Monday, May 11, 2009

Bitten by a Farm Bug


Every time I close my eyes these days, all I see are little squares of ploughed fields with grapes, potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries, etc flowering prettily while trees stand laden with red, yellow and orange fruit. I've been killing my eyes, totally absorbed in a game on Facebook called Farm Town.

It's a seriously addictive game where you literally spend hours ploughing fields, seeding plots, waiting for them to ripen, then harvesting them. There are always scores of online farmers literally begging for a harvesting job because it's a great way to score points and earn tons of coins. You can have your FB friends as neighbours whose farms you visit or tend while they're away and in return you get points and coins. You can send them gifts in the shape of animals or trees as well. You can also interact with other players by going to the marketplace which is always full of online FT players begging for harvesting jobs. Or to the very respectable Inn which serves only water, prompting wiseguy quips like, "Waiter, bring me a casket of your best water!" Likewise in the market, besides the tediously unimaginative job-beggars, "Hire me, please hire me, I need a job, big or small", you get the occasional, " I have starving children," or "I have only 3 cents." Don't you just love witticisms in the most unlikely places?

I got so addicted that on my second day, seeing a friend's farm with crops all ripe and ready to be picked (there's a time limit within which crops should be harvested or go to waste), I picked up the phone and called her. She was knee-deep in house repairs, pointing out to hired carpenters which window frames needed to be replaced et al. I felt like a total idiot troubling her about her virtual harvest but oh well, what's a good neighbour for anyway? Another time, I chased down another neighbour in an mirc trivia gameroom to ask if he would hire me to harvest his crops.

I'm not sure what's the highest level for this game but apparently you can buy a mansion at level 35. I'm on 12 now and hoping to buy a small house soon. It costs a kingly 70,000 coins and I have only about half of that now. I know someone who's on level 24 after playing for a week. He probably cheats though he insists he just knows the secret of scoring points. The other day he dropped by for a visit and was aghast at seeing my fences, animals and open spaces. He went, "Tsk tsk what did you put up all this for?! No need for it. Just cover every available inch of space with tons of crops." I told him the fun was in designing and creating your farm, even putting up initials of your sweetheart - check out pictures. He said he was going to do all that once he out-levelled everyone else, even people who'd been playing for 4/5 months. Claimed he'd buy a mansion and a swimming pool then. I told him he was way too competitive and to stop and smell the roses along the way.

The ambitious guy's get rich quick layout!

Some people just don't know how to have fun. Or maybe their idea of fun is getting to the top before everyone else. I've realised once again something about myself. I'm definitely not the ambitious type. No fast and furious, ambition-driven life for me. I'd rather indulge myself first with friends and have fun along the way. The gentle, peaceful, laid-back life and feel of the first farm (of my buddy Alex from Wales) appeals to me best.

My farm (as it stood last Saturday)

28 comments:

  1. very fascinating.. i will try it out sometime...

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  2. The title totally misled me, I thought you must have had a bee sting or something :)
    The game sounds addictive, something I should avoid, lol. And the pattern on your farm, does it read TP?

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  3. got stuck on age of empires once. never again, lol. then again...what harm could just one teeny weeny level do, eh?

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  4. I don't like grapes... I mean on Farm Town coz they go to waste very easily (:

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  5. You do that, Gauri, it's great fun.

    dairy, maybe I should've made it the rather than a farm bug hehe. Yep, it's so addictive I sit at my putor all day while a thousand and one chores await. Not telling abt the pattern though :P

    fed, most AOE addicts I know are male. 'Fraid I never got the hang of it. In fact, I suck at most games. The only thing I could ever play before was Vcop heehee

    pica, haha but they're good for making a quick buck!

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  6. chan lo khan ah a chhuah chu le. Games are addictive, good way to spend a lazy sunday afternoon. Enjoy and good luck.

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  7. You're probably one of the few famales I've come across who are so addicted to a game that they actually make a post.. lolz..
    Games are addictive, online ones even more cos they are so interactive.. but they sure beat chatting on mIrc, don't they?
    I used to be a part of Secondlife for sometime, until I realised I have a Firstlife which needs more attention.. hehe

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  8. Beep beep warning! these things can suck the life out of u!...ur welcome

    Im glad i kicked the comp game habit early in my comp education (self dat is)
    I was hooked on video games during childhood
    vacation was like morning - midnite

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  9. ka roomate in a hrat ltk hetiang ang inkhelhna hi

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  10. Thanks vana.

    red, I actually cut my chat teeth playing trivia on mirc and most of my friends today are those I met there, even in real time. We make it a point to get together for dinner every once in a while to catch up.

    Op, video game addict in childhood? In my childhood, we didn't even have TV yet! Just books and radio :)

    azassk, cell phone hmeh reng ai chuan a tlawm deuh alom!

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  11. Good thing you are running a virtual farm and not a real one. On the other hand maybe it is a good training tool for you to get into the real farming world. So let this game be a precursor to the real thing! How about it??!!

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  12. "You're probably one of the few FEMALES"
    dont u find that offensive being the feminist that u r :-)

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  13. Gemboy, nuam lubukz.

    Loch, with my phobia of hairy creepy crawlies (the hairless ones too), this is about as close you'll ever get me to actual farming. I do enjoy the feel of earth and soil on my hands though. Of course, it's murderous on my nails and takes a longish manicure to put things right ;)

    Op, yep I didn't like the phrasing at all but when I think of all the hundreds and thousands of females addicted to this game...scusa moi, gotta seed my farm..

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  14. except for trivia on mirc (if you could call them games) i've never been really into any online games. my addiction is more mundane - the card games that come with the computer (solitaire, spider....) silly, i know, but they've somehow become a real addiction for me. that's why, though farm town sounds fascinating, i think i'll stick to my present addiction - i already waste quite enough time as it is.

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  15. Mouse hmang la, keyboard ka hmang anga, min cho em? :-)

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  16. TP tih khian awmzia a nei em le???

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  17. plats, FT is really getting to be a major time-waster. And I'm like you, no great shakes at games at all. Once I was trying to play FIFA and really enjoying all the big-name players running around but I hadn't a clue how it was supposed to be played. So the goalie would keep getting goal kicks but somehow dither around and the referee would keep running up and giving free kicks against him. I couldn't understand why the goalie was so inept and kept yelling at him, "Kick the ball, stupid, clear it away!" And of course, he'd just move idiotically around, doing anything but and the ref would once more go Prrrrrttttt against him. Eventually I realised I was supposed to control the goalie. Erm.

    Joseph, sphinx ho chu inhmatawng den-ah bak ka chho lo vek che u!

    Boss, Thanks Pal tihna ania ;)

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  18. ..and I wondered if women are really from venus!!
    i blog lock ziah suh :-(

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  19. Your farm looks so sweet i want to spend a holiday there. The competitive spirit to the extent of wanting to run down all others is something i can't understand.

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  20. Exactly mesjay and do come over anytime. I have a sweet little house now :)

    Op, whatever happened to "please"? I'm a stickler for good manners, even in the virtual world!

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  21. Games lam te i lo ti leh daih a.. kei chu eng games mah hi ka khel ngai ta lo re re.. tuipui lai hi chuan mitthla ah hian lang reng mai a nia. Kan thriannu pawh in thil rem chi games ka khel nasa lutuk a.. "biakin a inkhawm lai te hian mipui hi ka rem ka rem sawn mai zel e.." a tia lom

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  22. Update toh teh. Sunday ah i feh loh ni ah tal.

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  23. lexx, nia kpoh hmanna Chinese checker kan hrat tak tak lai chuan Biakinah te hian mi lu chung hi kan kan zoh zoh reng mai ni :D

    ambs, class kan tan leh tawh a ka buai ve tawh alom.

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  24. OOPs where are my P's n Q's

    In my defense - that was more of a whine

    and i wud value ur comment on my latest blog

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  25. Samuela nu-in Solitaire a khel thin, ka ning thei ropui

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  26. Op, your wish is my command, doc. Been there, done that.

    samuapa, in nu chu Farm Town hi hrilh ve rawh. Nuam a ti bawn tawp ang.

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