Prepare yourselves, for I am about to reveal my deepest, darkest secret… my favorite video game series is Harvest Moon. Ever since I was a young one, I had fallen in love with many of the legendary series – The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, Mario, etc. – but my heart always belonged to another series about farming. I am ashamed to say it, but Harvest Moon is my absolute favorite game series and I am fairly certain I’ve played every single one for every system.
I have come to terms with my taboo love affair with this under-the-radar well of happiness, but when I was younger I hid it vehemently. I did not want anyone to know that I loved Harvest Moon because I did not want my friends and the people around me to think that I was not a true gamer. This all started because I went into a Blockbuster to rent two games. I excitedly picked out Friends of Mineral Town and Pokémon Crystal for GBA. As my father and I went to the counter, the employee asked if Pokémon was for my brother and he let out a giggle when I said both were for me. He expressed that he wasn’t surprised by Mineral Town but he couldn’t picture such a little girl playing Pokémon (which is my second favorite series!).
As silly as it was, it hurt my feelings a lot and from that point on I hid my love from the world. It was pretty easy, I just had my parents buy all of my Moon games and it didn’t seem like a popular enough series for any of my friends to know about it. I finally accepted my love for Harvest Moon in high school when I found out that my hardcore gaming friend adored the series as well. After spending hours on the topic of my deepest gaming affection as well as other games, I realized that just because I loved a casual game doesn’t mean that I was unworthy of the title of “Gamer”.
So if there is a game series you love and feel ashamed by it, don’t be. We as gamers should be open-minded about all genres. I still get made fun of every now and then when I say that the Harvest Moon series is my favorite but I don’t let it bother me anymore. A farming simulator may sound boring but it’s a ton of fun! Try it out for yourselves! Thankfully no matter what the game is, I will never feel ashamed for enjoying a game again! And hopefully no one out there will have those feelings either! Happy gaming everyone!
