One day - I cannot remember if this was an in-game day, or a day in my real actual life - I had no horizons left to conquer. I fixed the bus to Calico Desert, I opened the quarry, and I restored most of the Community Center.īut I did not remove the glittering boulder, which is the reward for completing the fish bundles. I fought in, and reached the bottom, of the mines. I named all of my animals after Hemingway’s cats (he had about 40 cats). I turned my meticulous Hemingway focus to the upkeep of my farm. Everyone tells me that he looks like my co-worker.Ī post shared by Simone de Rochefort on at 6:29am PSTīut I could not fish. My farm is called Lookout Farm, after Hemingway’s beloved home in Cuba, the Finca Vigia. I can’t make my cat black and white, so I name it Izzy the Cat, for Izzy the Cat, who was a tabby. More recently, I dipped my toes back into Stardew Valley, and obviously chose to inhabit the persona of a classic author who was born 121 years ago. I named my black-and-white Palico “Boise,” after Hemingway’s favorite cat. Next I played Monster Hunter: World, where I made a buff, adventurous Ernest Hemingway who had a successful career doing what he loves best: killing enormous animals. There’s also a side character in this game who is named Ernest Hemingway - an amazing coincidence. There was something delicious and subversive about making Hemingway a good father, and leaning into the queerness that is apparent in his writing. Here is a Venn diagram I made of Ernest Hemingway’s interests and common RPG activities.Įrnest Hemingway and Ernest Hemingway Photo: Simone de Rochefort/Polygon Granted, I play a more nuanced version of Hemingway than what I’ve described here, because I know him better and love him more than anyone else does. You’d role-play kind of an asshole, a brash genius, a sportsman, a man’s man. If I asked you to role-play Ernest Hemingway, I bet you would know how to act. Don’t me.Įrnest Hemingway is a complex person who has been reduced to a set of stereotypes, and that makes him perfect for a video game. Give him a beret, and that’s young Hemingway in Paris! A sailor outfit? He did love the sea! Find me a video game that does not let you customize a decent facsimile of Ernest Hemingway, and I will give you, probably, nothing in return. And there is nothing easier to replicate in a video game than a brown-haired white man with facial hair.Īnd yet, the Hemingway model remains flexible. I put my rod in a box and said fie to Hemingway’s favorite hobbyĮither way, Ernest Hemingway’s brand is strong, simple, and iconic. Maybe you thought about an old man with an even greater, but still pleasant, heft, and a white beard. Maybe you thought about a middle-aged man with a pleasant heftiness about him, dark brown hair, and a substantial mustache. Here are the reasons that Ernest Hemingway is the ideal video game avatar: Ernest Hemingway is the perfect video game character His name is Ernest Hemingway, and he taught me how to fish. You might have heard of my preferred avatar. I don’t like playing as myself in games, but that’s not a problem, because I have a foolproof response to character customization. I recently bought Stardew Valley for the Nintendo Switch, after first playing on PlayStation 4. Being the worst part of a nearly perfect game isn’t a bad thing to be. It has perfect sound effects, the music is soothing, and the storylines are touching. On the positive - or maybe negative - side, it has an addictive 12-minute day/night cycle that regularly tricks me into playing for hours longer than I mean to. That’s OK, because Stardew Valley is an extremely good game. Fishing is the worst part of Stardew Valley.
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