The virtual world of Stardew Valley seems innocent enough at first; you forage, cultivate crops, trade goods and interact with other villagers. It is a simplified and somewhat idolised version of a life that bears strong resemblance to rural areas in the real world. Yet perhaps because of this similarity a more cynical perception can develop, namely that of environmental degradation and unsustainable practices. When Stardew Valley is viewed through the lens of critical environmental theory, its innate features perpetuate the environmentally destructive tendencies that we see in our society today. Critical environmental theory “captures the interests of nature itself rather than only the interest of humanity in nature in political terms of value and agency – what is to be valued, by whom and how to get it.”[1]
For example, take the first weeks of playing the game. In order to create a visually appealing farm, players are incentivised to clear the surrounding area of vegetation, rocks and wood in an indiscriminate fashion, in doing so effectively decimating the local environment. Similarly, in an attempt to more rapidly earn money, players can forage the surrounding forests in order to find objects that they can use or sell. Once again, little regard is paid to the environmental consequences of these actions, meaning ‘foraging’ becomes more like ‘pillaging’.
As the game progresses, the problematic actions continue and magnify. Driven by its capitalist underpinnings, players are incentivised to grow as much as possible as fast as possible. This involves pursuing large scale agriculture, with intense irrigation, significant landscaping and widespread fertilizer use all present. Further aspects of the player’s life that also initially seem innocent are symptomatic of harmful capitalistic practices that we observe in real life; fishing, construction and consumerism to name but a few. One has to wonder, if a player has to by design decimate and pillage the local environment in order to progress, how sustainable is this virtual existence and why was it designed in such a manner?
Indeed, the harmful environmental elements may simply stem from its similarities to and inspiration from the real world; we live in a capitalist society that inherently is geared towards humanity’s interests as opposed to that of the environment. By extension, any game that reflects the broader dynamics of society is naturally going to perpetuate the same issues. Indeed, the role of capitalism here is important to consider. While many of the previously described actions are harmful at their most basic level, such as clearing land, it is only with the incentive structure of capitalism where the harmful actions are magnified. Each player is motivated to develop their land as best as possible, which intensifies and scales the harmful behaviours.
In truth, the environmental component of the game is only elucidated through a critical lens such as environmental theory. Without it, the game appears entirely innocent and this was most likely the spirit of the game’s design. It is a sad reflection of our capitalist society that an innocent-meaning game such as Stardew Valley inherently incorporates environmentally destructive elements by virtue of its similarities to the real world.
[1] https://www.e-ir.info/2018/01/07/green-theory-in-international-relations/
