It happens all the time. I’m scrolling through Instagram, getting served cozy gaming setup after cozy gaming setup. Gorgeous, aesthetic desks full of greenery, perfectly tailored to suit the cozy vibe.

I sit at my desk, cluttered with pens, journals, and random Funko Pops. Usually, there are crumbs from whatever snack I most recently enjoyed. For all my affection towards the beautifully tailored vibes of an Instagrammable gaming setup, I live in chaos. I hoard the things I love, and I contain multitudes. My setup is anything but aesthetic.

This inability to curate a perfectly tailored cozy gaming vibe doesn’t end with the desk where I write and game, though. It extends right into the games themselves, thwarting all attempts at a beautifully aesthetic Stardew Valley farm or custom-designed architectural masterpiece for my Sims.

My Stardew Valley Farm Is a Chaotic Mess, And I’m Okay

Listen, I love to see other people sharing their beautiful Stardew Valley farms. Those neat rows of vegetables and carefully arranged rooms designed to produce goods are so soothing to look at. And yet, I seem to be genetically incapable of reproducing them.

Recently, I started a new save file in Stardew, thanks to the 1.6 Update. This time, I told myself, I would keep my veg in neat little rows. I’d put buildings in places that made sense. I, too, would have a beautiful and organized farm while cozy gaming.

That promise lasted about five seconds, as I once again hit the wrong button and plowed a plot of land I didn’t mean to. My neat row was ruined before I’d even put down fertilizer. Then I realized that math is hard and I had the wrong number of seeds to fill the rows with plants that would grow into identical shapes.

Soon, my newly created farm resembled my first. Random plants everywhere, trees and rocks unharvested dotting the map sporadically. I sighed and gave in to my habitual ways of engaging with cozy games.

For me, it seems, trying to keep things beautiful just isn’t cozy. It doesn’t come naturally to me, and frankly, it kind of stresses me out. Does that mean I don’t love to see other people’s beautiful farms? No. But I enjoy playing cozy games even if mine don’t look like something you’d want to screenshot and show off to the world.

My Sims Will Never Know Cozy Gaming Luxury Unless The Lot Comes That Way

Before I ever picked up a Nintendo Switch to play Stardew Valley, I was an avid lover of The Sims. There are many ways to play this cozy life sim, and building beautiful custom homes for your Sim family is one of them.

I have stared at beautiful, custom creations and watched Twitch streamers design spaces I’d love to inhabit in real life. But, much like I’m incapable of keeping plants in neat rows, I can’t design a virtual home to save my life.

I’ve tried, mind you. I’ve added extra rooms as my Sim’s households grew, and the results were borderline disastrous. If Sim homes could be condemned, these nightmares would be. I lack the dexterity to give new rooms any shape besides “giant box” and let’s not even talk about how I never manage to avoid missing a spot with the wallpaper or even, sometimes, the roof.

After many failed attempts to become the kind of Simmer who dedicates hours to crafting the perfect space, I gave up. Now, my Sims live in pre-built designs only, and yes, I always check “fully furnished” because I can’t decorate things any better than I can beautify my real-life house.

You Can Cozy Game However You Like

What I eventually learn every time I try and fail to keep my cozy gaming aesthetic – is that there’s no one way to play cozy games. Sure, many people enjoy and have a talent for crafting gorgeous spaces in these games. And that’s great. It fits into the comfortable vibe perfectly.

As for me? I am chaos when it comes to keeping an organized space and trying to keep that chaos under control just turns the kind of games that are meant to be relaxing into a stressor. That’s not what we’re here for, right?

Maybe you, too, are a non-aesthetic cozy gamer. I sure hope it isn’t just me. If you are, here’s me giving you a permission slip to plant those carrots wherever you’ve got space and plop your Sims into any kind of house you choose. Your cozy gaming doesn’t need to be aesthetic to be valid.

Now, let’s go harvest some pixel veggies and maybe remove a ladder from a pool to keep our Sims on their toes.