Lawn and order: the evergreen appeal of grass-cutting in video games

Chopping virtual grass is a video game trope as old as it is satisfying - but where did it come from, and why does it keep growing?

Jessica used to come for tea on Tuesdays, and all she wanted to do was cut grass. Every week, we'd click The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker's miniature disc into my GameCube and she'd ready her sword. Because she was a couple of years younger than me, she couldn't encounter a ChuChu or a Bokoblin without dying, so instead she'd spend hours slicing at virtual greenery.

At the time, I found it a little annoying. In hindsight, I understand that Jessica was simply following in the footsteps of our ancestors. Grass-cutting has been a mainstay of video games for decades. From 1983's lawnmower sim Hover Bovver to Minecraft in 2009, numerous games have invited us to take a blade to the blades, and we can't seem to stop ourselves from doing it. Why is the mechanic so prevalent?