Posted by Andrew Neumann on Thu, Oct 15, 2009
Windows 7 operating system? Check. High speed DSL connection? Check. Twitter account? Check. Facebook account? Check. Shovel, rake and a very, very tolerant attitude?? Whaaaaat?
I have always prided myself on being a person who is very tolerant of what others choose to believe in or how they occupy their spare time. I am all for getting the latest and the greatest, regardless of potential first generation ‘Bugs'. So it goes without saying, that in a world flooded by social media outlets like Facebook or Twitter, that I should shrug my shoulders and think nothing of an unusual application surfacing...until now. Consider this my official notification that I am drawing a line in the sand, getting on my soap box and speaking my mind (what little of it I have left) about an absolute abomination . . .drum roll please. . . FarmVille.
For those who may not be aware, and realizing that I am blogging, and my target audience is more than likely going to be in tune to the technical saviness of the world, Farmville is an application that allows users to grow their own farms by planting seeds, planting trees, buying farm animals, and harvesting crops. Awesome! Fun for the whole family! A complete and total waste of time. At the risk of sounding like someone stuck in a rut (no farming pun intended) I cannot see what the appeal of this application is. If it is the excitement of gardening you desire, here's an idea pick up a shovel and start digging. . in the actual dirt (you know that brown stuff) . . . cut loose the IT strings that bind you and get the heck outdoors! I assure you that you will feel better about yourself and the actual greenery you plant and harvest, more so than sowing row after row of blueberries amongst your palm trees and pink cows and then selling them off for a gaggle of geese and a few magic pumpkin seeds. Biting into a carrot that you harvested from your garden?? Priceless. Mindlessly planting, harvesting and selling off your crops on your 21" flat screen? You must be joking. Reaping the nutritious rewards from doing something that you may not have thought you were any good at will far outweigh the rewards of selling that chocolate milk that came from the brown cow in your virtual pasture.