Tending a virtual garden

Never thought they’d do it, but my favourite video game has introduced a non-competitive mode. People are up in arms about it just as much as it’s being applauded, but it’s still in beta, so we’ll have to see what happens. Now that the main game is considered an e-sport, i don’t think people will be too angry, to be honest. They’ll definitely keep the ‘domestic’ gameplay separate from the actual career type, so whatever. It’s just inviting people in from different demographics.

One of the types of activity they advertised was taking care of your own virtual garden, which actually sounds pretty neat. I know you can just go online, buy hyacinths and plant them at your leisure. Hyacinth bulbs aren’t exactly gold dust either. That’s the great thing about plant bulbs; you don’t pay all that much, and if you do it right you can get a lot out of it. But some people are just clueless. I myself have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to gardening. Give me a tulip bulb and I probably won’t know which end it supposed to be face up when planting in sand. Or is that supposed to be soil? Chances are I’ll throw it in the microwave and try to eat it with chips or something. I have whatever is the opposite of a green thumb. Probably a red thumb. It is the red thumb of garden death. So, if I were so inclined, I could jump into the online world and be someone with a casual little garden, and then tend to it in a stress-free environment with tutorials that teach me how to care for my darling plants.

I’m probably not going to, obviously. I’ve already sunk seventy hours into training to be a warrior, and I’m up for a promotion any day soon. But if I WANTED to know what to do with double Hippeastrums, I could learn using the in-game growing classes. And that’s why I think the domestic, non-career option is going to be one of this games greatest strengths. Honestly, e-sports fans are overly demanding, and a little bit paranoid anyway.