AWAY from the bright lights and action of showbiz, these local stars are "farmers".

They plough land, plant seeds and harvest their crops to earn money.

A hard life? Err, not really.

Not if it's all done on FarmVille.

The online game, also available as an application on social networking website Facebook, allows players to manage a virtual farm.

Apartfrom planting and harvesting crops, players can earn "farm coins" to buy seeds, animals, buildings and decorations.

They can also receive online collectibles which they can give to friends.

Local celebrities like Julie Tan, Eelyn Kok, Charlyn Lin and Bryan Wong have been hooked on the game.

Tan, who came in second in The New Paper New Face contest last year, said she used to wake upat3amjust to harvest the crops in her farm.

The 17-year-old Chinese theatre student at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa) said: "Once, I forgot to wake up in the middle of the night and my crops wilted the next morning. I was upset the entire day."

But that's not the craziest thing that Tan has done for her virtual farm.

The part-time actress, who stars in the new Channel 8 sports drama Splashes & Strings, said: "I study at Campus 3 at Nafa and (once) when I had a 15-minute break, I ran to the library, which is atCampus1, just to use the computer to tend to the crops."

The sprint included crossing two traffic lights.

To play the game, Tan said she would sometimes skip dinner or take food to her bedroom, muchto her mother's chagrin.

Tan,who started playing Farm Ville in September, has since stopped due to school and work demands.

It's not only mothers who frown upon this obsessive behaviour. Boyfriends and buddies are upset too.