Facebook X Email Print Save Story At a wide desk in a bedroom somewhere sits a figure, her back facing the camera, supported by an ergonomic white office chair. Her head is bracketed by puffy, white noise-cancelling headphones. Her wrists rest on a foam cloud as she plays a pixelated farm-simulation video game called Stardew Valley on a handheld Nintendo Switch.
She is surrounded by screens. An expansive computer monitor in front of her displays footage of another game. A monitor to the side projects an animation of some friendly forest landscape, with animals flitting among gently swaying trees.
On the wall, lights the shape of geometric tiles cast a soft glow in changing colors according to whatever is onscreen. On floating shelves above her rest small potted plants, signs of organic life amid a tranquil technological ecosystem. Her keyboard has keys in pastel colors that clack like a typewriter’s; next to it rests a glass mug of grass-green matcha latte.
You can find proliferating versions of this figure across TikTok and Instagram, under the hashtag #cozygaming. She is completely ensconced in a serene environment, a self-contained digital and physical cocoon. Her accessories, the room’s soothing décor, and even her soft clothes and fuzzy blankets complement and extend the world of her games.
As one cozy-gaming content creator put it, “Like someone having a bubble bath and candles and a glass of wine, you’re turning a typical normal activity into something more r.