It started out innocently enough. After a long day of classes, I thought that I deserved some downtime. And since my friends and family had been raving out this “Farmville” for weeks now, I thought I would join in and see what all the fuss was about. Little did I know that by clicking “Allow” on Farmville’s “Allow Access?” page, my life would take a sharp right turn into the depths of obsession.
I quickly grew my six beginner plots and 300 coins into a bustling farm fully equipped with chicken coop, dairy farm, a grove of multi-colored trees and a wild variety of playful animals. I had to check on my farm at least twice a day, to make sure my crops didn’t wither. My wall filled up with notices of lost animals, golden eggs, and a rainbow of ribbons and level achievements. I was getting a handful of bonuses from my friends every day, but after a huge level gain and then plateau, that simply wasn’t enough.
I began frequenting the unofficial Farmville groups and pages, like “FARMVILLE “ADD & INVITE” ADD NEIGHBORS EVERY DAY !”, posting my plea for more neighbors. As the friend requests poured in, my mind worked to translate each new person into bonuses for my farm: that level 35 farmer would surely find golden eggs to share with me; the crop-loving farmer will have plenty of plots for me to fertilize for experience and coins; the daily farmer will send me lots of new animals and trees as gifts. Before I knew it, I had added over 100 complete strangers to Facebook.
These people were all on a friends list that limited their access to my information, so it really wasn’t a big deal. It’s all part of the game. You add people, get their bonuses, and share yours with them. I look back now, and realize I was in denial.
After a few days of glorious golden egg bounties and an inbox full of gifts, I realized that my Facebook Requests were in the triple digits, and 9 out of 10 were from this horde of Farmville “Friends”. Slightly panicked about the “Ignore” click-work ahead of me, I looked to my news feeds to find out what my real friends were up to instead. But here, too, was a spammy mess of cute little animals looking for a home, Rare Black Mystery Eggs, and fertilizer requests. Suddenly everywhere I looked on my Facebook page was a barrage of Farmville bonuses just waiting to be scooped up – and that’s when I realized I had a problem.
It took me a few days to come to terms with the fact that I had to quit… I had to quit cold turkey. I had to just cut my ties with Farmville completely, or else any real connections I had on Facebook would be lost. I would especially miss the little pink cottage area that I built, complete with pink cherry trees and purple plumb trees lining the brightly colored garden, and a front yard full of black, white, tabby, and grey cats. Maybe this was my dream country home, but I remembered that I had two real cats waiting for me to feed them downstairs, and clicked the “X” beside the application. It was all gone.
Over the next few days, I would slowly go through my friends list and delete anyone I had recently added during my Farmville obsession days. I cleared out my requests, and soon my Facebook was back to basics. No more Farmville. I now knew why it gained in popularity so quickly to become the top App on Facebook. I had been through the fire, and came out stronger on the other side.
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Three days ago, I added Farmville to my account again. They started a Valentine’s Day event! You get cute little bears and cards from your friends, and if you collect enough, you can trade them in for limited edition gifts. I tell myself I just want to see these gifts and then I’ll get rid of it again. But the best way to get more Valentines is to add more Farmville friends…
nice post. thanks.