Time in Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley presents itself as an open-ended escapism game, where the player can choose to play the game as they wish, whether that is as a farmer, miner, fisher, etc. However, the game uses the concept of time as one of many tools to control and guide the player’s actions while simultaneously maintaining the appearance of free will. Similar to how Stardew Valley uses pieces of the game to simulate capitalism, such as the in-game corporation JojaMart that greets the player with “when you join JojaMart,” the game presents the player with choices on how to utilize their “time” that ultimately all lead to the same path.
The limitations of time presented themselves to me from almost the first moment I started playing Stardew Valley. I found myself running around with no energy at 2 am on the very first night, struggling to find my house. I didn’t know what would happen if I continued moving with no energy for long enough, and I saw no hunger option or any way to restore energy, so I decided to follow the game’s advice and go to sleep. Since I did not know there was a map or where I was, I ended up fainting next to a rock in the middle of some path. This is where I discovered the first consequence of not following the game’s suggestions regarding time: the following morning, the game informed me that I had been robbed overnight. I still don’t know whether this was intended to be one of the townspeople or the game’s way of discouraging players from ignoring the energy bar and the in-game time. In either case, the game mechanic has the effect of strongly encouraging the player to adhere to a certain schedule while technically not enforcing it.
Aside from the highly specific schedules of the shops (i.e. Pierre’s shop does not open until 9 am, and does not open on Wednesdays), the only other major mechanic that the game uses to regulate the player’s actions is way the game is saved. As far as I am aware, the only way to save your progress is to go to sleep. This forces the player to begin playing in the same place every time they open the game. It also has the side effect of limiting the rate at which the player can explore the map, as the player must return to their house approximately every 13 minutes.
A counter argument could be made that these restrictions add to the “realism” of the game. After all, the game also makes the player water their crops everyday, and wait some amount of time to catch fish. I find this argument to be pretty weak, considering the game also inexplicably has a wizard and various other completely unrealistic additions to world. Rather, I would argue that this system serves to provide the player with choices while making life much harder if the player chooses the option the game does not “like.” The player can quit the game from anywhere, but it is in their best interest to return home and sleep first, else they will loose any and all progress they have made. The player can continue farming on no energy or fishing until 2 am, but the game will forcibly move the player to their house and take some of their hard-won gold. Most importantly, these choices are all pushed as a reasonable limitation: obviously, the player needs to sleep in order to regain energy. Obviously, the player’s character ought to feel tired after a certain amount of time. But many games that simulate hunger or include the player’s energy in-game do not include these restrictions.
In essence, time in Stardew Valley is used as a carefully-crafted system promoting the illusion of choice while insisting on one correct option, echoing Stardew Valley’s message about capitalism created not just from the specific way time is used, but from many of elements of the game as a whole.
