The true beauty of Stardew Valley mods lies in that they allow users to manipulate the setting of the game in a way that appeals to them the most. Especially to those with cultural backgrounds from outside of North America, mods provide extensive options to play the game with settings that are modeled on specific sites that particularly speak to their backgrounds.
Having spent some of my formative years in Korea, I was inclined to play the game with the “Jinro Valley (Korean Retro)” mod. Named after a Korean soju brand, this mod changes the scenery of the NPCs’ valley into that of a Korean rural neighborhood from the 1990s. Upon installing the mod, users can build thatched houses, a Korean folk museum, community centers, senior centers (a community center for elders in the neighborhood), old-fashioned hair salons that altogether resemble those that were available in places outside of major cities in Korea during the 1990s, among which still remain to this date in the countrysides of the country. Each and every aspect of the mod is in Korean, with the buildings decorated with banners in Korean, as well as NPCs’ conversations appearing in Korean.
The most immediate question I asked upon installing the mod was: why the 1990s? With the growing popularity of Korean cultural products across the globe, most notably K-pop, K-movie, and K-drama, it is not unexpected for any developer, either Korean or not, to create a mod that features Korea. But why is the only Korea-based Stardew Valley mod modeled after a Korean neighborhood from the 1990s, out of many other time periods?
While it may be challenging for non-Korean users to find an intuitive answer to the question, the case may be different for Korean users who are aware of the development of the country over recent decades. Though the country is widely known for its advanced technology and popular culture trends nowadays, a deeper look into the country’s modern history reveals that the country had recently experienced a rapid change since the mid-20th century. In recent decades, Korea has overcome its remnants from the country’s colonial history through a rapid economic and technological development. Hence, the landscapes of the country have also largely changed, from those of a former colony of Japan, as well as of a developing country, to a developed, highly industrialized one. Old-fashioned buildings and undeveloped construction sites are now replaced with a myriad of soaring buildings and apartment complexes.
Due to such a rapid change in both the country’s socio-economic climate and its landscapes, a number of Koreans in their 30s and above across the country have lost access to the landscapes that they grew up in. While the current landscapes – those of Western-originated architecture and of high technology – provides convenience incomparable to what was available prior to the country’s rapid industrialization, a number of people must feel nostalgic towards the country’s previous landscapes that can no longer be found in the majority of cities in the country.
The significance of this mod lies in it allows users to regain access to their country’s past in the realm of a virtual space, inspiring a sense of nostalgia. It is worth to recognize that such a sense of nostalgia may not be resonated with users outside of Korea, or non-Koreans, but as a mod that was developed for a Korean audience, it definitely fulfills the developer’s aim to provide a virtual platform through which one can connect with his country’s past and beyond.
