Today, I decided to quit my favourite game on Facebook, FrontierVille. This was after the game got me really upset over a mission which I now call, Mission Impossible.
On FrontierVille, you get missions from time to time which you have to complete to receive certain rewards, like coins or experience or something gross like piggy poop. These missions may or may not have a time limit. While the time-bound missions are challenging, they can be a big distraction .
Like the last mission that I bought (yeah, you have to buy some missions, too) – called New Year’s Resolution or something – certainly made FrontierVille pioneers glued to their computers for the last couple of weeks. I have a neighbor on FrontierVille who played at 2:00 in the morning! I know because the following day I saw posts from her on my wall asking for checkerboards. Talk about commitment and single-mindedness!
I confess, I was one of those who went online every opportunity I can get to complete this mission – which had 6 sub-missions and each mission had two phases. The prize was worth it: 50 horseshoes which will give you a lot of purchasing power in the market. I’m imagining all the skulls that I could buy with those horseshoes; I was also thinking I can finally get that duck pond for my geese. Fifty horseshoes… wow! That is some motivation for a dedicated player like me. The ad said this mission must be completed on the 31st of December. I had plenty of time.
I started on the 4th of January. I was on my way to completing the last mission – sell 50 adult oxen, 50 adult pigs and 50 adult goats – on the 12th when I read this notice on my FrontierVille gaming window. It said that I only have two days left to complete the mission. I thought, "What?! What happened to completing it before the 31st?" Sadly, my 50 oxen at that time were still cute little calves and they need to be fed about 6 times before they grow into adulthood and ready for selling. Unfortunately, it takes 18 hours after feeding before they go hungry again. To complete this mission within two days was impossible. Hence, the name MISSION IMPOSSIBLE.
So, I didn’t get the 50 horseshoes, making me feel cheated and upset.
And that’s when it hit me. How could I let a simple Facebook app annoy me so? How could I let it occupy my thoughts… take a lot of my waking hours? Lately, I’ve spent more time feeding my chickens waiting for an omelet to appear rather than practicing on my guitar to improve my skills. I’ve visited more FrontierVille neigbours than my neighbours offline. And lately, I’ve read more letters from FrontierVille Jack than the letter from my Heavenly Father.
Thinking back, I realized I've spent a considerable time online, playing games, than doing the things that I usually loved doing – reading books, writing, taking pictures, playing my guitar, hanging out with friends, meditating on the Word. I probably averaged 3-4 hours on Facebook daily. Now that’s more than 10% of my time.
Someone once said that what we value is measured by the time we spent on it. I am ashamed to think that, lately, I have valued an online game more than the other important stuff in my life, so much so that I would feel cheated when I didn’t get my 50 horseshoes.
So today, I decided to eliminate this one thing that has taken my focus away from real life and from God. The first step I took was to UNLIKE it. I'm sure it's not going to be easy. Right now, few hours after I decided to quit FrontierVille, I still have this urge to go back to harvest the peanuts and cottons that are sitting there (I could probably get peanut oil or a ball of yarn from that lot), or to complete my trading post mission (I think I’ve already collected all the materials needed to finish it). I will probably get more experience or coins. Who knows, I might get 400 food that would allow me to buy enough energy to harvest all my peaches, from which I can get peach cobblers that I needed to complete my peach collection and trade for 8 energies. In the next several days or weeks, I will probably have nightmares of Bessie, Jack and Hank – or my FrontierVille husband & three children – begging me to come back. My neighbours will probably keep sending me gifts or requests for gifts, reminding me that FrontierVille is alive and active – including my cows and sheep and mystery animals – without me.
I’m not saying that FrontierVille is a bad game. However, it has become bad for me. Sure, it has given me a venue to unwind at the end of the day and provided a spring board for discussion among my friends who played the same, but I allowed it to distract me in a major way. It has become a negative distraction, so I chose to say goodbye.
That’s my way of “fleeing” temptation just like what Joseph did when he was tempted by Potiphar’s wife. Perhaps, I should be thankful for Mission Impossible after all. It certainly brought my focus back to what really matters.
So Humble Bob, you may keep your horseshoes. Take the 33 that I already have, too. I don’t need them anymore.
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I have a question…
What games do you play online? How much time do you spend every day in front of your computer (work doesn't count)?
