Mod Installation as Reclaiming Representational Diversity: The Role of Aesthetic Agency in Stardew Valley

Media (e.g., film) are often designed around cisgender, heternormative logics and are not representative of the multiplicity of identities and identity expressions that exist in the world. Thus, media impedes the identity expression and performance of the communities who use them, as we do not see many parts of our identities represented or find that our identities are misrepresented. Video games, which are a genre of media, are especially problematic in how they perpetuate heteronormative normative logics. Unlike most media, however, video games give people agency over the aesthetics of game worlds--the characters and narratives--through the installation of mods. We conducted a content analysis coupled with a triangulation of mods through personal experience focused on the widely popular farming simulation game Stardew Valley. Drawing on a conceptual lens bringing together theories of identity and aesthetic agency, we highlight how the aesthetic agency afforded by mod installation provides opportunities for reclaiming representational diversity in game worlds along the following dimensions: sex and intimacy, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, and body diversity. We discuss the implications of mod installation, exploring its potential relationship with identity work and identity play. We then propose design guidelines for achieving aesthetic alignment.