My Farmville Addiction

“Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another.” ~ Romans 14:13



Some of you are familiar with Farmville, the cute, seemingly innocent game on Facebook. Farmville allows you to create your own virtual farm, to plant crops, acquire animals, harvest trees, and help your neighbors with their farms. You earn coins, farm bucks and experience through all of your “hard work” on your farm and your friends’ farms. Innocent enough, right?

My children have been telling me for weeks that they think that Farmville is … well … “a stupid waste of time” (their words, not mine). Frankly, I saw little, if any, harm at all in planting my crops, returning at exactly the right time to harvest them, then planting more. I rather enjoyed growing my homestead, plowing and seeding my fields, and reaping the rewards of my “labor.” And there was no downside. In Farmville, there is never a drought, never a flood, and never a bad crop.

There is only one problem with Farmville…it is addicting.

Some of you psychology students might remember a concept called “operant conditioning,” a learning mechanism using different schedules of reinforcement. Farmville operates on a fixed interval schedule of reinforcement. The player knows that after a particular period of time, they can expect their crops to be ripe and ready to gather. The more you reap, collect, pick and mow, the higher your level becomes. You receive more coins, plant more crops, and wait, again, for the harvest. The game begins to influence your daily schedule, and your work patterns. You become more and more competitive, watching your game rank increase, your coins amass, and your time diminishes. You know you are hooked when you actually buy “farm bucks” on your PayPal account. That’s right, when you spend real money to gain fake value, esteem, and status.

It is estimated that 75 million people play Farmville today. It is fun. There is nothing sinful, pornographic, or hateful in the game. There are worse things that people could do…really, lots worse. In fact this is really not about Farmville at all. It is about leading others into tempting situations when we engage in social behaviors that can be harmful in the extreme: buying lottery tickets, playing keno, or drinking alcohol. Our United Methodist Discipline calls gambling a “menace to society,” abstinence from alcohol and drugs “as a faithful witness to God’s liberating and redeeming love for persons.” These are not just suggestions for stodgy, uptight Christians, but ways to avoid hurting other people through our example. We may be perfectly able to stop after one lottery ticket, or one glass of wine, but our friends may not. To answer Brother Cain in Genesis 4:9, “Yes, you are your brother’s keeper.” So, is abstaining from addictive games a part of our faithful witness?

I have been thinking about these things lately, as I consider the more obvious ways we offend others. The troubling thing about some games is that they are insidious and accepted, like children’s rhymes or mottos that seem innocent enough at the time. When they grow into a monster all their own, an addiction, a racial slur, or an ungodly belief, they harm the other. Paul tells us we are not to judge the other, but we are not to lead others into compromising or addictive situations either. I am also reminded of our baptismal vows, calling us to resist sin in whatever ways or places it finds us. Finally, John Wesley warns us to “do no harm.”

I guess that means the end of Farmville for me…