Welcome to The Faux Farmer! We're here to entertain and inform on the current issues surrounding FarmVille and other select Zynga games. Operated by Farmer John Brown, FarmVille Curmudgeon and member of Zynga's Focused Farmers Group!
(Originally Published June 28, 2010)
I have some sad news to report, but first I'd like to tell a short story. Yes, I know, I seldom tell a SHORT anything, but please, bear with me. It's an awesome story.
Astrid started this group, as I recall, because all the premium critters were being snagged up and sold as coins by the morons who would rather turn FarmVille into Modern Warfare 3. It was never supposed to be that competitive, and her solution in starting the group was brilliant.
Back in those days (a whole 10 of them, I think - but man, it sure seems like years instead!), there were not very many members, and we opened the doors - wide - in order to get new members.
I'd noticed a discussion on GU (shush) that someone posted, suggesting that in addition to their 'trading' section, somebody should start up a 'sharing' section, because people were profiteering and gouging the average small farmer for a little blue pony, and all SHE wanted to do was give hers away to make others happy.
That GU discussion was started by a very highly respected member of the FarmVille Community, Lisa Etinger. Lisa has been sort of a mentor for me, took me in under her very high level 70 wing when I couldn't even join co-ops, and always took time out to encourage what I was doing and to lend a listening ear.
I immediately replied to her on the GU forum that, although she was right that things should be shared, it was kind of funny to suggest 'sharing' on a site built around a device that will bleed the feed dry of everything in it's path. I suggested we steer folks around to the groups on FB that were available, especially since that did not require GU membership (and thus make a lot of these 'little old ladies who just want a pony' targets for the Anti GU Wingnuts.
Interlude. I think the whole argument of GU vs Anti GU is ridiculous, and I think most of my postings have reflected that. This is why I have gone to ENORMOUS lengths to have that never come up in the discussions or on the wall. Our members have somehow learned to co-exist like that.
That's germane to the story because a lot of the success from the group has come from our volume, and that volume of people has been generated by Lisa herself, reaching out to her vast network of contacts within FV and over on GU. Even today, Lisa is listed on their board as being a hot topic poster with the two posts she cleverly crafted for our group.
She shares our common vision of a group where people can come, share, mingle and enjoy each other around the game we all enjoy. She has shared with me on innumerable occasions how proud she was of the group, the admins and the breeders, and how wonderful it was to have such a helpful bunch of people to work with. I know she was dearly attached to many of you.
So...that's a little background about how we got where we are. Certainly it's been a combination of the love and effort that we all put into this, but Lisa was our firebrand, working behind the scenes to bring in new people and craft a 'tone' for our group.
Today, I got a message from her, very short, which basically said that she was leaving FarmVille and Facebook, that she'd removed her farm completely, and asking me to remove her from the group.
There was no explanation, nor was one needed. I knew immediately that there had to be something wrong in her personal life for her to even consider such a thing. All I can assume is that there are other pressing matters, and this was her way of making sure she spent her time where it was needed most, and not on the Farm and in the group.
As it turns out, that's pretty much the case. She has other matters that she needs to attend to, and I know soon her absence will not only be felt but questioned. My public comment on the matter will be the same as I left on one of those little sign posts on her farm, right before she deleted it: "I will miss my dear friend. We love you."
That post was left on a farm that was completely bare, save for a single, 40,000 coin red barn. So far as I can tell, even that now is gone, as is her Facebook account.
I know very few people who loved this game and the community surrounding it more than Lisa. She loved her farm, as we all do, with all the unique items she had. All her paid breeding stock. Her prized belted cows, barely a week old now. The barns and stables that bore what many of us now hold on our own farms.
Her once opulent farm was gone, every stick of it, and what, if anything, she could not bear to delete hiding inside those 20 or so storage slots.
I'm sure it caused her tremendous pain to delete each and every item from that plot before she removed her account. An entire years' worth of very intense and very expensive gaming, gone.
The reason I'm telling this the LONG way is to point out something:
Based on the time that I got the message from her, and her last posts to the group, it's apparent that Lisa bred all her ready animals one last time, saved the posts to herself, deleted every single item except that barn and whatever was inside, and THEN SHE CAME BACK TO THE GROUP TO SHARE.
While her once beautiful farm that she loved SO much lay barren, she came back here one last time to share what she had, with all of us.
I see SO much of that sharing, giving spirit in each and every one of you.
She sought no recognition, and insisted on nothing in return.
I could type for another hour and not even begin to tell you what an amazing lady she was - because that last gesture before leaving really says all you ever needed to know about Lisa.
Her account, and her farm, are completely gone. It saved me from honoring her request in removing her from the group - the system did that for me. I just wasn't able to do it.
I will, indeed, miss my friend, and I am sure some of you will as well. Had she stayed, tonight she would've easily topped level 100. Folks, our group now has it's first legend. :-)
Here's to sending her silent wishes for peace and renewal, and to continuing the group we started here with standards that are worthy of the Lisa's of FarmVille.
