A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Protest

It's funny how things work out sometimes.


Last Monday night, after our good friends at Zynga (that's the company that produces FarmVille, FrontierVille and various other 'Villes') put up the Tuscan Wedding Redeemables for insane and outrageous amounts of Farm Cash (Farm Cash is the in-game currency that costs players actual, real-life money), I got mildly insulted.  That's just a notch past annoyed, if you're unfamiliar with that particular scale.

People still had these things sitting on their farm, and could share them out for free, and yet Zynga decided it was time to price-gouge and charge exorbitant amounts of Farm Cash for these items.  It sickened me to think that a company that is just in it's infancy and starting, slowly, to garner some actual legitimacy, would engage in such despicable, predatory consumer practices.



Unfortunately, it wasn't the first time they'd done this.  I was already annoyed with the 'Seven Days of Summer', and right on the heels of that 'event' they had added Valentine's Day redeemables to the marketplace - including an Eiffel Tower replica for $150FV - which roughly translates to $30US.  Now, granted, few players would actually pay this much money for something that people were STILL sharing out for free, but the newer farmers, the lower-level folks who simply didn't know better, were tossing around insane amounts of Farm Cash to get these things.

It's predatory, it's unethical, it's mean-spirited and it's just plain wrong.  As I sat there, open-mouthed in amazement at this latest cash-grabbing tactic, I started thinking about what I could do, as one single farmer, to let Zynga know what they were doing was unacceptable.


I knew it was going to be something small, something that would have almost no impact, but also something that would satisfy my own social conscience.  It needed to make a glaring statement, even if that statement was just limited to my own personal Facebook wall.


It wasn't long before I decided that I would, indeed, limit this to my own wall - to make it as devoid of anything Zynga-generated as possible, for an entire week.  While I was a touch concerned that a week was a bit long, the parody-loving smartass in me decided that a week was a perfect fit - Seven Days of Silence to fit the Seven Days of Summer.   To me, only the most mean-spirited and grouchy amongst us all wouldn't at least smile at the jibe at Zynga for a job NOT well done the previous week.


Let's stop here for a moment, and gather up some background vital to the story:


I'd just recently missed a week of playtime and posting by being stuck in the hospital after a heart attack.  I came back to an overwhelming myriad of well-wishes and, somewhat disturbingly, a huge number of 'Where the hell are you, I need help dammit!' type messages.  There were also a number of inquiries from one of the small groups I run, "Farmer Brown's Gift Exchange".


Now, almost everyone knows that I help administer a large Facebook group called Sharing Foals and Calves - we have a roster of about 4,000 members now, and they all, well, share foals and calves.  


What most do not know is that a run a smaller group for kids and underprivileged farmers.  What started out months ago as "Farmer Brown's Tuscan Wedding Giveaway" turned into a gift exchange group the moment I burned that awful wedding tent.

The Farmer Brown's Gift Exchange isn't nearly as popular, and membership has been very selective.  It's been slowly geared towards the truly small farmer - those who do not or cannot have a huge friends list, folks forced to play on slow connections, and is populated primarily by children and their parents.  A place where kids can stand a chance of collecting a rare foal, or an egg, or anything else I can manage to get donated by a wonderful group of breeders and others who donate their goodies.  We answer basic questions, teach the kids about links, and sharing, and the spirit of giving.


It was primarily for that group that I wrote my note, The Seven Days of Silence.  I wanted the kids (and their folks) to know that I would not be posting, and more importantly, WHY I would not be posting.  After my unexpected absence the week prior, I also felt it prudent to let folks know that I was taking a break of sorts on purpose...I saw no reason to needlessly worry the large number of warm, hospitable and amazing people who were concerned when I had fallen ill.


That's a huge percentage of the reason I even wrote that note.  It wasn't done to spur a huge response, nor was it done to send a strong message to Zynga.  Let's face it, if you've read my blog here, I've written a number of strong messages to Zynga, and they generally fall on deaf ears.  Professionally crafted, executive-level communications posted on their forums simply get deleted before they have a chance to be read.


Had the note been intended to start some kind of a huge social movement, I'd have run the announcement all over the place.  One small glance at my wall can show you that's not the case.  Folks on my list saw it published once, (the publishing process of the new Notes app on Facebook), and once in the Gift Exchange.


And then....a funny thing happened.  


People took notice.  They started passing the thing around.  A lot.  People were changing their profile picture to the doctored logo I'd created.  In my haste to get this notice out to my friends, the security on it was ignored - that's what you get for posting something to 'Friends of Friends' versus 'Friends Only'...things get passed around.


A very nice lady (who I don't think was even a Facebook friend at the time) asked me if she could create an 'event' and ask folks to participate.  Initially that threw me back, because while I mentioned in the note to 'join in if you like', it was a half-hearted remark at best.  I never, ever expected anybody to get on board with the idea of going silent for a week.


"Sure", I said, "Go right ahead".  The next thing I know, there are several hundred folks signed up for this 'event'.  Volumes of support messages, folks vowing to go the distance, etc.


It was quite overwhelming, especially since the little note was never intended to spark such a response.  As of right now there are over 1,300 people participating, and many more have chimed in with their support and good wishes, messages of encouragement and sharing similar concerns about Zynga.  I was astonished to note that the majority of these folks aren't even on my own voluminous friends list. Within hours I'd received hundreds of short messages of support, asking for 'rules' to the protest and general good wishes.


It was very warming to see such unexpected support for what started out as a small note to my Facebook friends.


What I most definitely did not expect were the mean-spirited, hate-filled, venomous, ugly, despicable replies that showed up on that wall, on peoples' own status messages, and even in my own in-box. Many of these were from people that I've been farming with since the game started.  Folks who I thought were actually normal, reasonable and NICE people.  For goodness' sake, some of these wingnuts work with the public for a living! 

"It won't work.  This is pointless.  Zynga's not going to change.  You need millions of people for this to be effective.  What kind of lame boycott is this?  You people all need to clear your cache. Oh, look - the 'little people' are protesting. THIS IS THE DUMBEST SHIT I HAVE EVER SEEN. Sorry if you can't afford Farm Cash. Ungrateful cry babies it's a free game! These games trigger the same hormone in your brain that cocaine does, its addicting and when certain things don't go as planned they flip out like internet junkies!"

Wow.  What a wake-up call.  Just wow....and those were the nicest ones I could post. They get progressively and exponentially worse.  


What in the world is wrong with people these days? Are they so lacking in control of their real lives that they feel the need to get online and just whizz on everything they can? 


The personal messages I received were even better.  Death threats, threats to molest my children, you name it. I heard garbage from people who were not on my friends list, even those who were on my list for months yet with whom I'd never exchanged more than a few little purple boxes. It was the complete opposite of the warm, wonderful wishes I'd gotten upon returning home from the hospital.


Apparently, reasonable conduct online has become the ultimate freak magnet.  


The most ludicrous ones were people posting messages from their 'secondary' farm accounts - like nobody's going to know who they are. They're all both disturbing and amusing, but don't worry - your secret farms are safe with me.  I play many games, but they're generally limited to FarmVille, YoVille and Mafia Wars - I don't play the kind of games you social misfits like to play.


It's clear to me that none of these people even bothered to read the note.  If you can manage simple 8th grade English, you can tell this was no 'call to arms', a mass boycott of any kind, or anything of the sort.  


It was a small, simple, non-impact protest by a single farmer who was simply disappointed at the outrageous tactics shown by a company he believes in (pause for shock effect).  


Yes, I believe in Zynga.  One day they WILL get their head out of their ass.  One day they WILL see the light.  One day they WILL overcome their growing pains.  


Even one day, Zynga will start listening to ALL their customers....even the ones who have turned out their true colors, and revealed themselves as the mean-spirited, weak, foul, angry degenerates they are.

Already Zynga has improved since this whole fiasco started.  They've even lent me the strength and willpower I needed to continue the silent protest by keeping me Out of Sync within an hour of that note being posted.  I'll be in day six now of OOS status, and while it's widely known that it's a glitch or a bug, I find the timing to be both ironic and fortunate.


As for the naysayers, let me just say this - it's good advice:  If you don't want the world to know just how truly ugly you are, try just saying 'no thank you' when you decline to participate in something, and go back to your own pathetic excuse for a life.  Raining on the parade of others is simply unattractive, and speaks volumes about your own personal character and code of conduct.  


To those miscreants, I offer these simple wishes:


May you live in interesting times.
May you come to the attention of powerful people.
May you find what you are looking for.


Happy Farming,
Farmer Brown