It’s fascinating how we gravitate towards gaming over work. I’m not talking about simulators that recreate real-world professions, but vibrant, experimental endeavors where the act of working for results is incorporated into their own design.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is all about creating our perfect island paradise, making sure we check in every day to gather resources and play the economy, as well as saying hello to the villagers who depend on our presence to keep shipping. Stardew Valley focuses entirely on earning a living and establishing relationships, which arguably means more than escaping the hustle and bustle of city life that serves as the game’s concept. I want to raid dungeons for loot and grow the biggest pumpkin in existence that I can sell for heaps of gold earlier. I want to be rich, a fantasy real life hasn’t let me experience.
Even Cult of the Lamb, an indie hit that is still capturing the imaginations of millions, is centered around a gameplay loop of performing the same tasks over and over to build your reputation and become a stronger, more prosperous deity. We’re in it for the routine, but the fact that work is gamified in such an engaging way means the core idea of dealing with it outside of our professional lives isn’t a big deal. If anything, we actively embrace it and want to see more of it in the games we play.
We’re noticing this trend more and more, and while it’s been the case for decades, Stardew Valley has changed everything.
Harvest Moon, Minecraft, and Animal Crossing all existed before the ConcernedApe masterpiece arrived, but Stardew Valley would modernize the formula and nail a cadence of country life that could pull you in for hundreds of hours. The main focus of the game is work – becoming a farmer capable of farming, raising animals and diving into mines in search of countless secrets. Every action rewarded us with something, and we all know that when it comes to real work this is not always the case. Video games that focus on work do not illuminate mundane reality, but instead choose to suffocate us in euphoria. To show what happens when you work hard in an environment that is willing to reward us for our effort. Stardew Valley absolutely nailed that potential appeal.
A daily routine only further cements this representation of work, with players establishing their own internal behaviors and habits to ensure they get the most out of each day. Watering crops can be time and energy consuming, so it’s best to automate the process, while caring for all the farm animals is also an arduous task. Keep the hay stocks full and all you need to worry about is catching eggs, milking cows and shearing sheep.
All things that have become second nature as we make regular visits to town to flirt with our boyfriends and sell stuff at the local store. Stardew Valley is always showering us with tiny drops of serotonin, keeping us engaged with meaningful steps that tempt players to invest just one more day before ending their session. Unless you’re spending your real life dedicated to a job you admire, being able to find fulfillment in a game like this is the next best thing. The public wasn’t the only one to realize this potential with Stardew Valley, countless developers were also inspired by its success.
We are only now starting to see this evolution happen. Games like My Time at Portia, Spiritfarer, Hades, Moonlighter, and I Was A Teenage Exocolonist interpret labor in a similar way. Many of these are fantastic experiences, which lead us to build a reputation in the underworld, helping adorable animals pass into the afterlife and being a lovable homosexual in a fledgling colony at the far reaches of the universe. The work in these cases is fantastic, but always based on expectations that we associate with the real world. Things are expected of us, energy is dispersed to make money or build us up as people, and there is a clear price to consider when things go too far. Everything matters somehow, and so we buy the costume.
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist might be the most poignant example of video game work we’ve ever seen. You start the game as a kid, but are quickly encouraged to start putting your weight on a colony that needs everyone to help, or it all falls apart. There’s time to rest, of course, and the narrative actively encourages time away from hard work to avoid burning or losing the spark, but work comes to the forefront constantly. Thematically, he is opposed to the pursuit of profit, but he recognizes the value we have come to extract from a successful career and creative passions, often placed far ahead of material gain. You earn money to spend in this game, but you rarely need it.
Each day you wake up and are asked to dedicate the next month to attending a series of classes, helping deliver supplies, or perhaps even venturing out into the wilderness to hunt animals and gather resources. You earn money and experience in exchange for your work, while also building relationships with those who work alongside you. Everything leads to something, but the consequences of being part of this archaic system are explored in the narrative, and even contradicted, as the capitalist systems that brought the Earth to its knees threaten to resurface in this new attempt to build a home for human beings. running.
It’s fantastic, and I often had to seriously think about where my time was going and whether I was building a worthwhile destiny. You need to have studied for years to pursue a career in Engineering or Life Sciences, while the local garrison won’t dare accompany you on patrols without the proper training and experience. It takes the role of work in game design a step further, making it a cumulative aspect of your character with narrative and mechanical meaning, rather than a linear indicator of progress that spits out rewards.
Pursuing a certain career can cause you to lose friends or distance yourself from family, while there may come a time when your experience will save lives and change this colony for the better. We buy the virtual work, and the game is all the stronger for recognizing that investment and actively expecting to critique the role we play, regardless of the path we choose to take. Even in our hobbies, we are chained to family vices.
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist consciously takes inspiration from Stardew Valley, though not only does it embody these systems in its identity, it also questions whether a passion for work, even in a fictional sense, has a chance of diminishing our value as human beings. It’s the next logical step in how this medium approaches things, and seeing it approached with so much emotional nuance proves that Stardew Valley has kick-started something quite remarkable.
The world isn’t getting better, nor is it working to keep us alive, and seeing video games address how we seek to lose ourselves to imaginative equivalents of real-world routines and habits is morbidly fascinating and is about to teach us a lot.
Next: Saints Row’s Biggest Failure Is How It Misunderstands Today’s Youth
What summer crop makes the most money?
| Most profitable summer crops | ||
|---|---|---|
| Harvest | seed price | Profit |
| Star fruit | Oasis Store: 400g | 350g |
| Melon | General Store: 80g Night Market: 80g | 170g |
| Blueberry | General Store: 80g Night Market: 80g | 150g (each crop yields three blueberries and the crop grows back after four days) |
Which summer crop makes the most Stardew Valley money? Star fruit This crop is probably the most profitable crop you can plant in the summer. It is one of the most profitable crops in the game. Star fruit takes a very long time of 13 days to fully grow. However, this is worth the wait as it easily sells for 750 gold at its base asking price.
What is the most profitable crop to grow?
Top 13 most profitable crops to grow This may interest you : Rosehart & CUI Staff Named PacWest Sports Information Department of the Year.
- mushrooms.
- Microgreens.
- Ginseng.
- Lavender.
- Saffron. …
- Goji berries. …
- Wasabi. …
- Bonsai plants.
What’s the best sword in Stardew Valley?
Another weapon created in the forge, the Infinity Blade is the finest sword in Stardew Valley and the most powerful of its kind. Has 80-100 damage with +4 speed and +2 defense. See the article : 2023 looks set to be a great year for video games – maybe we should hope so. It’s an amazing weapon that has the best of all worlds.
Is the Galaxy Sword the best sword in Stardew Valley? Simply put, the Galaxy Sword is the best weapon in Stardew Valley. It is twice as strong as the next best weapon, the Obsidian Sword, and attacks even faster. The Galaxy Sword is incredibly useful for late game dungeons like Skull Caverns and will keep you safe as you explore.
How do you get the infinite sword in Stardew Valley?
The Infinity Blade is a sword that can be obtained by combining the Galaxy Sword with 3 Galaxy Souls in the Forge. On the same subject : Why people are spending less on video games in 2022.
What weapon should I buy for Stardew Valley?
Lava Katanas Lava Katanas can be purchased after reaching the lower levels of the mine for a sum of 25,000g. Lava Katana might prove to be the best weapon in Stardew Valley to begin with.
How long is a year in Stardew Valley?
There are four seasons each year, with 28 days each: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Each season starts on Monday and ends on Sunday, with 4 weeks in total, making a year of 112 days.
How long is a year in Stardew Valley in real time? A displayed time step of 10 minutes in-game equates to about 7.17 seconds. One hour in the game equals 43 seconds. An in-game season is equal to 401 minutes and 20 seconds (~6,689 hours). One in-game year is 1605 minutes and 20 seconds (~26,756 hours).
Does Stardew Valley end after 3 years?
Stardew Valley doesn’t have an official ending. You can continue playing for as long as you like. The closest the game has to an ending is having a perfect assessment of your grandfather. At the start of Year 3, your grandfather’s ghost will appear and score you based on various categories.
How long does it take to 100% complete Stardew Valley?
On average, it will take 150 to 200 hours to reach 100% perfection. Below you can find a list of all the goals you need to complete. Once you reach 100% perfection, you will receive additional rewards. Essentially, you can keep cultivating forever.
