How has Stardew Valley change how you view real-life communties?

[popo]

Hey, I think Stardew Valley really changed how I look at real-life communities. It made me think about how important having a community is. And I think any community online or offline can become really strong. I was wondering if anyone else had Stardew affect them the same way.

 

[kohlrak]

Hey, I think Stardew Valley really changed how I look at real-life communities. It made me think about how important having a community is. And I think any community online or offline can become really strong. I was wondering if anyone else had Stardew affect them the same way.

To be honest, not really. At the end of the day, the farmer(s) are what got most things done. It's a classic case of Pareto distribution. Clearly there are certain individuals with far more economic value than others, and it's not actually largely reflected in their life choices, which is fairly odd. Maybe i'm reading too much into this story and seeing things that aren't really there, but the game's NPC community is very, very broken. At face value, the game seems all happy and cheery, but deep beneath the surface, there's so much going on that is absolutely dysfunctional. Somehow the farmer(s) end(s) up being the glue that brings the valley together despite all the dysfunction. This valley is despirately in need of a psychologist.

 

[Odin]

It made me think about how important having a community is. [...] I was wondering if anyone else had Stardew affect them the same way.

You know, I'm not sure I've ever thought about it in that sense, but I have become more involved with the Stardew community than with any other game I've played. I'm sure there isn't one single reason for that, but the messages in the game may certainly be part of it :)

 

[Magically Clueless]

I would say that I've been a lot more forgiving when it comes to broken roads and fixing projects and the like, since I live in a very small town and people here really do care a lot, for the most part. It's just that there's not a whole lot of money to go around!

I've also been better at supporting local businesses and food places. There's a lot of charming places in my town that get overshadowed by Wal-mart

pierre is still mean though and i will not sell him my crops

 

[Chaya7]

Well, I think it has changed the way I look at communities, yes. I'm on the autism spectrum for one thing, and for another am a senior lesbian who lived through some really, REALLY bad stuff when I was young - stuff that unfortunately taught me that communities are useless at best, evil at worst. I'm playing SDV for the fifth time, playing one game a year or so, and during that time I've learned quite a bit. I've learned that (at least if one fits the mold that is expected of them in a community), one does well by getting to know everyone possible. Mostly, just listening and being of help when asked. Also, showing up to talk to people, giving them attention and gifts, being supportive and open when they ask you questions. In this game, that kind of behavior leads to enjoyable results, as they respond by giving you information, recipes, and so on. Things that looked crazy at first end up being perfectly ordinary, and people who seem off-putting and weird end up being perfectly pleasant and normal. I probably enjoy fishing more than anything else in the entire game - but I am truly amazed by the level of sophistication CA showed concerning relationships and communities when he developed this game. It seems to me that he was older than his years.

 

[kohlrak]

Well, I think it has changed the way I look at communities, yes. I'm on the autism spectrum for one thing, and for another am a senior lesbian who lived through some really, REALLY bad stuff when I was young - stuff that unfortunately taught me that communities are useless at best, evil at worst. I'm playing SDV for the fifth time, playing one game a year or so, and during that time I've learned quite a bit. I've learned that (at least if one fits the mold that is expected of them in a community), one does well by getting to know everyone possible. Mostly, just listening and being of help when asked. Also, showing up to talk to people, giving them attention and gifts, being supportive and open when they ask you questions. In this game, that kind of behavior leads to enjoyable results, as they respond by giving you information, recipes, and so on. Things that looked crazy at first end up being perfectly ordinary, and people who seem off-putting and weird end up being perfectly pleasant and normal. I probably enjoy fishing more than anything else in the entire game - but I am truly amazed by the level of sophistication CA showed concerning relationships and communities when he developed this game. It seems to me that he was older than his years.

The thing i noticed about alot of these characters is that their lives are suprisingly well despite the traumas that they face. Outside of that, i'd say they're fairly realistic. These are not uncommon problems that each of the characters goes through or creates, aside from the fantastical magical stuff. Everyone i see in stardew valley, i can turn around and point to someone and be like "yeah, this is Leah, and over there's someone who's basically Linus, and over there is the woman that reminds me of haley." To be fair, though, Often times it's the same person.

 

[DotMatrixHero]

For me personally, I try to be empaphetic towards others. No matter how social media or the modern internet tries to distribute people into 'camps' who war with each other on their disagreements.

I think Stardew Valley has encouraged myself and many others to view people as people who deserve love and understanding, no matter how deeply flawed we may be.

 

[DrHarvey]

My standards for who I would date has gone since talking to Harvey

 

[kohlrak]

For me personally, I try to be empaphetic towards others. No matter how social media or the modern internet tries to distribute people into 'camps' who war with each other on their disagreements.

I think Stardew Valley has encouraged myself and many others to view people as people who deserve love and understanding, no matter how deeply flawed we may be.

Yeah, that's a huge problem with modern politics is that our little echo chambers have us completely dehumanize our opposition, generally. It's because media, social media, extremist groups, and alot of other groups profit significantly from us being dichotomized. In the "old internet" you run into reality fairly quickly, although it's slowly disappearing because of the effects. I've had atheists surprised that i'm a Christian because i'm "too cool to be a christian", though most don't say i'm cool, they just have this mentality about how a Christian should be. It's weird, how we say we should not be bigots, but we have fallen into such bigotry that we can't see it. I will definitely say that stardew valley shows us a semi-realistic view of individuals in a way that encourages us to see the individuals for who they are, rather than immediately boxing them. In the end, though, we shove people into a box for a reason, and an important one, actually, but we need to understand the individuality and humanity that exists in a person outside of the cheap abstraction we make of them.

 

[mkrmas]

You know, I'm not sure I've ever thought about it in that sense, but I have become more involved with the Stardew community than with any other game I've played. I'm sure there isn't one single reason for that, but the messages in the game may certainly be part of it :)

Also :), this is one of the healthiest communities in which I have been involved