Since last summer I have been playing the Facebook game FarmVille. It started out reasonably simply – you sowed and harvested crops, and tended animals. I enjoyed watching the plants ‘grow’ and the interactions with my FarmVille Neighbors. I could scare away unwanted animals from their farms and send them animals as gifts. Later on I could fertilize their crops.
I turned my farm into a little Permaculture plot, but later on all of the clicking to plough, sow and harvest an ever-increasing area became too much and I succumbed to an intensive farm with petrol-powered machinery.
For a while that was fun, but then I became disenchanted. As other people sold their trees (having gained all the Ribbons that growing trees moved them towards) I made mine the stars of my farm and turned it into the beautiful Food Forest shown above. It didn’t need as much work, to I stopped by less and less. I still enjoyed seeing which unusual crops the developers would add in, but many of them were only available for a very limited time.
I tried to get involved when they added in farming co-ops, but these were geared very firmly at industrialized farms (fast and furious yields being the only real goal) and my food forest didn’t operate on the same level. The constantly changing themes with decorations to add to your farm, and different gifts being demanded by Neighbors, mostly passed me by.
I have looked at FarmVille today and they’ve added another new dimension – as you harvest your crops you collect special bushels to sell in your own little farmer’s market. The game requires a considerable investment of time to keep up with what’s going on and be a good Neighbor, and I find I would rather be outside in my real garden, tending my real plants. Despite the odd weather we’ve been having this year (it’s hammering down with rain today, which is going to be good for the plants) I feel there’s a real chance of the garden flourishing, provided I give it enough attention.
And so I have finally made the decision to give up my FarmVille farm. I hope some of my good Neighbors remain my friends. I will be sticking around on Facebook, and if you’d like to keep up with me there then there is a Facebook page for my book and a new one for the podcast. There’s also an AKG Facebook group. And last, but not least, I am happy to befriend FB users who read my blog or listen to the show. This is my profile, but please do introduce yourself when you send the friend request :)