They’ve woken by the millions before dawn to tend virtual eggplants and toiled by the sweat of their mousepad to raise their chickens right. Now, Shanghai Happy Farm players have a chance to reap real fruits from their virtual labor with another, unaffiliated, Happy Farm website. Players pay, as usual, for their favorite animals or vegetables and raise them online. Only this time real farmers – located in test fields in Pudong, Chongming Island and outskirt towns in Jiangsu Province – carry out your orders, which you can monitor via webcam. Invest RMB200 in an orange tree, and you get real oranges to sell or eat as you so see fit (depending on your management skills), all without ever having to leave the comfort of your cubicle.
// Coming soon. Check it out at www.51nongchang.com.
