Interviews: Relationships with Stardew Characters

[Memorabiliac]

Hey all! I’m an anthropology PhD student at the University of Chicago, and I’m writing a couple class papers on the relationships Stardew Valley players form with the game's characters.

I’m interested in pretty broad questions: how do folks experience, draw meaning from, and get affected by relationships with Stardew characters? How are these relationships the same, and different from, the friendships and romances we form with living people? What emotions arise from these relationships? How do players conceptualize what is real and not real, and what “real” even means? And how do the relationship mechanics specific to Stardew Valley—accumulating hearts by giving characters gifts, talking with them, etcetera—influence what it feels like interacting with them?

I’m looking for folks to interview, and am wondering if any of y’all might be interested. The interviews will be pretty informal—they can take place on phone or Zoom, video or no video, recorded or not recorded, anonymous or not, based on interviewee preference. My sense is they’ll last between 30 minutes to an hour, though that’s flexible too. The only requirement is you be 18 or older (i.e., legally able to consent to be interviewed).

It should be a good time! (We’ll be talking about Stardew, after all). If you’re interested, please feel free to start a convo with me, reply to this message, or find me on Discord (memorabiliac#0661) or Reddit (u/memorabiliac).

And if you have any thoughts about relationships with Stardew characters but don’t necessarily wanna be interviewed, that’s cool! Would love to see what you have to say below.

 

[FairyRing]

Very interesting! May I ask how much time you have spent in Stardew Valley? also loads of the threads around here are filled with goodness you may want to partake of. We've done polls about NPCs and many conversations about why we like who we like etc.

 

[Boo1972]

Hey all! I’m an anthropology PhD student at the University of Chicago, and I’m writing a couple class papers on the relationships Stardew Valley players form with the game's characters.

I’m interested in pretty broad questions: how do folks experience, draw meaning from, and get affected by relationships with Stardew characters? How are these relationships the same, and different from, the friendships and romances we form with living people? What emotions arise from these relationships? How do players conceptualize what is real and not real, and what “real” even means? And how do the relationship mechanics specific to Stardew Valley—accumulating hearts by giving characters gifts, talking with them, etcetera—influence what it feels like interacting with them?

I’m looking for folks to interview, and am wondering if any of y’all might be interested. The interviews will be pretty informal—they can take place on phone or Zoom, video or no video, recorded or not recorded, anonymous or not, based on interviewee preference. My sense is they’ll last between 30 minutes to an hour, though that’s flexible too. The only requirement is you be 18 or older (i.e., legally able to consent to be interviewed).

It should be a good time! (We’ll be talking about Stardew, after all). If you’re interested, please feel free to start a convo with me, reply to this message, or find me on Discord (memorabiliac#0661) or Reddit (u/memorabiliac).

And if you have any thoughts about relationships with Stardew characters but don’t necessarily wanna be interviewed, that’s cool! Would love to see what you have to say below.

A few of us were interviewed before by another group of college students. I’d be willing to be interviewed again if you can’t find enough participants. I will say to my fellow farmers, it was fun talking about Stardew Valley with young academics.

 

[FairyRing]

I did an interview with @Memorabiliac and it was a good talk. They have a lot of very cool ideas about the game and how we relate to the game on different levels.

 

[imnvs]

I'm dubious about doing this again. Those ethnographers never came back to tell us the results of their study.

 

[Memorabiliac]

Thanks for your kind words @FairyRing, it was so fun talking with you! And thanks @Boo1972 —I’m not sure I can do more interviews before my papers are due, but if I decide to expand the study, I’ll shoot you a message!

@imnvs, that’s a super valid concern — I’m sorry that happened! It’s super unethical to disappear on folks, especially after they gave their time and effort. I worked as an oral historian for nearly ten years before heading back to grad school, and that’s the sort of thing that would have haunted me.