FarmVille 7-Eleven Promotion – Now you can eat and earn

Facebookers of all ages have caught on to the craze, and so has 7-Eleven. Beginning now (originally June 1st), Farmville players will be able to further their online alternate universe via 7-Eleven purchases.

Zynga, also creator of social networking games Mafia Wars and YoVille, has decided to partner with 7-Eleven in what could be the world’s biggest real-world social networking push for the betterment of both parties.

Does this sound like another 7-Eleven Kwik-E-Mart Simpsons marketing scheme? Read on, for this promotion may be the first of its kind.

Farmville, Mafia Wars, and YoVille are social networking games created by Zynga that have exploded in popularity in the last year. Players are able to build their own farms and villages, befriend new ‘neighbors,’ and work through each level to create increasingly elaborate properties. Lucky adults can opt to buy exclusive items via credit card purchasing power.

Sow how does 7-Eleven play into this?

In the 6-week promotion, Zynga players will be able to purchase the 30+ participating 7-Eleven items at participating stores, titled “Buy.Earn.Play.,” and bring them home for the betterment of their online gaming universe.  Items, such as the Big Gulp and Slurpee, will have redeemable codes that will unlock gifts on the gaming site. Exclusive “ÜBER gifts” will also be interspersed throughout these codes (think of it as the golden ticket of codes), which are rewarded after you complete a series of tasks. These gifts will  include 200 Farm Cash points, 50 skill points in Mafia Wars, or your very own Slurpee machine in YoVille.

Confused? In an example taken from farmvillenews.com, “Slurpee + Big Gulp + Ice Cream + Bottled Water + Hot Coffee + Chips + Grill Item + Orange Soda + Complete One Zynga Task = All 3 ÜBER gifts.”

Brilliant. I can already see kids (and adults) of all ages flocking to the nearest 7-Eleven, spending in the hopes of earning that virtual Slurpee machine (which could quite possibly overnight become the newest pinnacle of all YoVille achievements).

The Zynga games certainly attract a wide demographic, and the hours spent in front of the screen can now be translated at the popular convenience chain. 7-Eleven and Zynga, I commend you on your genius plan, and foresee great profits in the next 6 weeks.

*Image by taberandrew via Flickr