JOIN USCharmed by virtual farming
Why didn’t you send me a gift on my farm?
Hey thanks for saying my farm looks nice.
I have two cows and three pigs.
These are the normal conversations of the youngsters these days. Not those working on farms in the countryside, but the youth of cities like Bangalore, as they are hooked to Farmville, an application on the social networking site Facebook, which helps them grow plants and maintain their own farms. Metrolife speaks to a few youngsters in the City, who are hooked to Farmville and swear that they spend at least 30 minutes on it everyday.
Ashok, a market research professional, loves the simplicity of Farmville. “It’s a stress buster for me,” he opines. “I spend about 30 minutes a day on it. It’s fun because most urbanites cannot imagine farming.” But Ashok also feels that the Farmville craze is slowly vanishing. “Only innovation can sustain the game.”
Rohit Mascarenhas, a network consultant also spends half an hour a day on Farmville. “It’s just the opportunity to grow something that excites me. It’s a great form of time pass for me, plus you get to do some farming,” he laughs. “We all have grown up on strategic games anyway.”
Though Rohit enjoys playing Farmville at present, he feels soon the game will see its downfall. “We will reach a stage when people get sick of it.” Ask him about one memorable moment on Farmville, he smiles, “Once I got a duckling from someone and converted it into a swan, and had loads of comments on my profile for that.”
Shruti, a student of dance, simply loves Farmville. “Frankly, you get so irritated initially when people send you requests to join the game. But once you get into it, you get hooked on to it,” she says. Shruti feels that Farmville affects the mindset of a person. “For instance, whenever I see a tree or a cow on the roadside, I think of the game.”
She feels people of all age groups are addicted to the game. “Even my mother is completely into it. Once, we had to go to Kerala for four days, and she told me to put a seed that will harvest in four days,” she laughs. The game has taught her a lot, she says.
“It’s taught me patience as one has to wait for the farm to develop.”
She adds, “But the only negative aspect of it is that it’s very addictive.”
Another aspect of Farmville that people love are the special features and gifts on it during festivals (like pumpkins during Halloween).
So if you are on Facebook but not on Farmville, it’s high time you join it and have a ‘field’ day.