CVA Essay Queer Bating in Stardew Valley Video Game
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Course
Cultural and Visual Analysis (CVA)
Institution
Leiden University College The Hague (LUC)
Some role-playing simulation games (RPGs) allow for the customization of the playable character (PC) and possible relationships, whether romantic or platonic. This is the case in the 2016 farming RPG Stardew Valley (referred to as Stardew) by Concerned Ape, where the playable character leaves their...
Leiden University College
Cultural and Visual Analysis
Final Essay
Queerbaiting in Stardew Valley
Jessica K. Needham defines queerbaiting as “the way that consumers are lured in with a queer
storyline only to have it taken away, collapse into tragic cliché, or fail to offer affirmative
representation”.1 Research regarding queer representation, particularly queerbaiting, often
focuses primarily on television and film, ignoring the easily accessible games played on
computers, phones, and other electronic devices (which we are constantly surrounded with). 2
Video games often give a set character to play with a set gender and sexuality, usually a white
straight male, like in Mario Bros.3 Some role-playing simulation games (RPGs) allow for the
customization of the playable character (PC) and possible relationships, whether romantic or
platonic. This is the case in the 2016 farming RPG Stardew Valley (referred to as Stardew) by
Concerned Ape, where the playable character leaves their tedious office job for a farm their
grandfather left.4 The player can improve their farm and form relationships with the villagers in
Stardew Valley.5 Stardew has regained popularity due to the recent pandemic and is praised by
many for being a “gay utopia”.6 Therefore, in this essay, I will argue that Stardew Valley leaves
the responsibility of queer representation to the players, which is an extension of queerbaiting.
To analyze queer representation in Stardew, first, I will discuss my methodology, taking
into account the complexities of a video game as a digital construct. Then, it will be argued that
the resulting queerbaiting in Stardew is due to a lack of queer narratives. Subsequently, the
optional homosexual content in the heteronormative presenting town in Stardew will be
explored. Lastly, the apparent bisexuality of the non-playable characters (NPCs) will be critically
examined.
To better analyze queer representation in Stardew and account for the complex nature of
RPG videogames where each player’s experience is different, I decided to play the game on my
, laptop. I will focus my research by romancing Leah, one of the twelve datable characters, as both
a guy and a girl, to compare how Leah’s character presents queerness in her dialogue and heart
event cut scenes in a ‘straight’ and ‘gay’ playthrough. To avoid hours of gameplay to record all
the possible answers to the events as both a guy and a girl (straight vs. gay), I downloaded the
Cheat Menu mod by CJB, allowed by the mods program explicitly created for Stardew: SMAPI.7
This mod allowed me to achieve Leah’s maximum number of hearts as soon as I started the
game and immediately teleport to the locations and change the game times needed to unlock the
romantic cut-scenes in order, back to back. It is important to note that by playing the game, I
play right into Lev Manovich’s concept of customization in digital constructs as I, the viewer,
become the maker.8 Already RPGs result in very different constructs for all its players, especially
with all the possible mods for Stardew.9 However, my gaming experience focuses on romancing
Leah only and ignores the unlocking of any other narrative points, farming achievements, or
further customization to obtain the game’s queer content efficiently. Additionally, academic
sources and other texts that discuss queerbaiting and queer and gender representation in media,
emphasizing videogames and farming RPGs, were used to aid this study.
Stardew was first published by British gaming company Chucklefish; however, they were
only involved in the non-development process, like site hosting. 10 Eric Barone, also known as
Concerned Ape, inspired by his favorite videogame, Harvest Moon, developed this game entirely
independently, from the music to coding and designing every pixel.11 Although it can be played
on a phone, tablet, Nintendo Switch, or any gaming console, one can access the crowdfunded
SMAPI program by playing on a desktop or laptop.12 Any mod, which is created by any player of
the game for the game, can be downloaded for free. This means that the player is not only a
viewer or passive consumer, but they become a patron that influences the access and
development of mods and a maker by creating and adding mods, shaping the overall narrative,
experience, and feel of the game.13
7 “CJB Cheats Menu at Stardew Valley.” www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/4.
8 Manovich, “Practices od Evryday (Media) Life,” 324.
9 Ibid.
10 Dealessandri, “How Stardew won Steam.” mcvuk.com/business-news/consoles/how-stardew-valley-won-steam/.
Accessed October 22, 2021.
11 White, “Stardew Valley’s Creator Eric Barone.” gq.com/story/stardew-valley-eric-barone-profile. Accessed
October 22, 2021. And Cameron, “The 4 Years of Self-Imposed Crunch.” gamedeveloper.com/business/the-4-years-
of-self-imposed-crunch-that-went-into-i-stardew-valley-i-.. Accessed October 22, 2021.
12 “SMAPI.” smapi.io/. Accessed October 20, 2021.
13 Manovich, “Practices od Evryday (Media) Life,” 328.
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