Talk:Cozy game

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by PrimalMustelid talk 01:45, 14 April 2024 (UTC)

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• ... that cozy games became a common term following the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons? Source: 'it became a more common term following the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons' - from the cozy game article itself.
  • Reviewed: [[]]
  • Comment: Sorry if this DKY nomination is bad and cannot word the source and hook properly. It is my first nomination. And since I am not at five nominations yet, I am not required to review another article. Also, this is just inside the seven day period btw.

Created by Andrzejbanas (talk). Nominated by JuniperChill (talk) at 18:07, 19 March 2024 (UTC).

Number of QPQs required: 0. Nominator has less than 5 past nominations.

Post-promotion hook changes will be logged on the talk page; consider watching the nomination until the hook appears on the Main Page.

• New enough and long enough. Nominator is QPQ-exempt. Hook fact checks out (). I'd like to suggest a rewording of the same hook fact: Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 20:02, 23 March 2024 (UTC)
  • ALT0a ... that Animal Crossing: New Horizons sparked a boom in the popularity of cozy games?
    • that sounds more like it. In other words, I agree with the change since this is my first DYK and idk how to word it properly. I didn't know it had to be from a website source and not Wikipedia itself. this was where I got it from. Looks like the creater (not me) forgot to include the website source. JuniperChill (talk) 11:53, 24 March 2024 (UTC)
      • Hi @JuniperChill:. Thanks for nominating the article! For the record, it is cited, its just in the prose. Leads of articles don't usually need citations outside some special cases. So everything in the lead of an article generally refers to cited material in the actual meat and potatoes of the prose. Hope that clarifies everything! Andrzejbanas (talk) 12:14, 26 March 2024 (UTC)
        • (I initially intended not to reply to this comment so that is why it is sent 4 days later) Your welcome @Andrzejbanas:. I am interested in cosy games and often play Stardew Valley and Sun Haven and stuff which is why I nominated for DYK. I never thought this page existed but hey, I was lucky to nominate it just inside the 7 day period. JuniperChill (talk) 23:06, 1 April 2024 (UTC)
• Sorry, but there's too much close paraphrasing happening for my liking. Too many phrases from the gamesindustry.biz have been adopted. Can we please see a bit more phrasing in original prose? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Schwede66 (talk • contribs)
  • @Andrzejbanas and JuniperChill: Please address this. Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 07:48, 8 April 2024 (UTC)
    • @Sammi Brie: looks like someone (who is not me or Andrzejbanas) already did, as addressed in this diff:

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cozy_game&diff=1217963522&oldid=1217838238 JuniperChill (talk) 23:38, 8 April 2024 (UTC)

Indeed. Thanks for pinging Juniper Hill. I'm out on holiday in London for a week so I don't believe I could get to it. Andrzejbanas (talk) 02:33, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

• • • • Restoring tick. Thanks to Rhain for tackling this. Also pinging Schwede66 for awareness. Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 05:23, 9 April 2024 (UTC)

Genre vs. gameplay element

While a recent source added does discuss "coziness" as a game play element, that does not deny that more modern and contemporary sources have expanded onto it as a genre itself. It has since had several publications discussing it as its own genre and how the games are identified. Finding an article form 2018 does not dictate that the style has come into its own as a genre since then (see the later articles form 2020) and the more contemporary sources back this up. Please don't change it again without discussion. Andrzejbanas (talk) 20:07, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

Assuming cozy game is a genre, could you elaborate what specific gameplay elements separate it from other genres? I don't have the bandwidth to go through multiple references, so it would help if you could filter it down to the gist of it. Almost all examples of "cozy games" fall into either the farming sim / walking sim or related genres afaik, with PC Gamer specifically mentioning that whether cozy gaming refers to a genre or a gameplay element is a gray area. However, going by the definition of video game genre here on Wiki, I'm strongly inclined to believe cozy game is not a genre. So either the cozy game article needs to be changed, or the video game genre one. As for reverting, I don't intend to unless there's a resolution to this. Thanks. --CoolingGibbon (talk) 16:30, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

Specifically the 2020 Gameindustry.biz and the Game Developer from 2022 and 2024 go into this, but whether your personal beliefs are here are there doesn't really matter because I stuck to the most recent sources on this. As for the wiki, the article you suggested states "informal classification of a video game based on how it is played rather than visual or narrative elements." In this case, the articles do go into specific gameplay elements which is already mentioned in the article. If you don't have time to read the article on hand as you suggested (there are only about 5 sources) I don't really understand why you made a grand sweep to change intro against the sources within the article. Andrzejbanas (talk) 01:53, 26 April 2024 (UTC)

Specifically the 2020 Gameindustry.biz and the Game Developer from 2022 and 2024 go into this

Alright so I assume your argument is based on these specific sources, correct? I'll go through them and see if there any differing opinions.

If you don't have time to read the article on hand as you suggested (there are only about 5 sources) I don't really understand why you made a grand sweep to change intro against the sources within the article.

It's true I don't have time to go through all the articles posted on this page, and frankly I don't think that's necessary. All I need to understand is your rationale for reverting my changes. Hence my request for clarification.

Furthermore, I'd hardly consider the changes I made to be sweeping, especially when I mentioned the recent PC gamer article which categorically states that the term "cozy game" is a gray area. (Ref: Link) Regardless, I'll go through the specific articles you mentioned and see if I can come up with some of my own. Thanks. --CoolingGibbon (talk) 21:15, 26 April 2024 (UTC)

Cozy games category

I was trying to ensure that this article will be placed on top of the cozy games category so sorry if anyone in the watchlist is wondering why I made a few edits on this. It took me a few tries to get it right as I'm not the best with categories. I would also note that I created that category. JuniperChill (talk) 14:02, 28 October 2024 (UTC)

I think you did a good job with the category! While I do understand the push to delete from the nominator, I think the reasoning better fit a discussion of eliminating genres as a whole rather than that specific one. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:08, 25 August 2025 (UTC)

Ah yeah, I created that category immediately after creating Tiny Glade, another cosy game. I never had the idea of creating a category until I created TG. I was shocked to see it being nominated for deletion, but it was pushed back from everyone else, including me. I also added a BBC source, not to the article, but to the {{refideas}} template at the top, which wouldn't be significant coverage, seeing as its only mentioned in the headline and once in the body.

Additionally, you could see that I'm improving various cosy game articles including ACNH, Fae Farm and My Time at Sandrock. Its to the point that I was given an award for it this month! JuniperChill (talk) 21:15, 25 August 2025 (UTC)

Sandbox games as cozy games experiences

I think sandbox games like Minecraft, RimWorld, or Garry's Mod can totally count as cozy depending on how you play them. Like, Minecraft on peaceful mode or just building random stuff can be super relaxing. RimWorld too, if you're just focusing on chill base building and storytelling, not all the survival chaos. And Garry’s Mod is literally just “do whatever you want” energy that can be cozy in its own way.

I get that they’re not traditionally labeled as cozy games, but the freedom and low-pressure playstyle make them cozy for a lot of people. Maybe we could mention that kind of flexible/cozy experience somewhere on the page, or is it aready mentioned hmm? Luigi Cotocea (talk) 10:48, 14 June 2025 (UTC)

I understand your view on this and wouldn't really argue it on a back and forth talk, but they did not seem to come up in discussion when I was researching specifics about the genre. Maybe they have since, and if so, we could expand the article. I would try to find articles about the genre itself over one or two brief mentions of the genre related to those games. Andrzejbanas (talk) 16:07, 25 August 2025 (UTC)

Removal of 'cosy game in Commonwealth English'

I have seen multiple (new) users removing this specific phrase and all were reverted. In fact, all 14 edits since 22 March are focused on this specific phrasing (though I wasn't involved as I haven't reverted any of them). If this happens again, then I would suggest taking it here rather than reverting as its getting to an edit war at this stage. Protection may also be requested. Protection has also been requested JuniperChill (talk) 17:20, 28 April 2026 (UTC) (edited 19:15 UTC)

And its removed again (not by me). Please do not revert without further discussion. I don't mind whether it should be removed or not, I just want this to stop JuniperChill (talk) 15:11, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

@Masem: the reason why I asked people not to revert it is due to the number of times it has happened. If it happened a few times, fair enough. (I know you likely have this on your watchlist based on the fact you replied to me on the section below.) I'm alright with removing it if this dispute can come to an end, but I would like to see whether the Commonwealth spelling cosy game should remain in the lead, seeing as new users keep removing it, not to mention it wasn't in the article until the end of 2024. That spelling is used by the Guardian and BBC and when I created the video game article Tiny Glade. (The Guardian source also notes the American spelling.) Additionally, the Wikipedia articles cozy catastrophe and cozy fantasy do not mention the alternative spelling, while cozy mystery does. JuniperChill (talk) 17:36, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

But a counter example is color. "Cosy game" redirects here, and general for redirects we want that as a bolded term so the read knows they got to the right page. Masem (t) 17:46, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

And article Orange (colour) is titled that way and written in British English. If it continues to get removed, I might have to post a notice to WT:VG and add a HTML comment saying not to remove it. Its like when my Tiny Glade article gets switched to the American spelling of cosy and I've reverted it several times already (and even added a HTML comment), although thankfully none of that happened within a couple months. JuniperChill (talk) 20:12, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

In part, that that is a disambiguated title doesn't matter, if someone is searching for "orange" the color they'll likely end up at the Orange disambiguation page. Here, someone from the UK searching on "cosy game" will end up here without disambiguation, so we should spell it out. Masem (t) 03:08, 31 July 2026 (UTC)

The Definition Doesn't Work

Unofficially I've been calling certain games "Cosy" for decades, and then people start using the term to mean something subtly different, but in an important way. I always used the term for games that don't pressure me. Relaxing games where I can mostly do what I want without being rushed... with or without combat. For instance, Dragon's Dogma is my preferred cosy game because the whole game structure is cyclic, nothing is missable, there are very few time constraints, I'm not pressured to collect 1000 unique objects, the combat isn't difficult, etc. It is a game where I can just hang out in wild places and explore or enjoy the scenery. Skyrim is another classic cosy game. You're just dropped in an open world and while there are certainly quests, you can mostly do things at your own pace in your own order... or just do nothing if you prefer. Conversely, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is not cosy. It is not even close to cosy. It has all sorts of date-gated events, time-gated activities, harsh RNG, etc. It obligates the player to play at specific times and fulfil certain repeating tasks in a manner that feels more like work than relaxation. It is a stressful and demanding game, which pretty much makes it the opposite of cosy. So imagine my surprise when I come along here and see ACNH being openly regarded as a classic example of a cosy game. I just have to ask... who decided that? Who gets to call a stressful and heavily time-gated game "cosy"? Who gets to decide that it means non-combat games when the vast majority of cosy games I can think of DO have combat? ~2026-33027-27 (talk) 08:37, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

We go by what reliable sources say. While the definition has a lot of gray at the edges, its pretty clear that a game with a lot of command-based, actions and reactions is not a cozy game. Masem (t) 11:24, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

I couldn't even think how someone would describe ACNH as not being cosy, given that there isnt combat (other than being stung by bees resulting from shaking trees), has lovely music and makes me fall asleep listening to ACNH videos. And Stardew Valley has combat, yet is also considered cosy. But anyway, your opinion would be original research, which means that views and info should only come from reliable sources. In fact, there is even a category I created listing 34 games. The category was nominated for deletion, but was unanimously kept. JuniperChill (talk) 17:43, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

I think what the OP is getting at is a "comfort game", what game you pull up to play to chill. Some like to run virtual farms, some like to shoot virtual opponents, some like to mine blocks, etc. That's not a genre, thats just a personal opinion. Now I haven't looked to see if we can even talk about the idea of comfort games, but if we can say something with sources, that might be a footnote to include. Masem (t) 19:39, 3 June 2026 (UTC)