Villager Suggestion

Hello! I love this game. I played Harvest Moon growing up, and this is way better.

My only suggestion is to add some more people of color to the game. Having Maru and Demetrius be the only ones makes them stand out big time. Also, as a father of two kids of color, I'd love to see them represented more in the games they play.

Thank you for reading.

 

Hear hear.

 

I see where you are coming from, my families situation is kind of like that of Robin and Demetrius' (with half-sister and all^^)
but living in a rural area in germany i would say that the big picture of Stardew Valley is pretty accurate population wise, in other words i can count the amount of "people of color" that i've come in contact with in my personal life with my fingers at hand (see what i did there?).

Apart from that i think there is no real solution to that problem in this game, if it ever was one to begin with.
The landscape would have to change except if they lived in the otherwise vastly underpopulated desert, which could then again be seen as racist.
I really think you have to let it go^^

 

If one wanted to, they could easily come up with a cannon way to explain the diversity of Stardew Valley. I don't think it's too much to ask. Realism isn't a #1 priority (the game has skeletons after all).

 

Here's a canon explanation: like the real world, but unlike most fiction, Stardew Valley is a diverse place.

 

Or you could just leave the game alone. You say you have two kids. How about teaching them to not care about skin color rather than expecting everything to "represent" them. Diversity is great and all but it shouldn't be added simply for the sake of it. Forcing diversity into everything only serves to reinforce the fact that people are different rather than just treating people as people and not making an issue out of it.

 

I'm confused as to how a rural area in germany relates to Stardew Valley? There's no indication that it's supposed to resemble that?

 

The thing I like about people like you is how furious you get at the thought of less white people. "Diversity is great but not if you have to make an effort.'

 

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that you're white. The only people that argue that representation isn't important are the people that don't need it.

I think it would be awesome to have a little more diversity in this game. It's not necessary to make it a great game since it already is, but if it were added that would be awesome. There are hints that the war Kent was fighting was against an asian population and I think it would make a really poignant side story line if there was an asian Pelican Town member. It would resemble what happened in a lot of places in the US during WW2 and Vietnam. It could touch on some really scary and emotional things but also be really interesting.

 

Wow. I don't need to add anything since Zoeevee and DukeofRiven said it well enough.

 

I love the idea of more people on the village maybe a new marriage candidate. They are all great those we that we have in the village but I want explore more personalities since that what I base choices on. I havent found the perfect one for me yet, I'm mainly want a guy but a nice girl would do it to.

 

I would not mind more POC in Stardew Valley. I do get annoyed though when we are kind of used like sprinkles on a cake. "you know, this cake is fine as it is but lets add sprinkles so the poor wittle colorful sprinkles wont feel left out and sad!" Forced diversity is not diversity at all. It kind of feels like going to a fancy buffet and they bring out the fried chicken and watermelon just to make you feel included. lol

 

This.

I am mixed race (despite my white-looking face in my avatar pic), yet I feel greatly bothered when I see games, ads, whatnot, that has one asian, one black, one white, one x, one y, one z... it feels just bizarre, no place in the world, even very cosmopolitan, is like that.

 

Although I'm not really keen on this sprinkles analogy, my viewpoint is more "oh wow, a cake with all white sprinkles looks like ass let's fix that."

If you make, in any conscious way, diversity, you have forced diversity to happen because fiction doesn't exist in a vacuum. If I am making a video game I can't just sit and wait for characters to show up, I have to make them, it's a conscious choice. The disgusting absurdity about the phrase 'forced diversity' is that it presupposes that un-diverse is some sort of baseline, and any deviation from that is an abnormality, as opposed to homogeneity being just as much a 'forced' act as any other element of creation.

 

I can see both sides of this, but I think the best way to approach it is to make the town grow as time passes and have new faces move in. Like Kent coming back from the war, have other people move in after meeting various conditions or time constraints. Maybe someone to occupy the empty lot north of Sam's house, to start. Then have the village expand north past the train tracks, or east past Joja Mart. It could be a new area with it's own map, instead of having to expand the existing town map, and have some other specialized shops. Stuff like a bakery (so you can buy things other than booze and italian food) and a mechanic (maybe with higher quality machines and blueprints for such). As well as having a little residential neighbourhood.

Expanding on the idea of having a Gotal (?) villager move in, you could see tensions between them and Kent at various events. That could serve to make it less about 'diversity' and more about storytelling, to give us more information about this other nation. Also, a BACHELOR of colour seems to be completely lacking.

I'm all for diversity, but keep in mind that the village is a small european seeming town that also seems to be in the middle of an empire. The only ways in and out are through trains and buses, there's no major ports or airlines in the area and the nearest population center is an ill-defined city. And if you pay attention, the Joja office you start the game in seems to be a little diverse as well.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong to limit diversity, I'm saying the situation the town exists in makes SENSE for the lack of diverse characters.

And again, if more people were moving to the town it would give ample opportunities to introduce people of various colours.

 

As someone non-white.... I too agree that adding more POC for no reason other than "I wish there was more so it was equal" sounds pretty lame.

If you approached a game about farming in the country and your first thought is "why aren't there more minorities represented here?!" I think thats got something to do with how passionately you feel about the societal issue of under-representation of minorities in popular media.....but a one man indie game isn't really the platform for that debate. Lets just enjoy it for what it is.

And if CA decides to add more characters, I'm sure it'll be more than just "the token black guy" or "the token Asian woman". He'll add them for a reason.

Personally.... I used the mod that made Alex Hispanic....because "Why not? It looked good. And we don't know who his father is anyway."

Either way... Demetrius and Maru feel a lot more natural than some of the Harvest Moons I've played... like Tale of Two Towns...where for some random reason there were 3 EXTREMELY stereotypical Mexicans for no reason.

 

also, in a different form of diversity, having a same-sex couple in town besides potentially the player. Because colour isn't the only form of diversity. But that's more of an aside than an argument.

 

I'm mixed race as well and the same skin tone as you but I lack the awesome mane you have. I'd look like an overweight Sideshow Bob with long hair lol.
I think I am going to just avoid any thread that has race even remotely in the subject or discussion from now on. things just get a little too heated.

But why does a cake with one color of sprinkles look like ass? That's my question. I'd still want a slice, and they taste the exact same as the colorful sprinkles, they are the same except for the food coloring. lol The best thing to do is everyone gets a plain cake and we add our own sprinkles and stop trying to decorate other people's cake. (I'm craving cake in case y'all were wondering)

 

More people of color? How about just more people? I don't care about color, I just want more people to talk to! :C

 

White-sprinkles-only is some froofy Martha-Stewart shit that looks glamorous on the cover of a magazine but taste like dry twinkies because these days it's all about fondant and making the cake look like art, as opposed to making the cake be god-damn edible.