Yeah, sure, youbetcha!

I Don't Care About Your Farm or Mafia....

If you're on facebook, you've probably seen this group, I don't care about your farm, your fish or your mafia.

I don't think I'll join the group, but it is funny.

Over the last few months, I have made fun of my friend Chris because consistently on his facebook feed I would see nothing more than Mafia Wars updates. From needing brass knuckles, to cars and other stuff, I thought, "What the hell does Chris do all day that he can play Mafia Wars?"

Then, over the last few weeks I've seen more and more friends talking about building barns, and chicken coops and all kinds of other stuff. My friend Wendy even posted that her mom was now on facebook and set up a farm and was looking for neighbors and that her mom has been "sucked in."

I thought, "What is this farmville, anyway?" After all, there was a news story on just the other night about people who have an addiction to Farmville. One woman spends countless hours on there and it is starting to impact her marriage and family.

So, on Saturday I thought I'd check out your little Farmville application.

I now see how it can be so addictive.

Soon, my farm grew from 6 plots to about 20.
Soon, I had 2 cows, 4 chickens, a pen to put them in, some new trees and crops to harvest.
I also discovered that the more I help my friends, the more points I get as well as coins to buy stuff.
I had neighbors and was accepting gifts from friends.
I even started to look up things online about this game so I could get a better understanding of what I was seeing.

But soon it got boring and really not that fun.
Because if I'm going to spend an entire afternoon playing Farmville, I want it to be fun.

And honestly, it really isn't.

Basically, your farm is your job. You have to plant crops to get coins. Coins allow you to buy more crops. A never ending cycle, it is. Of course, you can use your coins to buy other stuff too. More plots to plant, more animals, more buildings. But really....it's about the crops, because they give you return on your investment.

Sadly, though....I have a real job.
And it pays me real money.

So, while it may be a fun way to pass the time, it needs to remain just that--a fun way to pass some time. People who are spending countless hours on their farm, every day, make me nervous. I don't want to be one of those people.

And because I can often get bored at work, I can see this happening. I don't know how my supervisor will take it if she sees me playing Farmville at work, but it could go like this....

"But if I don't harvest the eggplants, they'll die and I'll lose money!"
"Yes, but if you don't talk to your students, you won't have a job, which puts real money in your pocket."

I'm not against the games. Hell, I spent all afternoon on Saturday playing this thing. It was a nice way to pass the time since the Big Guy was working. But I feel like I'm missing something (though I don't think I really am....).

What about you?
Are you a farmer or Mafia member?
Am I missing something with these games? Is there more to it than just planting a plot and milking a cow?