The Sims Social appreciates you; even if you don't wanna play anymore

The Sims Social crew wants you to know that, like, they really appreciate you playing their game. Like really, really appreciate it. They're just so darn pleased that they're giving away free virtual items -- coins, energy, etc -- as part of Fan Appreciation Month.

I mean, I'm all for appreciating your fans, but don't you pull out this kind of "please don't leave" stuff when the game is more than a few months old? (In the meantime, I'm obsessively collecting every free item from the game's Facebook fan page).

A quick peek at the game's declining popularity on AppData might explain this seemingly premature gratitude. The Sims on Facebook topped out at 65 million users in the beginning of October, then suffered a massive drop mid-month when Facebook changed the way it measures users. But then, the numbers continued that downward slide.

If you take a look at the number of daily players in the chart below, it's clear that The Sims Social's meteoric rise to the top of the Facebook gaming charts has come to an end.

So what will The Sims Social do to keep it's number-two spot (behind Zynga's CityVille, which has also been losing players steadily for months)? Give away lots of free stuff and hopefully dish out some seriously awesome holiday-themed missions to keep loyal Simmers in a social state of mind.