Tags: Games and Hobbies, Mobile Lifestyle
By Marjorie Gorospe
QUEZON CITY, METRO MANILA – These days, it’s no surprise to see friends rushing home telling you they need to harvest from their farms. Or say their pets are starving for pizza.
Owning tracts of farmland or hordes of pets is just a couple of clicks away – on Facebook, of course. Social games like Farmville, Pets Society and Mafia Wars are giving people more reason to keep logged on to Facebook.
My mom once asked me to harvest squash on her “farm” in Farm Town, bugging me to do so because of her slow Internet connection. Although clueless how to play myself, I eventually recognized most of her officemates online also managing their farms.
So I asked her why she got hooked on Farm Town and tells me, “It feels good to get rewarded, like when you harvest. You may not own a piece of land in real life but in Farm Town, you can be rich, like how most people dream of becoming.”
Chris Acal, meanwhile, finds Mafia Wars a venue to mingle with other people. Unlike other social games, he says you don’t need to pay as much attention to it.
According to psychologist Ali Ng Gui, playing social games on Facebook is one way of reliving childhood fun, especially for those between 30 to 50 years old. “In online games, it is safer since they can hide true identity while having fun,” she says.
Those who play these games also gain a sense of belonging in the virtual world while not as sociable in real life.
So I guess I’m not about to tell my mom to stop her addiction to Farm Town. After all, she deserves all the happiness whether virtually or in the real world.
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