Farmville Dissed - Ouch!

Time Magazine recently dissed one of the most popular and addicting escapist games on Facebook right now, saying: 

"Blast you, Farmville. The most addictive of Facebook games is hardly even a game — it’s more a series of mindless chores on a digital farm, requiring the endless clicking of a mouse to plant and harvest crops. And yet Zynga, the evil genius behind this bizarre digital addiction, says more than 10% of Americans have logged in to create online homesteads. How many hours of lost productivity does that translate to?"

Of course, Farmville fanatics came to Zynga's defense, saying that at least children are kept from playing violent blasting games. Others say it teaches them the value of patience, competitiveness and most importantly, instiling a nurturing mindset. Some go even as far as saying that the games teaches children engineering, and budgeting money.

Which is exactly what's wrong with Farmville and other escapist games on Facebook. Don't get me wrong - I had spent lovely, countless hours and lost productivity developing my own homestead when I could have gone to the gym, cooked a nice, decent meal, or... ehem, studied. I figured out that what makes Farmville addicting is the thought that somewhere out there, get this: My strawberries and raspberries and corn and eggplants are rotting. I need to go online just to save these plants! And believe me, I am speaking from experience. The very trait that this game is trying to develop among their players is what's keeping them going online and playing every hour or so. The game is designed in such a way that there is the necessity to play all the time. This is not the case just for Farmville. Mafia Wars players play frequently so as not to waste their energy refills, Cafe World players are scared of spoiling their cooked food, Restaurant City players are concerned about the energy of their employees, the list goes on... From how I see it, the real strategists here are not the players, it's the makers of these crazy, addictive escapist games like Zynga, Playfish, Playdom, etc.

But then again, like everything else that comes and goes, it's just a phase. Much like Friendster in 2003, which everyone thought was here to stay. So why not jump into the bandwagon, devote a day or two designing your own farm and see how real fun it can be? 

Because you have a life, that's why.