life ’ s larger stressors came around , I wanted to have a life like the one I was playing . But , unlike my father ’ s actual experience on a farm , Harvest Moon was far-removed from the actual experience of farming . The Harvest fairies aren ’ t the only element that adds an aspect of fantasy to the game . Instead , the whole game is built on a utopian , pastoral dream . It depicts capitalism without any of its plagues and I am happy to immerse myself in this world for hour upon hour . You are given an endlessly productive plot of fertile land and everything you need to be just as productive as you want to - with no consequences if you decide instead to spend time fishing on the riverbank or picking flowers off the mountainside . There are other farms , but no true competition ; a moneydriven market but no real need for profits . My life in the game is driven by my own desire to watch my crops grow and my animals be happy , not by a financial pressure to survive .
Alongside this economic system of Harvest Moon is a social world of friendship and romance much easier to navigate than our own . It ’ s not that I believe the characters have real thoughts or feelings , but it feels good as a player to belong to this community . You start off as a stranger to this world but over time , come to befriend and even marry its characters . With programmed lines on both sides of the conversation , social interaction could not be easier . While it would obviously never replace real life relationships , it is a place where you can escape from the complicated , reallife social world and plug into something easier .
And at the end of the day , that ’ s exactly why I still continue to play Harvest Moon late night in my dorm when I am absolutely overwhelmed with not only academics , but my social life too . It ’ s where I can go and escape from the overbearing reality of life and take part in a fantasy , if only for a while , of a new life absent of the pressures that come from a capitalistic world . To me , the world of Harvest Moon is the dream that I can take part in when I need to and one that after so many years , I continue to need .