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Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag Try a single issue or save on a subscription Issues delivered straight to your door or device From£35.99View Early Prime Day Deals Essential Hardware PC Gaming Show Dune: Awakening Recommended reading Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone hasn't 'really' played a lot of other farming and life sims, but he appreciates the impact the game has had on the genre—'it seems to have inspired a lot more people to consider this kind of game' Gaming Industry A murder-mystery horse MMO baffled me so much that I spoke to gaming's resident horse expert—turns out they've been holding out for their Stardew Valley moment for years, and I'm on their side Survival & Crafting A 'little educational game for middle-schoolers' left DayZ's creators obsessed, inspired, and embroiled in a contentious presidential campaign: 'It's 4.5 years later, and I'm still talking about this story' Survival & Crafting I played the Roblox hit that's pulled in 10 billion visits and while I'm not sold on it, I can see how it's cultivated a mass following A new farming sim has entered the ring, except you're a cowboy on a ranch and you have shootouts with bandits and rob trains Leaving Fallen London: How Failbetter Games spent several years growing hope and ‘discovering the art of the possible’ in their new eldritch farming sim Survival & Crafting Mech farming sim Lightyear Frontier is getting a complete overhaul, adding a bigger map, massive tornados, and an interplanetary delivery cannon: 'It's been clear that we were not living up to the fantasy' Farming Simulator 22 Academics critique Farming Simulator's portrayal of 'good farming' and praise modders for agro-ecology add-ons Jonathan Bolding 5 July 2025 The researchers believe Farming Simulator can influence attitudes about real farming. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Giants Software) It's sometimes weird to see what academics make of videogames, coming to the medium as they do with a very different set of principles and goals than most gamers and critics. One recent paper in the Journal of Rural Studies is about a game that's a phenomenon in its own right: Farming Simulator. Specifically, Farming Simulator 22. In the paper "Agricultural videogames and 'good farming,'" authors Simon Foureaux and Thomas Daum of the University of Gothenburg outline how they think Farming Simulator 22 encourages an overall harmful view of the farmer's job: To produce as many crops on as much land as possible using as much big machinery and fancy fertilizers as they can to keep as many people as possible fed, clothed, and cared for as cheaply as possible. "The gameplay ignores environmental feedback loops like soil health and biodiversity," the authors say. Related Articles Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone hasn't 'really' played a lot of other farming and life sims, but he appreciates the impact the game has had on the genre—'it seems to have inspired a lot more people to consider this kind of game' A murder-mystery horse MMO baffled me so much that I spoke to gaming's resident horse expert—turns out they've been holding out for their Stardew Valley moment for years, and I'm on their side A 'little educational game for middle-schoolers' left DayZ's creators obsessed, inspired, and embroiled in a contentious presidential campaign: 'It's 4.5 years later, and I'm still talking about this story' It's what they call a "productivist" view of what a good farmer is, which the authors hold in contrast to the evolution of farming to a sustainable model that respects its environment and intends to keep producing food into the future rather than exhaust the land in a way that damages society and the environment. "(I'm greatly simplifying a series of complex arguments here.) The authors spend a lot of time proving one point: That videogames, specifically Farming Simulator, have become a key piece of media for helping people understand how things should be done. That's not too surprising to us as the gaming faithful—and we've even seen Farming Simulator spoken of as influential in the advertising of farm equipment before. The authors hope, then, is that by having games like Farming Simulator present better ideas of what it means to be a "good farmer," they could help the farm-adjacent mainstream understand that sustainability is a better path than maximalist farms that produce above all else. Perhaps of greatest interest to us is the special attention that mods are given by the authors—they note that while Farming Simulator doesn't really embrace alternative agriculture, mods for it have, "tweaking gameplay mechanics, for example, on crop rotations, Conservation Agriculture, and weather patterns." The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. They also highlight a well-regarded mod called Precision Farming that was developed by Giants alongside John Deere and EIT Food, a European "Food Innovation Initiative." It implements some principles of sustainable agriculture and gives your farm an overall environmental sustainability score, but as the authors point out, still entirely within the realm of how much money it makes, saves, or costs you. Still, the additions to realism and the scientific concerns are enough that it has been upkept and even has a version 3.0 for the latest Farming Simulator. (Which I now want to try.) You can read the full paper from the Journal of Rural Studies on ScienceDirect. As for the world of Farming Simulator, well, Farming Simulator 25 released last year to some pretty remarkable numbers—which really only cements its place as a series worthy of academic interest, study, and critique. Jonathan Bolding Social Links Navigation Contributor Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun. 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Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone hasn't 'really' played a lot of other farming and life sims, but he appreciates the impact the game has had on the genre—'it seems to have inspired a lot more people to consider this kind of game' A murder-mystery horse MMO baffled me so much that I spoke to gaming's resident horse expert—turns out they've been holding out for their Stardew Valley moment for years, and I'm on their side A 'little educational game for middle-schoolers' left DayZ's creators obsessed, inspired, and embroiled in a contentious presidential campaign: 'It's 4.5 years later, and I'm still talking about this story' I played the Roblox hit that's pulled in 10 billion visits and while I'm not sold on it, I can see how it's cultivated a mass following A new farming sim has entered the ring, except you're a cowboy on a ranch and you have shootouts with bandits and rob trains Leaving Fallen London: How Failbetter Games spent several years growing hope and ‘discovering the art of the possible’ in their new eldritch farming sim Latest in Sim Not quite girl, not quite horse: The latest gacha craze sweeping Steam is a bizarre idol management game for anime highschool horse girls 2023's true GOTY has had its name and assets jacked by 'some kind of crypto scam,' while bootlickers assure the dev it's actually great publicity I'm diagnosing survivors of a zombie apocalypse and only occasionally mistaking cold symptoms for the zombie plague in this military base management sim I played Lovecraftian doctor simulator Do No Harm, and let me tell you, my brother in Cthulhu, I did some serious harm Every item in Peak and what they do How many players can join Peak? 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