Title is a reference to a recent Semi-Ramblomatic video by Yahtzee.
Can't say I've actually seen anyone complaining about Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing for those reasons, seems like everyone loves Stardew, and AC complaints are just about nintendo's content pipeline being sparse on release.
That said, if people are complaining about "doing tasks" in Stardew and AC, I'd imagine that it's because it's mostly things you can do IRL. I can decorate my place or plant flowers or talk to other people in real life. I can't go kill bad guys in real life. In a way casual cozy lifesim games make me feel self-conscious, that instead of improving my virtual life, I could instead be doing this same stuff for my real life. Games that are more detached from real life don't seem as likely to trigger this guilt.
Also I'm fully expecting someone to respond that owning a house/etc is a fantasy, which is the fantastical appeal of Stardew/AC.
Just this week I was with friends, many genders, all of us play Stardew Valley and we all joked and lamented about how task oriented it is, like a list of daily chores. It is ok to acknowledge it and also enjoy it.
Mind you, doing things you could do in real life might actually be a major part of the appeal.
Sure, in real life I could grow quality potatoes or power wash a house or drive a truck to a city that's 400 kilometers away. And I'd get a little bit of dopamine from a job well done – after hours, days, or even months of work. Plus what's needed to acquire the tools/land/licence necessary to do it in the first place.
Or I play Euro Wash Farm Valley Simulator 2026 and finish the job within half an hour of gameplay that's just challenging enough for me to feel that I actually did something. While possibly interacting with a cast of charming and/or interesting people along the way.
There's a reason why job simulators are such a popular genre. They take the interesting bits from a job, drop the tedious parts, and greatly accelerate the whole affair. They're like working in real life but better.
Except Desert Bus, of course. That one very deliberately isn't.
To play devil's advocate, for those types I suppose it's that there's active resistance to you accomplishing the (violent) task, as opposed to more relaxed games where that may not be the case. And if you want your tasks to task you, that's fine, but like, let other people enjoy what they like, it doesn't affect you whatsoever.
let other people enjoy what they like, it doesn't affect you whatsoever.
That's not how social insecurity works. Every waking moment should be spent worrying about how other people percieve you, then taking actions on that to prove to them that you're fine, even though they dgaf or even notice you. You can't be the main character if you don't.
In this week's episode of "tumblr makes up a man to be mad at".
No, I have literally never heard men criticize Animal Crossing or Star Dew Valley for any reason, really. But I guess they do in your head while you shower.
This is another fallacy men vs women BS attention seeking, ragebait post
It's not men vs women
It's people who only play COD and FIFA on consoles vs more involved and open-minded gamers
Sex has nothing to do with this but making it about sex is more headline-worthy...
It's some capital G Gamer take from the same people hating on walking sims, has been a while since I've seen that though. Loud fringe idiots, as usual.
Fuck the generalization but I highly suspect it's mostly just a tumblr thing/kinda general meme to lead with will...
I'm not going back through the ZP archives to find it but Yahtzee once likened FPS to point-and-click games where the only command is "use gun on man"
Factorio.
You just do tasks to do more tasks.
Fix a bottleneck here, fix one there. Bam 10 hours gone.
Ok lets progress. Let's make sth. new, ok what do I need for that thing.
This, this and that and this and that. Let me quickly setup a production line for that.
Bam 20 hours gone.
All I am doing is being a slave of the factory
Lies. There is no such thing as fixing the bottleneck. It's only moving it somewhere else.
There is only 1 task in Factorio, the factory mus grow.
This has the same energy as that post that's "Red Dead Redemption is just Barbie's Horse Adventure with violence”.
Yeah, that’s how I played with Barbies as a kid, of course that’s what I want in a video game as well. Who doesn’t want to dress up their cowboy before going bang bang?
Who doesn’t want to dress up their cowboy before going bang bang?
I somehow read this as "who doesn't want to dress up their cowboy before a gang bang" and honestly.... It only slightly sounded odd.
I would also want to dress them up for such a special occasion!
Stardew Valley lets me feel like that I have a satisfying job, when real corporations would abuse and discard me at their convenience. It is quite the power fantasy, being a productive member of humanity without having to sacrifice myself.
Receive the full value of your labor? It's absolutely criminal.
Why even make this about gender at all?
It's kind of insulting to men who like games like stardew valley and animal crossing. What, are we not man enough because we don't fill our free time with simulated blood and gore?
Plant 28 apple trees (world of Warcraft) 🤑🤑🤑
Plant 28 apple trees (stardew valley) 😴😴😴
Plant 28 apple trees (real life) 😱😱😱
Missed opportunity to mention that Doom Guy loves playing Animal Crossing, and Isabelle loves playing Doom and they're best friends.
Shotgun Isabelle is my favorite villager. Thanks to her I always know my island will be free of demons in my abscence.
I mean, Factorio is just work disguised as a video game. Doesn't make it any less fun. It's work that I choose to do rather than work that I have to do.
It's talking about skill based games vs "casual" games. I LOVE Stardew Valley, but I'm not going to pretend it takes a lot of skill.
Nah, pressing →→→BB 20 times to water plants every day in stardew valley is actually the same as nailing an aerial in rocket league because 'they're both tasks.' The only difference between games is the aesthetics and you're a worse person if you like the game with the aesthetics of warfare more than the one about homesteading.
Truly a braindead take but 'haha gamer bros mad.'
That fishing minigame tho...
Maybe this hypothtical man gamer meant the tasks in some games feel more like chores
Also you literally kill things in Stardew Valley
I mean one of the good parts of Stardew is you can play it a bunch of different ways and it doesn't place a lot of restrictions on you.
In the cave exploration parts you can basically play it like a full-on combat simulator.
You can also play it like a fishing game, a dating sim, and several other things. Or you can also completely ignore certain parts of the game if you want.
If Barbie's Horse Adventure had violence, I'd probably try it.
Can't say I've heard this opinion. I have heard "It's not for me" and the like. I bought and played Stardew Valley and it didn't really click with me. That doesn't mean I have bad taste or it's a bad game. It means I game for different reasons.
FWIW most online content about Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley that I have come across was made by dudes.
If you reduce any game to its core loop, all of them are pretty simplistic. That's just what happens if you simplify things ad absurdum.
And all these things are nothing but tasks.
That said, while this is pretty lame critique, that doesn't mean that every game is good and it also doesn't mean that every game is good for every player.
Both are fun. In the same year I put 100hrs into Oblivion cracking High Elf skulls, and plenty sawing Locusts in half in Gears of War, shooting endless waves of bots in GRAW, literally railroad spiking people to walls in FEAR, and bustin caps in fools in Saints Row;
I also became world Table Tennis champion in Rockstar Presents Table Tennis and put ~70hrs into making pinatas have sex and growing plants in Viva Pinata.
I can enjoy two things.
If SDV was made as a “walking simulators” with decision making, would people still like it?
…I would.
Maybe I’m just getting old, but as another an example, I got into Knights of the Old Republic (the Star Wars MMO). But all that stiff grinding just wasn’t worth the rare view, music, or interesting character arc.
And as I’ve gotten older, I’ve found that more and more gameplay feels “pointless” like that. My brain can engross itself in Satisfactory setups, but after like a day I stop when I realize I’m grinding all alone. I get into Age of Wonders or Stellaris until around mid game, when AI civs get too dumb to be convincing.
So yeah. I think there’s a grain of truth there. I adore SDV, but some aspects do feel like “chores” just to see the passion and writing they gate.
KotOR were the single player games Star Wars: The Old Republic is the MMO.
I liked it a lot, personally... for a while.
No, I have not noticed that, because this is made-up bullshit.
We are just seeking positive feedback.
When you clean that trash pile in the game, it's as satisfying as cleaning the kitchen at home. but the trashpile in the game stays gone.
The kitchen is a shithole again 3 days after someone gets sick and it becomes another insurmountable task
No, haven't heard much criticism about those games. Me and my friends play like every genre of game.
What kinda asshole disses Stardew Valley? That game's awesome.
I personally like action RPGs like Fallout NV and Outer Worlds, I mean yeah shooting people is a task but its a task to get to the fun part which is the funny (or cool) dialogue choices and seeing the story progress.
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