A few weeks ago I went with my family to Busch Gardens, Williamsburg. My oldest wanted to ride a roller coaster so we picked Griffon and got on the front row.

Big mistake.

Griffon is a coaster with 90-degree drops and at the top of the first drop, they pause the train to let you contemplate your life as you stare into the pit of despair, straight down. The front row actually gets hung over the edge. As I hung there, my body suspended 205 feet in the air, gazing at the merciless concrete below, my life did not flash in front of my eyes. Rather, the only thought I had as, "This is stupid."

I used to love coasters, but as I begin rolling down the other side of the hill of life, I find that I'm good. I don't need to ride any more coasters. Roller coasters (and many other amusement park rides) are "thrill" rides. They are designed to get your heart racing and your blood pumping and adrenaline sizzling through your arteries. I just really don't need any more thrills in my life. With three kids, I have enough adrenaline-pumping, heart-racing moments every week. Artificial tension is not what I crave; rather, I seek to decrease tension and reduce the stressful moments of my life.

Most games, like roller coasters, are designed as a thrill ride--constant moments of stress and tension as you strive to survive the next firefight or make the next jump or get your Terran units into place before the Zerg rush. I was playing the Killzone 2 demo just a few days ago and, even though brief, it was far too stressful. The game looks great, plays great and seems like it would be a lot of fun--but, I just don't need to spend money on stressing myself out an additional 10 to 15 hours. I would much rather play a game that's more relaxing.

Now, for me, more relaxing is Dragon Age or Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. But, having played Farmville for several months at the beginning of 2010, I recognize the appeal it has to many gamers. It's completely stress-free. OK, well, maybe some people get stressed out if they don't get to their strawberries in time and lose the crop. But, there's no conflict. No artificial tension. No "thrills." It's just a relaxing way to pass the time.

It's social as well. Not social in the way FPS fans are when playing online. There are no foul-mouthed griefers running amok. No cheaters killing you every five seconds. No adolescents using voice changers to annoy everyone while holding everyone up from completing co-op missions. No, you're just playing with your friends and making new friends and gaining an extra connection to all these people--the true shared experience of gaming, the kind you used to be able to get only gathered round the table with the Monopoly board in play.

Lots of "core" gamers like to hate on Farmville and pretty much every social game (read: Facebook game). Don't. Those games serve a huge market in the gaming world. Sixty-one million people can't all be wrong.