Farmville Secrets - Facebook

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Farmville is one of the fastest growing games on the net; created by Zinga, the farms are cultivated by players who plant, harvest, and take care of various animals and help other farmers to collect country kitsch and build their own farms which feature stables, dairies and chicken coops. Farmville is free to play and can be found on facebook as an application.

I always thought that it was young teenagers with plenty of time on their hands who preferred a virtual world of games however, I have come to realise that Farmville is the secret obsession of the middle aged , middle class masses. Ask any of the players what they have been doing for the day and the answers will be varied, busy with work, playing with children, but not many will admit their secret farming life.

The benefits of playing farmville are varied- not least of all is the tremendous community of 'farmers' that have grown up around this game, large close knit groups of people who fertilize each others' crops, clear the fields of weeds and reinforce the virtual fantasy farm life.

The farmers are a collection of workers who no longer love their corporate jobs but long for the simple farm life whilst sitting in their air conditioned offices, suburban homes or urban cybercafe unable to log off until they plant that last field of tomatoes or find a chicken shaped salt shaker to complete their kitsch country collection. This is escapism at its best.

Farmville life begins with a tiny patch of land where you might have 4 to 16 plots and can plant fruit and vegetables which must be harvested in 2 to 4 hours at most. Time passes slowly...there is not much to do but sit and wait for things to grow. The new Farmville farmer has plenty of time to think about all of the farming tools and buildings they would like to buy to enhance their farm but harvesting and planting takes very little of that time. One has time to rationalise why a middle aged person could become so enamoured with a simple and 'non productive' pastime. At this stage farming is still a pleasurable game.

Before you know it you have made a few Farmville coins and are able to purchase a small shelter with a seat. Now you can sit and watch your potatoes and corn and dream of the blue ribbon you will display when you finally have harvested many many plots of land on your smallholding. As your new Farmville friends, sourced through work or through 'real' friends, begin to send you gifts of dairy cows and whitewashed fences, your dreams of a real farm begin to take shape and every ensuing ploughed field reminds you how you must work to earn your living...your utopian world begins to take shape and you add more and more 'necessary' items to your farm. The plowing and planting is superseded by the purchases you can make with the coins you earn.

By now you have become familiar with the patterns of time on your farm- how many times must you wake in the night to harvest a waterlogged field of cranberries and when should the alarm be set? A nagging feeling starts in the back of your mind and yet you put aside the thought that this farm 'work' is taking over your commitment to your real job but rationalise that in fact it is enhancing your working potential by training you to commit to working hard in order to gain a reward of a beautiful and productive farm.

By the second month your eyes are looking kind of dark and every now and then you fall asleep in front of the computer while trying to bag as many new foals and calves on your news feed by clicking as fast humanly possible. Your wall is completely full of farmville posts and you may have had some interesting messages from your real friends but they were lost in the 300+ posts that await you every time you turn on your computer. Your wrists are beginning to ache and youre looking a little pale from lack of daylight.

You are waking earlier and earlier each morning to harvest and plant in time for you to harvest again when you return home from work later that day. You resent each ploughing session and curse Zinga when your tractor freezes and you lose your precious fuel purchase with 'real' dollars taken from your paypal account that you were saving to buy a pair of shoes. But shoes- who needs them- rather a new villa which is actually saving you money on shoes.

Your boyfriend has stopped asking you out as the recurring headache you always have (when the planting needs to be done) has put him off being with you and you've just seen an article on gaming addiction for youth that makes you feel as though you have been beamed up into the new generation and you're far too old to to think ironically about the hold this game has on every second of the day you're not near the computer. You are worried sick about your mental health but the only thing that makes you feel better is collecting another valentine gift to add to the 500 you already have collected so you can 'buy' a candy coloured ferris wheel and generously give one to your friends (whom you've never met) thereby increasing your standing in the 'community'.

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Your blackberry doesn't support the farmville app and you're seriously thinking of writing to complain because its costing you time and money to take the train back home in time to harvest your ghost peppers you planted at 5.30am this morning. Farmville tips and tricks are looking very enticing because if you could get that blue ribbon a little quicker for being a brilliant neighbour and fertilising everyones' crops each day you could then do away with all those annoying kittens and just keep your maison with the swans and the green sheep with loveheart headgear that you collected for st Patricks day and you think look particularly good with the topiary buffalo you won as mystery gifts.

Days are turning into months and you're now at level 42 and have 5 million farmville coins and greed is something you don't really think about because its just a matter of having cleverly worked out that the more strangers you can pack onto your wall who are also addicted to the same virtual life you are leading the more you move up in the game and you know the only thing that can stop you now is to finish the game (at level 60) and that should take you another 3 months and by then you are sure you wont be nearly as addicted and the sharp pain developing in your hands will have gone and your boyfriend will be talking to you again. Your own farmville secret is safe until then.

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