I, good sirs, have a proposition!

[illbeewatchin]

I bet you decided to look into my thread because the all too eye-catching title peaked your interest. Perhaps you were just scrolling through the forums and happened to end up here along the way- and now you're tragically lost and not sure if you'll ever find your way home. Whatever the reason was, moral of the story is; you're here now, reading this. So, I suppose I should get to my 'proposition'.

I started playing this lovely, little game (Stardew Valley) a little over a month ago, and I have absolutely fallen in love with it since then. I am mostly encompassed, however, by one specific piece of our pie. In the very beginning of the game, we see our grandpa lying in bed, speaking to us. He says;

"There will come a day when you feel crushed by the burden of modern life, and your bright spirit will fade before a growing emptiness.."

I think we all have felt that at one time or another, but never enough to drop everything like our character does to pursue true happiness.Well, why don't we? I mean, yes, there are dozens of reasons why we can't but, why do we let those hold us back. Perhaps we can build ourselves our own little Stardew Valley.

 

[Sounny]

There is a guy who quiet his job to tend a farm because of the game. He is definitely chasing a Stardew Valley dream.

 

[Journi]

I would love to drop everything and be like my character.
With having some issues like depression, I think it would be very good for my health to be in the country with a small community that cares for each other.
And living in the country, I can have a lot of cats. :D

 

[Grimzy]

I'm in a difficult spot in life... where I find myself unemployed and have not much going for me ._. It would be the dream to move out in the middle of nowhere to start a new life and hopefully be successful. I spent an entire year of my life working an office job that was horrible where I was constantly yelled at and belittled. Never took much interest in the city life honestly /: I found I am happiest gardening and being able to provide for myself naturally. Being in nature is one of the most beautiful things ever ^_^

 

[Warwick]

I dropped everything and moved all the way across the country lmao

 

[Chaya7]

There is a guy who quiet his job to tend a farm because of the game. He is definitely chasing a Stardew Valley dream.

 

[Chaya7]

I would love to drop everything and be like my character.
With having some issues like depression, I think it would be very good for my health to be in the country with a small community that cares for each other.
And living in the country, I can have a lot of cats. :D

I'm from a small community. Farms, rural folks of all types, small stores, just like this. I grew up there. Or rather, I survived it.

The place was a fishbowl. Alcoholism, vicious gossip, backbiting, depression. Despite my love of nature and farming I will never, ever go back. It's cities for me, for the rest of my life.

Stardew Valley is pure fantasy. Country life/small-town life is not actually like that.

 

[Sounny]

I would love to drop everything and be like my character.
With having some issues like depression, I think it would be very good for my health to be in the country with a small community that cares for each other.
And living in the country, I can have a lot of cats. :D

I'd love to live in the game. Or live like they do I the game. I want to run a pet shop in a medium sized city that has lots of trees and gardens.

 

[Magically Clueless]

i live in a very small town and i can agree with all the negatives but i still think the positives far outweigh them, i really hate cities, they make me extremely anxious and i like to be out in nature and i don't really have to interact with people if i don't want to. the worst thing about where i live is the bad internet. of course there won't be communities as lovely as the game, but there are good people everywhere just trying to make a livin'

 

[BrazilianGuy]

I live in a relative poor country where the economy it's too bad for the dream of a stardew valley life.

Currently I have to study a lot for futures exams for my history college. Everytime that I think about leaving my small town and going for a big city where I don't know anyone I want to cry. I really don't what will happen if I don't go to college. I would love to be like my character, he have a great life, money, a wife and two kids and a super cool life

 

[Tom]

I'm personally at a really good place in life right now (loving my ghetto apartment with my two grown sons near my parents). But I have a group of friends that is working on a radical farm called "Wild Now Village". Their vision is ultimately a pretty radical self-sufficiency. If you are into that kind of thing, there's also East Wind in Missouri, Twin Oaks in Louisa, Virginia, and some affiliated communities.

 

[NickelPlateRoad]

As a man who was born in a small town, raised in a small town and who is still currently living in said small town for close to 30 years, I don't really think I ever lived a modern life to be crushed by the burden of it, at least not to the extent of working on a 9 to 5 office job or living as a city dweller, it's whenever I leave home that I get drastically homesick, and even when travelling the world it's then that I wish I could just go back home and live the simple life...I never do of course as I am a curious person who loves learning about cultures and histories of different countries but the thought has been there.

I've definitely had my hard times at home, but there was always a community to talk to, not just a group of friends or family, the town isn't Stardew perfect but I'd choose it over Pelican town any day.

 

[Xcandixkitx]

I already said if me and my wife ever split im getting a tiny house on 10 acres and running a dog rescue. That's my happiness.

 

[Potatoes]

I grew up in a normal sized town I guess (though it always seemed small) and I moved to Denver when I moved out. There's so much I absolutely love about the city, but I also worry about dreams being crushed. I always thought maybe one day I'd just be discovered and be a famous artist. I always thought doing something big and life changing would be the answer, but I'm also scared of change a lot. Now I have a job at the library and even though I'm not a famous artist I get to help people and look at books and draw.

I think we all have an idea of a perfect life, or dream. Some people get inspired and quit their job to live on a farm, and some people go through numerous jobs in a year just to find a place that seems like it will work. Whatever you need to do I guess. We've all got dreams and i think we just need to find the path that works for us.

 

[Bobbin]

Having started the game while social distancing, that beginning bit really hit me hard. I maybe teared up a bit because of how well it paired with me coping with not being able to leave the house by playing games that make me feel safe

 

[Anhaga]

I'm from a small community. Farms, rural folks of all types, small stores, just like this. I grew up there. Or rather, I survived it.

The place was a fishbowl. Alcoholism, vicious gossip, backbiting, depression. Despite my love of nature and farming I will never, ever go back. It's cities for me, for the rest of my life.

Stardew Valley is pure fantasy. Country life/small-town life is not actually like that.

This was what it was like in the rural area where my husband grew up. The rural area where I grew up was a little more prosperous and so had more positives, but still has enough problems that I was only willing to deal with life there as an adult for a few years--I'd idealized it while away at college and grad school, came back with a family, and had my illusions fully peeled away. There are still things that we really miss about it (open space, not having neighbors and passers-by look in our windows, insect noises instead of traffic, etc), but culturally, we're much happier in the small city where we live now. We will probably move back out on a bigger plot of land in a more rural area at some point, but we're going to do it without the rosy overlay this time.

It is much easier to find a "home" community in a more population-dense area. In small towns and rural areas, if you don't fit the existing culture in some way, you will be an outsider as long as you live there. The place I grew up was like that; I moved there when I was 2, and my mother has now lived in the area for 40 years, but she's still treated as a "come here" outsider.

 

[Chaya7]

I live in a relative poor country where the economy it's too bad for the dream of a stardew valley life.

Currently I have to study a lot for futures exams for my history college. Everytime that I think about leaving my small town and going for a big city where I don't know anyone I want to cry. I really don't what will happen if I don't go to college. I would love to be like my character, he have a great life, money, a wife and two kids and a super cool life

You know, people seem to be saying here that either you can live in a small-town farming paradise, or you can live in the big city. Really, there are more gray areas than that. I live in a SMALL city (or large town). I live in a 60's suburb, so it isn't exactly top-of-the line or anything. (A lot of people here are rich). But I have a sturdy home and a huge yard, front and back, that I've turned into my own little paradise of trees, bushes, and flowers. I live very close to town, so everything is convenient, yet when I sit outside I mostly hear birds and every now and then a loud car. The air is clean, neighbors know each other, and it's safe. So I'm here to say that there are NOT just two choices.

I was struck by your feelings of - I don't know, maybe despair. One of the things this game teaches you is the laws of economics. Especially this one: "Them that has, gets." Unless you were born into money, or are extraordinarily lucky or gifted, you're going to have to struggle for awhile, just like the Stardew Valley farmer does. Now, the Stardew farmer gets rich in a few years, but that's totally unrealistic. It takes many years to gradually build things up, not just a few. (And actually, more farmers fail than succeed). Otherwise, the Stardew economics lesson is true to life. Nose to the grindstone, as they say, always using good sense and making good decisions, investing in yourself and in your interests, and eventually you will be able to move to a place that makes you happier.

I went through hell to get where I am, but the lesson is that I did get to where I am. Eventually you do.

"Them that has, gets." This was an economic theory that for decades was rejected. Recently, with the understanding of "complexity theory," economists have learned that this is actually true. It's how the world works. So you work hard to get a little more, then a little more, and so on. And the more time that goes by, the easier things will get and faster things will improve. That's an important part of it to remember, too: it gets easier.

I hope this helps. Don't be afraid to move to the city. Get your degree! Then get another!

 

[quirmzi]

Not really country/nature esc, but I went to a small school a couple of years ago. In it, everyone knew everyone, and it was never awkward to be in a room of strangers because they weren't really strangers. Now, going somewhere with maybe a thousand actual strangers roaming around, it's quite intimidating and makes me miss it. The bright side is that if you embarrass yourself only a few people will know about it!

 

[Cue Ball]

I'm from a small community. Farms, rural folks of all types, small stores, just like this. I grew up there. Or rather, I survived it.

The place was a fishbowl. Alcoholism, vicious gossip, backbiting, depression. Despite my love of nature and farming I will never, ever go back. It's cities for me, for the rest of my life.

Stardew Valley is pure fantasy. Country life/small-town life is not actually like that.

I'm also from a small rural/farming community (my town has a population of 6,000 now) and I have to mostly agree with it. I feel like it depends where you lived in town and also who you were around. I lived 6 miles outside of town and it was pretty peaceful. I would love to be there and have small farming plot there and have a couple of livestock living on the land (36 acres and my family does have a couple cows on the land now). And yes there's plenty of drama around but "Alcoholism, vicious gossip, backbiting, depression." is just everywhere, again, it depends who you were around. But at the end of the day, I think I would prefer not to live that way. Stardew Valley is a great fantasy because of how simple it is and the greatest threat there is Joja. Realistically, I enjoy games, technology, the internet (and when I lived back at home, the internet services couldn't reach us) that living that way would almost take all of that time away. Also, it's a lot of physical work that a lot of people tend to underestimate. Maybe in another life, I would take on the Stardew dream.

 

[Chaya7]

I'm also from a small rural/farming community (my town has a population of 6,000 now) and I have to mostly agree with it. I feel like it depends where you lived in town and also who you were around. I lived 6 miles outside of town and it was pretty peaceful. I would love to be there and have small farming plot there and have a couple of livestock living on the land (36 acres and my family does have a couple cows on the land now). And yes there's plenty of drama around but "Alcoholism, vicious gossip, backbiting, depression." is just everywhere, again, it depends who you were around. But at the end of the day, I think I would prefer not to live that way. Stardew Valley is a great fantasy because of how simple it is and the greatest threat there is Joja. Realistically, I enjoy games, technology, the internet (and when I lived back at home, the internet services couldn't reach us) that living that way would almost take all of that time away. Also, it's a lot of physical work that a lot of people tend to underestimate. Maybe in another life, I would take on the Stardew dream.

Well, my school class was 48 kids, so I didn't have a lot of choices of who to be around. Nor did it matter where you lived: the whole island was rural. Our sub-populations of hippies did really well because they had little need to interact - though certainly their farms fell through because even back then it was brutally difficult to survive off of a small farm. That said, I would love to live in a place like that again (just not that place) as an older adult who gets to be selective about my contacts with people. For me the country life is idyllic - but not possible.