My tryst with the subject of social behavior dates back to my childhood when my dad believed that I had super powers! He assumed that I had a special gift to read people’s faces and body language.So much so that he used to take me with him to his business meetings and would let me decide if it is a good idea to do business with a particular person. I guess this is where the story started.

In today’s world where online interactions dominate our offline ones, there is no real way to understand a person. You just have to go by their words and it is not a shocker when you learn that the words were actually not coming from horse’s mouth. This reminds me a call out by a dear friend Lou Pardi, a few months ago. She offered to write online dating profiles for people. Knowing Lou, her intention is very honest and helpful but this highlights the scary truth of a more deep-rooted problem. So, how do we trust people we meet online to be genuine?

If you are amongst the lucky ones who don’t really care to judge people and continue to treat everyone equally, kudos to you! Unfortunately, I am not. I am rather very judgmental and I make informed decisions about the people around me before I decide if I want to include them in my inner circle of influence

So, what is the purpose of my post today?

In a strange (and not-so-serious) way, I have come to understand that FARMVILLE helps understand social behavior. You might find this lame, but I have been a fan of that game since 2009- mainly because it is very interesting to see each player behaving in their own typical style.

If you don’t enjoy the game, are too busy to try (which is understandable) or just “not the type”. I understand that too, because unless you have a “community spirit” or a “love for sharing” in you- you are not likely to like Farmville at all. Having said that, there are people who have gone overboard, wasting too many productive hours on the game.

An infographic at @mashable clearly shows us how much of importance this virtual farming has gained, as against our interest in REAL farms.

As much as I would want to agree with the people who argue that “People care more about their virtual farms than real”, I don’t! On the contrary,  I believe that these people are more likely to have their gardens and farms in real lives too. It shows their interest in the subject, it shows their love for nature. Why else would they plant crops and wait for days before they get to harvest them instead of popping 1000 angry birds and pigs on their screens per minute?

“Anything that builds a spirit of friendliness and co-operation and helps people get to know each other as human beings seems to me a good thing” —Jimbo Wales, 20 December 2006

Coming back to the point, here are some of the types of people and their typical behaviors that I have noticed on Farmville:

• Team player : Always plays in a team, has a co-op set up most of the time and encourages people to crop plants together within a co-operation. Occasionally, posts a thing or two on your wall.
• Self sufficient : The silent and self sufficient person who doesn’t spam your timeline or his. He is self-effacive and takes up only the tasks he can manage alone without much help from others. Usually, doesn’t have great returns or speedy increase in levels but follows a consistent pattern to his game.
• Free-loader: Joins every possible co-op just to get the bonus and cash and contributes nothing to it. Usually gets good amount of free bonuses but is not the favourite of others and hence loses out on the secret gifts and special treats.
• Cash hoarder: Plays only to collect cash and at some point wishes he could one day convert it into real money! This person doesn’t like to buy expensive stuff and comes across as a stingy person.
• Creative: Always brimming with life and activity- Has birds, animals, colours, flowers and all possible beautification on the farm. This takes up a lot of the farming space and hence they earn less points and cash but they continue to maintain their beautiful farms.
• Money minded: Has most of plotting area used up ONLY for farming and he plants and harvests like a machine to keep making money and increasing their level in the game. No real buildings, no beautiful structures and no creativity whatsoever.
• Competitive: Always looking at being at the top position among their friends. Checking on the scores often and trying every possible way to gain XP and lead the game. They are the first ones to be disappointed when Farmville stops levels at a point (currently the max level is 100)
• Fanatic: Starts the day with the farm, checks on it before sleeping. Spends REAL cash to buy stuff for his farm and often spams his wall and ours by posting things every hour. This person is a farm-fanatic and most likely to have no other job at all!

This behavior might be related to their offline/real life too, would you say? I guess so.

Usually, a farmer belongs to at least one and often is a combination of a few of the above categories. So, what kind of a farmer are you?