Okay, I guess I’m a Farmville addict. In case you’ve never heard of it, Farmville is a virtual farming community on Facebook where a person can plant crops, and buy animals or trees with imaginary money if he doesn’t have friends who can send him animals and trees. The animals and crops are then harvested for pretend money which can buy more animals, trees, and crops. It surprises me that I have such a passion for the game because most games that other people claim to be all the rage, don’t interest me at all.
One of my children commented on a snowy day when we were all stuck inside, “Hey Mom, you should join Farmville so you can send me gifts for my farm.” And being the kind soul that I am, I wanted to help.
I sent him gifts with a click and then realized that I could send him even better gifts if I could move up a few levels, and so I began to play.
There’s a real world inside of there! I might be a failure in my real life, but in Farmville, I’m “King of the Plow”! The strange fact is that adults are much better about sending virtual gifts than children are, so I quickly surpassed the children that I originally wanted to help.
Sometimes when we are outside in the car driving on a country road, I will proclaim, “I have a fence like that on my Farmville farm!” Of course when we are away visiting, I can’t stay long because I get a little edgy when it is time to harvest my Farmville crops if I am away from my computer. “Oh no, my plants will wilt and I won’t be able to collect my fake coins! People are relying on me for gifts!” It’s always funny when somebody complains on the Facebook wall, “Please do not send me anymore nails. I need horses instead.” Oh gee, sorry about that. I meant no harm.
Nothing tops the time that I tried something called “co-op farming”. As my crops became ripe, I was away from home and later came home to discover that I had received an email from one of my Farmville buddies asking me to harvest my crops so they could get their Farmville points and there was a message on my answering machine from yet another person of the same nature. Thank goodness we still received the gold medal in spite of my shortcomings, otherwise I would have been the one to blame for everybody’s failed crops.
Sometime my children and I will be in the same room clicking away, talking about Farmville like it is real life. “How did you get a pewter gnome? I’m posting the chocolate fountain, so are you ready to receive it? Okay and . . . . PUBLISH!” We don’t talk to each other as much anymore, but I know my children still love me because I continue to receive playing chips from them.
One of my friends gave me the idea, “If you open another Facebook account, you could send yourself gifts and send me double gifts.” I liked the extra gifts I received from my friend’s St. Bernard, but one day I forgot which account I was using and accidentally posted to somebody else’s comment as “Moose” my alter ego, before I realized I wasn’t myself. Oops.
My sister found out that I was playing Farmville and asked me to play Café World so that I could send her gifts. She is consistently the best player of all my friends and I don’t see myself surpassing her level---well, ever. The most awkward situation is when I am sitting on the couch playing Café World, letting my avatar chef prepare imaginary foods for my restaurant while my family complains that they are hungry in real life.
I hope they don’t create a game about cleaning the house or I’ll really be sunk.
