Stan Jackson needs a fence. Joe Bob Farnsworth found a stray cat on his farm.
If you’ve seen these updates from your friends in your Facebook stream, you might be puzzled. But notifications such as these are part of the wonderful world of Farmville, a game played on Facebook that boasts over 82 million players across the globe that allows players to construct their own virtual farms. The seemingly innocent game was the professional demise of one Bulgarian politician, however. The Huffington Post writes:
Council members of the Plovidv City Council in Bulgaria are among FarmVille’s fervent fans: the Bulgarian councilors were recently caught "milking virtual cows" on FarmVille during budget meeting debates (using government-issued laptops, no less).
The Chair of the Council, Ilko Iliev, delivered a strong scolding to the officials–to no avail.
Novinite, a Bulgarian news outlet, reports that not long after Iliev’s warning, one politician, Dimitar Kerin, was yet again nabbed tending to his online crop.
Kerin was promptly voted off the council committee for playing FarmVille on the job…
Kerin said, in his defense, that he was not the only FarmVille fanatic in the bunch: he explained that he ‘had reached only Level 40, whereas Daniela Zhelyazkova, a councilor from the rightist Democrats for Strong Bulgaria party, was already at Level 46.
That is funny but I can’t say I blame the guy for playing or state Reps for playing solitaire, etc. Budget debates in any country consist of: A half-dozen power brokers controlling everything (leaders), a dozen more loquacious legislators debating (constant campaigners) and the rest of the body waiting to vote the way they were planning to all along. What really stands out to me is the inefficient process. Is it all necessary? Not sure I know the answer but a topic I feel should be (efficiently) discussed. Perhaps the Supreme Court model of limiting oral arguments would be a good place to start.