I write this note as an expose on the ins and outs of Farmville.
If you've been a part of Facebook for any period of time, no doubt you have come across this little fantasy land where you can actually build and manage your own farm. I must say, I had my concerns about this when I began talking to my friend about it a few weeks ago. She shall remain nameless, although when she reads this note, she'll know just who she is. For the sake of giving her a name, we'll call her Bob.
I picked Bob up for church one night and she immediately launched into a dialogue about how she had to get back on her "farm" and feed people's chickens and milk her cows and harvest her crops. I looked at her like she was crazy. "What in the world are you talking about?" I asked Bob. She laughed and said, "You should try it. It's addicting. You'll see." I shook my head, thinking of my newborn baby and how time-consuming he was, along with all of the other chores I had to do around the house. "There's no way," I told Bob, "I could never find time to fiddle around on Facebook with a farm." Most days, I was fortunate to have taken a shower and made dinner! Bob continued to discuss her "farm" and I mostly rolled my eyes and looked for ways to change the subject.
After a few weeks of this nonsense, I thought to myself, "What is the big deal? It's a game. A little farm that you maintain and take care of. How can people get so into this?" I decided to check it out for myself. So, I loaded the application and then I looked at my new puny little farm.
I started with six little plots of land. When I put my cursor on those plots, a little message came up that prompted me to plow. So, I plowed. Hmm...I had some nice, fertile soil. Another roll of the cursor and I saw something telling me to plant. Plant what? I clicked on it. I was taken to the market. Oh...I could BUY seeds to plant. I bought some soybeans and planted those. OK, now what?
I sat there for a minute and thought, "This is stupid. I'm waiting for six patches of soybeans to grow?" I went on to something else. But...my mind kept drifting back to that little farm. I decided to go back. The first thing I did was look at my little "farmer". I made him into a her and made her hair the same color as mine. That was better. Then I decided to go back to that little market and see what else I could buy. There weren't many things that I could buy but I browsed through it all.
It didn't take long for me to get a neighbor. Bob. She was ecstatic that I had created a farm. She sent me a gift and fertilized my crops for me. That was nice. Maybe I should do the same for her. I visited her farm. Suddenly, I'm on the next level. Bob says I need to plant more. So, I do. Before long, I'm getting more neighbors and they're sending me gifts. I'm fertilizing their crops and my soybeans got ready to harvest! Hmmm...this could be a nice way to spend some down time. If I ever have any.
A few days later, I got a phone call from Bob. She was frantic. It seems her "puppy" was needing to be fed and she was not able to feed it. She asked me if I was home because she was going to have me feed her puppy. If it didn't get fed, it would run away. When I explained to her that I was not home, she started trying to find a way to get to a computer so that she could feed her "puppy".
Really???
This caused me to take a step back. I wondered if this was how crack users start out? You think it's all fun and games and then before you know it, you're sucked in! I asked Bob to take a long hard listen to what she was asking me to do right then. She hung up the phone mumbling something about needing to feed the puppy and doing anything to get to her before she ran away.
"Maybe I shouldn't do this," I thought. I pondered the phone call all the way home. My crops withered that night. I couldn't become one of "those" people and I wasn't going to get back on that farm.
The next day, I checked it out again. My poor crops had withered and I plowed that land to take them away. I planted something else. "OK," I told myself. "I'm not going to be glued to this thing. It's going to be for fun and THAT'S IT!"
I started learning how to plant crops that I knew would be ready to harvest when I'd be at the computer. I bought a chicken coop and began building a nursery barn and a horse stable. Asking people for parts for my buildings began to be part of every day life. Having a dinner conversation about my farm was second-nature. Alas, I was becoming addicted. So much so, I started managing my husband's farm. And when I saw how many coins my daughter had on her puny little farm, I had to really control myself and not go into her farm and start expanding.
And then I got my own little puppy. She's a sweet little puppy. Her name is Cheerio and she eats at 11:30 every morning. And if I'm not there to feed her, Bob will if I ask her to. And I'll feed her puppy and we'll harvest each other's crops if we need to. It's like an alternate reality. It's not recreation. It's addiction. Consider yourself warned.
Now, please excuse me. I have to harvest my strawberries and send every one of my neighbors a board.
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