Farmville is a perfect example of the self-actualization tier of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. [1]
The people playing Farmville are enjoying themselves and expressing themselves. Would it be better if they deployed that cognitive surplus and attention towards Wikipedia or a similar project? Of course.
But it doesn't make me sad that there are 215 million people in the world who have a comfortable enough life that they can afford to dabble in some casual games. In fact, I hope that in 100 years we can have all 7+ billion humans striving for self-actualization instead of food and water.
The people playing Farmville are enjoying themselves and expressing themselves. Would it be better if they deployed that cognitive surplus and attention towards Wikipedia or a similar project? Of course.
But it doesn't make me sad that there are 215 million people in the world who have a comfortable enough life that they can afford to dabble in some casual games. In fact, I hope that in 100 years we can have all 7+ billion humans striving for self-actualization instead of food and water.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslows_hierarchy_of_needs