A defining feature of Stardew Valley is its emphasis on community. Players are prompted to speak with, perform tasks for, and give gifts to the townspeople. And as the hearts tick up one by one for each character, the possibility of romance blooms. The availability of queer relationships is a draw for many players. However, while this representation is a great and appreciated, I would not categorize Stardew Valley as a queer game. Queerness is not integrated into the gameplay beyond a surface level, and the game never pushes the boundaries of what is possible or acceptable.
Stardew players can access a tab that lists characters’ names, relationship statuses, and friendship progress. None of the single characters have any gender preference. On one hand, this is a welcome alternative to games with no queer narratives, or only a single queer storyline that can be difficult to access. It allows players ample opportunity to pursue an in-game relationship that feels truest to their identity, or to use the game to explore something new. However, stripping the characters of individual sexualities could be a missed opportunity to examine the nuances of queer identity. It plays into the refrain that, regardless of sexual orientation, we are all fundamentally the same. While well intentioned, I’m not sure that is entirely true. Given the prevalence of homophobia and transphobia, our sexuality necessarily shapes how we interact with the world. It plays into our formative experiences of young love, and determines how we define things like safety and family. By flattening characters’ sexualities, Stardew Valley denies them the chance to grapple with their personal identity. In fact, based on their dialogue and actions, none of the characters seem to have any relationship with queerness at all.
Of course, a town where bisexuality is not only unquestioned, but the norm is an interesting concept. How would that impact the culture and power structures within a community? According to Stardew Valley, it wouldn’t. Every relationship we see amongst the townspeople is between a man and a woman. Marriage remains a valued institution. There is no difference in the governmental structure. The characters’ sexuality seems to be mechanical — that is, they are coded to treat men and women the same — rather than relevant to the story and theme. There is no attempt to build a world centered around queerness. Instead, queerness is inserted into the world that already exists.
This also manifests in the timeline of relationships in Stardew. They proceed linearly — courtship, then marriage, then a child. Same sex relationships are identical to opposite sex relationships, with the exception of adoption vs childbearing. While none of these steps are required (a player could choose, for example, to remain childless), there is no way to both progress a relationship and diverge from this path. Within Stardew Valley, there can be no commitment or children outside of marriage. Clearly, this is fraught for queer people, who have historically been excluded from the institution of marriage and have created different family models.
Stardew Valley has an impressive commitment to allowing players to pursue queer relationships. But it also expects assimilation out of its queer characters. It lacks an imagination for what alternative families and communities could look like. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick describes queer as, “the open mesh of possibilities” (18). Despite its reputation as a queer utopia, Stardew Valley does not delve into these possibilities.
References: Ruberg, Bonnie, et al. Queer Game Studies, University of Minnesota Press, 2017, pp. 15–23.
