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By Rajini Vaidyanathan
BBC News Magazine
A Bulgarian official has been sacked after being caught milking a virtual cow
on the hugely popular online farming game, Farmville. So what is it about it
that's made it so popular?
At the end of a hard day seeing to patients at the surgery there is more work
to be done. Tending to the crops, feeding the cows and making sure the fields
are ploughed.
For one GP, who is too embarrassed to be named, the internet game Farmville has
become a part of daily life.
The premise of the game is simple - you are a farmer, albeit a virtual one -
with your own plot of land. Your job is to cultivate it and rear animals. You
get points depending on how successful you are and the aim is to get the
highest score you can.
On her farm, the GP grows potatoes, watermelons and keeps chickens and cows.
She never tends to her fields during her working day, but is on it most
evenings.
"It does seem like a terrible waste of time," she says. "It's like watching
trashy TV though, a bit of escapism to help you unwind."
For her and many others, Farmville has become a guilty pleasure. The game was
launched in June 2009, since then more than 80 million people have signed up to
it. While it's highly unlikely that everyone who has joined the game plays it
on a regular basis, there is no doubting it has a huge regular following, with
people around the world, from all ages and backgrounds playing it.
Farmville is accessed as an application through Facebook and now has its own
website too. But it's the game's presence on the social networking site which
has given the game such a wide reach, allowing it to tap into Facebook's
already large user base.
And its availability on social networks has created a new wave of computer
gamers, who wouldn't normally go near a console.
Meaningful effect
Like full-time mum Gemma, for whom Farmville has become part of the daily
routine, in-between nappy changes and feeds. Both her sisters and her mum are
signed up too. She was initially dismissive of Farmville when she was asked to
join, but is hooked now. So, what is the appeal?
"It becomes a personal experience and something you care about," says Johnny
Minkley, a computer games expert. The game has a certain "stickiness" to it,
because of the nurturing element involved, he says.
"What you're doing needs to have some meaningful effect, like the planting and
growing of crops."
The game also has a competitive element - it's about having the best farm and
earning the most money to see to its upkeep. But it can also be co-operative
and it's possible to interact with your friends' farms on the site by watering
their plants and feeding their animals.
The game is free to play, but if you want to buy extra coins to keep up your
farm, you are given the option to buy more with your credit card.
Parallels can be drawn between Farmville and the Tamagotchi craze in the 1990s,
where people looked after a virtual pet housed in a plastic egg, developing an
emotional attachment to their virtual being. But the fact Farmville has been
introduced in an age of social media has had other effects.
For the embarrassed GP, it resurrected an old friendship - sort of.
"There's a girl I went to school with, and who I never speak to, but I now
fertilise her crops for her," she says.
To the uninitiated, this behaviour might seem bizarre, but hardened Farmvillers
say all of this helps you win extra points and prizes.
It is this sense of reward which keeps people playing, says psychologist Dr
Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University. He describes Farmville as
"virtual Lego", where building something from scratch and seeing it grow gives
players a sense of accomplishment and a "psychological high".
Educational tool
Dr Griffiths specialises in researching technological addictions and says what
underlies any addiction is the reliance on constant rewards. But saying you are
"addicted" to Farmville is a bit like saying you're addicted to chocolate, he
argues.
"What people really mean is that there is a 'moreishness' quality about it.
There's nothing wrong with spending hours on it, as long it's not affecting
your personal relationships and work."
There are those who see Farmville as a blight on their daily Facebook feed,
when every time they log in they discover that Georgia has traded 50 gold
pieces, or that Andrew has harvested his chicken coop.
TOP FIVE FARMVILLE COUNTRIES
Others say it is not just a blight, but a downright distraction. It was
recently reported that a councillor in Bulgaria was sacked after he was
discovered milking a virtual cow on his laptop during a committee meeting.
There are many others who agree with the superiors in Plovdiv and the game has
its fair share of detractors. There are several Anti-Farmville groups online,
one called Not Playing Farmville has more than two million members.
"If you are doing this you have... I repeat if you are doing this you have too
much time on your hands", writes one member. Another says, "everyone's worried
about the swine flu, but I think we need to be worried about this Farmville
epidemic".
Bill Mooney, VP and general manager of Zynga, the company behind Farmville
brushes off these kind of negative comments.
"If Farmville is affecting people in a positive way, then we're all for it," he
says.
Tenuous
"The best thing is, Farmville is played in 5-10 minutes sessions, so you really
don't have to get too preoccupied or diverted for a long time. It's more like a
coffee break or break from studying."
Mooney says the game has had other positive benefits, like generating an
interest in agriculture. Before the game was developed the company did a lot of
research into the area, so they could make the game accurate and give people a
"real sense of farming".
In the US the appeal of Farmville is being seen as one possible way of
attracting younger people into farming. But at the Scottish Agricultural
College in Aberdeen, Alison Campbell who lectures in the subject says the
parallels between the real and online world are limited.
"A lot of the students we have here come from farm backgrounds. It is quite
tenuous to what they know to be real life [on a farm]."
On a virtual farm, it's all about instant gratification - you don't have to
wait six months for your aubergines to grow. But then again, you can't eat them
either.
Additional reporting by Finlo Rohrer
I love FarmVille it is amazing !!!! Katie, Plymouth England
FarmVille, the game you love to hate; I have a farm, worked on it and built up
a friend group to help expand. Trouble is, you then get all the "nonsense" the
"friends" are posting in addition to the "nonsense" from Farmville, in addition
to the scraps of information your non-Farmville (thus "real") friends are
posting. I've more or less stopped farming - but I'm loath to drop the app just
yet :-) Timothy Bolton, Selfkant, Germany
One thing you didn't mention, that is pretty interesting in itself, is that the
game encourages you to spend REAL money.....you can get rewards that others do
not get, advance yourself quicker, grow better crops.....and this in itself
also help Farmville players raises 1000s for Haiti (before the earthquake and
after) but purchasing (with real money) a particular virtual crop. Matt,
London, UK
21st century Tamagotchi. People have always wanted to nurture through play.
People keep pets, and for thousands of years children have played with dolls
and toy farms. Does the fact that it's on a computer make it any less a toy
farm? In fact, most of these games are basically sophisticated board or card
games. You make a strategy, you make your moves. We've been doing this sort of
thing for thousands of years, because we're human. We exercise our brains. Just
because it's on the Internet doesn't make it any better or worse. Penny,
Basildon, UK
I cannot believe how intelligent people can get hooked on such rubbish! It
suggests that they don't have much a life, at least outside of their work. Why
don't they go for a walk, a drink or meal with friends, do some voluntary work
or some interesting research? In fact even the TV can be more stimulating!
Trish Reynolds, Faringdon, Oxfordshire
I've been playing FarmVille for about 6 months now and find it very relaxing as
it is so far removed from my real life. The game encourages reciprocity as
there are so many benefits to be gained by helping out your neighbours. One
unexpected bonus is that, instead of counting sheep to get to sleep at night I
do a mental inventory of all the items I have on my farm and always drop off
before I'm even half way through! Pix6, Vienna, Austria
I recently gave up on FarmVille. It took up too much of my free time and I
worried about my animals when I was away. After pressing the "remove
application" box I felt so much better. Angela, Highlands
Oh I love FarmVille. It's great I put the kids to bed and sit down and unwind
playing FarmVille xx Tamara, East Grinstead
One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the monthly increase of Farmville
Facebook groups, that try and make you believe you can gain a item or Farmville
coins for filling out a survey. Of cause these groups are scams and would never
give out a item. Though the same people still join over and over and even if 5%
of the people who join (these groups have over 500,000 people joining) then the
group owner gains a lot of money from these scam surveys. Simon, Lincoln
I am a police officer and so are several of my 'farm buddies'. There is a
strange ' moreishness' and a competitivenes about the game without ever being
able to lose at it.
To answer the points raised by others (Trish Reynolds), yes I do have a life, a
very happy one thank you. I also have a profession, a family, my hobbies and my
social life; none of which suffer to the detriment of my farm. Farmville is
good, harmless fun that never sees an animal slaughtered, potatoes blighted or
bol weevil infesting cotton. If a farmer sees his crop wither then one simply
ploughs and plants more!
Can't stop now I'm afraid, my lambs need brushing!! Andrew, Pontyclun
Angela, Highlands I agree with you. After wasting about a month by intensively
e-farming I deleted it. It felt great. There are so many better things you can
do with your time. I would recommend and urge others to do the same. You wont
miss it when it's gone! Gareth, Bristol
I used to play Farmville but found it to be far too time consuming so gave it
up to get outside instead. That said it is a really simple game that can teach
some value in the care and nurturing of things, rather than blowing stuff up
like a lot of other video games. Paul, Milton Keynes
A friend of mine bemoaned the fact last year that her cantaloupes weren't
growing as well as mine. I told her if she spent as much time tending them as
she did her virtual crops on Farmville, she might have more success! lol! She
stuck her tongue out at me. :) Sue, Thornville Ohio, USA
I love it! Been playing it since my son got me to join as his neighbour last
July. Having a very high pressured job it is just the "chill" I need after a
hard day at work. I wouldn't play it during work hours though. Also Farmville
have donated to various disaster funds through it's players which can't be a
bad thing. Liz, Northampton, UK
When I found that harvesting my crops, raking the land, and planting seeds was
taking me about an hour a day I decided to quit cold turkey. And I don't
actually miss it Andrew, Egham
I suppose it retains its audience by making things real time and you have to
constantly be caring for it; this aspect is also why I dislike the game
compared to similar games such as The Sims, where you can save. With real-time
play, all the time, it's like coming home from work to do more work, and
worrying about one work while at the other. Edwin Chan, Calgary, Canada
I played, was addicted, and then one day I just hit delete. It was painful to
do but I did it. Now I know what freedom tastes like. Brian Fleming, Baltimore,
MD
I love Farmville - one thing you don't mention is that to succeed you have to
cooperate with your neighbours; there's not a shred of violence in this
computer game, the graphics are terrific and there are constantly new themes
being brought into play - and I play with people of all ages in many different
countries - and get to know them too. Great game! Ceridwen Harris, London On
Canada
All I can say is: thank god for that button on FB that allows you NOT to
receive updates from all your farmer friends... before I discovered that
function logging on to FB was almost like reading some kind of almanac of the
21st century Meg, Geneva, Switzerland