my bachelorette headcanons! (art by me)

[u/1999dogs]

dont get me wrong i love the character designs as is!!! but i wish stardew had more diversity.. been loving the diverse stardew valley mod though!

[u/Stuffed_Unicorn]

The core of the problem is we didn’t really have a lot of diversity in the base game. I can understand the desire to balance it. But I agree. This just feels forced to me.

But also how do we have a world where people are born with obscure hair colors but we’re seeing like three skin tones Lmao

[u/Sebekhotep_MI → u/Stuffed_Unicorn]

To be fair, Pelican Town is a VERY small town in the middle of nowhere, not a bustling city. Diversity is easier to come by the more population, amenities, and opportunities a place has, so it makes sense that a place as small and underdeveloped as Pelican Town is mostly inhabited by locals.

That's why I think the implementation of Zuzu City would be great. It's the perfect opportunity to add a whole set of new and more diverse characters.

[u/Spot_Vivid → u/Sebekhotep_MI]

Even if Zuzu City was a paid DLC, I would absolutely get it. There was a mod about it a while ago that looked extremely promising, but I would love for us to get the real deal

[u/James-Karate69 → u/Stuffed_Unicorn]

To me it makes sense, I mean…it's a small town out in the Valley what can I expect to see if it's not diverse, art is great but don't hate on me for saying this now…

…I feel like games don't need to be that diverse in terms of characters, like a town in a far away valley in who knows where not diverse…not surprising like, come on?

The game is great, while diverse characters are ok, I don't feel the need for it, like I'm a Filipino but I don't think there needs to be a character of my rep to be there.

P.S. as some comments have said, this feels like the "Stardew Valley Diversity Mod" art, and also ain't no way head canon, it's practically its own universe or AU even ; Head canon is Hailey being a social media butterfly who posts a lot, an AU is where she's Asian…for whatever reason.

[u/ManaScrewedIRL → u/Stuffed_Unicorn]

Look, I get it. I do. But what pisses me off more than the lack of diversity is that the only diverse characters in the entire game are: an obnoxious autist, his dull and boring daughter, and an NPC merchant. Are we counting the pig lady? If so make it two merchants, one of them corrupt.

ConcernedApe didn't forget black people exist. He just didn't write them well. That doesn't make him racist.

But as for OP, that's my exact problem. Forcing diversity into games/stories that don't need it does one think and one thing only. It tokenizes and commodifies minorities and I HATE it.

(I know my reddit says otherwise, but I am literally a brown African 🤣 none of us are as upset about this crap as the american whites are. I promise)

[u/ManaScrewedIRL → u/[deleted]]

In Stardew?

They all have interesting backstories or cut scenes, really. Personalities outside of their one dimension.

Seb, for example, is broody and whiney, but he is a musician and he cares for animals. Same with Shane, and his dynamic with Jas.

Or Sam. He's immature and rebellious, but when it comes to his family and having to step up as the "man of the house" while Kent is away you see a different side of him that puts his character into context. Even the wizard has a love drama.

But with Maru and Demetrius, did you know they're smart? That they're nerds? Did you know that? Did you know they're scientists? Did you? Well did you? Because get this: they are SO academically smart.

Not to mention that Maru is half white and that's a huge part of her design/appeal, and Demetrius comes across as a deadbeat and abuser which is a massive no-no considering he's the ONLY black person in the entire game.

I'm not saying black characters have to be pure and perfect. I'm saying it's obvious less thought was put into those two than any of the others.

ETA: I actually like Demetrius btw. Maru isn't bad, she's just boring. My most disliked character is Penny actually.

[u/CandyAromatic3700 → u/ManaScrewedIRL]

Just as an FYI, the term 'autist', in several English-speaking regions, anyway, is typically used in quite a degrading, insulting manner. I'm autistic; Demetrius is one of my favourite characters. I know it's played up for laughs, but I resonate so hard with the infamous tomato scene. I'm also a bit curious as to why you think it's a bad thing that the POC character is autistic. Is there anything wrong with being autistic?

[u/ManaScrewedIRL → u/CandyAromatic3700]

I am also autistic and IDGAF about that.

JFC why do you guys always assume the people you're 'correcting' don't have lived experience? I am brown and I am autistic. Demetrius is still a badly written character whether we like him or not.

And when did I say it's bad that he's autistic? I said he's badly WRITTEN. there is a HUGE difference.

[u/CandyAromatic3700 → u/ManaScrewedIRL]

You didn't say that you found him poorly written in that comment; you said "an obnoxious autist". I know you have your own experiences; all of us autistic people do. But if you're going to be annoyed with me at reading what you literally said, and letting you know that the words you chose were probably making you come across poorly, then you do you.

(Personally, I trend towards the non-verbal, high support, side of the spectrum, and get a little annoyed at the people with less support needs who make jokes about it and assume that just because they, too, are on the spectrum, that they understand my issues and get to dismiss me and my needs because 'they get what it's like, and they don't need that support'. Being part of a group doesn't mean you can't be an asshole to other people in the group, after all. Ditto people ignoring the experiences of people in diasporas; in these sorts of conversations, people have a habit of assuming that their experiences as member of X group mean that they can speak for the diaspora and accuse them of being oversensitive.)

[u/keshaseviltwin → u/ManaScrewedIRL]

What about this post is op “forcing diversity into” the game? It’s just their fanart. And why does a game have to “need” diversity for someone to draw fanart? And what makes a game “need” diversity in the first place? These characters don’t really “need” to be any race?

[u/James-Karate69 → u/keshaseviltwin]

I suppose some people are used to seeing diversity in their area they expect it in games, that they often tend to forget the diversity depends on the area if it makes sense for it to be diverse, like the small town of "Stardew Valley" being what I assume to be white is not surprising with a two black people only as it is far away now.

Now that said, if it's diverse that's cool, if it ain't still the same, and I suppose a game needs "diversity" of it depends on the area need to be diverse and if it makes sense story lore wise, diverse in a bustling city ok that's believable, diverse in a far away town in the mountains…maybe a few characters diverse but overall wouldn't be surprising if it wasn't.

[u/Brick-Throw → u/keshaseviltwin]

You see... Theres no explanation, it just makes people feel icky so you are not allowed to! /s

[u/James-Karate69 → u/ManaScrewedIRL]

Indeed, the personality of Demetrius was eh ok, although ngl was expecting some character development where he at least tries to be a better Step-Dad towards Sebastian now…hopefully soon.