Anybody who was using Facebook in or after 2009 is likely to remember a little game named “FarmVille.” For every person who used and enjoyed “FarmVille” there is another person whose Facebook experience was riddled with annoyance at the constant stream of notifications it sent their way. Eamonn Carey was decidedly in the latter group of Facebook users. Unlike most people who rolled their eyes at “Farmville,” however, Carey channeled his annoyance into a creative endeavor. The result of his efforts was “Farmvillain,” a game which took place in a world similar to, yet distinctly different from, that of “FarmVille.” In “Farmvillain” players were given the opportunity to prank or sabotage other users’ farms by giving their cows mad cow disease or burning down their barns. The game took off and eventually garnered over a million users before Carey sold it to GameStop.

During the game’s prime Carey started receiving fan mail and emails from users telling him he had made their day. The experience taught Carey an important lesson: the importance of mischief, whimsy and humor in online spaces.

“That was the moment when I realized there’s a huge appetite for this,” he said.

Satiating audience hunger for humor in their online engagements is the subject of Carey’s upcoming panel at SXSW interactive and, unsurprisingly, the practice plays an important role in his professional life as well. As an entrepreneur-in-residence at Techstars, Carey is charged with the task of mentoring people by helping them turn their ideas into successful operations. One of the pieces of advice he gives to those under his tutelage is quite simple: use humor.

“Every little thing that you can do to delight a user or put a smile on their face is a way to get them to come back more often,” he said. “One of the best ways to grab someone’s attention and keep it is to make them smile.”

Carey characterizes much of the work that has been done in digital spaces over the last 25 years as being quite serious. He furthermore sees the majority of whimsy that transpires in digital spaces happen on personal accounts. His idea is that businesses could stand to inject a bit of that spirit into their interfaces.

“What I don’t see as much are little things put into big products that make people smile,” he said. “Who is the Monty Python of mobile?”

The good news for developers is that putting an emphasis on humor does more than make users smile; it makes for a better day at the office. Carey recalled that some of the most engaging meetings he has had have been those centered on figuring out how to make users laugh. He also suggested that having opportunities for that kind of conversation can facilitate the type of environment that employees often leave larger corporations to pursue.

“The ability to come up with silly little things that might make people laugh is incredibly engaging for developers and for teams,” he said.

Carey’s upcoming panel will delve deeper into these thoughts and offer the audience practical advice on how to incorporate an important element into their online ventures. Check out the video below to hear a bit more, in Carey’s own words, about what you can expect at his panel.

When and Where:
Saturday, March 12
9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
Hilton Austin Downtown – Salon H / 500 E. Fourth St.

Find out more: We Need More Mischief and Whimsy