With the obvious steroid-esque surge of digital media in your veins, it only makes sense that the everyday qualities you possess be emulated in your digital “statusphere”. But not only do you translate your personalities onto the World Wide Web—you also learn crucial life lessons that you may not even realize you are picking up, like reading news from around the world and expanding your cultural horizons. Even something as trivial as playing FarmVille can teach you a thing or five about life’s most sociological ideal—collaboration.

Ever since the advent of social gaming (most recently popularized by Zynga©), gamers from all around the world have dropped everything and sprinted to the computer to play what is arguably the most widespread social game on Facebook. FarmVille is a game of economics, strategy, finance, and most importantly, teamwork. Players are to create a farm by growing and selling crops, and buying resources to replenish the farm. With the virtual money they earn, they can purchase more land, resources, and labor. Once the user has enough labor on the farm, the user must learn to delegate tasks to each worker in a manner that is both time-efficient and fair. FarmVille players, similar to players on other Zynga games, have the ability to integrate Facebook friends into their gaming experience, asking them to be neighbors, and even assign them tasks on your farm when you are away.

Automatically, you are exposed to a team-effort experience in which the production levels and productivity are clearly enhanced through cooperation. You may not realize that this simple act of seeing FarmVille in action evokes in you a desire to collaborate, but the very idea of having Facebook friends help out on the farm, in and of itself, is an act of collaborative altruism. You would probably help out a virtual farmer friend in need if you were asked to work on their farm.

So then, how about in real life? Beneath the surface of trading coins, cabbage, and cows, are you subconsciously learning the value of teamwork and cooperation? In all likelihood, you are. So the next time you spend 7 hours back-to-back tending to your farm, remember! you are not only growing crops, but you are also growing a skill that will help you build relationships when you’re not busy staring at your computer. Delicious!

Anusha Sthanunathan is a Marketing Intelligence / Strategy Intern at Organic