Farmville: Katrina Thralls

Farms are a funny mix of industry and nature. Obviously, it is not wilderness as it is tamed by humans, but it is our attempt to connect and control nature. Not artificial enough for you? How about Farmville, an application on Facebook that has over 63.7 million users? Farmville is a real-time farm simulation game that allows members of Facebook to manage a virtual farm by planting, growing and harvesting virtual crops, trees, and livestock. Not enough farm-obsessed Facebook users? It has competition: Farm Town, which has 14 million users on facebook but is also available on Myspace. The US is no longer considered very much of an agricultural society, so why is something passé becoming a craze on the internet? Life is a continuum, and as we swing towards progress, we desire to move back towards tradition. People in suburbia want to be connected to nature, but are not ready to swing back up towards actual wilderness. A farm is a middle ground, even if we only feel safe accessing the artificial version of the artificial version of wilderness.