A Cozy Game Analyzed by Psychologists? PAX East 2026 Tackles Stardew Valley

At PAX East 2026 saw a discussion take place about a book by the panelists, “The Psychgeist of Stardew Valley,” released on Dec. 3, 2025 by Tiernan Cahill, PhD Candidate in Media Psychology, Hayden Jones, a Clinical Mental Health Counselor, and Dr. Elizabeth Kilmer, PhD are cited as the authors of the book, with Dr. Kilmer being its editor. 

PAX East Panel Talks Romance

To lighten the room, Dr. Kilmer asked who their first romance choice was when first playing Stardew Valley, adding a bit of humor by saying they wanted to judge them for it. Meeting the mark, the room laughed before Jones responded that his first was Abigail, later evolving to choose Maru based on her own individual sense of self. 

Cahill had chosen Emily but was disturbed by her dream sequence cutscene, describing it as trippy. In his following playthrough, his interest was in Leah, but he regretted the relationship, feeling the character needed her own space and time to recover from her previous relationship. His official stance became needing a mod to be in a relationship with both Demetrius and Robin based on Demetrius being the brains with Robin being the brawn of the relationship, and how they make great parents.

Dr. Kilmer had found a good place in her first romance choice, Penny. Saying she felt very good about Penny because she is smart and spends her time teaching the children of Stardew Valley, stating that it’s better because she’s a woman. Despite standing by her first choice, her next romance was Sebastian, who gives you a frog at his 14 heart event. Jones jokingly thought Dr. Kilmer’s second choice would be Krobus, to which she responds that the platonic friendship with him is probably her next one.

The Book

After some levity, they discuss the core of what “The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Stardew Valley” is about with bullet points and a QR code to the PDF of the book, which is open access. There is the option to buy a physical book; the PDF is for those interested in the information or content of the book. There were more authors than were able to attend the conference.

This was when Dr. Kilmer put a slide up just for those in attendance to submit questions they’d like to ask, also letting others upvote questions they’d like to hear an answer to. While the panel has a lot of topics they want to cover, the audience might have questions that are important to them that aren’t covered.

Core Psychological Concepts

Attention turned to Jones, and one of the first chapters in the book he wrote was about the allure of virtual agriculture. Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon, and Animal Crossing, the predecessor, and the newcomer Pokopia, all fall in the same bracket as cozy farming sims. These types of games give a virtual world to live the farming life and build community, escaping the big city tropes. 

This connects with reality, where we see farmers’ markets and farm tours seen as therapeutic, dealing with animals, and sort of creating agritourism, or an escape from the stress of city life or actual responsibility for the farm life, as it is a curated experience. These experiences and games allow the individual to create and control their own routine with incremental accomplishments. These are done in the game through the crops they’re growing and what they plan for the upcoming in-game day.

Tuernan then jumps in, you also get the feel-good from the game, where everything has a cozy, non-threatening feel, because there are things you can do, but you don’t have to do. You have control over your experience in the game. A principal called the selective exposure and mood management theory revolves around how people select pieces of media based on how they are feeling and need in that moment.

Dr. Kilmer touches on the selective exposure, saying that in her first year in Stardew Valley, she didn’t interact with people in the game. Her key focus was her crops, petting her cows, and exploring the mines while hitting things with sticks. In her experience, that level of flexibility with gameplay really resonated with her. She and Cahill touch on the fact that during COVID-19, people’s routines were disrupted and how their day was pre-determined. This saw a surge in interest in games like Stardew Valley. The freedom to interact however you wanted in-game was very exhilarating.

PAX East 2026 Q&A

The Psychology of Stardew Valley PAX East 2026, Courtesy of PAX YouTube Channel

What does being a Joja supporter say about a person? 

Dr. Kilmer says the percentage of those who have completed the Joja path is very small, not what they would expect of the game, giving two options to pick from. An uncertain quote from “The Psychgeist of Stardew Valley” states that between 6% and 16% of Steam users had done it. She further iterates that she would love to know of those who did, if they had already completed a run of the game. 

Jones opined that it’s most likely a completionist thing, with Cahill agrees completionist or someone who enjoys experimenting with games to see what will happen. His thought about why the Joja path exists is to create a choice, completing the community center, feeling more like a choice than an obligation. Dr. Kilmer says it becomes a boundary test, whether or not the player has autonomy.

What do you think about Shane’s story progression in the game?

Dr. Kilmer weighs in, saying she has many that are outlined in her chapter where she talks about mental health representation in Stardew Valley through Shane and Pam’s individual characters. She is glad Shane goes through therapy. She mentions a few lines where Shane is dealing with depression and challenges, and the player interacts with him, the wiki detailing how these interactions change his feelings about the player. The only problem being regardless of what you choose, the general outcome is the same, contradicting how your interactions with people matter.

Cahill goes further, referencing the chapter Dr. Kilmer wrote, how later in the game Shane still goes to the saloon, but he’s playing an arcade game instead of drinking. This is similar in real life, when some people are quitting an addiction, they replace it with a different, healthier coping mechanism. Jones reinforces how the game has small, manageable communities that relate to real-world rural areas. The game allows a connection with regulating their emotions without helpful options available in their immediate surroundings.

What role did community modding play in Stardew’s success?

Jones and Dr. Kilmer have some back and forth, such as how, when the game was first launched, there was no multiplayer. She says if she were brand new to the game, not familiar with cozy games and farming sims, it may have been very overwhelming. With modding, it gives layers and more content. She contends that modding has helped maintain player interest longer than just the base game.

Cahill feels the modding community is symbiotic with ongoing development, as the modding community can show what the games community is interested in. This allows for concepts to be implemented as development of the game continues. He adds that modding is another form of play, where people can choose how they play Stardew Valley in addition to just playing the game.

This list is just 3 hand-picked questions; the rest can be seen on the PAX East video on the PAX YouTube channel, along with the rest of the panel.