AS SEEN ON TV
When all we do is farm
I spend some of my waking hours on Facebook mostly to react to status posts or update my own. I don’t do Farmville and I never have. I systematically snob Farmville invites. Same goes for Fishville, Yo Ville and Farm Town. I even turned down a Mafia Wars invite, even if they “make me offers I can’t refuse”.
For the benefit of those whose social life is mainly “offline” Farmville is a featured game on social site Facebook. Designed to glue people to the site longer, Farmville has succeeded in hooking Facebook users around the world who now spend more time virtual farming than doing anything else on their computers. No one even does much porn nowadays which is bad news for the perverts and their sites.
To say that Farmville is “engaging” is an understatement. It is hopelessly addicting, PDEA should look into it closely.
What makes Farmville work is the parallel reality it creates of life online. In Farmville, one can accomplish anything such as buying and tilling a virtual farm, choosing neighbors (this one I like), harvesting virtual fruits and amassing wealth. One does not get rich quicker in real life where hardships and odds are overwhelming. I have loser friends whose farms in Farmville could shame Bacolod’s biggest haciendero.
But to be able to succeed in Farmville one has to be diligent to say the least. Farmville farmers observe timing and other conditions (as one would with real agriculture) from planting to harvests and schedules for watering plants and harvesting crops must be strictly followed. Farming here is so precise the Department of Agriculture can even learn a thing or two about farming and strengthening the country’s food supply—- which it is struggling to achieve these days.
Many Farmville farmers need to stay online to accomplish these scheduled tasks like it’s a heavenly calling. They stay online for most of the day or their crops will die and rot.
It’s a hostage situation in exchange for gains from farming which can be used to purchase more make believe property or other imaginary gifts.
While others find the Farmville challenge enticing, I would rather stick to the traditional money-making ways such as doing real work on company time (and getting paid for it with real money). I have no use for non-linear wealth. Many companies (including mine) now block Farmville in their office internet system as employees have been more productive virtually than in real life like Farmville is their full time job and office work, their sideline.
I once joked on Facebook that Farmville must be subject to the Comprehensive Land Reform Program to limit land ownership. In another post I humored my Farmville friends by proposing a tie up with Mafia Wars whose mobsters could vandalize their gardens or convert the land into industrial zones, casinos or night clubs—- or plant opium while farm owners are offline.
Or what about a plague of Biblical sorts infesting the farms as owners reach as certain score? Like any video game, degree of difficulty should rise as one levels up. They didn’t find that funny at all.
I even know someone from work who missed the last MRT train to Pasay from QC because he had no computer at home and had to harvest his Farmville crops using the office computer. He had to take a taxi home paying ten times the regular MRT fare for this. The things we do for Farmville indeed!
Farmville is reminiscent of Tamagochi of the 90’s. The Tamagochi is a pocket sized mechanical pet which needs to be fed and groomed constantly. Neglected pets eventually get sick and die while the well-fed ones grow into healthy but more demanding imps, Tamagochi owners can barely accomplish anything else but attend to the demands of these bossy electronic mutants. This is perhaps why its popularity was short-lived. With Farmville, the manipulation is less obvious and manageable. While working (or doing something official), one can just open a Facebook window on his work station and farm on the side.
The growing liking to Farmville and gaming is now affecting internet content as users do not spend as much time reading or writing anymore as they’re engrossed with—- or hostaged by the games they play.
A recent study published by Pew Internet said more teens and adults in the US now frequent social networking sites to play than blog or even surf. The same study notes that while internet usage has increased dramatically worldwide, many of those online are not generating new content.
I really wish we would do more online than just play. Afterall too much play is not just counter productive—- it ultimately makes us less learned.
