Don’t virtually fence me in
Many people are only now becoming familiar with a website called Facebook, due to the more than 200,000 Canadians who have joined a group protesting Stephen Harper’s decision to knock off work for several months by proroguing Parliament.
For me though, involvement in Facebook is a few months old, and I have to admit one of its functions has become a bit of an addiction. Linked to Facebook is a game called Farmville. During the game players must manage a virtual farm, including livestock, crops and fruit trees. Farmville is a game that has won all kinds of awards. According to some media reports Farmville attracts some 74 million players a day around the world. Which is mind blowing in the extreme if you think about the fact that we live in a world where that is even possible.
As you can probably imagine the first time I noticed this game I was curious. I was interested to see what a game based on farming would be all about. Would it have crop failures, or price collapses, an animal becoming ill, or a sudden new government regulation imposed on the farmer with no help to cover those costs? In short I wanted to know if it would be a real reflection of farming.
The very quick answer to that is mostly no, which I will delve into later, however there are a few farm-like aspects to this game. For one thing, if you do not harvest a crop in time, or milk your cows or whatever, the game penalizes you by such measures as wilting your crop and forcing you to plough it under. So for addicted Farmville players they can get a small inkling of the time pressures that can consume farmers.
However, beyond that there is little reality to Farmville. Plough your field, plant your crop and as long as you harvest it in time you will get a guaranteed price for your ‘work’. The weather is always perfect and crops, fruit trees and livestock all mature on time by the clock. No animal ever gets sick and no cow ever tries to get through your fence and eat the sweet corn in your garden a day or two before it is about to be ripe. In fact you can tell your animals to stay and they will stay rooted to the spot. Ah if only real farming were this way.
I was pleased to learn I seemed to be able to move rapidly through the levels and according to some attached survey could be considered a Pro Farmer (which helped my ego dodge a bullet). What troubles me is the notions about farming that the ill-informed might get. Getting a good return on your investment in time, finances and labour in real farming is way more difficult than in Farmville, yet the game gives the impression it is a breeze to make money farming. All totalled I have earned millions on my virtual farm, something my banker would confirm is not the case on our real farm. Also, the game gives the impression that looking after livestock is quite easy with no nasty manure to worry about and all the environmental concerns with it, nor is there a need to go to a barn in the middle of a blizzard because livestock rightly expect to be fed regularly and on time.
Farmville is a fun distraction, and frankly a bit too addictive, but as a reflection of the real ‘game’ of farming it leaves a lot to be desired. However, when you are joining the more than 200,000 and growing number of Canadians signing up for the anti-prorogation Facebook group you could try playing Farmville. If you do make me a neighbour because I need more land
Grant Robertson is the senior elected official with the National Farmers Union-Ontario. As Ontario Coordinator Robertson is also a National Board Member of the NFU. Grant and his family farm near Paisley, Ontario. The author can be contacted at coordinator@nfuontario.ca
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