In my eyes, I cannot work a 9-5. After being indoctrinated through every facet of my life, from parents to teachers, my teenage hood was spent pondering over which professional job was my destiny and I would commit myself to for the rest of my working life. However, luckily, the emergence of TikTok exposed many different ‘hidden’ industries that I would never have thought about pursuing a few years ago. Be that becoming a social media personality to starting a brand to becoming a musician to a comedian, the creative industry was opened up to me as a potential occupation to make an income paralleled to that of the typical 9-5. TikTok highlighted many creative successes and provided a platform for these success stories to be shared. It led to many people quitting their ‘real’ jobs and pursuing untraditional avenues to gain an income. This movement really inspired me because it was the first time I came to realise that I could still be ‘successful’ while pursuing a different path – the road less travelled.
Most of our youth share that previous rigid mindset which I possessed of working a 9-5, gaining security, and starting a family – the typical life plan. And for many, they won’t enjoy the job or jobs that they are committing their lives towards. Here comes Stardew Valley. This game is carefully curated to provide one who needs a break from their mundane life an opportunity to escape for hours and live an exciting life full of different life choices. From the outset, you are shown your character’s previous life as a worker fixed into a capitalist business – working that same aforementioned 9-5. Then, your character is told he has inherited his grandfather’s plot of land on a small, joyful farm in the countryside, leading them to take the leap into a new industry and lifestyle in pursuit of a more enjoyable, wholesome wellbeing. This leap of escapism marks a similar transition from one quitting a job that they do not enjoy and attempting to make an income from a job that they do – no matter the risks involved.
Furthermore, the concept of time in the game also conveys the escapist sentiment pervading the game. One has to manage time in this game to complete whatever missions they put themselves to, with each day lasting 14 actual minutes. Instead of a constraint, I found this to be a method of escape because one cannot overthink or ponder for too long before the day is done; also when one knows a new day starts so soon, it provides another opportunity for them to start a new day afresh and to not worry too much about what happened in that individual day – reducing anxiety. You can just walk around the map exploring for the day with no restrictions or necessary responsibilities; you are free each day knowing another will come in 14 minutes. This provides one with an open-mind to pursue whatever they want and not stress: the focus of an escapist game. Moreover, time aside, the game includes two in-game arcade games, “Journey of the Prairie King” and “Junimo Kart”, which when being played take away no-time of a player’s 14 minute day. This breathing space acts as a portal where time halts. An escape. Minutes and Hours do not exist no more. It is just you and the game within the game. Stardew valley incorporates such gameplay to further emphasise the escapist notion being fronted throughout the game’s formula.
To end, Stardew Valley expounds the idea of escaping one’s reality to a realm far far away from one’s real life. Perhaps, the game’s escapist nature may prompt you to reflect and come to understand what you really want from this life – a tedious 9-5 or a leap into the dark to a job you enjoy every second of. Choose wisely…
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