FarmVille & Its Political Invasion: Do politics belong on the farm?
FarmVille Zynga and Politics
As local elections come to a close tonight throughout the United States, we’d like to take a moment to revisit the idea of politics invading FarmVille’s virtual real estate and possibly your own farms.
Back in September, Bloomberg Businessweek first reported that some presidential hopefuls and their campaigns, specifically Rep. Michele Bachmann in this case, would like to target popular social games such as Zynga’sFarmVille in hopes of gaining virtual support and to pick up some key voters.
Michael Hendrix, a consultant for the firm working on Bachmann’s ad campaign dubs this idea the “gamification of politics”. One game in particular, FarmVille, he sees as an advantageous “demographic frontier for Republicans” with “the majority of social gamers [being] stay-at-home moms over 38″. Hendrix claims to have written software that will allow players to bring politics to the farm. We’ve all seen some of our fellow FarmVille Freaks flex their political affiliation on their farms via their hay bale constructed farm art of Democrat Donkeys or Republican Elephants, but Hendrix plans to take this a step further with a more real world borrowed concept- yard signs! He suggests that his software would allow FarmVille players to show support for their candidates by placing political yard signs on their virtual farms just as they would on their real world lawns.
Even though Zynga has not yet publically endorsed the notion of a political invasion of FarmVille and this article is written from a speculative perspective, it has us all wondering- do politics belong on the farm? Certainly, if politics did seep their way into FarmVille, it’d be an optional endorsement for players to decide and one with all parties represented. On the other hand,FarmVille is already becoming more like a full-time job, do we really need to corrupt it with politics, party lines, and the sometimes unwelcomed diversity it brings? We can see how happy neighbors and our shared love of toiling over our farms could quickly turn into heated arguments and broken farmer friendships.
What do you think, FarmVille Freaks? Does political representation belong on your farm? If it were possible, would you show support for your candidate or political affiliation with a yard sign display on your farm? Sound off in the comments below and be sure to take our FarmVille Freak Poll!
Do politics belong in FarmVille? | Would you display a political yard sign on your farm? |
(Referenced Source: Bloomberg Businessweek)
