“But don't think it is a game”: Agricultural videogames and “good farming”

Sustainable agricultural transformation requires profound changes in farmers' behaviour and practices, which are influenced by their values and norms. In this regard, farmers conceptions of what a “good farmer” does can be both powerful barriers and drivers of change. We analyse the view of “good farming” presented in Farming Simulator 22, an agricultural videogame played by millions of farmers (and others) worldwide, which has a significant influence on how the tacit rules of “good farming” are constructed, understood, and internalized - both in the virtual and real world. We systematically examine key videogame elements - narrative, gameplay, and visuals - to explore which notion of the “good farmer” and “good farming” the game represents and how it depicts agriculture-environment relationships. Our findings suggest that the game reflects and reinforces a productivist “good farmer” ideal, primarily by narrowing the goals of farming to achieve high incomes to enable the acquisition of more land and the latest machinery and by overlooking environmental feedback loops, such as those related to soil health and biodiversity conservation, within its “rules of the game”. However, we also find a niche within the gaming community that develops informal plug-ins (“mods”) that introduce new content and tweak gameplay mechanics to incorporate more agro-ecology oriented practices and better depict environmental feedback loops. This suggests that agricultural videogames like Farming Simulator could become powerful tools for imagining, testing, and experiencing alternative forms of “good farming” and changing cultural notions of the “good farmer” – thus contributing to sustainable agriculture.