I was interested in the CJB item spawner mod. This mod essentially gives the player access to every single item in the game with an infinite quantity of every item. In effect, it removes the need for the player to achieve anything related to resource gathering, purchasing, or obtaining. Not surprisingly, having access to everything makes the game a lot more fun in the short term: no more tedious fishing quests or waiting a month for your berries to grow. But very quickly Stardew Valley felt like running around the map simulator without much intellectual thought. I felt no drive to grow crops or grind the mines: because what was the point.
This game gave me flashbacks to playing Minecraft with my friends. I’m assuming some familiarity with the game but to summarize a large portion of the game involves the gathering of resources, some of which can be particularly elusive. One of our players who hosted our communal server, decided to endow himself “god mod” cheats which allowed him to see through walls and obtain all of the diamonds he wanted. This quickly ruined the enjoyment of the game as there was no longer the same drive to gather resources. Why go through all of the work to gather resources if this player is just going to generate more than you on a whim. This could be a reflection on culture or my personal background, but I often measure my progress in these games as a function of resources accumulated. So when I have access to all resources, I can’t progress any further. So being granted all resources gives a short term burst of dopamine, it gives little incentive to play afterwards.
So to better understand a desire for this mod, we look again to minecraft. Minecraft offers a mode called ‘creative mode’ very similar to CJB in which the player has access to all resources. This mode, unlike regular minecraft, explicitly gives resources to avoid the need to focus on grinding resources. The goal of this mode is to allow players to express their creativity, and build whatever they want to build. There are whole communities of ‘creative only’ players that share their designs and builds. I think CJB will appeal most to these types of players. Players who find joy in the more creative side of stardew, and don’t want to be bogged down with pesky details like farming or grinding the mines. I think this appeal might be smaller in Stardew than in other games (simply because other games with a more explicit creative tilt provide more options than Stardew), but a CJB modded Stardew could potentially be more ‘cozy’ to some players because CJB gives them even more freedom to do as they please.
I’m not exactly sure when a creative game is cozy or when a cozy game is creative, but CJB Stardew sounds perfect for someone just looking to relax and hang out without many pressing ideas or time constraints. Considering the mod has over 1 million unique downloads, it seems like there is certainly a need for this feeling.
