Being "Chaotic-Evil" in Stardew Valley

The Stardew Valley co-op was a fun time to learn not only about the mechanics of this fun and relaxing farming simulator, but also to learn a little bit more about the people around you. For instance I learned that most of my classmates are either curious adventurers exploring every part of the map in the game, eager players trying to meet every NPC they can, responsible gamers making sure our farm had enough crops to make it through the winter, or some combination of the three. I also learned that some of my classmates are senseless agents of chaos who use Stardew Valley’s open-ended mechanics to wreak havoc on the map or even the class farm. At first glance this seemed to me like a strange way to play the game but on further contemplation I realize that this is as equally valid a way to enjoy the game as every other way. When I first got the controller I was doing my best to learn the controls, as everyone else was, and then immediately after I got the hang of it my entrepreneurial spirit led to my trying to increase the farms assets by buying crops to plant and acquiring a fishing rod so that I and future players could get fish to sell. I was happily trying my best to play the game as it was “meant” to be played – restore the wealth of the class farm. The “end” of the game is when the farm was fully restored and my character was outrageously rich, right? Everything else is just fluff or ways to expedite that process, right? This viewpoint was shaken when I first got my taste of the “chaotic” side of the game. A classmate convinced me to sit in the library after closing hours just to see what would happen. There was no consequence, of course, and even after closing hours the library operated perfectly normal, but I still had a nagging feeling like I was doing something “wrong”, like the game does not want me to play this way at all. That same player then, on his turn, went on to destroy all of our farm’s crops, cut down a bunch of trees, and then ate saplings until he fell unconscious- which was hilarious.

At that point it finally clicked for me that Stardew Valley has no objective. I understood that fact logically, but I didn’t really understand what that entails. Whether I realized it or not I was still trying to play the game the way I thought it was meant to be played, when the fun of Stardew Valley is derived from anyone playing the game in anyway they want. For some people that means trying their best to live the life of a farmer, for others that means chopping down trees and breaking into stores. There’s nothing intrinsically better or worse about either approach because the game accommodates it all. If anything, the chaotic players seem to have it figured out, uninhibited as they are by societal expectations and such.