Henry Jenkins Fandom theory: Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley was created February 26^th, 2016, by the solo developer Concerned Ape. Stardew Valley is a farming game, however there are a lot more aspects than just farming which include: fishing, mining, combat and marriage. In my opinion, Stardew Valley is like a life simulator. You are new to Pelican town (the small town you move to from the big city called Zuzu) and you must introduce yourself to all the townsfolks, get friendships, have a partner get married – even start a family with your marriage partner.

In my opinion, Stardew valley is a very relaxing game, it is especially relaxing to play after a long stressful day, for you to come home and be in your own fictional world which you have formed yourself. Alternatively, many people will disagree with the fact this game is relaxing. Oppositional readings will suggest that the fishing in this game is a total nightmare – especially when catching specific legendary fish like the Legendary or the Glacier fish (I have only captured two legendary fish in my year 5 farm). Especially when you manage to get lower into the mines, the stress of the combat during the skull caverns is ridiculously hard for some people – which is why I tend to avoid the skull caverns unless it is winter and I have nothing else to do. Winter in Stardew Valley is particularly boring for me. However, I normally avoid the stressful things in Stardew Valley (the combat, I quite enjoy fishing) just to make my gaming session more enjoyable after a long day of college or just on a casual weekend.

The Stardew Valley fanbase overtime has become huge, there is a large community and there is barely any toxic side to the fandom like most of them. This is where we can apply Henry Jenkin’s theory of Fandom. The Fandom for Stardew Valley is massive – therefore there is a lot of merchandise, fanfiction, and fanart. My favourite character, Elliott, has quite a lot of fanart himself which I personally enjoy looking at – the artists do an immaculate job in portraying him as a poet (the main reason I do enjoy his character as I am learning to write poetry). Anyway, the merchandise for Stardew Valley doesn’t come in large amounts. You can however bye a few books relating to the game itself: “how to” books and even a cooking book in case you wanted to cook some of the meals you can create in the game.

Personally, I enjoy watching people’s speedruns of the game on twitch. It allows a community to come closer together especially if you and many others enjoy the same content creator. A lot of people who play on PC create mods for others to play: This can change the aesthetic of the game, or it could just be a silly mod that allows you to marry those who you cannot marry in the base game! My personal favourite content creator to watch play Stardew Valley is Nino Kito, he doesn’t necessarily do speed runs (he claims he cannot do them) but he does do mod showcases on his twitch channel).

Henry Jenkin’s theory of Fandom is very useful to apply it to Stardew Valley, particularly because the game has grown so much since 2016. The game was created by one developer, and he has changed the game so much – he is updating the game despite working on a completely new game because he is so attached to the game just like his whole fanbase.

• Isabelle Newton