Stardew Valley is a video game that simulates life in a valley that consists of farming, interacting with other villagers, and a myriad of other tasks, and this kind of life simulation is one that reflects an attempt at escapist ideology that sadly flounders because of a capitalistic overtone. The player embodies a customizable main character who has just inherited an area of farmland from their recently deceased grandfather, and the transition of said character’s mundane desk job life to a more distant and freer life outside of the corporate world represents a commonly held craving for escapism.
It’s no secret that in the life of quarantine, online Zoom meetings, and daily repeated tasks, many individuals are interested in a life that breaks this mold. Stardew Valley is a piece of media that in a way offers an alternative to this. While people might not be able to physically retreat to farm life and escape their routine, they can attempt to simulate that feeling through the game. It is important to note that most players would likely not identify as farmers, and thus the game embodies an even more escapist experience. An issue arises when you realize that players want to replace their repetitive routines with similarly redundant ones that are merely virtual. It is almost as if the escapist ideology applies to anything that is not a real world problem that the players must face.
Stardew Valley is also a game with a capitalistic overtone, and I argue that this hinders the player’s experience in escaping their reality. More often than not, the youth are subjected to the workings of the capitalist machine at a young age. When they reach their 20s, that starts to tangibilize even more in the form of acquiring an actual job in a firm or company. The presence of JojaMart in Stardew Valley is one that reminds the player of their real world issues, but I argue that any task in the game that is not their actual real world daily routine, job, or tasks is one that can assume priority in their headspace. This is what I argue makes the video game so addictive to players across the world; it is an alternative to the “required” or the “mandatory.” The game presents a fictional version of what you “have” to do, and this alternative takes precedence in your mind and is a way to avoid your actual problems.
However, I am not aiming to intensely criticize Stardew Valley, but rather I am trying to explain what makes life simulation games so addictive. Another massively successful life simulation game is 2020’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and I think that game has a very similar effect on players. Why would I want to attend to my actual problems when I could just escape to another reality in the form of a life simulation game? Like Stardew Valley, New Horizons is also a game that features tones of capitalism, and I think that it continues to remind us of the world we live in. While these games are escapist, they can also serve as a reminder of the state of the world and the problems we must face.
