SAN FRANCISCO - It seems the online world's biggest time-waster isn't so pointless after all.
In one year, the wildly popular Facebook game FarmVille has raised over $1.5 million to help rebuild schools destroyed in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, FOXNews.com reported Wednesday.
The World Food Program (WFP) has publicly thanked the virtual farmers on FarmVille, after releasing a video showing happy children back in the classroom last week.
In all, FarmVille developer Zynga has already helped raise more than $4 million in Haiti relief funds by creating limited edition items in many of its popular online games.
The $1.5 million given to the WFP will go towards rebuilding a destroyed school in Mirebalais, Haiti, as well as helping students pay for food, supplies and other necessities.
Over $1 million of the donations came from actual users, while the rest came from Facebook Credits and Zynga.
Often lambasted for being a waste of time designed to exploit naturally addictive human tendencies, the game has generally been viewed in a negative light. Critics scold the game for its drain on human capital while in turn giving little back.
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