Pot Farm-Will It Be As Addictive As Other Addictive Online Games?

Addictive online games like Farmville elicit one of two kinds of reaction in people: they either totally love them or they think that it qualifies you for a padded cell passing your time planting rows of carrots and paying cash for imaginary tractors and fertilizer. And thinking it's addictive fun. Downtown Eastside Games believes that this is a scenario that's rather too black-and-white. And so, they've added a rather fun wrinkle to the Facebook farming equation - and it's a wrinkle that should really play well to audiences who feel that Farmville is rather too uptight.

The game is called Pot Farm. At first glance, the game has a lot in common with Farmville. There is the same two-dimensional-looking farm and vegetation and there is something about the way it is all drawn that calls Farmville to mind, too. But when a bunch of almost bare nekkid and unwashed hippies from the 60s show up, you know you're not on wholesome Farmville territory anymore. The game puts you in a forest with marijuana weeds all over the place.

Pot Farm has won awards in its native Canada; somehow, one doesn't envision this happening over here. In Canada, with their European leanings, they really think pot is right on. Downtown Eastside is so pleased with its new pot formula that they’re trying to add pot to every hit Facebook game out there. Where the creator of Farmville hits pay dirt was Mafia Wars, Downtown Eastside has a (pot-addled) rival in Pot Farm Raiders. Take the violent thugs away and replace them with barely-standing stoners, and you have yourself a new game. If you thought that addictive online games were trouble, wait till you see how addictive they can be with pot in them.

As a new game developer, how do you know that you've finally arrived in the big leagues? You know when the Fox News Channel stirs up a bit of dirt about you and calls your product “controversial”.

Basically, the game as about a bunch of peaceful stoners who hang about, garden a bit and grow and harvest pot. And from time to time, when the going gets a bit slow (when you're not running away from the cops or organizing pot parades), you go and steal pot from your neighbors. Playing the game, you notice that you get to learn a lot about the different kinds of marijuana there are and what's good for them raising them. Once you have a successful crop, you sell it all for money; and the more money you have, the more hippie stuff you can buy - a rude pond to swim in, home distilling equipment for your own hooch, a nacho vending machine, and so on. It's everything you need for a slow addle-brained party. If you can't wait to grow enough crop for all this neat stuff, you can pay cash for them just like on Farmville of course.

Of course, the most entertaining part of being on Pot Farm is that you can't believe that you're actually playing such a game (and your Facebook friends know it). It's just so rebellious. And perhaps that's how they intended it.

It isn’t just Players who do the Button-Pushing in these Action Computer Games

There's a scene in the movie Singin’ in the Rain where when a movie mogul gives a demonstration of the first talking movie to a crowd of high society party attendees, one uppercrust woman sniffs and says, “I think it's vulgar”. That's practically been the kind of reception every entertainment innovation has ever had from the establishment - every new kind of music, sport, television show, comic book; and as far as video games are concerned, the cold reception hasn't ended. And while most video games get made for wholesome family entertainment, there are a few titles that come out every year that do walk a thin line. Crossing some line from time to time is only to the expected in an industry that tries very hard to push the envelope. But still, videogame haters jump all over them, focusing on these particular games, to try to demonstrate how video games herald the end of civilization. Let's take a look at the action computer games that get the most negative press.

Let's start with a title that practically defines the action computer games genre - Grand Theft Auto. One of the biggest videogame franchises in the world, the game seems to encourage young people to glamorize and follow a life of thuggery. The game is all about stealing cars, beating and killing people and grabbing what could only be hookers, for fun. On the San Andreas version of this game, the designers actually plugged in some actual graphic sexual content for some real street cred. The FTC didn't like it at all and not only did they fine the publishers, they made them pull the product from shelves.

With some action computer games, it's like the designers are actually trying to earn the genre a terrible reputation. Consider the Manhunt franchise that first came out about eight years ago. You know how they say that guns make it easy for people to commit violence? The designers of this game certainly took that opinion to heart. The violence in this game, you certainly get your hands dirty for. You don't resort to guns or bombs or cars to inflict violence in this videogame. You pick up a baseball bat and smash a person with blood and gore all over the place. Sometimes, you strangle them; sometimes you suffocate them with plastic. This game actually comes from the creative makers of Grand Theft Auto. As unwholesome as the game might be, it certainly has pushed the envelope in action computer games. Now into its second version, the game has sold 2 million copies.

There is a lot that you hear about school bullying in the media today - with unfortunate cases like the Phoebe Prince suicide sending up public disgust for the practice all the time. One game publisher found that it would be a great way to earn a little street cred to publish a game that glorified school bullying. And Bully was the result. Of course, critics of action computer games were all over it one more time. There is actually a bit of sexual violence in the bullying shown in the game too. The courts though deemed it not egregious enough and allowed the title to be sold. When it comes to action computer games, publishers certainly know how to push people’s buttons.