Ah - I never got into the Farmville sort of gaming myself. The closest I got to those is Echo Bazaar which is a different sort of beast. It's part adventure game part roleplay and if you pick up a hammer at some point you might actually find a nail to pound it on or something to trade for it.

Also in those social networking games you can actually, be social. You can ask your buddy for something you need and they can do the same. Pottermore not so much, they've curbed the social aspect of it a lot and then took the business model from social gaming.

It is sort of baffling.