The Social Times site is running an interesting feature story and interview: “Interview: New ‘Pot Farm’ Facebook Game Promotes Organic Growth.”
According to Neil Vidyarthi, the game has half million players on Facebook; six people have joined a Facebook group opposed to it.
The public relations contact (Uncle Floyd) for the group who created it described it: “In pot farm you can grow, like plants and things and make your own groovy homestead out in the woods, man. It’s really beautiful. Only thing is you have to look out for RANGER DICK. I don’t know what his problem is, but there’s some plants that totally freak him out. The dude is really uptight and needs to RELAX. Wow.”
“We also have this protection mechanic that’s different than the usual withering mechanic. In Pot Farm your crops never die, but if you grow certain plants without making sure they’re protected, you might get busted by Ranger Dick! This lets players choose how much risk they want to take on; if they buy enough protection, they never have to worry about that mean old Dick. Groovy, man.”
Funny how that “stoner” shtick that was developed to high art form by Richard Anthony “Cheech” Marin and Tommy Chong continues to live on.
There could be a privacy issue here. Players might consider what future employers will think about the game and make their Facebook privacy decisions accordingly, so, like, they don’t freak out. Ya know what I mean, man?
Tom Kelchner