By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent

AUBURN, Ind. — During a typical day on her farm, Elysia Berry might harvest the crops she planted earlier in the week. Or, she might plant some fruits and vegetables that she will harvest a couple of days later. She might also plant some raspberries in the morning that she could harvest in the evening.

It may be a typical day on her farm, but Berry’s farm is anything but typical.

Berry is running a virtual farm on her computer. Games such as FarmVille and Farm Town are designed to entertain as well as possibly teach something about farming.

The games, primarily played through the social networking site Facebook, allow players to start a farm, plant and harvest crops, hire workers, buy trees and animals and add houses and barns. Points are awarded and players reach certain levels based on those point totals.

Playing FarmVille and Farm Town can be time-consuming, said Berry, laughing. “I play for the fun of it, for the entertainment value,” she said. “They can be very addictive if you let them.”
Berry, extension educator for agriculture and natural resources in DeKalb County, Ind., said she spends some time each evening and on weekends on the games. She was introduced to them by friends who sent her invitations through Facebook. Most of those friends are not in the agriculture industry.

While Berry said she primarily plays the games for fun, there is some potential for learning real life lessons about farming, regardless of whether the player knows anything about agriculture.
“If you don’t harvest your crops, they’ll wilt. You need to take care of them. If you don’t manage your fields well, you can have quite a few yield problems,” she said. “If you have chickens or cows, you have to collect the eggs and milk from them every day, just as you do on a real farm.”

This reality and fun are both things the designers of FarmVille wanted in the game, explained Bill Mooney, vice president and general manager of FarmVille.

“Before we launched FarmVille, we did a lot of research on farming so we could make the game accurate, so people had a real sense of farming, which is why players love to tend to their crops. If you don’t take care of your crops in time, they’ll wither,” he said.
“With FarmVille, we wanted to give our players a new type of game. Our goal was to create an experience that is light and fun to play, that our players connect with in a different way than (games) Mafia Wars and Zynga Poker. We wanted to give people an emotional experience in a very accessible way, and give them room to connect with their friends and express their individuality.”

FarmVille was introduced to the public in June 2009. It was created by Zynga Games Network. More than 80 million people play the game, which is available worldwide, Mooney said.

Since the game was introduced, Mooney said he’s heard from farmers, agriculture organizations and even his father-in-law, a farmer in Iowa.

“We’ve gotten a lot of feedback that people love our game – from farmers and non-farmers alike. For some, it’s generated an interest in real farming; for others, it’s an escape from ‘city life,’ and even for others, it’s just a fun way to take a break from school or work and help out your neighbors.”

FarmVille and Farm Town allow players to farm without the stresses of real farming, said Ada Mae Rebman, a retired farmer from Whitley County, Ind.

“It doesn’t cost you anything. You don’t lose anything, you don’t gain anything. It’s all just for fun,” she said.

While entertaining, the games wouldn’t necessarily help players learn more about farming, Rebman said. “They’re very addicting,” she explained. “But they don’t really apply to real life. I don’t see how you could take anything from this and use it in real farming.”
Rebman and her husband were primarily grain farmers, growing corn, soybeans and wheat. Virtual farming allows her to plant crops and rotations in ways not normally found in the field.
“Right now, I’ve got tulips next to corn. You can set it up however you want it,” she explained.

Christina Wadsworth, of Ames, Iowa, started playing the games when a friend asked her to become a virtual neighbor.

“I found out that I really like them,” she said. “I grew up around plants, so the idea of growing things is natural for me. And unlike real farming, you never have to worry about having too wet a season, or having a drought. I know the pain in the butt actual farming can be.”

Wadsworth has her farms set up in four basic plots, with each plot having a different growing time, making it easier to fit farming into her schedule. Potential harvest times range from two to 16 hours, and one to four days.

Though she doesn’t have a farm background, Wadsworth sees benefits to the games, especially in teaching children. The family-friendly nature of the games allows the young children of her virtual adult neighbors to play, as well.

“You’ve got a lot of little kids who don’t understand food doesn’t come from the supermarket,” she said. “This teaches them you have to plant seeds in the ground before it becomes food you can eat. They’re learning the concepts of growing food.”