The Good Old Days of FarmVille?

Pokémon GO.  No, I'm not playing it.

No, I don't intend to play it.  And yes, there was this little privacy issue about it.  Surprised?

I learned my lesson several years ago,when I ended up becoming addicted to an online game played on Facebook called FarmVille.  I was addicted to it for some three years.

Yes.  I said it.  Addicted.  As in "spending hours on it".  As in "timing my life around certain crops maturing".  As in "my friends knowing when I was on vacation because my fields would lie fallow".  As in "reading blogs about".  Yup.  That was me.


I was so addicted that I even filtered the news through FarmVille, as the below post I am repeating from January of 2011 shows.

What broke my addiction was the fact that the game got glitchier and glitchier.  If it hadn't become so frustrating with all the outages, freezes, and other things that made it more and more difficult to play, I might still be playing it.  It took me a while to quit, even after several Facebook friends quit it.   But, until earlier this year, I still got occasional game-generated messages from people I used to play with.

Since then I have not accepted one game invite from anyone and do not ever intend to.  No Words with Friends.  No Candy Crush Saga (I think a friend of my mother in law, who is in her late 80's, is still trying to get her to play Candy Crush Saga). 

So, while I am thinking about FarmVille one last time as I ponder Pokémon GO, enjoy my post from the time of my addiction.

Do you play Pokémon GO?

Tracking the Revolution using FarmVille

The last 24 hours or so has been a surreal experience.

Yesterday evening I was on Facebook when a relative contacted me.  I have a cousin stationed in Tunis, Tunisia, and this relative had asked for everyone he knew to pray for the safety of the cousin and family. (If you haven't been following the news, do so:  there is quite an interesting political situation going on there right now.)  He gave me some updates and I decided I would try to friend the cousin's husband, who was posting several updates daily regarding their situation. His posts were pretty scary, especially the part about sleeping on the floor the night before with their children because of nearby gunfire.

So, while my spouse was on the phone with his family about a situation in his family, I was chatting with someone in Texas and trying to friend someone in Tunisia.

Anyway, I sent a friend request and when I came home from work tonight, I found he had accepted.  Now I can read his posts directly instead of getting them through the other relative.

I also had a pleasant surprise.  The cousin's husband plays FarmVille.  And, he had recently planted some 12 and 24 hour growth crops.

Farming during a revolution.  Now I will be able to track how stable his everyday situation is through how he plants his crops.  Or, maybe he is just an optimist.

Gives a new meaning to social gaming, doesn't it.

Mid June at the Farmers Markets

First, thank you to those who expressed concern about my fall.  I'm better today.  I can eat (if I don't touch the big lump on my lip), my left hand is bruised but working. my left shoulder hurts but it operates, my teeth ache but none seem loose, and I took a couple of walks to come up with the 4 miles I like to do on weekends.  I did it slower than usual and I got pretty wiped out.  I went to Sears Optical and, since I purchased the damage warranty, only have to pay $25. for the chipped lens.  (I am extremely nearsided, and if my vision wasn't correctable, I would be legally blind.)  I'm thankful too that the chip is in the corner so I can see out of the glasses mostly OK.  The frame is scratched but I'll replace it in another 6 months, probably, when my prescription changes.

And, spouse and I made time for a couple of local farmers markets.

The Vestal farmers market seemed to have less booths than normal.  Perhaps the Owego Strawberry Festival had something to do with it.  The local produce is finally starting to come in, here in the Triple Cities of Upstate NY, although some farms normally featuring U-Pick strawberries (we're in the height of strawberry season) have cancelled U-Pick this year.  We are dealing with higher than normal rainfall.  Every time it rains I say a prayer that next time the rain will visit, instead, one of our drought stricken states.  Please know that my gardening heart goes out to everyone affected by the terrible drought much of our country is facing.

We bought local lettuce, garlic scapes (for some reason, an unknown entity - animal? flattened all of our garlic, and no scapes as a result), cucumbers.  I should be able to eat these OK.  The one vendor with local zucchini (probably small but who cares) had already sold out.  We hope to see one of the vendors we know from long ago, Laughing Crow Farms in Maine, later this year.  I passed on the local strawberries-might not be a good idea to eat things with small seeds in them right now.  Maybe in a couple of days.

Then, a few miles up the road, we hit the Otsiningo Park Farmers Market.  This, one of the newer markets, seems to get better and better.  At work, my manager raves about one vendor's cinnamon rolls.  I bought a chocolate chip scone from him-its crumbly nature will probably be more eating-friendly to me right now.  But you should see those cinnamon rolls - and only $1.50 each!

Over at the McRey Farm booth, they had sold out of the brisket we wanted, but spouse purchased some osso bucco and some very meaty soup bones. (I almost feel like I should apologize for eating meat-and I've been a vegetarian a couple of times in my life-but lapsed both times back into the omnivorous lifestyle.)

And last but not least, a visit to the herbal vendor.  My boss had told me about her herbal bug repellant spray.  She let me try it, and I purchased a small bottle for $7.  I am so sick of being bitten by whatever seems to be chowing down on me in the past three weeks.  I think it's a combo of blackflies and spiders.

And, I must admit, I ended up "vegging out" while spouse took a nap, and played a lot of FarmVille. And - signed up for the Ultimate Blog Challenge.  (wish me luck!)

Now, let's hope nothing else happens to me.

Crack Willows

I haven't indulged my FarmVille obsession on this blog for a few months.  So, today I'd like to speak about drug-addicted trees....no, wait.  There really is such a thing as Crack Willows, one of FarmVille's latest introduction.

Recently, FarmVille has permitted us to operate farms in England (FarmVille English Countryside).  We travel to and from our English farms on a motorized dirigible...sort of a steampunk-like touch, perhaps.  A number of English-like items have been introduced, such as Dexter cows, Sebright chickens (I almost purchased one in real life, regret that I never did), Modern Game Hens and now....crack willows.

Crack willows are so named because of their tendency to have branches separate from the main tree with a distinct cracking sound.  Such branches will travel down rivers and then easily root out and take root sometimes miles from where they started.  They root so easily that in our country, they are considered invasive.  

They even form hybrids with native willows.

They are all over NY State and a number of other states.  They are European in origin but I guess I've seen them everywhere and not even known about them.

Until FarmVille, I never even heard of them.

So who says playing computer games isn't educational.  And seriously, invasive plants are a serious matter.  Who knows, perhaps FarmVille can help us become educated to some of them.

Farming During a Revolution Part 2

Today's "what the heck" moment came when I was playing FarmVille, picking up the gifts and helping out my FarmVille friend in Tunisia....while listening, live, to President Mubarak (of Egypt)'s speech.

The Tunisian revolution has spread.  And while I listened to Mubarak announce that his government would resign and there would be a new government tomorrow (although he was going to stay in power), I was gathering valentines, wooden boards, bushels of produce and freshly "baked" virtual bakery goods sent to me from Tunisia.

Now, I am watching live riots in the streets, in the dark.  People clapping and shouting, cars on fire.

The unrest is spreading to Algeria, to Syria.

Cairo is on fire.

My FarmVille friend says, of Facebook, that it "helped overthrow a President/Dictator who was in power for 23 years. 3 weeks of protests and the flow of info on Facebook brought him down."  But the situation is wearing on him, there in Tunis.  We are very lucky, here in the U.S. -at least for right now.  We get to watch it on TV.


My FarmVille friend is still living it.

Tracking the Revolution using FarmVille

The last 24 hours or so has been a surreal experience.

Yesterday evening I was on Facebook when a relative contacted me.  I have a cousin stationed in Tunis, Tunisia, and this relative had asked for everyone he knew to pray for the safety of the cousin and family. (If you haven't been following the news, do so:  there is quite an interesting political situation going on there right now.)  He gave me some updates and I decided I would try to friend the cousin's husband, who was posting several updates daily regarding their situation. His posts were pretty scary, especially the part about sleeping on the floor the night before with their children because of nearby gunfire.

So, while my spouse was on the phone with his family about a situation in his family, I was chatting with someone in Texas and trying to friend someone in Tunisia.

Anyway, I sent a friend request and when I came home from work tonight, I found he had accepted.  Now I can read his posts directly instead of getting them through the other relative.

I also had a pleasant surprise.  The cousin's husband plays FarmVille.  And, he had recently planted some 12 and 24 hour growth crops.

Farming during a revolution.  Now I will be able to track how stable his everyday situation is through how he plants his crops.  Or, maybe he is just an optimist.

Gives a new meaning to social gaming, doesn't it.

Duck!

So many people, when they think of ducks, think of several things:
1.  That "duck" dish that some Chinese takeout places sell, the one with pieces of duck crowned with tops of fatty skin
2.  Those nice ducks quacking in ponds, with the brownish females and the colorful males.  Nice to throw bread to and watch them dive for it
3.  And, if they have been to a zoo, maybe those really beautiful mandarin ducks (not related to the ducks in item #1).  Long ago, when I lived in Wichita, Kansas, I lived near a park that had a small (free!) zoo, and they had a pair of these ducks, if my memory is correct. They were so colorful and regal.
4.  Ducks for hunting, duck decoys, duck and cover...

Many of us don't know it, but ducks are so much more.  How about eggs?  Years ago, when spouse and I lived in rural Arkansas, we raised ducks for eggs. We mail ordered a breed called the Campbell, which, sad to say, is now on a "watch" list of rare, endangered livestock.  The Campbell duck is a bit on the thin side, with an upright posture.  Their eggs are a tiny bit bigger than chicken eggs, white in color.  They make excellent baked goods - I would gladly buy duck eggs from someone for that purpose.  So moist, and like goods baked with honey, containing natural preservatives. They also make excellent hard boiled eggs.  (sorry, vegan friends.) Scrambled or omelet- not so good-their whites have a consistency, if cooked in that way, that reminded me of (sorry), mucus.

Need a good, lean duck for meat?  The muscovy is your choice.  We personally did not keep them as we leaned more towards birds for eggs and companionship (can you tell I love birds?) but many small farmsteads in Northwest Arkansas kept them.  They are large, and they don't quack. They have very warty heads but, as people like to say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

  The game FarmVille (no, please don't run away, this isn't about my obsession with FarmVille) is finally recognizing the world of ducks, too. (Hurray, they are finally listening to me!)  They are having us build duck ponds (using construction items donated by our farming neighbors) and when we are done, rumor is that we will be given the opportunity to obtain these ducks:
-Pekin (these are your white supermarket meat ducks, btw)
-Golden Eye (these are a sea duck, to my knowledge not domesticated)
-Cayuga (for some strange reason I can't remember for sure if we ever owned a pair-well, it's been almost 30 years), domestic meat/egg ducks that originated in NY State
-Muscovy (there are many colors/types, I hope they pick a colorful one)
-Scoter (another sea duck)
-Red bill (an African duck)

The nice thing is, we will have opportunities to learn more about ducks of the world.  (the probably not so nice thing will be that most if not all of these will be expensive, and I refuse to spend "real money" on this game.)  Still....it did bring back nice memories of a time when ducks were in my life every day.

FarmVille Chinese

Haven't posted about FarmVille in a while...have been too busy doing all the "holiday" (read "Christmas") FarmVille quests and other stuff.  Now the New Year is here, I've put my "holiday" decorations into FarmVille storage, and it is time to farm. I've been in somewhat of a farming rut, and am trying to expand my crop growing into some new crops.  Speaking of which-

The popular online game FarmVille has extended itself to China.

One of the premier FarmVille news sites has done their research, and found several crops unique to the Chinese version:  including "caterpillar mushroom", ginseng, areca palm nut, lingzhi (a medicinal herb) and....peony.

Wouldn't it be cool if we American farmers could have these crops to celebrate the Chinese New Year.  After all, this is supposed to be an international game....which I think Zynga sometimes forgets.  Plus, we do have a Chinese population in this country.  I went to high school with some first generation Chinese, and there are a lot of Chinese in New York City (and other population centers).

And now back to regular blogging.  I've had so much to write about lately, that it ended up with me not writing about anything at all.  I'll try to rectify that, although it may not be for another 2-3 days.

Virtual Halloween

I had promised you another post about FarmVille, and my analysis (such as it is) about why it is so wildly popular, especially among...well, women over 40.  Which I am.

I'm sorry, but I've been too busy decorating and playing over at FarmVille.

I've been playing a bit over a year now, so this is my second Halloween.  This one has been so much fun.  Besides building my Haunted House (you have to ask your FarmVille neighbors, fellow Facebook friends who play FarmVille, for building materials) and harvesting candy from it, I've been getting candy from other neighbors and filling up my pumpkin.  The Haunted House is really cool looking, with bats flying around it and ghosts oozing out of the building.

Each night when I visit neighbors to help with their farms I get a chance to put spider webs on five of their fences or trees. (Virtual teepeeing, sort of.)  I've also decorated my farm with a tombstone and pumpkin fences, and have purchased a Halloween costume for my avatar.  (Right now I'm dressed as a pirate but am thinking strongly of buying the dinosaur costume.)  Trust me, this is "nothing" compared to what some people do. (Oh yes, I grow virtual pumpkins now and then.)

I had some maple trees (yellow and red) from last year, and put them around my Haunted House, along with some mounds of leaves.

I've been trying to grow black roses.  You can only get 20 seeds (for 20 plots) at a time, and if you don't want to pay for them, you have to get from your friends.  It's challenging, but I hope to be able to master them.

Finally, I've been growing candy corn:  and if you never knew candy corn was a crop, well, it is on FarmVille.

The decorating aspect is important to a lot of FarmVille players.  Many of them spend real live cash on virtual decorations-I don't, personally.  The interacting with neighbors is the real attraction.  Most of my FarmVille neighbors are people I know, although one (living out in Arizona) I've only seen 3 or 4 times in my life.  She ended up "introducing" me to her best friend and now her friend is a valued FarmVille neighbor, too.

After Halloween is over, the Thanksgiving season will begin on FarmVille.  I have some turkeys from last year and rumor is FarmVille will be giving farmers turkey coops to build with a "little help from their friends."

So, about that analysis?  I'll get around to it....

Mathematics and Farming

I'm an addict.  I overplay FarmVille.

I admit it.

It's not my fault.  It's theirs.  The mathematicians and psychologists.

Conspiracy theory time?  Not quite.

Several years ago I read, in the NY Times Magazine, an article about slot machines.  At the time I found it fascinating because my job involved a non-mathematical job in a department that was occupied, other than me, by mathematicians.  I mean hard core mathematicians, the type of people who would describe their breakfast at Denny's and say "my plate was 37% pancakes."  These people wouldn't say goodbye at night because, after all, they would see you again tomorrow. (I'm sure the probability was in their favor.)  I think they never quite understood me, the writer and non-mathematician, but I did earn their respect.  The odds were with me.  I made good brownies.

There are a bunch of CPA jokes out there (some interchangeable with engineer jokes) but in reality, these mathematicians were (almost all) nice people, when you dug beneath the math/nerdiness.   There was the man who roasted his own coffee beans and made highly crafted furniture in his workshop on weekends.  There was the woman who was trying to make a go at it as a single mother and first time homeowner.  And there was the man who used to be a night orderly at a local hospital and still knew a lot of the street people who frequented downtown.


So I read with fascination how mathematicians are involved in the creation of slot machines.  Not the old fashioned three cherries type of slot machine, but the newer electronic slot machines who entertain while they take your money. Mathematicians developed these machines, honing them to a finely tuned point of "give people what they want but just enough to keep them playing and, oh by the way, make us a great profit." while people think all mathematicians do is argue over equations that looked like something Einstein wrote on a blackboard.

Later, I would read about massive multiple player games such as World of Warcraft.  Entire families playing together while their real lives fell apart.  No, not for me, I would never get sucked into one of those things.  I was above it all.  That addiction stuff, that spending 16 hours a day online, that was for other people.

Then along came FarmVille.

Obviously, this game was worked on by both mathematicians and psychologists because it sure does work its addictive magic.  The only thing saving humanity from spending 24/7 on online farming is....their glitchiness.  Better pray it remains glitchy.  Do not get lured into this little farming game, sounds like fun,you will interact with your friends and it's only a few minutes a day.  You will interact and interact and interact and interact and one day you will wake up at 3am and realize your wine is sitting ready for sale and oh, your friend out on the West Coast must have just played and if you sign on NOW you have a chance of getting 3 bushels of carrots from her to make Sake with and you maybe will get a brown chicken egg containing maybe fuel and maybe a wonderful prize but if you wait, her other friends will grab it first and besides, her pig just found a truffle on your farm and....

Goodbye sleep.

So why does FarmVille work?  I've given this a great deal of thought (and not at 3am either).  If I feel like it, one day I will write more.  It works on a number of levels and if you like psychology, you will love the insides of FarmVille.

Heritage Farming on FarmVille

For all my complaints against FarmVille (and I can't complain - it is tree after all, unless you WANT to pay for it) I will say that FarmVille is paying a lot more attention to heritage farming issues lately.

Here are some nice recent touches:

1.  Adding the opportunity to run farmstead wineries, "spas" and bakeries, using goods you grow on your farm to make products.  You then sell products to your neighbors, and some of your goods can also be "sold" in return for fuel.  I understand a "pig pen" feature will be added in the near future, where pigs can be fed from the bushels of certain crops the FarmVille farmer grows.  That will be interesting to see. 

2.  More and more "heritage animals" and unusual breeds:  Scots Grey chickens (I never owned them in my years of chicken ownership but they are an old time breed, similar in looks to Barred Rocks (which I have owned), and date from about the 16th century), Boer Goats (this website is a hoot)-and I understand more are to come-and many more.  When you get one, go online and read about them.

3.  Crops:  besides the recent short term organic blueberries, there are purple podded peas and purple carrots.  Yes, I've grown both!  Many people don't realize that the original cultivated carrots were not orange.

Why should I care?  Because FarmVille is probably the closest that many Americans (and maybe others) will ever get to a true small farm.  Granted, true small farms don't have tiki bars, miniature Eiffel Towers and Tuscan Wedding Tents.  But what they do have is very hard working family oriented people who care about the food they grow.

Yes, FarmVille, way to go.  Keep up the good work-but not too fast, we don't want any more glitches.  Even if they are organic glitches.

FarmVille Go Round in Circles

I think Zynga (maker of the game CrackVi....I mean, FarmVille) finally has gotten the hint. (with apologies to you lucky people who have no idea what I'm talking about.)

Briefly, FarmVille is a game you play on Facebook with your other Facebook friends sucke....I mean, involved in playing it.  You plant a virtual farm, you harvest it, you replant it, you get and receive gifts, you find things in your friend's farms while tending them, you collect same for points, you get to buy and decorate with Tuscan Villas, waterfalls, Eiffel Towers and log cabins, you do co op farming with your friends, you have barn raising with your friends...the key here is "with your friends".  Zynga has some very good psychologist designers to make sure you are "hooked" and they have done their job well.

And if you have a friend playing FarmVille, chances are they've already asked you to be their neighbor.

THINK TWICE!

As your farm grows bigger minutes farming become hours....

There are three more things about FarmVille you need to know:
a.  It is supposedly free but a lot of people spend real money on all these limited edition animals, buildings, decorations and what-have you.  Or they get tired of barn raising and spend money to complete construction on buildings and whatever. (the latest is a "beehive".)  The point is, they've spent their own money on this game.
b.  The people in "a" get madder than hell when their real life purchases suddenly disappear in the newest glitch.  Actually, the free playing people, like me, get kind of mad too.
c.   Communicating to Zynga is like...well, like any other software company, they haven't won awards for their "customer service".

You see, FarmVille is just a tiny bit more than a year old.  It became successful so quickly that it is still in beta.  And computer folks know about betas.  Right?  So what has Zynga done the past year?  Tried to fix things?  Of course not!  Instead, they have spent all their time creating even more limited edition stuff, buildings, co op ideas and so forth.  So this becomes like a car crash ready to happen - you are there watching it in slow motion: every time they put on something new the glitches get worse, and worse, and worse, and worse....

Three of my neighbors have quit the game.  Two more tried briefly to play and very quickly decided not to bother.  I'd love to know how many of the 24,000,000. people that supposedly have played FarmVille at least once still do.  Zynga, I think the term here is "losing your customer base".  Not good.  I'm sure Facebook isn't thrilled either.

Anyway....

After the latest episode of glitches (farms turning into fields of giant unintentional crop circles, constant "Saving Farm! Don't Close Your Browser" messages [translation: better reload fast, anything else you do on your farm if you believe he message will go into cyberspace] interrupting harvesting, plowing and planting, Zynga FINALLY announced they were going to...get ready for this one:  concentrate on fixing the glitches!

Why does computer software do this to people?  Why do we, the end user, put up with "improved" software that doesn't work as well as the last version?  Why do we accept these products that really are betas (at least Zynga is honest about FarmVille being in beta) where we wouldn't accept a car that was worse than your last car?  But it's always been like that since the advent of computers.

So let's hope that those people in Zynga land actually fix their game before they introduce anything else to said game.

Maybe, though, I should hope they don't succeed.  Because it may be the only way I (and many others) will break that addiction.

I'm So Glad I Failed theFarmVille IQ Quiz

Hurray!  I officially have a life!

I took the FarmVille IQ quiz and scored a 3 out of 10-"Fail".

I'm so proud!

It's official.  I have not been overdosing on FarmVille.  So there!

Extreme FarmVille

FarmVille's first birthday is June 19. (If I have to explain FarmVille to you, it means you are one of the 17 people left in this country that haven't become addicted to this farming game on Facebook).  There's lots of speculation as to what will happen on June 19.

(FarmVille for the benefit of those 17 people, is a farming game you play with other Facebook friends.  You plant and harvest crops, to earn "coins".  You band together in co ops to grow crops cooperatively.  You send each other gifts.  You hold barnraisings (of sorts).   You buy some things with coins.  You, if you are into this kind of thing, decorate your farm with items you can buy with something called "FarmVille Cash" which either you earn (difficult) or....pay for with real money.  Or you can use the cash for limited edition animals, or for other things.)

Some people think that the game will add new levels (currently the most you can achieve is "level 70".  Or farm expansions will be added so everyone will have room for their Tuscan Villas, observatories, hot air balloons, pinwheels, wedding gazebos, biplanes, gnomes, topiaries, miniature Leaning Tower of Pisas, Taj Mahals, schoolhouses, colored hay bales and other necessities of the modern Farmville farm.

Nah.

Here's what I think will happen.

Zynga hasn't captured one vital audience for online games-the teen and early 20 year old boys and young men who play lots of video games already.

My son, for example...I don't know what he thinks about Mom playing FarmVille, but it isn't too complementary.

Hence, I think that Zynga, creator of FarmVille (and other games) will roll out.....Extreme FarmVille.  Here's how it will work.

It's a beautiful day on the farm.  Sun shining, crops growing.

Suddenly, from above....an ominous rumble.  The aliens land.  Stomping across the peaceful fields, they open fire with their massive weapons.  Barns burst into flames.  Turkeys, elephants, reindeer, and penguins (don't ask) scatter.

But the teenage boys playing the game, they aren't daunted. Creating military avatars, they fire back using special edition guns purchased in the Market.  Down go the aliens.

Just in time for the huge hailstones to start raining down.

Quickly the teens band together with a 5th level magician (150 FV Cash) who casts a spell and the hailstones melt.  The crops spring back into place using Unhail Spray (3 FV Cash).

It's almost time to harvest when.... the dragon comes and starts stomping the farms.  Then, more hideous screams. The vampires are coming....

Well, you get the picture.

So, Lexilicious, what do you think?

Farming on Facebook

I am about a week into playing my first online game on Facebook.  It is a social game, and with only one friend also playing it I am not going to get rich quick, but it is fun.

FarmVille is a Flash-based game.  You could call it a very simplified version of the Sim games that I never played, but my son grew up with.  Stuff like Sim City and Roller Coaster Tycoon, for example, was part of his childhood. (Sadly, he's moved on to various Third Person Shooter games.)
In FarmVille, you build a farm.  You start out with some crops the game planted for you, so you can immediately harvest for money.  At that point you are on your own, unless you have friends.  You start at level 1.  You pay "coin" to plow your land, but get experience points.  Then, you plant your crops.  Then you harvest, but you have to time it because if you wait too long, the crops wither.

At the beginning it's easy to move up to higher levels  The higher the level, more crops are unlocked, and you can start adding animals, trees (their crops don't spoil) buildings and so forth.

If you have "neighbors" (friends that are playing the game) you can "gift" each other, fertilize each others' plants, and gain points chasing away critters and other tasks the game assigns you.  You can buy limited edition animals and decorations.  You can buy barns, villas, and tractors.

ZZZZZZZ, right?

Well....no.

  There are achievement ribbons, the opportunities to put animals that have wandered onto your farm out for adoption, and so forth.  You can even take a picture of your farm.

And, the animals make really cool sounds.  If you have young kids, I think this would be a fun game to play with them.  Maybe when I have grandchildren....

You would be surprised (I was, anyway) to find out how much is written on FarmVille.  People really get into this, calculating with spreadsheets which crops are the most useful at various stages of the game to gain experience points or profit.  People have written guides to the game.
I don't know how long I am going to keep with this, but soon, when I am online, it will help pass the time when that bitter Upstate NY winter finally hits.

(and who knows, one day they may give out ribbons for organic farming and sustainable farming practices....one can dream.)