Slow Down and Take it Easy: TimeSpeed Mod in Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley is a cozy game with relatively few stressful or exceedingly difficult components. However, a core game mechanic, time, can incite a sense of anxiety and urgency in many situations. Time is the greatest constraint in the game. You can always rest in bed or eat some food to replenish your energy, but there is nothing you can do about time. With so many tasks to do during the day the lack of time can make things feel overwhelming. There is also the scenario when you lose track of time, as I often do in the mine, and have no time to make it back home before 2am. You head back praying you will make it but end up having to pay money for not getting to bed before 2am. 

With the TimeSpeed mod, I never have to worry about making it back home in time before 2am. I can just pause time enabling me to make it home without an issue. I no longer worry about if I have enough time to get all the tasks I want to do in a given day done. I can just increase the number of seconds that translate into an in-game minute and do things at my own pace. I also no longer need to mill about for 3 hours on a given day to wait for Pierre’s to open, I can just decrease the number of seconds that translate into an in-game minute and speed through to the times of the day that benefit me the most. 

I am no longer effectively playing Stardew valley. How can I be, when I have manipulated one of the biggest ‘rules’ in the standard game? The TimeSpeed Mod makes the game cozier because many of the primary stress inducers within the game were related to time. As discussed in class, difficulty within games can be viewed as toxic, however, artists use difficulty in games to highlight things that films and television shows cannot. Given the game is at least partially a reflection of the downsides to capitalist society, taking away the power that limited time has, arguably robs the game of its anti-capitalist tones. In the opening scene of Stardew Valley, Joja Inc has an indicator for when it is “Work” time and when it is “Rest” time. Joja, i.e., your work, dictates when it is time to take a break or sleep. This fits into the capitalist society of overworking for the sake of your job, relinquishing sleep, rest, and relaxation. By manipulating the core time mechanic in the game so that you can accomplish everything you want to in a day, means falling back into the capitalist mindset of nonstop work your character wanted to leave behind. 

People download mods to increase their enjoyment of the game, although, changing a core mechanic of the game that is meant to act as a restraint can be considered cheating, many users of the mod are not necessarily using it as a cheat. This mod has over 150k unique downloads, so it is likely many people are using it to take advantage of being able to get more stuff done in the day, which is what I found myself doing, but also using it to relax a bit more while playing, something else I noticed while playing with the mod. These comments I found on the mod webpage accurately represents what I believe a lot of the community that uses this mod is like, 

“I am not looking to use this time as a way to produce more, but more to not feel rushed. Life moves fast enough, sometimes slowing down is good.” [1] 

“This is gold (no, iridium) for such people like me who want a more relaxed game and more time to discover areas like Ginger Island.” [2] 

“ I know some will consider this mod cheating, but honestly the thing I hated most about Stardew Valley was being rushed every day and not being able to just take my time and chill.” [3]  

Some people just want to relax while they play Stardew Valley. With the TimeSpeed mod, they can better achieve this goal by decreasing the anxiety associated with time management.

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