It started out innocently enough. After a long day of classes, I thought that I deserved some downtime. And since my friends and family had been raving out this “Farmville” for weeks now, I thought I would join in and see what all the fuss was about. Little did I know that by clicking “Allow” on Farmville’s “Allow Access?” page, my life would take a sharp right turn into the depths of obsession.
I quickly grew my six beginner plots and 300 coins into a bustling farm fully equipped with chicken coop, dairy farm, a grove of multi-colored trees and a wild variety of playful animals. I had to check on my farm at least twice a day, to make sure my crops didn’t wither. My wall filled up with notices of lost animals, golden eggs, and a rainbow of ribbons and level achievements. I was getting a handful of bonuses from my friends every day, but after a huge level gain and then plateau, that simply wasn’t enough.
I began frequenting the unofficial Farmville groups and pages, like “FARMVILLE “ADD & INVITE” ADD NEIGHBORS EVERY DAY !”, posting my plea for more neighbors. As the friend requests poured in, my mind worked to translate each new person into bonuses for my farm: that level 35 farmer would surely find golden eggs to share with me; the crop-loving farmer will have plenty of plots for me to fertilize for experience and coins; the daily farmer will send me lots of new animals and trees as gifts. Before I knew it, I had added over 100 complete strangers to Facebook.
These people were all on a friends list that limited their access to my information, so it really wasn’t a big deal. It’s all part of the game. You add people, get their bonuses, and share yours with them. I look back now, and realize I was in denial.
After a few days of glorious golden egg bounties and an inbox full of gifts, I realized that my Facebook Requests were in the triple digits, and 9 out of 10 were from this horde of Farmville “Friends”. Slightly panicked about the “Ignore” click-work ahead of me, I looked to my news feeds to find out what my real friends were up to instead. But here, too, was a spammy mess of cute little animals looking for a home, Rare Black Mystery Eggs, and fertilizer requests. Suddenly everywhere I looked on my Facebook page was a barrage of Farmville bonuses just waiting to be scooped up – and that’s when I realized I had a problem.
It took me a few days to come to terms with the fact that I had to quit… I had to quit cold turkey. I had to just cut my ties with Farmville completely, or else any real connections I had on Facebook would be lost. I would especially miss the little pink cottage area that I built, complete with pink cherry trees and purple plumb trees lining the brightly colored garden, and a front yard full of black, white, tabby, and grey cats. Maybe this was my dream country home, but I remembered that I had two real cats waiting for me to feed them downstairs, and clicked the “X” beside the application. It was all gone.
Over the next few days, I would slowly go through my friends list and delete anyone I had recently added during my Farmville obsession days. I cleared out my requests, and soon my Facebook was back to basics. No more Farmville. I now knew why it gained in popularity so quickly to become the top App on Facebook. I had been through the fire, and came out stronger on the other side.
—
Three days ago, I added Farmville to my account again. They started a Valentine’s Day event! You get cute little bears and cards from your friends, and if you collect enough, you can trade them in for limited edition gifts. I tell myself I just want to see these gifts and then I’ll get rid of it again. But the best way to get more Valentines is to add more Farmville friends…
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I’m happy that I’m not into FarmVille. And partially thanks to this article, I’ll never be.
Comment by Haresh — February 10, 2010 @ 3:22 pm
Dear Lauren -
you name it. Desperately lost in farmville, quitting in cold turkey but…. still irritated (jealous?) because of all this pink Valentine stuff going on.
No. I will not break. I’m a strong professional person. On facebook only for business reasons. Figure out new apps.
cross your fingers
Comment by karin tanger — February 10, 2010 @ 4:18 pm
Three days ago, I added Farmville to my account again…………
i was about to remove FV, than i read the last lines
Comment by MeGo — February 10, 2010 @ 7:49 pm
I really can't say it better myself! Everytime I say I'll quit(after I get that blue ribbon! or after christmas) they find a way to come up with something else!!! Your article really made me see the light, it's time to just quit! Wanna be my neighbor?
Comment by Lindsay Grace Kreis — February 10, 2010 @ 9:53 pm
I find Farmville too addicting to quit so I just deal with the spammy stuff.
Maybe I need help
Comment by FVSecrets — February 11, 2010 @ 1:20 am
I really can’t say it better myself! Everytime I say I’ll quit(after I get that blue ribbon! or after christmas) they find a way to come up with something else!!! Your article really made me see the light, it’s time to just quit! Wanna be my neighbor?
Comment by Lindsay — February 11, 2010 @ 1:52 am
I would be happy if I could ignore the farm-ville updates of friends without ignoring them all together.
Comment by Carsti — February 11, 2010 @ 7:01 am
Thak you for your valuable post
Comment by saly — February 11, 2010 @ 12:52 pm
Thank you, I have a good blog post full of new secrets if you dont mind to publish
Comment by saly — February 11, 2010 @ 12:54 pm
This certainly is one of those games that is tough to put down… But get back to class OK!?
Comment by Neil Vidyarthi — February 11, 2010 @ 2:54 pm
Ugh, I'm sick of this damned app popping all over the place. It's in my block list. Not just Farmville, I actively block and vociferously tell people to keep their damned apps off my wall or requests. They do nothing but contaminate my wall or news feed.
Comment by IJ — February 11, 2010 @ 11:28 pm
i do not now how to play
Comment by pino — March 1, 2010 @ 3:46 pm
I want to leave farmville and move back to city life I don't like farm dirt under my nails.
Comment by Susan Tharp — March 10, 2010 @ 5:18 pm
HOW do you leave farmville? I can't find that 'X' thingy. damn.
Comment by Anna — June 11, 2010 @ 9:31 am
pls……connect my farmville once again to all officer that fired my account. hope you understand .thank!
Comment by Bernardo L. Pagtakha — June 12, 2010 @ 5:56 pm
That's way the bestest asnewr so far!
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I can't bieleve I’ve been going for years without knowing that.
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Comment by Karol — September 9, 2011 @ 5:45 pm