Academics critique Farming Simulator's portrayal of 'good farming' and praise modders for agro-ecology add-ons

It's sometimes weird to see what academics make of videogames, coming to the medium as they do with a very different set of principles and goals than most gamers and critics. One recent paper in the Journal of Rural Studies is about a game that's a phenomenon in its own right: Farming Simulator. Specifically, Farming Simulator 22.

In the paper "Agricultural videogames and 'good farming,'" authors Simon Foureaux and Thomas Daum of the University of Gothenburg outline how they think Farming...