The Farming concept was first seen with the introduction of Harvest Moon in the gaming world. It gave the communities and cults for games a reason for immersive roleplay. Back in 2009 when Farmville hit the world up a storm, no one knew how big the business would be. Second Life gamers were also not behind in bringing the concept in-world.
In 2010 we saw the introduction of Guardian de las Sombras, easier known as G&S. It focused on medieval fantasy communities to help them get into immersive roleplay. We had also seen the introduction of Life where not only the energy but also the hygiene of an avatar was introduced making it more real. Then came the Digital Farm System in October 2016. In 2017, a year later, we heard the introduction of the Aura Roleplay system. And the latest introduction in BeYou, which is similar to Life and is slowly taking the grid by storm. The estates like Blossom Meadows are relaunching itself as the family community roleplay integrated with BeYou homes.
Earlier we used to see crops used for farming. Crops like wheat, hay, tomato, rice, sugarcane, corn. The basics that could be cooked to make the animal feed for farm animals like cows-bulls, hens-roosters, goats, sheep etc. Then we saw the introduction of carpentry, mining, backsmith, fishing among other activities as well. Overall, in all the systems you will find these activities. As the growth of secondary markets began we also saw the expiration of the goods in certain systems, the first being G&S. Like all changes, it was met with both positive and negative reviews.
We have also witnessed various breedables over the years from fantasy to farm to domestic and wild animals. We have also seen fairies breed. And more important, we have also seen plants as breedables, called the Plant Pets. With the introduction of mesh, people wanted to see more realistic elements. We saw a number of new full perm mesh designers in the grid. This helped the farming industry as well. From water towers, windmills to crops to farm animals to food. And these days we have flowers as well.
Flowers grown are used in further production and creating Limited/ rare items for recipes.
Creativity has no limits. Immersive roleplay is so deep that every step you take will bring you to new opportunities. Flowers, trees, bushes which were once made just for landscaping are now used in farming systems. The same that were used for landscaping with the same prim count are used to decorate sims and create an interactive world. Unlike the breedables, the farming scripts use a lot less memory and usually low lag. There is also no physical element, that is the animals are movement restricted leading to no collision which also helps in keeping the lag down. However, for a new farmer it's always good to start small and build up from there depending upon your spare time and involvement. There are many farm barons who give a small piece of land for farming. Either you can ask in respective groups or look out for the advertisements.
Since 2016, the secondary market for the Digital Farm System has grown to over 4500 active members. They also started with the Digital Living System to enhance the life-like living in Second Life. It is seen that the older the systems get, there are more number of people who join and the prices in the secondary markets fall. For example the same recipe in G&S will sell for 27L$; while in DFS it will sell for 152L$ and in beYou it sells over 300L$. (All prices fluctuate and are in approx estimates). Farming enthusiasts who love to mint Lindens from the secondary markets, will grab the next opportunity in a new system. Also, the scope of expansion and improvements gets higher with any new systems.
To keep a business afloat it is important to keep the change alive. The Digital Farm System introduces new recipes every month. This recipe is dedicated to the monthly cooking champion. Sometimes, these recipes are available to be cooked for a limited time only. Like all limited items the prices for these are fairly high. This system also introduced flowers by TSpot Home and Garden in a number of recipes to add fragrance with the added fruity flavours.
The flowers are used for essential oils, cooking oils, fragrance, decoration of furniture, decoration of food platters, cakes, limited recipe items, edible flowers as well. Flowers like roses are the best sellers during valentines month. Other varieties of flowers like lilies, chives, lavenders, baby’s breath, wild flowers, daffodils, daisies, carnations, Geraniums are a score and are available in various colors. The flowers like all plants come with certain fixed uses; which means they can be harvested for that many times. However, DFS introduced the concept of Forever plants. Forever plants can only be received from Farm Stash Boxes and Grab Bags available each month from the MainStore. These plants are resold in secondary markets at very high prices. Each Sunflower Forever plant is sold at as high as 10,000L$. The other Forever flowers are Chives, Daffodils, Lavenders and Wild flowers. For example in the month of May 2020 a new limited variety of wild flowers were introduced, the “Wild Flowers Mothers Day Blue Dolly”. Not only are flowers used in flower baskets, but it is also incorporated with animals as cute decorations like the Limited DFS Sow/Boar - Happy Mother Day.
The prices for the flower markets like all other raw materials increase with the number of uses for each basket. For example a Geranium basket will sell at 5-6L$ each. Each harvest gives 1 basket. The prices of the harvests are based on a number of factors. They are: number of harvests, number of days to harvest, number of times they are pruned, the further uses in production of recipes, amount of energy it took to prune and harvest.
Unlike G&S and Aura, DFS and beYou have more modern food platters. They ask the players to suggest recipes that could be incorporated. Hence, we have cuisines from all over the world. We have various flavours of icecreams, fragrance of soaps, creative influx of cakes for all occasions fitting all taste buds. Syrups, milkshakes, dips and sauces are just a few among the long list.
These days these recipes have found a place in the non-roleplay environment as well. A few years back at wedding parties, birthday celebrations, baby showers and other occasions we used to find a brunch table giving out a list of food items from its menu. Then we saw placemats being used as restaurants with a similar concept as well. Now we will see clients asking for specific food for their celebrations. Event planners can now arrange for food tasting and complete custom orders. The old foods used to just have the eating and drinking animations, the new ones have the added advantage of being eaten with energy.
Second Life is an escape from reality and we may or may not have a reason to party. These systems are an added dynamics that are built not only for active roleplay but also encourage opportunity at every level. There are farmers, cooks, carpenters, miners, blacksmiths, traders. The limitless opportunity to earn for not only the players but also mesh designers. Earlier we used to see just simple plating in the form of prims, then we saw sculpts and now we see mesh. From fish to meat, crops to flowers, fresh herbs to spices, fruit trees to pine trees (harvested for wood); we are all growing.
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