I love playing Stardew Valley. You can do so much in Pelican Town: plant different seasonal crops, go fishing, make artisan goods, pet your cats and farm animals, flirt with neighbors by incessantly giving them gifts, blow up monsters in the mines, and collect goods to rebuild the community center against the encroachment of Joja corporate. Despite this variety, each day in Stardew Valley, and each individual action, is honestly quite repetitive. Most actions, or the mechanics of the game, just involve changing one unit of land or an object with a tool, like watering plants with a watering can or breaking rocks with a pickaxe. Because of this, a good amount of time in the game is spent on routine actions.
What makes this repetition meaningful are the systems, or game dynamics, layered on top of it. The economic/crafting system (selling goods for money, constructing buildings, cooking etc.) and the heart system (with both people and animals, though especially people, where you unlock scenarios, romance, and deeper motivations) provide progression and emotional respite.
While some people find the repetition boring, I think it really taps into the underlying aesthetics of abnegation, or game as pastime. After an exhausting day, sometimes I just want to get my Stardew Valley hours in, unwind, and enjoy the cute pixel art and music alongside the simple actions of planting and fishing. There’s no real danger in the game (even if you die in the mines, you’re just teleported back), so there’s less adrenaline, and you just tune out and chill in a world that’s far less stressful than Stanford.
Another important part of the fun is the fantasy. A lot of people play because they want a temporary escape from the endless grind of real life (although, ironically, most players take their progress so seriously they end up sleeping 4 hours a day in the game, haha) and indulge in the idea of living off the grid and forming simple, genuine connections with townspeople. That’s the premise of the game itself: the protagonist leaves the city, inherits their grandpa’s farmland, and starts life afresh while fending off Joja’s encroachment by deepening their relationship with the town.
