At one point during my FarmTown tutelage, Natalie introduced me to the “marketplace” which is an avatar-filled chat room.
“What do we do here?” I asked.
She matter-of-factly replied, “You beg for work.”
I thought that was strange. If the whole purpose of the game is farming, why would you hire others to work your farm? There were about 20 characters, randomly emitting text bubbles that desperately sought employment. “Hire me pleazzzzzze!!!!” “Will harvest or plowwwwww!” (I think the repeated letters were for emphasis.)
I learned that hiring help actually lowers the cost to plow and increases the value of harvests. This notwithstanding there is still an imbalance in the FarmTown labor markets. Far too many workers (and z’s) chasing too few jobs.
Just then, with no groveling, Natalie received a job offer from someone named Dolly. We accepted and found ourselves in the middle of a vast cabbage field, cyber-scythe in hand. We felt so thankful, even though we were saving her money and doing all her work. I also saw that we could thank Dolly as we were now in a new chat room with only her and another hired hand. We did express thanks and got to work. We were productive enough that Dolly asked if we would like to plow when the harvesting is over. That is the ultimate! We thanked her again.
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