The Stardew Valley Pronoun Problem

The EFAP Halloween Plush Campaign!
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Despite years of free updates, adjustments, and improvements made to the incredible indie game Stardew Valley by its creator Concerned Ape, there are some who feel that it's still not enough and demand more. They will hide behind a soft-spoken, vulnerable aesthetic to hide their attacks on others.
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[Rags]

The EFAP Halloween Plush campaign is live for another couple weeks. Once they're gone, they're gone! Grab them while you can...

I'd also like to give a shout out to HarmfulOpinions and Chud Logic, as they're how I found this video. Another big thank you goes out to those who have supported me on Patreon and Subscribestar while I've been away from my main channel content. Your support has been greatly appreciated. I hope to have more videos out soon and keep up with releasing content, including game streams here.

[clintbeastwood]

Concerned Ape is now a millionaire, and he still chooses to work on the game alone. It goes to show the level of passion the man puts into his work and, frankly, he can do whatever the hell he wants.

[otaca]

"40, 000 people have downloaded this mod, so he MUST make it official!"
The lewddew mod with *250, 000 downloads* exists. Clearly we should force him to include that, too.

[YumiCakes]

Imagine trying to boycott a game you already bought thinking it will make a difference.

[bolladragon]

“I’m a trans woman, so I will play the female character.”
“I’m a trans man, so I will play the male character.”
“I’m non-binary, so I will play the character that I think looks cooler.”

[Adrak-Hiano]

Just played some batman arkham knight, but i didn't feel immersed cause I'm not a billionaire vigilante.

[elitetripod]

Less than 0.03% of players signed that petition. Their number is so statistically small it is basically non existent.

[aesiddoway]

“He’s a millionaire now.”
Yeah, he probably did that by creating a game with mass appeal, rather than hyper focusing on details for a limited audience

[Vulgarth]

In an entertainingly ironic way, the supposedly anti-racist "Diverse Stardew Valley" mod makes changes that would seem to reinforce racial stereotyping. Harvey, the town doctor, is raceswapped to an Indian. In case you aren't aware, "doctor" is the second most stereotypical job for an Indian person right behind "taxi driver" for Indian men.

Maru, the science nerd, is already a black-skinned mixed-race woman. The mod darkens her up and gives her the Monica Rambeau frizz-curl hairsplosion style.

[speedyllama]

Gender is so trivial in this game... I literally created a male character on accident, I thought I was playing a girl (the hair, clothes, and everything was for a girlie girl)... Then at like the 60 hour mark I was trying to romance Sebastian and he said, "I've never kissed a boy before."

That was the first moment in 60 hours that I realized I had accidently made a male character.

It's a total non-issue.

[cobusvanderlinde]

So I just did a quick survey of all Stardew Valley dialogue on the wiki. Now it does not seem to be complete, because there was only one line for Morris, and I'm pretty sure he has more than the one line. (I strongly suspect he has a second and maybe even a third one)

In the entirety of the dialogue I checked there was not a single instance where the player was referred to in the third person.
Bear in mind that in normal conversation we address people in the second person using second person pronouns (you/you/your) and the pronouns people always bring up for political reasons are the 3rd person pronouns (he/him/his; she/her/her; and the plural they/them/their, etc.).

So there seem to be not even a single dialogue line that would be affected by implementing the pronouns change. This is because the player is never shown scenes where the villagers talk about the player, they only ever talk about the player to the player directly, thus the pronouns are the you/you/your group.

The only impact that the demanded pronoun change would achieve is to put an entry on the player's character information screen listing the pronouns. This is a change that would be functionally indistinguishable from just writing your character's pronouns on a sticky-note and slapping that onto your computer monitor.

Edit: It has come to my attention that Penny's 8 heart event has a single line where player gender switches between a He and a She.

It's a blink and you'll miss it line.

[cynade]

She casually drops a declaration of war in the middle of her video while pretending to be nice

[kaksspl]

> Furry channel talking about pronouns.
Oh no. But alright, let's see what that's about.
> The dog is based.
Hell yeah!

[BrutusAlbion]

Eric Barone deserves every penny he earned from his game. He did it all by himself. He's the true from rags to riches story. He has an amazing fiancee at the time wife now who supported him through thick and thin when he was developing the game over years while he wasn't earning any income aside from his usher job in the beginning. He was essentially a bum living on her paycheck, completely supported by her kindness and the faith she had in him to achieve his goal. And he delivered and so much more while in the process becoming rich from making his dream game come true. I have nothing but respect for him and how he has maintained free updates to the game over all these years.

[ObviousRises]

I can 100% roleplay as another person or gender and get into character. It's called imagination and empathy. These people literally cannot relate to people who are not exactly like them.

[mariokarter]

"We've added gay romance to the game."
"Yeah, that's neat and all, but you didn't go gayer."

[damienruzco]

“I’m not saying he’s transphobic, I’m just asking questions”

**Eric Cartman liked this post**

[ladyvoltz]

This "Bee" person just radiates "Toxic Positivity."

Imagine telling a dev they don't own the game they are creating anymore. It's "our" game now.

[GutsOfRivia]

Pronouns in a game where barely any npc refers to you in the third person...this isn't about the pronouns this is about projecting power.

[silverscorpio]

"Sir, this is good cake."
"Oh! Well, thank you."
"But I do have a major complaint."
"Alright. Please, let me know how I can make it better."
"I'm blue-green color blind."
"Um...."
"I couldn't tell the blue frosting from the green frosting."

"And the fact that concern for my condition didn't occur to you is kinda ableist."
"Well ---"
"I'm gonna start a petition to make your bakery have color blind options for future customers. And if you don't meet our demands then we will resort to more extreme measures."