Screenshot from Farmville
Hubby has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and is always posing questions to me, which generates some interesting discussions between us.
Like, one recent evening he walked into our home office, saw me playing Farmville on Facebook and chuckled to himself. “Vegetarians play Farmville?” he asked. To be honest, I always saw it as just another silly game and never put two and two together the way he had until the words spilled out of his mouth.
He gave me a lot to chew on that night and I must admit, my Farmville gameplay was nilled. It got me thinking about some of the other online games I was playing like Cafe World, where a digital chef Jenny was cooking up lots of meat-based dishes in order to score points in the game. I stopped playing Cafe World soon after, as well.
The only Facebook game I play now is Mafia Wars, where I rob, steal, fight and kill as many people as I can. Do I endorse killing or stealing from real people? No, of course not, no more than I endorse real life factory farming. Yet, the mafia game is the only one I feel comfortable playing now since hubby pointed out the hypocrisy of the other games as they relate to my vegetarian diet.
I’m curious what other vegetarians and vegans think… do you play Farmville or similar games? Why or why not? Please take the poll below and leave a comment if you would like to expand on your thoughts.
I don’t play Farmville or Cafe World anymore, but when I was playing FV, I thought of it as my own little animal sanctuary, since I didn’t have a slaughterhouse on my farm (I never got high enough in points/coins to see if that was even an option).
For Cafe World, I just pretended it was my own vegan restaurant and they were veggie versions.
I guess that’s how I always looked at it too. And, I’ve heard of some people focusing on the vegetables and not using the animals on their farms.
I don’t play Farmville, but I do play Farm Rescue:
http://www.animalvisuals.org/advocacy/farmrescue/
I’m still at a bit of a loss why you’ve reasoned it’s ok to play Mafia Wars and not Farmville? I’ve been vegan for years and I love Farmville. You hit the nail on the head in your blog – it’s just a silly game.
Well, farms exist for the purpose of raising animals and crops for food. Even in the game, players collect wool, milk, down feathers, etc. from the animals in return for coins, which mirrors how people use animals in real life for profit. True, Farmville IS a silly game, no real animals are being harmed but to play it as a vegan, does it send the wrong message? If the world was vegan and real life animals weren’t used by people for meat or by-products, would a game like Farmville even exist?
Just to be clear, I’m not knocking anyone for playing Farmville, I love the game too, but I do think my hubby was justified in lifting his eyebrow when he saw me playing it. So I just wondered if others played it and why.
It was actually a couple of my vegan fans that got me to play farmville. My farm is 99% trees and crops — plants, reflective of what I eat. I do, however, have some animals — all of whom were “rescued” In the game, animals accidentally wander on to your farm or someone else’s and become “lost” and someone needs to adopt them. I’ve earned several ribbons for being a “safe haven/adopter.” I do not by animals.
You don’t have to harvest your animals if you don’t want to. I do brush my horses (horses like this in real life) and buzz my sheep (sheep like this in real life too if done in a gentle manner with love and compassion).
Interesting, playing farmville made me plant and grow my own garden/crops this year and the experience has really made me appreciate food — so for that I’m thankful.
For me, it is a game… and a game that I think is creating awareness. So many of my friends start seeing meat on their plate as an animal, the disconnect is not as great… and if a vegan plays farmville, they are still a vegan… its like saying someone who plays a gang game or world war game is a killer. or can’t be morally against murder.
I forget the studies of why most people like violent games..There was also a study out about people who played those games and keep it a secret..
Your an adult..It is just a game…Thouogh with kids unsupervised who knows what it can do but supervised is okay. I belive in kids seeing the real world..Real school not home schooled or private…They need to learn not just the good but the bad so they can learn to deal with it…With the violent games its suppose to release stress and inner anger, with a child showing them good and results of bad, playing the fame with em and reminding them what is good and not and that this is a game…Sooner or latter in those games the “Bad Guy” ends up dead or in jail or such…I always say(When ive played such games with my nephew) thats what you get for a life of crime..
With the 2 games you mentioned you probably are feeling the physicological blame many vegeterians and vegans get from non-veg or even from the vegs themselves..I have a condition that keeps me anemic..Ive always wanted to be vegan but cant and cant be totally vegeterian either…So far I have only found one food that seems to give me the iron enough I need..And It makes me quite ill(Seaweed). I get bothered by some veg people cause I can do it with veg foods..No sorry..I cant..Ive tried..Iron supplements make me ill so I cant eat and being a diabetic I have to eat..Most of my meals are vegan but every so often I have to eat some meat(Maybe 6 thin slices of turkey) and then Ill feel okay for a few days..Im still searching for a veg food that will do it without making me ill. I look at it every little bit helps even if not completely vegan,,,You might want to email the makers of the games and offer them the suggestion to make available different foods and restaurants in the game so you can run your own veg place and to the Farmville people the suggestion of being able to play in a vegeterian and/or vegan way..Chances are its never occured to them..
Play your games and enjoy…
My reply to this blog comes a little bit late, but I just found your website today and wanted to weigh in on this issue. I used to play FarmVille (and Mafia Wars), and ended up quitting them both. I didn’t quit for violence or ethics reasons, mind you, simply because they were ridiculous time sinks for me and I was no longer enjoying them. Like a previous commenter, when I did play FV, my farm was primarily composed of crops, and I didn’t “harvest” the animals I did have. They were free to simply roam around my land.
The only FB game I play now is Restaurant City. I think it is similar to Cafe World, but I can’t say for sure as I’ve never played it. RC works on the same sort of system where you level up dishes that you serve in your restaurant in order to gain experience and gold. I like RC because they have a wide variety of recipes you can choose to level and serve. Consistent with my veg lifestyle, I have simply ignored the meat dishes and only leveled up the vegetarian ones.
Thought-provoking blog!
I am vegetarian and don’t like factory farming but I play Farmville because no animals are eaten. Even the Thanksgiving feast has no turkey. I pretend that my animals have free roam of their virtual world. That is why I have no fences around my farm.
I appreciate all these comments. Have recently gone vegan for moral and ethical reasons in addition to health and feel like a hypocrite continuing to play farmville. While it is “just a game,” it focuses heavily on harvesting animals and building buildings to house them. The more animals you have in your little storage barn, the better for points (or coins), just as in real life. Think I need to wean off this game, it really doesn’t do anything for me except provide me breaks throughout the day and I can find better things to do with my time. I deliberately did an internet search for “should vegans play farmville,” and appreciate these comments.