farming Simulator was first released in 2008, is rated ‘E’ for everyone in North America and is rated PEGI 3 in Europe. The game, he says, was developed by GIANTS Software, a company that was started by CEO Christian Ammann and Lead Programmer Stefan Geiger in 2004. Farming Simulator, Reisdork says, started as a hobby project driven by the passion for video games and quickly developed into something bigger.
“Naturally, with only a few developers working on the game in the beginning, decisions had to be made - like which features had priority and which could be implemented into the game later,” Reisdork says.
“That’s still the case, but on a different level now. For example, playing online with friends wasn’t possible until Farming Simulator 2011.
The series also had way less official brands when it started out. It took some effort to explain the nature of our game to them. Some were on board faster than others.”
Reisdork says that the current game, dubbed Farming Simulator 19, can be bought for PC and consoles through various platforms, such as the HYPERLINK "https://farmingsimulator.com/about.php?&platform=p c" \t "_blank" official website: www.farming-simulator.com, retailers, and the respective online stores on consoles like PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The latest mobile version is available for Apple and Android devices.
“With the Farming Simulator League, there’s also a competitive multiplayer mode for Farming Simulator 19,” Reisdork says. “Competitive farming is completely new in e-sports. Talented teams sponsored by acclaimed brands participate in tournaments fighting for a price pool of 250.000 Euros per season.”
Reisdork says that currently, there has been over 25 million copies of Farming Simulator sold and the community is growing every day. Reisdork says that the game is popular because there are different aspects for different people according to what their interests within the game are. Those aspects, Reisdork says, include the agricultural theme, the relaxing gameplay, making the dream of a farm come true, driving and operating complex and expensive machines and vehicles, cooperating with friends to expand on the farm and work together on projects, and many other things.
“Farming Simulator is beneficial in many ways: It offers a relaxing form of digital escapism and is enjoyed by many for reasons like the calm and immersive experience,” Reisdork says. “For many people, especially young players, it offers a learning experience thanks to the virtual peek into the farming industry which may lead to increased awareness and interest in agriculture.”