Controversial opinion: I don't like Stardew Valley. Well, okay, that's not true: I love Stardew Valley. ConcernedApe's quintessential cozy country cultivation, crafting, caving, catching, and questing creation has taken over 1000 hours of my life, and I have given them freely. The game is a landmark of not just its genre, but of game production as a whole. Truly, a masterpiece which speaks to the ability of its almost singular author. But, all the same: I have some problems with Stardew Valley. The text of the game is very much one of seeking solidarity with one's community and doing right by the natural environment. Indeed, the note given to the player by their Grandpa tells us what he at least saw as mattering most in life: "real connections with other people and nature". And throughout the dialogue and quests the player sees as they play, that message resonates. The player can abandon these principles and take the road of cash and convenience offered by Joja Mart, but this is presented as a betrayal of Stardew Valley's principles, even if it is an option. But, we'll get back to that. But, is any betrayal really occuring there? What values are really encouraged in the player as they advance through the seasons, building up their humble little agri-business? Well, luckily, we have Grandpa himself to refer back to. He returns upon completion of the player's second year to evaluate what they have reaped from the bequeathment of his modest acreage. Point values are assigned to a number of accomplishments and earning at least 12 of these will net the player Grandpa's full approval and the coveted Statue of Perfection. For bonding fully with the first pet adopted by the player: 1 point For becoming good friends (8 hearts) with five of the thirty villagers: 1 point For becoming good friends with ten or more villagers: 1 point For restoring Pelican Town's Community Center to its former glory: 1 point For attending the ceremony celebrating said restoration: 2 points For attaining a collective 30 levels in the player's five skills: 1 point For mastering all five skills: 1 point For completing the museum collection, catching every kind of fish, and shipping at least one of every item: 1 point each For retrieving the Skull Key from the bottom of the mines, and for being granted the Rusty Key to the sewers for assisting the museum: 1 point each For upgrading the farmhouse twice, and wooing and wedding a spouse: 1 point For earning at least 1,000,000g: 7 points* Looking at these figures, Grandpa's priorities seem less about "real connections with other people and nature" and more about stacking that paper. True, ⅔ of the available points are not strictly income-based, and wealth alone will not earn Grandpa's favour, but nothing is scored so favourably as a healthy pile of cash. And, once you consider that things like upgrading your house or achieving Full Shipment require having or making some amount of money, being worthy of a thing literally called "Statue of Perfection" becomes impossible without currency. The player simply cannot avoid any kind of commercial activity and still get a four-candle rating and the ultimate reward. They will necessarily incur at least a few points for economy just to pay for things like seeds, farm buildings, animals, geode processing, and trips to Ginger Island; all of which are essential to a good score. In the end, those community connections and personal improvement are worth no more than 6 points unless the player has at least some kind of scratch. I can understand Grandpa wanting to see the farm thrive, and to become a pillar of the local markets, but I feel the balance here is tipped too heavily in favour of that goal. And this is not the only case in which fellowship with one's neighbours, human and otherwise, is passed over in Stardew Valley's presentation. Despite admonishments by NPCs to respect the environment, there is absolutely no penalty or consequence for endlessly fishing any body of water, for lining every bit of shoreline with crab pots, or for chopping down every single tree in the forest. Even small, isolated ponds will continue to yield fish and molluscs, and any tree felled will simply grow back in the same spot and to the same height within a season. Want to drop thousands of bits of Radioactive Ore in the lake? Go right ahead: they merely vanish from the game's memory, with no impact on the ecology. Grow a sprawling corn monoculture year after year for a thousand years, and the soil will never deplete. The only downside to this last activity is how unprofitable it is, of course. So, why not go the Joja Mart route? So what if it was the soul-crushing job in that same megacorp that drove the player out of the city to take up the farming life to begin with? After all, not only is it much simpler to focus purely on profit, it's even cheaper. True, the entirely decorative setpiece of the Community Centre will be replaced with a warehouse (though later a movie theatre), but while gathering the many diverse goods requested by the Junimos in the standar bundles requires a bare minimum of 158,800g** (not counting the cost of seeds), Joja ask only a mere 140,000g, membership included. Just restoring the bus service is 2500g less. No need to upgrade your house to include a kitchen, or to buy all the different crops and animals. Do whatever it is you want to do, reap the financial rewards, and pass the proceeds on to Morris. Easy. Surely there are some downsides, though, right? Pierre's will remain closed on Wednesdays. But, so what? Joja Mart is open every day until 11pm. And Clint won't have anywhere to be but his shop on Fridays, which he would abandon in the case of a restored Community Centre. And Mr. Qi won't mind one bit which side you choose. He sees the spark in you, either way. Even the townsfolk seem totally indifferent to the dismantling of their civic hub. Nobody will judge the player for having it converted into a warehouse, not even the mayor. Materially, the only drawbacks to evicting the Junimos and paying your way to success are the loss of the bundle rewards and the extravagant cost of the theatre conversion. Otherwise, the difference is merely an aesthetic one: do you want your town to have a Community Centre or a Joja Mart? And, ultimately, this is what the difference is for the game. Even Pierre, champion of the litte guy, will tell the player that his dream is to expand his operation to multiple locations until he his "extremely wealthy". Are we to believe this man, with such a dream, who spends every festival day hawking merchandise behind a stall while his family are enjoying themselves, represents any kind of antithesis to the Morrises of the world? Joja aren't evil nor Pierre good because of the things they do, it seems. They are evil and good by their nature alone, essential and unchangeable. Joja just has the wrong branding. Corporate cool is out and cottagecore is in, but capitalism is here to stay. Stardew Valley is a supremely enjoyable game, and one that I am quite likely to sink a further thousand hours in. But, it is also a game that does a poor job of representing its message. If greed and industry are so reprehensible, then do not reward the player so readily and easily for falling into that mode. Or, at least demonstrate somehow the shortcomings of seeking monetary gains by whatever means possible. If "real connections with other people and nature" are so important and worthy of laud, then have them be so. Not just by Grandpa's word, but by the outcomes of the player's choices. Otherwise, we may as well still be stuck behind a screen in that cubicle, grinding out bigger and bigger numbers until only our bones remain. * Points are earned at 50K, 100K, 200K, 300K, 500K, and 1M, with the last step being worth 2 points ** Assuming no bundle items are bought from the Travelling Cart and Demetrius sets up the cave for bats, the player will need at least 34,000g for a Deluxe Coop, 1600g for two chickens (one brown, one white), 1200g for a duck, 8000g for a rabbit, 43,000g for a Deluxe Barn, 1500g for a cow, 1000g for a milk pail, 16,000g for a pig, 10,000g for the kitchen upgrade, and 42,500g to repair the bus