the media psychology of stardew valley

Notes

• 'We form attachments to possessions in video games the same way we do with real-life materials - they both help us express and explore our identities.' (Watkins & Molesworth, 2012) 'Expressing ourselves by decorating can deepen our self-knowledge, something very important to our well-being.'
• 'According to Self-Determination Theory, we need to feel free and autonomous - if we go without this feeling we become strained and less fulfilled. Games that let us choose what to do and when help us fulfill our psychological need for Autonomy, boosting our well-being.' (Rigby & Ryan, 2016)
• 'Watching TV or playing video games when we're stressed can help us recover from work strain or fratigue by distracting our thoughts from stressors and building up important psychological resources like self-esteem. This relaxation leads to well-being boosts and encourages personal growth.' (Reinecke & Eden, 2016)
• 'To play a game mindfully and get the most out of it it's helpful to check in on your mood before, during, and after playing. This way you can keep track of what your favorite games do for you and the best times to play them.'
• 'According to Mood Management Theory we pick games/movies that help improve our mood or maintain our good mood. There are 4 Factors to each media that determines how it effects our mood.' (Robinson & Westerwick, 2016)
  1. Excitatory Potential - The potential of a piece of media to us excited and like, "Wow! What's going on?" Spectrum: Calm/Restful -> Exciting/Thrilling
  2. Absorption Potential - How much a game can pull you out of your current mood and how absorbed you can get. Focusing on the game world.
  Spectrum: Not Absorbing -> Very Absorbing
  3. Semantic Affinity - How closely this game or piece of media relates to our everyday life. How much does it make us think about our everyday responsibilities? Playing something dissimilar from everyday life can be a relief from real life stresses.
  Spectrum: Contrasting -> Similar -> Mirroring
  4. Hedeonic Valence - How cheerful the game is, compared to tragic, sad, scary or suspenseful. E.g. Stardew Valley is very high hedonic valence; it nearly completely cheerful, laid back and not worrisome. 
  Spectrum: Scary/Tragic -> Neutral - > Joyful/Fun
• 'Our relationships with games are very unique and rely on our personalities. Given our personalities we choose our own unique mixture of media to feed our unique needs and interests and the media will effect us uniquely, too.' (Hall, 2016)
• 'Flow is important to games. It's the feeling of accomplishment when completing challenges that aren't too hard or easy. Flow contributes to short-term boosts to well-being.' (fig below: Wolf & Perron, 2009) Good flow in a game can give a sense of recovery through a feeling of mastery and competance. "I had a bad day at work, but at least I'm good at this game!" There is the psychological benefit of the game providing reassurance of being good at things in life.

• 'Our feelings of self-esteem, self-efficiency, and autonomy can get chipped away by stress and fatigue. Playing games mindfully, games with good flow, help us replenish these resources so we feel reenergized to face new real-life challenges.' (Reinecke & Eden, 2016)
• Games like Stardew Valley allow for engaging with 'parasocial relationships.' This is when you can have a relationship with both media characters, fictional characters, or celebrities on Instagram and stuff - you don't talk directly to them, or if fictional, they don't really exist - but they exist in your mind, and you can develop a relationship to them. You've never met them, but you care about them. What happens in their life impacts you emotionally, and it's a natural thing in media.
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  'Our parasocial relationships with mediated characters or others online can diminish the harmful effects of loneliness (Hartmann, 2016), boost our self-esteem (Derrick et el, 2008), give us role models to look up to, and - for younger players - may be a healthy part of practising how to relate to others in general.' (Stever, 2011)

Being able to connect and relate to others is important for psychological well-being. The goal is to leave the game feeling a bit better than how you were feeling when you went in.

This YouTube channel, 'Screen Therapy,' has a budding playlist of content dedicated to how video games can benefit mental health. I've found it incredibly informative in explaining behaviours related to this topic and why things benefit us the way they do.