10 hours ago
‘Bro, my lilacs are crazy': why boys love virtual gardening
I first realised something was up when I heard the classical music coming from the iPad as my 11-year-old sat there swiping. 'Teddy, are you listening to Mozart's Rondo alla Turca?' I asked. 'Oh. It's this game I'm playing on Roblox,' he responded.
I became more suspicious when I tuned into the conversations his friends were having at the school gates. There was talk of 'pollinators', 'honeysuckle' and 'seed packs'. Boys were greeting one another with sentences like 'Bro, my lilacs have gone crazy' and discussing the challenges of succulents.
Naturally, I assumed this was standard pre-teen drug slang. But no, they genuinely were talking about horticulture, albeit virtual horticulture. Yes, the game of the moment is Grow a Garden, a simulator hosted on the gaming platform Roblox, in which users have to grow carrots and daffodils and ember lilies, then sell them at market and make their fortunes.
