MyFarm is like FarmVille, but with a real farm (and real cows, too)

After a year or two of mastering crops in FarmVille, the real deal should be a piece of cake, no? While many have joked at the proposition, The National Trust, an independent preservation charity in the UK, has made the joke a reality with MyFarm. This social gaming experiment puts 10 thousand digital farmers in almost complete control over a farm on Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire, U.K., Fast Company reports. For a one-time subscription of $50, you can have a hand in maintaining a 2,500-acre farm from the comfort of your computer chair, but do players really want all that pressure?

Well, at least players won't be alone on this one. The game largely operates in a series of democratic votes on everything from what crops the farm should grow to what investments the farm makes in terms of facilities and machinery. This is as real as it gets, folks. Players are given a series of choices decided upon by the MyFarm team, so players don't opt to grow nothing but Mac 'n' Cheese Trees. But other than that, whether this farm succeeds is entirely in 10 thousand social gamers' hands--most of which more than likely have zero real farming experience.

Players will access MyFarm through its website, not on Facebook, and the MyFarm team will attempt to educate the uninitiated through videos, blog posts and more. The MyFarm website says that the goal of this experiment is to not only show players where their food comes from, but what The National Trust is all about. Players can hop in on MyFarm now to get themselves acquainted, but the first vote isn't happening until May 26. From then on, the website claims that players will come to a vote every month on heavily important decisions.

Of course, the whole thing raises several questions. Why would this organization be willing to put the fate of not only a farm, but its livestock and crops in the hands of a few thousand know-nothings (no offense)? Will social gamers actually enjoy a game with both so much pressure and so little action, all for $50? Are there Mastery Signs?

[Image Credit: MyFarm]

Would you ever play a game like this? How do you think this real farm will fare in the hands of essentially fake farmers?