Old McFacebook Had A Farmville

My Farmville self, proudly harvesting peppers and adoring her pink tractor.

Walking out of a crowded class one day, I heard a very normal looking boy complain, "Come on, let's go, my rice is going to wither!"

He, no doubt, was one of the many of my peers to fall victim to the addictiveness of FarmVille.

My curious self could not let this social phenomenon go without my own turn to experience it, and I created my very own virtual farm. I was soon bombarded by neighbor requests and generous gifts from my fellow farmers, including several of my college friends, some of my high school friends, and some of my much older, married (with kids) cousins.

Figuring out the logistics of the game, I tried to find how exactly one earns FarmVille cash, rather than coins. There are two ways, that I've learned. 1. Move up a level or 2. pay money. REAL MONEY.

People actually send in money for their virtual farms. What do they get? Satisfaction and pride of a superior farm, I suppose.

This isn't the only game that gives you such an option. Most Facebook games do this: Happy Aquarium, FishVille, School of Wizardry, PetVille. I know this because, yes, I have played them all. While you can certainly play the game without spending money, the very fact that it is an option, I feel, is crazy.

Does it not seem a bit pathetic that people are not only wasting their precious, limited time on earth playing these ridiculous games but are also spending their hard earned MONEY to succeed at them?

I confess, I have on several occasions spent hours of my time playing these pointless games with my suitemates, and often times enjoyed it very much. If there is anything to be said of Facebook games, it is that they at least have a social aspect: you can interact with your friends as you play. But it seems to me that, just like junk food is a waste of your daily bread, online games are a waste of your daily life; you're filling up your small bit of time on nothing great, nothing you'll look back on fondly.

For this reason I've convinced myself I should delete my FarmVille. Whether or not I'll go through with this, I'm not sure I'll publish publicly.