In any competitive endeavor, there will always be people who will cheat to gain an unfair advantage. From business to academia to sports to competitive video games, breaking the rules can allow competitors to make more money and increase their fame or popularity. In these environments, cheating is nearly universally condemned since it is not viewed as fair for everyone who is using the agreed-upon rules.
However, I have noticed that stigmas can also develop around actions in noncompetitive activities that are still considered by some to be cheating. Looking within gaming communities, the use of glitches has historically been banned by record-keeping websites like Twin Galaxies even though glitches do not have an effect on the integrity of competitive play. And in the case of Stardew Valley, I have heard many discussions in class about the use of the game wiki and how people have chosen to incorporate it into their gameplay. Even if most people aren’t accusing others of cheating for using a game wiki, I still think it’s fascinating that this is something people think and talk about at all. Why do we care about how other people play a game?
When I began playing Stardew Valley, I made a decision not to look at any external resources related to the game. For me, I was drawn to the idea of exploring the world, story, and mechanics of Stardew without any preconceived notions of what to expect. Especially when it came to the social components of the game, I felt like the my actions and decisions would no longer be completely my own if I watched somebody else play first. More generally, I wanted to play the game the way the developer intended because I thought it would make for the best gameplay experience. This is especially true for a game like Stardew since discovery is one of the main appeals of the gameplay. In many cases, I think this decision paid off. As I played, I had to learn what gifts each town member preferred, and it felt more like I was getting to know the other characters as opposed to manipulating preprogrammed interests. When I needed to figure out how the game’s farming mechanics worked, it contributed to the immersion since my character’s backstory included the fact that becoming a farmer was a big change for him. And I also got to experience all the cool art in the game in its original context, which I believe made it feel more directly to the world of the game.
Another reason I wanted to avoid using things like the game wiki was to preserve the sense of accomplishment I would obtain from the game. Many people, including myself, enjoy playing challenging games because of the heightened satisfaction when a goal is completed. Stardew Valley is far from the most difficult game out there, but it still presents a number of obstacles that the player must navigate: monsters in the mines, strict curfews each night, weeds and crows that can destroy crops, and interpersonal relationship statuses, just to name a few. While these game mechanics could sometimes be frustrating, thinking about them also made me feel more accomplished when I did end up harvesting my crops or advancing my relationship with a character.
My perspective would shift, however, when I decided I wanted to automate the watering of my farm with sprinklers. Watering was a fun challenge at first, but I soon became tired of spending so much time tending to my ever-growing farm. Luckily, by unlocking the crafting recipe for a sprinkler, the game hinted that I could move on to new challenges. The only problem was that I didn’t immediately know where to find the materials required by the recipe. At first, I waited to see if I could find the materials only using knowledge from within the game, but I eventually got tired of waiting and decided to look up the answer instead. I ended up learning that I was not actually very close to obtaining the necessary materials, and I was able to adjust my in-game goals so that I wouldn’t feel stuck on my previous objective. In this case, I felt like my personal goal of enjoying the game was best served by consulting an outside resource and limiting my frustration with a particular game mechanic.
As I mentioned before, most of the people in gaming communities are indifferent towards the way others choose to play. Nonetheless, analyzing my play of Stardew Valley through a critical lens allowed me to better understand the motivation behind playing the game as it was intended and relying on external resources to supplement play. I found that, overall, the desire to have as much fun as possible while playing the game was the main factor in determining the rules I set for myself. And as a result of this finding, I now have a better understanding of the interesting phenomenon that is “cheating” in noncompetitive games.
