One thing that will forever remain consistent when considering a popular piece of media is that the fanbase is always hungry for more. For those who continuously interact with any media, whether it be rereading a book, rewatching a movie or a show, or replaying through their favorite videogame, any additional expansion or details revealed about the hidden corners of this fictional world is hungrily received and analyzed. Additionally, those intimately familiar with a work will rarely claim it’s perfect, regardless of how much they enjoy it. One advantage that mods in particular have compared to movies and books is the ability to modify and integrate new aspects of the world smoothly into the source material. Watching “I spent 100 days of Stardew Valley”, posted by YouTuber Waligug, there are some key insights on the motivations of both the mod players and creators, as well as a better understanding of digital media.
Although watching a YouTube playthrough of a mod rather than playing the mod itself does significantly alter the experience, it also allows us to view the mod from the perspective of the creator who is intimately connected to the object, and chooses what he deems to be important to say, do, and show throughout this playthrough. The first couple seconds of the video introduces the main impetus behind transitioning from a vanilla world to a modded adventure:
“100 days in Stardew Valley? 200 days in Stardew Valley, 300?! OLD. Welcome to modded Stardew valley”
From this line, we can begin to unveil some of the motivations behind the transition. As someone who has committed large amounts of hours in this game, with extensive playthroughs as well as speedruns, Waligug was searching for new material, new adventures, new places to explore, and others had already taken it upon themselves to create additional content, which was free to incorporate into the original game. The mods he chose to add to his game were: “Stardew Valley Expanded”, “Ridgeside Village”, “Immersive farm 2”, “Winter Grass”, and StarBlue Valley”. Together, these mods fill the hole that Waligug was searching for; new locations, new NPCs to interact with, and more developed interactions with the original cast. It also expands on the farm itself and recolors the world to a different hue. Combined, these give the player so much more to explore and even give the original content the hint of something new.
He also set three goals for himself: Marry a new NPC, Complete the Community Center, and make his farm pretty. All of these are the same goals that would be set for a vanilla account as well, but with the addition of so many locations, people, and items, the path to these would be filled with discovery. It is also interesting to note that a large part of the playthrough for the first 100 days consisted of identical tasks as those from the original game, and took up a majority of the time. This, along with the description of the mods from the NexusMods website points to a key part of what’s important for those who mod and play modded versions of this game. “Stardew Valley Expanded (SVE) stays as true to the source material as it can- from new areas and expanded dialogue and events, to the portraits for a brand new set of characters. My goal, as a modder hobbyist, is this: ‘Give the player the magical feeling they had when they first played Stardew Valley’”.
When thinking about mods, this sentiment seems to be widely held. For a community that is in love with the source of media, being able to experience something new that falls right in line with their expectations from the vanilla game allows for the spark that was felt when playing through the game for the first time to reignite. The feeling of uncovering more to this world that’s close to your heart is there, and even though it may have not been created by the original author, the feeling remains. Mods seem to facilitate a sense of immersion in the product much easier than something like a piece of fan fiction, which makes them all the more powerful for understanding what an audience wants. Although this makes sense for most of the mods added, one in particular which was interesting was the winter grass mod. In this case, a conscious decision made by the original creator is undone in favor of the consumer’s preference, which goes to show that the original piece of media is also seen as having room to improve for different consumers, which might take it into their own hands to do so when given the tools.
Watching this video of someone else who plays the game much more extensively than I do gives me the opportunity to learn a bit more about the Stardew community, as well as how interesting mods can be. This motivated me to figure out how to install mods myself, hopefully also experiencing some of this excitement and adventure myself!
