Cultivated Play: Farmville
June 30, 2010 6:03 AM Subscribe
Cultivated Play: Farmville. "If Farmville is laborious to play and aesthetically boring, why are so many people playing it? The answer is disarmingly simple: people are playing Farmville because people are playing Farmville."
This post was deleted for the following reason: FarmIIille -- cortex
A couple of the physicians in my program play Farmville incessantly during biostats lectures; one of them owns an actual farm.
posted by The White Hat at 6:07 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by The White Hat at 6:07 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
I played it because it was fun to see the cute drawings of seeds grow into cute drawings of plants and because the cute drawings of cows were cute. Also, it was fun to play a game where time passing is actually a factor. I never bothered with any of the social stuff.
posted by scrowdid at 6:09 AM on June 30, 2010
posted by scrowdid at 6:09 AM on June 30, 2010
I preferred Naomi Clark's take on Farmville as the Fantasy of Labor. It's a system that lacks randomness. You get out what you put in, always. As long as you show up you're rewarded. It’s the A for effort universe at its core. All sim-work games are.
Much has been made of President Obama’s sophisticated use of new media technologies. He utilized the internet extensively in organizing and raising funds for his campaign, and has maintained an active presence on popular social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. To illustrate, he is currently taking questions about last night’s State of the Union address via YouTube, and plans to answer those questions next week in a live, online video feed.[6] While it remains unclear how such events are affecting politics, it is clear that new media technologies pervade the sociopolitical realm. So we cannot simply dismiss video games and Facebook as mere ‘wastes of time.’ Instead, we are obligated to educate ourselves about them, and to try to understand what they mean, and what it means that we use them.
Games are suddenly relevant because politicians advertise in them? What are you even saying?
posted by edbles at 6:15 AM on June 30, 2010
Much has been made of President Obama’s sophisticated use of new media technologies. He utilized the internet extensively in organizing and raising funds for his campaign, and has maintained an active presence on popular social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. To illustrate, he is currently taking questions about last night’s State of the Union address via YouTube, and plans to answer those questions next week in a live, online video feed.[6] While it remains unclear how such events are affecting politics, it is clear that new media technologies pervade the sociopolitical realm. So we cannot simply dismiss video games and Facebook as mere ‘wastes of time.’ Instead, we are obligated to educate ourselves about them, and to try to understand what they mean, and what it means that we use them.
Games are suddenly relevant because politicians advertise in them? What are you even saying?
posted by edbles at 6:15 AM on June 30, 2010
I'd like to raise the issue of selection bias. The people playing Farmville are also using FaceBook.
posted by DU at 6:24 AM on June 30, 2010
posted by DU at 6:24 AM on June 30, 2010
I stopped playing Farmville when I realised I could get a steady supply of money for zero effort by planting lots of trees and stopping by to harvest every time I felt like it. It wasn't fun any more after that.
posted by Xany at 6:25 AM on June 30, 2010
posted by Xany at 6:25 AM on June 30, 2010
I play Tap Resort on my iPod. You build a tropical resort and clean up garbage after tourists. If a tourist is unhappy, you buy him a drink. And that's it. It's super boring, but, at the same time, I have my own Tiki-themed tropical resort, so I have that going for me.
posted by Astro Zombie at 6:27 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Astro Zombie at 6:27 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
Also, if anyone ever invents a way to literally transfer free time from person A to person B (for some free, natch), I'm going to be all over that. As person B. See you guys at the Time Exchange!
posted by DU at 6:30 AM on June 30, 2010
posted by DU at 6:30 AM on June 30, 2010
people are playing Farmville because people are playing Farmville
I have no doubts about this. At least half of my friends play, and many are obsessed with it. I never played because I tend to have a kneejerk reaction of eschewing anything that's massively popular. That's probably for the best in this particular case.
That said, I always wanted to approach Blizzard with an idea to use the World of Warcraft engine to create a MMORPG based on a modern day Earth environment that is geographically correct. If your character is lucky enough to have a start location in the Western world, quests will consist of going to school then applying for jobs, mailing bills, doing paperwork, going grocery shopping, managing your finances and the like. I think it would be a huge hit.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 6:30 AM on June 30, 2010
I have no doubts about this. At least half of my friends play, and many are obsessed with it. I never played because I tend to have a kneejerk reaction of eschewing anything that's massively popular. That's probably for the best in this particular case.
That said, I always wanted to approach Blizzard with an idea to use the World of Warcraft engine to create a MMORPG based on a modern day Earth environment that is geographically correct. If your character is lucky enough to have a start location in the Western world, quests will consist of going to school then applying for jobs, mailing bills, doing paperwork, going grocery shopping, managing your finances and the like. I think it would be a huge hit.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 6:30 AM on June 30, 2010
Cultivated. I saw what he did then.
God Damn it.
I guess I was due for a double.
posted by chunking express at 6:34 AM on June 30, 2010
God Damn it.
I guess I was due for a double.
posted by chunking express at 6:34 AM on June 30, 2010
Though it looks like the old link is dead now. Also, very obtuse double call out. You need to be all, "DOUBLE MOTHER FUCKER!" That's how I do it. Then I throw feces at my monitor.
posted by chunking express at 6:34 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by chunking express at 6:34 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
That said, I always wanted to approach Blizzard with an idea to use the World of Warcraft engine to create a MMORPG based on a modern day Earth environment that is geographically correct. If your character is lucky enough to have a start location in the Western world, quests will consist of going to school then applying for jobs, mailing bills, doing paperwork, going grocery shopping, managing your finances and the like. I think it would be a huge hit.
You've heard of the SIMS, right?
posted by edbles at 6:35 AM on June 30, 2010
You've heard of the SIMS, right?
posted by edbles at 6:35 AM on June 30, 2010
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posted by seanmpuckett at 6:05 AM on June 30, 2010 [2 favorites]