Well Haul Me Off to the Farm

Ever heard of Farm Ville?

 

You have?  Then you’re more with it than I—and that’s not saying much.   But I must’ve been in a coma or shopping for the next hurricane because Farm Ville’s the largest and fastest growing social game, and I hadn’t heard a word.

So what is this thing that's motivating millions to play each day?  Based on the Chinese phenomenon Happy Farm, Farm Ville is a social action game where players create and manage their own virtual farms.  It was introduced by Zynga in June, 2009.  Two months later the game had 11 million daily active users.   Today  over 70 million have joined, and the site keeps growing.

Seventy million?

Located on Facebook, it’s heavy in social interaction.  Players can invite their friends and interact with neighbors.  But it’ll cost you.  Yes, you can plow those fields by your own hard labor, but it’s easier if you buy a tractor, lots of animals, a barn, a house, and even a neighbor.  You get the picture.   The farm and the community keep growing, and the game keeps costing real money.  And yes, it’s addictive.  

A customized Farm

My daughter’s friend Greg, who told me about this, had created a prosperous online farm when he suddenly decided to quit.  The reason?  He paid twenty bucks to fix his real truck but spent thirty bucks on his virtual one.   

Hey something's not right with this picture.

Yet it’s funny about this farming adventure.

 Remember the old saying, “what goes around, comes around?”

During the Industrial Revolution that began in the late 1800s, people left their farms in droves to take factory jobs in the city.  The new positions paid a steady salary, offered more security, and people were relieved to get away from the rural environment.   

Chinese version called Happy Farm

So less families farmed, which turned out to be good thing.  Over time, using the latest technology and science available, the smaller number of farmers got so proficient and produced such an abundance of food, that even more farmers left their fields and drifted into town.

We then became a nation of vast corporations, computers, too many lawyers, and lots of complications.

But over time people began yearning for a simpler existence.   They needed something to grasp, to build, something to call their own.

 So why not go back to the farm where everything used to be simple?

Virtual farmers returned to the land, happily worrying about crops and drought and tractors breaking

 down while a million more users join them each week.

 I sit here amazed.