The growing popularity of Gaming's surprise hit

Record, hunting, exploration -HIT video games tend to have topics that set the pulse race.

However, one of the most popular new titles in the world is somewhat sedated – gardening.

Growing a garden includes the players who are slowly developing a small piece of virtual land. It is something that more than 16 million people – many of them children – wanted to spend their weekends with it at the beginning of this month.

This has made a record for the simultaneous players through the a little more Fortnite filled with adrenaline.

What about this herbal simulation in which so many people are addicted-and could it persuade more people in real gardens?

Grow A Garden players who do exactly what the title suggests on the online gaming platform, Roblox.

When I tried the game, my own little brown piece of land was presented to me.

I bought seeds in the local business for the sounds of relaxing music and watched them when they grew, something that continues even when they are offline.

As soon as your garden produces a harvest, you can sell your items. You can also steal from the gardens of others.

“It's a really fun game,” says eight -year -old Eric Watson Teire from Edinburgh. He and his 10-year-old brother Owen are massive fans.

Eric said “a lot” from his friends at school also play it.

“We can carry out competitions – like, who has the most checks [the in-game currency]Who has the best plant. “

They are not the only ones. According to Roblox, the game has carried out about 9 billion visits since its foundation in March. It is said that 35% of the garden players have been from the age of 13.

It is fair to say that the premise does not appeal to all – there are online forums that puzzle about the popularity of a game that his critics say, “the equivalent to dry the color”.

Eric says the slowness of the game has an attraction. “There is a little patience,” he explains.

Owen told the BBC that he enjoyed the competition element – but his virtual products also attracted his attention.

“Could there be a sugar apple – what is the best plant you can get? Or will there be a carrot, what is the worst?”

The gameplay can be accelerated if you use Robux, the Roblox currency that is paid with real money.

Some players are very willing to do this. On eBay it is possible to buy some of the most sought -after items – such as a mutated cutility blossom or a dragonfly – for hundreds of pounds.

Roblox in the USA is one of the world's largest play platforms. In the first few months of this year it had 97.8 million daily users.

The huge empire comprises around 40 million games and experiences created by users, and Roblox is the most popular website in Great Britain for players between the ages of eight and 12.

While many love the platform, there were also reports that young people were cared for and were addicted.

Roblox announced the BBC at the beginning of this year that it was confident in its security instruments, and followed the approach that “even a bad incident is one too many”.

If people discover that they love virtual gardening, could they be encouraged to take up the real thing?

Andrew K. Przybylski, professor of human behavior and technology at the University of Oxford, said it was possible that the game could “plant a seed” that could lead to a passion for plants. But overall it is skeptical.

“It is unlikely that such a game promotes more gardening in the real world when Super Mario Wonder promotes installation,” he told the BBC.

Prof. Sarah Mills from Loughborough University has researched the experience of young people and games. It emphasizes an important attraction of the growth of closing that it is free to play, but the currency in the game is important.

“This wider landscape of paid reward systems in digital games can affect the experience of games and financial competence between children and adolescents,” she said.

“It can also cause challenges for many families to change the nature of the pocket money.”

The garden podcaster and BBC moderator Thordis Fridriksson is now confident that interest in gardening is a good cause.

“Obviously, the entire process is quite different than real life, but it taps into the same thing that makes gardening so addicted, and the seeds and observes how their garden grows.

“The fingers crossed some of the people who love the game will try to grow at home.”

Outside the living room in Edinburgh, where they play, Owen and Eric's actual garden are located in which both boys help.

“I like gardening and garden in a garden,” says Owen.

But he asked, which he prefers, he is emphasized: “Growing a garden!”