It's been over a year now since SDV's release and we still get posts (although not many of them) in the forums, lots of fan art, fanfics that are updated daily, the reddit and the discord, you name it. So, what keeps you active? What's the reason you check this forum and you can respond to it? What about SDV keeps it ALIIIIVE for you?
This is a hard question, I don't really know where to start. I'll make it short and sweet though. I think the thing that keeps me most involved is the community on Discord, it's always active, always booming with activity, art, memes, you name it. The people are wonderful in this community and along with the modding it adds to the longevity of the game. For some odd reason, the game itself always drags me back in, I don't know why but I always get a craving to play it in between other games. The music is so great in this game too, I love listening to it. To me personally, the game has an atmosphere that is unmatched by most other games these days. I can play at a fast pace (sanic) or go as slow and as mellow as I want, and that's great to me. Looking forward to hear more replies.
I don't play as often as I used to (admittedly, it would be hard for me to match my peak hours-per-day from a few months back). But it's the perfect game to throw on when I need to relax or escape for a little while. I know it inside and out, so there's no brain-wracking or complex mechanics to get rusty at. It feels satisfying to play, and like something is accomplished every time. You can decide if you want to chill out or grind, customize each new farm, and mess around with tons of mods. I started playing shortly after some really serious stuff happened IRL, and it helped a lot. I feel like SV will always be that safe, comfortable thing that I can return to when I need to get away for a while. It's a game I think I'll still be playing on and off years from now. As for the community, I really just enjoy talking about stuff in the game, particularly the NPCs. It's also been fun to get ideas about how to play in new and different ways, like making slime colonies and setting personal challenges. I'm part of an art team for a mod and enjoy hanging out in the mod's Discord to help new users and just chat. No community is perfect, but overall, we have a really decent one.
This thread: https://community.playstarbound.com/threads/luthiens-firefly-hollow-thread.123349/ Keeping it updated with new farm designs and game progress and hearing that people are being inspired by things I post or that it got them to play SV is a huge motivator to keep coming back. That and the community, its nice to have a place where I can talk about the game with people who get it. None of my posts on Facebook ever get any response so I have to get the fix somewhere. >u< Its fun swapping stories and ideas and feedback on farm designs and all that stuff, and browsing to see what new mods have come up. (I also check Nexus daily to see if anything new pops up there.) What tiny bit of Stardew art I do manage to fit into my schedule goes here and on my main gallery on FurAffinity but it tends to be better received over here, since folks here have the context.
Mods, plain and simple haha. I don't play as much as I used to, but mods kept the game alive. Just trying whatever is new and seems interesting.
Although I dont have the time to play as often as I would like, I see SDV (and a couple other titles) like an extremely effective way to relax, and unwind, while playing a game. Stardew can be easy going, but if you have goals in mind, and propose a couple methods/challenges/goals to yourself, it can be intimidatingly fun! that, and being such a nice throwback to my days playing Harvest Moon. The memories, while old, make for a very endearing experience to remember, time after time! I personally do not get this effect on many games, and I am glad a game like SDV gives me such reasons to keep returning to it! that, and the fact that I want to create a "perfect file" that I can just keep going on forever, instead of restarting after year 2 or 3 everytime.
For me, because I do a lot of reading and researching about things that are going on in the world (far more than my poor psychie can handle at times), I get very disturbed and burned out on all the conflict and troubles everywhere, so I decided to weed out so much stuff out of my life that reflected current events, violent games, movies etc. SDV, for me, is a little haven from all the turmoil and drama going on in the world (and my life), a quiet little place where I can retreat to and do thing that I wish I could do in real life, like build relationships and be self-sufficient, aka farm. Life these days is all about consuming produced things that I feel like I'm losing the abilities I had when I was younger to actually make things, to grow my own food, to be self-reliant. There's a statistic that really bothers me about life these days; 1% of the population procuces the food for the other 99%. We have no idea how to take care of ourselves. I live in a city. This is the absolute worst place to live if there ever was a disaster. This place was paralyzed by the snowfall last winter. It would never survive an earthquake. People would be killing each other to get the last can of food on the shelves because no one knows how to live on their own, to take care of themselves. SDV gives me the opportunity, even though it's virtual, to keep in touch with my inner self and escape this world. Heck, it even prompted me to start growing food again, even if it's only a little bit on my balcony. It's helping me retain my ability and skills to live if anything happened. This isn't coming out entirely well, but hopefully the thought is getting through.
Two reasons. I appreciate having a place in my life where I'm not under any pressure to make bank or succeed on someone else's terms. There are many games without win conditions, but SV is actively cheering for me as a player. I'm also fascinated by how the systems and subsystems interact. The design is much more intricate than other games I've played about managing resources and time. Despite being on farm 9, there are quite a number of things I haven't figured out how to lean into. Which means the game still rewards me for being curious: "what happens if I pull on this little bit of string?" Sure, the game plays out as repetition - yet very little of it feels like it's on rails. Which is an interesting trick to pull off.
Mods. The challenges, such as fishing for legends, and working Skull Cavern. Trying different farm layouts. The community here: the people, the helpfulness.
It's calming. My two tours in Afghanistan left me with some mental issues, and Stardew Valley is the perfect way to have fun and kill time without having something explode every three nanoseconds. Also, I always get this weird pride when I ship insanely profitable shipments. Also, this.
Normally I play games that are quite tense and action packed. As then as my 'escape' from that I played Animal Crossing but never liked the animals as villagers aspect of it (ironically!) Stardew Valley is the perfect 'before bed' game. Relaxing, makes me smile, just enough of a challenge to keep going and not get bored, endless RP opportunities because of how much there is to do and how many options you have etc. Plus I can play it with my 2 and 4 year old and that's the only game I own where I can do that. I also really like the everyday life aspect of it. It's comforting and without stress. In terms of the fandom I find them to be really supportive and non drama. I came from the Dragon Age fandom where there was more arguing than I could handle most days. I wrote my first long fic for SDV (Harvey/Farmer) which helped my writing skill immensely. I can actually see progress going from chapter one to chapter thirty. The fandom is fairly lighthearted which is something I really appreciate.
Feels weird to be on the site again, after getting back to playing SDV and this thread is so new, story time I guess I have said I can do the same thing over and over in some games but it doesn't matter to me because it's just different with a story. My current farm I stopped upgrading hardly talk to animals or people I imagine my farmer got used to sticking to herself however she married Sam, went out with Shane, had Sam's daughter then divorced him and is now pregnant with Shane's baby he's fairly happy about the situation. Sure he's programmed to be but where's the fun in that when I can make a story out of it, also on year 4 and haven't completed the center because I took my time with that this play through now I'm picking it up again gotta finish off and everything.
Good question, I'm actually running out of stuff to do. I've been in endgame for about 2 months now, and I think I might re-start at the end of my 4th year. Basically the whole point was to woo every bachelorette (not Emily, she freaks me out), so that'l keep me going back for a little while.
Two words: IT'S FUN!!! You wouldn't think a farm sim would be fun, but Harvest Moon Back to Nature is fun, and SDV is the same way - probably not surprising, since there's so many parallels between HM and SDV. There will be times I'll step away for awhile, then come back and remember why I love this game so much - the interaction with the villagers, mining, chasing after bachelors/bachelorettes, being rewarded for trying new things and almost everyone accepting this weirdo farmer immediately (Shane and Haley not so much). One other thing: this community has been very helpful and supportive. Sure you get the odd one that's vicious, but by in large everyone is very helpful!
The Game is literally Therapy. Many games these days are designed to give you a quick high. Stardew Valley is so much different. I'm going through a nasty depression brought on by loneliness. I feel the exact opposite of loneliness when I play SDV. I guess to put it shortly this game is basically Therapy.
The fact that the game is so immersive is what always draws me back in. I went through a rough patch with my anxiety recently so started playing a few weeks back with the challenge of completing the bundles in Year One - safe to say, SV hooked me in all over again.
Their are many things I like to say , but for now I will say that one thing that keeps me playing SDV is the characters themselves , not only are they well designed with their backgrounds , but Stardew Valley is also teaching me many things that can be applied to in real life, which I find extremely rare in video games. I also like the fact that I can play at a pace that makes the game more enjoyable and is stress free and not trying to win at anything .
