I was excited to play Stardew Valley in class last...last Friday. I usually play Stardew Valley on mobile, and so from my time playing solo, I was intrigued by StardewValley Co-op. One of the first things I noticed was the lack of player indicators: there was no Player 2, or Player 3, or nametags. I discussed it with my friend and the TA, claiming that the lack of markers helped players blend into the aesthetic of Stardew Valley and be indistinguishable from NPC’s. I thought that it must be an example of Ian Bogost’s “disjunctive multiplayer,” introduced in Patrick’s Participatory Aesthetics: Network Games. “Disjunctive multiplayer”, is multiplayer where players do not realize they are playing with one another, where there are barriers between the experience and the co-op (159). Therefore, my naivety believed the lack of indicators must be generalized into the claim that Stardew Valley never unites its players. This claim is something I sought, until I found plenty of reasons that proved my desires were misplaced, but not unjustified.
First, you can see each other. This is unlike Between, one of the games Patrick explores, which strictly prevents players from communicating with each other. Granted, the main exploration of Between is the ability for players to work together despite being disconnected, which justifies the barriers between communication. In Stardew Valley though, the very minimal detail of being able to see another player’s character sprite lays the foundation for a knowingly cooperative experience. Visually seeing another player’s sprite inherently heralds the idea: “I know I am playing with friend X because their character looks like Y.” Players can connect sprite designs with people, and this connection directly destroys the notion of disjunctive multiplayer.
Then, mini-map player icons exist. Sure, player characters look like NPCs and NPCs look like player characters but by simply opening the mini-map, players are granted icons while NPCs are not. These icons are indicators. They are not the traditional P2, P3, P4 indicators I expected, but they work similarly, immediately breaking the fog of who is who by answering whether or not your best friend is standing right next to you. These icons inherently inform you that you are not alone in this world, even if the two, three, or four of you are playing independently. The existence of the icons on the same map confirm that all are at least playing in the same, gamified universe, therefore enabling different possibilities of interaction. If a friend is north while you are south, you can go find them. If a player is at Jojamart using up their gold, maybe you’ll feel inclined to sell some crops as recompense. The icons develop a cooperative multiplayer experience, and so, undermine my initial thoughts that Stardew Valley is disjunctive.
However, I believe my claim then becomes a valid question: why does Stardew Valley not differentiate players from NPCs? Again my desires were misplaced: the lack of differentiation is not intentionally forcing people into unbeknownst collaboration but is just a more unique form of creating the knowingly collaborative experience. I found the explanation within Patrick’s analysis of Hannah Arendt’s “theory of action.” Her theory of action concerns itself with the difference between spectatorship and actorship: “The spectator, Arendt explains, can gain insight and meaning through his disinterestedness, his nonparticipation, his noninvolvement,” while “the actor is involved, uncontrolled, and decidedly non sovereign,” (160). In other words, giving players indicators would force them to be spectators. The markers would remind players that they are “disinterested” in living within the farming simulation and more interested in whatever the players believe is the objective of Stardew Valley. The markers would remind the player of their sovereignty, of the player playing the game. However, without the indicators, the players would “act.” They would get to pretend to be real town members, to build truthful relationships with the NPC’s, and to role play as the grandchild who gave up their office job to fulfill their grandfather’s wishes.
To act, to be involved, and to be non-sovereign, then, is to be “interdependent,” (162). Acting in Stardew Valley is not just about the performance of being immersed, but about the dependence on another player. This dependence can take the form of selling crops so that the shared gold helps you buy a coop, or others going to bed, or everyone either working together or not so you are forced to adapt and change how you live your life in the game.
See, at first I thought there was this tension between the lack of player indicators and all the other features that exemplified collaborative multiplayer but truthfully speaking, I was just confused. It’s not that players resembling town members was to confuse people, or that a game needs nametags to emphasize the multiplayer experience. I learned it can actually be the other way around: in a game like Stardew Valley, players become so immersed in their relationships with one another that this immersion then becomes the experience. It becomes an experience that doesn't require being told who your friends are, but instead allows their actions to show you.
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