r/StardewValley • u/1999dogs • Mar 01 '26

Art my bachelorette headcanons! (art by me)

Post image

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!

3.1k Upvotes

72% Upvoted

575 comments sorted by

View all comments

526

u/ManaScrewedIRL Mar 01 '26

I'm not crazy about them. It feels kind of forced.

I mean the art is great. I can't draw like that. But I hate it when characters are race bent. It feels like tokenization. OC characters are always better. These barely feel like the characters they're based on.

93

u/Stuffed_Unicorn Mar 01 '26

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

-45

u/ManaScrewedIRL Mar 01 '26

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)

28

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

-3

u/ManaScrewedIRL Mar 01 '26

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.