Stardew Valley is a farming simulator game released in 2016 by solo game developer ConcernedApe. Built for audiences of all ages who are seeking a more relaxed, chill gaming experience, Stardew Valley focuses on a core game loop of farming, cultivating animals and plants, as well as mining and fishing. Notably, it also includes, as an important part of gameplay, interacting with the numerous other NPCs in the game, who can represent a diverse array of characters across genders, races, sexual orientations, etc. Ultimately, as stated in “Play like a Feminist”, a game that is feminist is “one that is conversational, personal, and relays narratives that surpass the expectations we tend to have of those ushered in to and for patriarchal audiences…to tell stories not just about women but also about characters who face the adversities set forth within our mainstream cultures.” To play Stardew Valley like a feminist is to embrace the diversity provided by the game; to interact, and understand, the individual struggles that all the characters in Stardew Valley embody.
Overall, Stardew Valley’s strength in storytelling comes from its characters. Even though there is a compelling narrative to be found in the player’s journey themselves — how they start from nothing to building a flourishing farm (incidentally, in the endgame it’s often built on alcohol :P), and how they learn and improve their self-sufficiency, in my opinion the story truly shines through its other characters. As a player, you can choose to create friendships with, date, and even marry other characters, and as you become closer with them through repeated interaction, you
learn more about their backstories — what they like, and more importantly, what they struggle with. Shane struggles with suicidal thoughts and depression; Kent struggles with the PTSD of coming back from a war; Penny lives with an alcoholic mother and struggles with living in poor conditions and being the sole breadwinner for both her and her mother. Regardless of gender, each of these characters have their individual struggles, and the game does an amazing job of focusing on each of these, developing the characters at the player’s own chosen pace.
In this context, to play like a feminist in Stardew Valley is to involve yourself with these narratives. There are scenes where you can talk Shane out of a suicidal episode, or where you have to defuse a tense argument between Robin and her second husband, Demetrius. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are more relaxed scenes where you simply have to figure out how to divide chores between Emily and her sister Haley, for instance, or simply relax and meditate with Caroline. Regardless, to play like a feminist is to focus on these slices of life, to understand how characters live with their differences, arguments, and struggles. Another way to play like a feminist is to embrace every aspect of the game’s mechanics. Activities are varied — fishing, farming, cooking, mining, etc. — and while in the real world, we attribute some of these jobs to specific gender roles, in the game there is no visible difference: players are equally suited to all jobs no matter what gender they choose. You can involve yourself in same-sex marriage, and in one case (gay marriage with Alex), gradually convince a more traditionalist member of the town (his grandfather, George). Robin, a woman, is a shopkeeper and presumably the primary income generator for her family, and Marnie, another woman, runs the animal farm. Gender and sexuality roles are well-distributed across the characters, embodying one major theory of the book — feminist games have “queer and feminist potential”. The player can set up their farm the way they want and engage in the activities they want — “agency”, another major tenet of the book.
Overall, Stardew Valley, through the choices the player can make, and the stories of the NPCs, is a feminist game, though also a simple farming simulator. By engaging in the mechanics — talking to the NPCs and learning their stories and struggles, and completing all the jobs, which are equally suited to all genders — you can play Stardew Valley to its fullest feminist potential.
A discussion question: The profitability aspect of Stardew Valley is one way in which the game can become stressful and “competitive” even in a singleplayer game. How can one ensure that mechanics like this profitability in games other than Stardew Valley do not become toxic or anti-feminist?
