FarmVille is a Facebook game which allows members of the popular social network to plant, grow and harvest fruits and vegetables as well as raise animals on one’s virtual farm.
I only started playing FarmVille five days ago and, as of this writing, I am now at level 14 with 45,431 coins and 4248 XP. You can say that I am a dedicated farmer. Most of the animals and trees I own are gifts from fellow farmers. The more I play FarmVille the more I enjoy the real-time flash game. One time I had to reschedule my dinner to harvest my crops on time.
Here are ten lessons I learned while tending my virtual farm.
1. Growth takes time, effort, and lots of patience. You cannot hurry the crops. Or make your cows produce milk in seconds. Growth is neither sudden nor easy. It is a process which requires that one step be completed successfully before proceeding to the next.
2. There are always elements that will try to stifle your growth. In FarmVille you have to deal with leaves, weeds, and crows. I real life you have to deal with difficult situations and people who discourage you and try to pull you down.
3. But don’t worry about leaves, weed, and crows – your neighbors will always come to your aid. Look around, you are never alone. Believe in the goodness of others.
4. Helping others clean up leaves, scare off crows, or kill weeds not only give you extra coins and XP but also make you a better neighbor. Whenever I receive messages like this – “Hiya, Fr.! Just look at these leaves! Would you help me rake them up?” I always click “yes”. My main motive is not to gain more coins and XP but to return the favor to people who have also helped me keep my own farm clean and healthy.
5. The more gifts you give, the more gifts you receive.
This is true in FarmVille. This is also true in real life. It was Orison Swett Marden who said “We must give more in order to get more. It is the generous giving of ourselves that produces the generous harvest.”
6. If you don’t harvest on time, your plants will wither. Just as in FarmVille, to succeed in real life you have to do the right thing at the right time.
7. You can share your triumphs with others. In Farmville you can share your rewards in the form of bonuses. I know of some people who regularly check their Facebook feeds to see if any of their friends have recently won any ribbons. For there they will find the option to earn a bonus from them. The better the ribbon the more coins you will get.
8. You need to work hard to get what you want and need. Aside from plowing, planting and harvesting and dealing with leaves, weeds and crows, you also have to budget your time and coins. You also need to buy the right seeds, trees and animals for optimum profit. Believe me, it can be complicated. If you want to succeed in FarmVille you have to work hard. If you want to succeed in life you have to work harder. As David Bly puts it – “Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted.”
9. You do not become a Good Samaritan through a single act of kindness. You need to help other farmers hundreds of times before earning your Good Samaritan ribbon. In the same way, you do not become a good person just by doing one single act of goodness. You need to be a good person, a “good samaritan” repeatedly and consistently.
10. After a harvest there must plowing and sowing again. Such is life. The end of something is the beginning of another one. And I hope that as you complete one step in your life may you begin the next one as a person who has matured and learned his lessons. Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.
This is beautiful! Thank you for sharing the lessons and hope that most of our youth who are into it, will learn something about life and faith. You gave a deeper meaning to FarmVille and turned it into a worthwhile game.
I find this very educate. In real life happens too.
It is like to plant rice or others crops. We have to be patience most of the time. Never forget to pray hoping the weather will be nice and watering with ourlove/caring watching while they are growing and to be humble waiting for the result what we planted. Bless you and thankssss.
I am a student of St. Mary’s Academy, and you discussed this blog entry of yours to us, juniors and sophomores, then I decided to read your blog. It was so nice having you as our speaker for today’s activity. Thank you so much, I learned so much from you. God bless
sir when i download the video and when i put it in the psp why it said that the movie is not supported?? how can i support it???
@Gilianne – I also enjoyed my short stay in your school. I am glad you learned something from my talk.
@Mico – I presume that you are talking about kickyoutube. psp plays the MP4 format. you should use that format. another way of doing it is to convert your videos to MP4 using the HandBrake application. You can download HandBrake for free here: http://handbrake.fr/
Father,
Good evening!Ms. Rubio here of St. MAry’s Academy, Pasay where you just gave a recent talk on netiquette last friday. I just cant help but really look for the lessons you’ve learned from farm ville. It was great! I have not tried playing the game,but i really appreciate the lessons you identified and paralled it in our everday life,truly it is a helpful way to reflect in our everyday living! Hope and pray you could always post and share your brilliant ideas to all. Thank you once again! God bless po!
@Ms Rubio – thanks for dropping by. Thanks also for giving me the opportunity to talk to your students. I also learned from them.
Now this game looks like a lot of fun. More importantly, it looks as though there are good values associated with it.
Wow Fr. you made a great analogy between Life Values and Farmville. Thank you for sharing your thoughts to us, specially the young.
Father,
Where can I download your Netiquette presentation.
I attended your lecture at Assumption College last Aug. 29.
I also a Carolinians, BSC-Accounting 1992 LLB-1996
Good day father, I am a student from St. Mary’s Academy- A sophomore. I was there when you made your talk. I learned a lot, Thanks to you. I was bored when I remembered your website so I decided reading this entry of yours. It’s cool, nice, thoughts- well organized! I like your 6th and 10th statement. It’s so true! Uhmm.. father, just wondering if I can make a request since you know a lot about Christianity.
) Could you please make an entry about Jesus’ three-fold mission, while at the same time, could you please give its relation in everyones Christian life?
Good day father, I just hoping to find some article that can send to my friends regarding good impact to individuals about playing applications on facebook. I searched through google and I was directed to your blog. I’m so glad that I did because I don’t expect that I could find an article more that I was looking for. I am so inspired about this writings and I immediately copy and forward this to my friends and office mates through email indicating your name as the writer of this article.
Since then I am became a fan of your blog. Maybe God uses you to reach me through your blog because now I have some confusion about life. I have so many questions that I can’t find the answers and I always ask God about this.
I always ask “God, Please… ako naman po”. I know that I am so selfish but this is really what I feel right now.
I also like your interpretation of “stay connected to a power source”. I learned a lot even it is just about less than 4 mins video and your explanation really helps to fully understands what the video is trying to say.
Again, Thank you very much and May God always bless you… =)
@Arbie – you are welcome and thanks too for forwarding this post to your friends. God bless.
that are very inspiring lessons. If it is fine with you that i will post this article to my blog. please drop me a message.
thanks and God bless!
@LIFE Moto – no problem. you may post this in your blog.
hi pads, how are you? thank you for sharing this reflection. can i share it to my friends who are “farmville adik”
no 2 point is is very true. working on a multi-cultural environment you can’t avoid sometimes that someone will try to put you down. they have this superiority complex.
but hey wait, we breath the same air, we live on the same planet, we both have 2 eyes 1 nose, 2 ears, 1 mouth. we have the same employer. we will both die sooner or later. so what’s this “high and mighty” attitude..
well thanks to this post, this is quite an encouragement for what is happening to me right now.
@den – I’m doing great. Yes, you may share this post to your friends basta lang do not forget to link it back here.
Very nice and to the point lessons.
If it’s fine by you, please see our website at:http://www.farmtips.info and give us comments on how to improve our own website.
Let’s have fun in Farmville!
Dear Fr. Cuyos,
What you have all stated are true and I won’t be the first to give the contradiction. Now I have to copy your piece and circulate it to all my FarmVille friends. You’re one neighbor which I would Welcome without fuss. More Power and GOD BLESS
Very truly yours,
Carrie
P.S. Can I add you as my friend in Facebook and neighbor in FarmVille?
@Caridad – yes, you may add me to your Facebook friends’ list and as your neighbor in FarmVille.
if u need more neighbors in farmville u can add me my email is : abo.el.sex@gmail.com
thanks father. keep you posted then.
all the lessons you had cited by comparison Father are indeed true. I am on the those stages of my life and it was very insightful. I now realized that farm ville was a great contribution in strengthening my patience.
Hello Fr. Stephen! Thanks for sharing these lessons to your readers, FB addicts and Internet enthusiasts. May i post this in my personal blog? I really find this very useful to most of my students in the university. My readers would surely love this as most of them are also dedicated farmers like US. LOLs. God bless and more power. It’s my first time to land on your page; I’ll surely be coming back. all the best.
@Mommy Mai – you are most welcome and yes, you may post it on your blog.
PADS TOUCH KAAYO KO ABT SA FARMVILLE KY KUSOG KAAYO KO MO DULA ANI,AND IT’S TRUE THAT IT TAKES A LOT OF SACRIFICES SAMA SA TINUOD NGA KINABUHI?PWEDE BA NKO I COPY AND SEND SA EMAIL?ACTIVE MI DRI SA AQ BANA SA CHURCH CHOIR UG CHOIR MEMBER MI SA EL SHADDAI BAHRAIN CHAPTER.NICE KAAYO IMO SITE.THANKS & GOD SPEED
@Ian – pwede ra kaayo ni nimo i-copy ug iforward sa imong mga email contacts. Pag-amping kanunay.
What the heck keeps us playing in FarmVille??? I was trying to analyze my own behavior but could not reach a conclusion. So I created a poll for people to help me figuring it out by simply voting. Please put your own voice: What the heck keeps us playing in FarmVille??? http://yardennedray.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/what-the-heck-keeps-us-playing-in-farmville/
These guys said it best
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQApx3mDXYc
Hi! Please let me know how i can share this article with my neighbors…
am sure they would appreciate it
God bless!
KUDOS! ^.^ thank you so much for sharing this one. you’ve really made farmville a worthwhile game that has a deep meaning and reflection to our daily lives. i know for sure that those who have read this one will be more inspired to play the game and think of every move that they take… (“,)
Thank you for these farmville lessons. Can I share this post with my farmville friends, Father? They would surely find these lessons worthwhile. Hope these would inspire us, not only while playing farmville but, on how we plow and harvest our lives. Happy Farming, too!
@dinah – yes, you may share this post with your FarmVille friends.
thanks for expressing so eloquently some great lessons learned from farmville …
Really lovely lessons. I read it to my children who play the game and it brought a new perspective to the game. It also made me accept the game which previously seemed senseless. Thanks for sharing.
@jane & helen – you are most welcome. May God bless you always.
Thanks a lot ….. I enjoyed reading it, ca I repost your blog father?
@Myrna – yes, you may repost it.
HELLO fr. merry christmas.. you have the best sermon i ever heard, i want you to be my neighbor in farmville too..
Hi Father! Wow, I like this post.
Awesome! Do you still play?
@Hillary – as other priorities keep me busy, I seldom play FV now.
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Hi Fr. Stephen! this is post is really nice. I am playing Farmville, but I didn’t come up with these realizations.. Brilliant it is! Thank you for sharing this po
Godbless
@Jen – you are welcome. Keep sharing God’s love with others.