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Kesaia Williams
Ms. Thompson
ENG 102: Ethnography Essay
March 21, 2021
The New Era of Equestrians is Online
Imagine it’s the weekend, some choose to sleep in, but you wake up, hop onto your
computer and although there are thousands of video games to choose from, you decide to play
Star Stable. Just hearing the game’s name sounds rather childish and girly, but once you immerse
yourself in this magical online world, you'll find a tight knit community; that revolves around
the equestrian life of communication, people, horses and fun.
I began my project by asking the question: “what is Star Stable?” In a simple definition,
it’s a video game - that one plays on their computer - but to its members, it is much more than
that. Star Stable was created in Stockholm Sweden, it was founded in 2005 and launched back in
2010 (Armstrong, Paul). As a reported by Paul Armstrong, Star Stable hit 10,000,000 users in
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2017. This subculture is very big, and only growing. “Star Stable has an active user base in 180
countries and 11 languages” (Takahashi, Dean). Star Stable means a lot of different things to its
players, and it envelops and includes various aspects of the gaming world and real life. The video
game’s plot is to complete quest and missions, train (your horse), and to advance in ranking or
“level up.” Even as I was interviewing players and exploring the world, I couldn’t help but notice
the a 3D environment that Star Stable presents - the beautiful graphics, settings, music, and
horses all in the company of other players.
As I observed the players, I found that horses are the main theme and artifact in Star
Stable (which makes sense). Each player has their own horse and the option to purchase from a
variety of horse breeds; such as, Mustangs, Appaloosas, Dutch and Jorvik Warmbloods,
Trakenhers and Lusitanos. The subculture of gamers that Star Stable established has a love for
horses and the game itself, I got to opportunity to observe players on Star Stable; I also
interviewed three members on their perspective of the game, and what it is like being apart of
this subculture of gamers.
March 5, 2021 I logged onto Star Stable and decided to follow players, and record
what they normally do in the game, additionally I “explored” the world of Star Stable to see what
environment the game cultivates, I also monitored how players talked to each other, and took
notes of their shared attitudes and ideas.
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The “atmosphere” of Star Stable was bright and cheerful, which seemed to reflect on the
players. The game is full of beautiful scenery green hills and snowy mountains, tall pine trees,
mysterious paths, an array of colorful flowers, furthermore just hearing the melodious and nature
sounds was quite relaxing - everything seemed perfect -. The game has different locations such
as Moorland, Fort Pinta, Mistfall, Starshine Ranch, and much more. The players can
communicate regularly with each other by means of the game’s chat system. You can send
messages to everybody in the server, to your friends, club members or to those nearest to your
location.
Though Star Stable does have common traditions, like Midsummer festivals, celebrating
Star Stable’s creation (birthday) and a Christmas wonderland, most “traditions'' are short events.
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These events bring many players to the same area. While I was observing (and interviewing
players) many of them would participate in Championship races (which occur everyday), or their
club’s activities. My first subject that I accompanied was a player by the name of “Eva
Darkchild” (She didn’t want to disclose her real name, so I went by their character name). Eva is
a level 20 (the highest a player can reach is level 23), and just by the look of her stable, and the
the amount of horses she owns, I could tell she has been a member of Star Stable for quite a
while.
I watched Eva for about an hour, and during that time she did a lot of things. Players must
do chores such as feed and groom your horse and clean your stable. It was pretty clear that this
keeps the players active; afterwards Eva did a lot of races with her horse which consist of
obstacles and jumps the player must overcome. As I was waiting for her to finish a race, I asked
her “what’s the purpose of the races?” She told me that the races reward the player shillings and
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“XP” (experience points) for their horse. The more XP points a horse has, the faster it becomes
(EXP What Does It Mean?). Once she was done completing the race tracks, she began to do
missions and quests. She told me that the quest consisted of interacting with the games’ CPUs.
Players can be rewarded with in game gifts like clothing, shillings or player XP (Eva Darkchild)
(Star Stable). Additionally when players complete missions they build a “reputation” with the
game, which allows them to access different areas and purchase specific items. It makes sense
that Eva is a level 20. After surveying Eva’s activities, I decided to oversee another random
player and document what they did in the game.
The next player I decided to follow around, was a player by the name of “Brooke
Dreamkeep” she is a level 14, and was riding a pony. Thankfully, Brooke let me tag along and
allowed me to note what she usually does in the game. She too just like Eva did quests and race
tracks. As I spectated her, she would regularly chat with me: “there’s many things you can do in
the game, like buy tack and clothes, lead your horse around and talk to people.” It wasn’t until
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Unit 4 when I began my final two hours, that I gained more information of what other members
of Star Stable like to do. This time around, I met another player whose name was “Tyra
Darkchild'' (she was a level 6). Tyra invited me into her group which consisted of two other
players and instead of doing missions or racing, I followed them to an arena where they did
Dressage.
Dressage is defined as “a unique training for riding a horse in fluid movements” and is
very professional and classical (What's Dressage?). It was very neat to see how these players
incorporate real world disciplines into the game. Though Tyra and her friends weren’t the only
ones I saw practicing dressage, there were many other groups and clubs too. Once Tyra’s group
decided they were done drilling, they settled on role playing. Role playing “is a cooperative
storytelling game where the players take the role of ‘characters’ that interact within a fictional
adventure…” Star Stable players participate with one another as a character in a story, and act it
out in the game (What Is a Roleplaying Game?). I learned that some players join Star Stable
specifically for Role Playing. Even while I was conducting my interviews, most of my
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interviewees said that Star Stable is also commonly known amongst the gaming world as an
“RPG” (Role playing game) or “MMORPG” (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game).
There are many activities that my ethnographic group participates in: like quest and
mission, or member initiated events like dressage and role playing. But now I wanted to get
The opinions from the members themselves, and to see/understand what commonalities Star
Stable players share and can only be found in this group.
I carried out my interviews via Discord, and online app/platform that many video gamers
use to text each other and launch voice calls. For my interview, I did not get the players’ real
name, but their in-game name (which I will be addressing them by). Kerstin Oaktree a level 20,
Valentina Dolphinsmith, a level 21 and Scarlett Meadowday (level 14) were my subjects. I had
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-11 questions that was going to be asked of them (though I will only put the most valuable and
informative ones). Most of the questions were concerning what got them involved in the Star
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Stable community and what they think of this subculture of horse gamers.
I wanted to get some background information about the players I was interviewed, so
that I could grasp where they were coming from. Valentia was the first player I interviewed.
“How long have you been playing Star Stable?” I asked, she replied “I have been playing for
around 3 years, more or less.” “What got you into signing up with Star Stable and playing the
game?” Her response was “I think that main reason I got involved with the Star Stable
community was because I love ponies… I don't own any horses, and just seeing how in Star
Stable you can, own a horse, made me join because I wanted to get one.” Valentina’s answer was
akin to Kerstin’s reason for joining, she stated: “I have always been interested in horses, and
because I never grew up around them, I was looking for simulator-virtual horse games where the
graphics were decently realistic.” Both Valentina and Kerstin were not widely exposed to horses,
but this was the opposite for Scarlett - who rides horses in real life. One of my questions I asked
Scarlett was “Does owning a virtual horse, appease a certain want that you have? And would you
say that many of the players have had prior experience with horses in real life?” She responded
“I would say that a lot of the people who play Star Stable do ride horses or have had an
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experience with them in real life is my guess... I ride horses in real life and play Star Stable; it’s
just really cool just to see the horses you ride in reality being developed into the game.”
The next important question I needed answered was: “from what you have experienced as
a player, what are the common traditions, ideas or attitudes from other players?” Kerstin, Scarlett
and Valentina all agreed that there are people in the community who are mean, and those who are
kind and sweet “Attitudes vary, too. You can get some rude and ignorant players and you can
also get really nice players too” (Kerstin Oaktree). There seems to be a lot of subgroups within
the Star Stable community itself and they define themselves by what their character wears, what
horses they ride, and what club name they are in and so on. Some common traditions are joining
clubs or participating in club activities, “virtual, made-up versions of dressage and western drills,
and Show Jumping” (Kerstin Oaktree). Many players also join in on events hosted by Star
Stable, like the Christmas or Easter celebrations. These occasions unite and draw in members by
offering rewards and gifts.
So far, their answers were pretty helpful, but I was waiting for that one answer that would
enhance and define what it means to be a member of the Star Stable community. So, I kept on
going. My next question was “What do you enjoy most about Star Stable? What do you normally
do in Star Stable?” Scarlett answered: “What I enjoy most about Star Stable is probably the new
updates, it's just really exciting to find out- just to see what the developers of SSO will come out
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with because it is fun to see something new added to the game whether it be a new area, or an
update of the characters. What I normally do when I log onto Star Stable is train and daily care ,
stuff like that, basic stuff, I also do events and hang out.” Kerstin’s response was “I enjoy that
Star Stable connects me with real life people and eases my longing to engage with horses.
Normally, I take care of my horses and do any quests, afterwards I role play or train my horses.”
As for Valentina, she stated “I really enjoy hanging out with friends and roleplay with other
people or just even myself with the horses. I normally call friends on here and train or do some
role play!” One underlying motif, was they all enjoy the company of other players and even
consider some their close friends. When I asked “Why is communication important to you, and
how does communication in Star Stable impact (whether positively or negatively) the Star Stable
community?” The response I received was exactly what I was hoping for “Communication is
important because we can talk to each other about real life moments while riding so positively!
also we can create friends and do more things! I think it has a good influence on me because
most of the people are kind and very nice” (Valentina Dolphinsmith). “I think it is definitely part
of the Star Stable community to a communicate with one another, if I did not have people to talk
to within the game - the game can tend to be boring at times whenever you complete all the
quest, like me right now I completed almost all the quest and am just training my horse, and
without people to talk to I probably wouldn't be playing it still just because the only main thing
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to do it for me is to triang, but you can talk to people while training and time will just fly by!”
(Scarlett Meadowday). “Communication is a key component of SSO. Without the chat box they
provide, players would be basically unable to make friends and enjoy each other's company. It’s
a positive addition to the game that’s very necessary” (Kerstin Oaktree). What really enriches the
subculture of Star Stable gamers, is the players and the friendships they make with each other.
Once I interviewed the sub groups within the community itself and to understand the
commonalities of the player like what keeps them entertained. They all have a sense of belonging
because each of them has a passion to advance and Furthermore, the friends that they make in
Star Stable establishes a sense of belonging. Their membership allows them to make friends, join
groups or clubs, earn rewards, and purchase horses; furthermore the work and time that players
put into their account motivates them to keep active in the community.
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Work Cited
Armstrong, Paul. “How This Horse-Based Gaming Startup Hit 10 Million Users In Six Years.”
Forbes, Forbes Magazine, on June 12, 2017
www.forbes.com/sites/paularmstrongtech/2017/06/12/heres-how-a-horse-based-gami
ng-startup-hit-10-million-users-in-six-years/?sh=6210db2811ad. (Retrieved 20
March 2021).
“EXP What Does It Mean?” Cyber Definitions, www.cyberdefinitions.com/definitions/EXP.html.
(Retrieve 21 March 20201).
“Star Stable - a Horse Game.” Star Stable Entertainment AB Sept. 2005,
www.starstable.com/en/. (Retrieved 20 March, 2021)
“Star Stable Company Information.” RocketReach: Star Stable Entertainment AB Information,
rocketreach.co/star-stable-entertainment-ab-profile_b5ec959af42e7c34. (Retrieved 20
March 2021). (Retrieved 21 March 2021)
Takahashi, Dean. “Star Stable Succeeds with Online Horse Games by Ignoring Good Advice.”
VentureBeat, VentureBeat, 13 Sept. 2015,
venturebeat.com/2015/09/13/star-stable-succeeds-with-online-horse-game-by-ignorin
g-good-advice/.
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“What's Dressage?” - Foothills Equestrian Nature Center, Fence. 20 Sept. 2012,
www.fence.org/equestrian-center/disciplines/dressage. (Retrieved 20, March 2021).
“What Is a Roleplaying Game?” Arc Dream Publishing. arcdream.com/home/sample-page/.
(Retrieved 21 March 2021).
Kerstin Oaktree. Online Interview. 20 March 2021
Scarlett Meadowday. Online Interview 19 March 2021
Valentina Dolphinsmith. Online Interview. 19 March 2021