text: cow clicker cow clicker is an incremental social network game on facebook developed by video game researcher ian bogost . the game serves as a deconstructive satire of social games . the goal of the game is to earn " clicks " by clicking on a sprite of a cow every six hours . the addition of friends ' cows to the player 's pasture allows the user to also receive " clicks " whenever the player 's cow is clicked . a premium currency known as " mooney " allows the user to purchase different cow designs and skip the six - hour interval between clicks . in the wake of a controversial speech by zynga 's president at the game developers choice awards in 2010 , bogost developed cow clicker for a presentation at a new york university seminar on social gaming in july 2010 . the game was created to demonstrate what bogost felt were the most commonly abused mechanics of social games , such as the promotion of social interaction and monetization rather than the artistic aspects of the medium . as the game unexpectedly began to grow in popularity , bogost also used cow clicker to parody other recent gaming trends , such as gamification , educational apps , and alternate reality games . some critics praised cow clicker for its dissection of the common mechanics of social network games and viewed it as a commentary on how social games affect people . gameplay the player is initially given a pasture with nine slots and a single plain cow , which the player may click once every six hours . each time the cow is clicked , a point also known as a " click " is awarded ; if the player adds friends ' cows to their pasture , they also receive clicks added to their scores when the player clicks their own cow . as in other facebook games , players are encouraged to post announcements to their news feed whenever they click their cow . a virtual currency known as " mooney " can be bought with facebook credits ; it can be used to purchase special " premium " cow designs , and the ability to skip the six - hour time limit that must be waited before the cow can be clicked again . history creation and development at the 2010 game developers conference , zynga 's game farmville was awarded the " best new social / online game " at its game developers choice awards . ian bogost ( who was also in attendance ) was critical of zynga 's success , as he felt that its business model was focused on convincing users to pay money to progress further in their " freemium " games rather than treating gaming as an artistic experience . he also believed zynga 's vice president bill mooney was trying to attack " artistic " gaming during his acceptance speech for the award when he personally invited independent game developers to join his company . after the conference , bogost coined the term " cow " to describe games such as farmville which only involve performing tasks at certain intervals , since in these games , " you click on a cow , and that ’ s all you do . " bogost compared the players of zynga 's games to the rats in b. f. skinner 's operant conditioning experiment , often receiving variable reinforcement rather than regular rewards . as one of the most vocal critics of zynga 's practices and business model , bogost made further appearances at various events and panels to discuss his views on social gaming . in july 2010 , bogost was scheduled to make an appearance at a new york university seminar , " social games on trial " , to discuss the controversial aspects of social network gaming . to clearly demonstrate what he felt were the most commonly abused mechanics of these games , bogost quickly developed a facebook game entitled cow clicker . the game was designed to be a satire of what bogost personally believed were the only points of farmville : to encourage users to continue playing by inviting other users into the game , and to provide incentives for those who purchase virtual goods . updates unexpectedly to bogost , cow clicker became a viral phenomenon , amassing over 50 , 000 players by september 2010 . in response to its sudden popularity , he committed to improving the game with new features . updates to the game added awards for reaching certain milestones ( such as the golden cowbell for 100 , 000 clicks ) , the ability to earn mooney by clicking on other users ' cow clicker news feed posts , and the chance to randomly gain or lose mooney on every click . new cow designs were also introduced , such as an oil - coated cow to commemorate the bp oil spill , and the " cow " , which was only a mirror image of the original cow that cost around $ 20 's worth of mooney . although continually disturbed by its popularity , bogost also used cow clicker to parody other recent gaming and social networking trends ; such as the addition of an api to allow websites to have their own clickable cows ( in a process he dubbed " " ) , the spin - off game cow clicker blitz ( co - developed with popcap games co - founder jason kapalka ) , " my first cow clicker " for ios ( a parody of simplistic education apps ; designed to " train " children on cow clicking and add the resulting clicks to their parent 's total ) , and a " cow " campaign where users could click on an emaciated cow to donate to oxfam america — with a goal of donating an actual cow to a third world country . the cow , known as the " cow " , could also be unlocked for the player 's pasture with a $ 110 donation . " cowpocalypse " event and conclusion in 2011 , an alternate reality game known as the " cow " was held , where a series of clues from the " bovine gods " eventually revealed that a " cowpocalypse " would occur on july 21 , 2011 ( exactly one year since the original release of the game ) . from then on , every click made by players would deduct thirty seconds from a countdown clock leading to the cowpocalypse . however , players could extend the countdown clock by paying to supplicate with facebook credits : paying 10 credits would extend the countdown by a single hour , while 4 , 000 would extend the countdown by an entire month . after $ 700 worth of extensions , the countdown clock expired on the evening of september 7 , 2011 . at this point , the game remained playable , but all the cows were replaced by blank spaces and said to have been . bogost intended the cowpocalypse event to signal the " end " of the game to players ; when addressing a complaint by a fan who felt the game was no longer fun after the cow rapture , bogost responded that " it wasn 't very fun before . " reception cow clicker received critical attention soon after its release . one early commentator was alexia of techcrunch , who acknowledged the game 's intent as a commentary on the impact of social network games . in an interview , bogost foresaw the transformation of the internet into a " compulsive virtual dystopia " through zynga 's use of social gaming . nick yee of the palo alto research center compared the players of games which do not provide " meaningful opportunities for achievement , social interaction , and challenge " to rats in a skinner box . accordingly , he compared cow clicker to being inside an " incredibly clear skinner box " — acknowledging how little effort the game took in order to keep users playing the game . jason tanz of wired considered cow clicker as an example of the growth in the trend of gamification — where developers introduce elements influenced by games into their services without providing the normal " experience " a game traditionally incorporates . popcap games co - founder jason kapalka praised cow clicker for being the type of " ironic , satirical , self - referential " game that facebook 's game ecosystem was lacking , as he felt there were too many commercially driven games on the social network . 's scott jon siegel criticized the game for not going far enough in its satire , and putting too many highlights on the " absurd practices and meaningless clicking which social games are all too well known for . "