A nice village full of drunken unemployed people eating seaweed or salmonberries

[Guinan]

Did you recognize that most of the people living in Pelikan do not work or stay behind their counter of their shop, waiting the whole day for you to come and buy something and the only people who work really hard and the whole day are Shane (who is an alcoholic) and Pam after the bus is repaired (who is also an alcoholic). Well Pam also waits the whole day beside the bus for you to come and drive to the desert but many folks there stay at home or talk to their neighbours and do nothing really important.
Also the diet of my farmers often is kind of weird or would you like to eat salmonberries, blackberries or seaweed the whole day? My farmers even eat tulips and hop.
It is heaven or hell, I cannot decide.

What is certain is that the village must be in a country with a functioning welfare state, otherwise half the village would starve because of no money.
I sometimes imagine how the village would look like in reality. On YouTube there are some videos where some people asked the same questions and show how it would be in real life and it is really funny.

 

[Kb10!]

Mmmm raw seaweed.

 

[MogBeoulve]

Prepared seaweed is delicious. And I will fight people for access to blackberries.

I do envy my farmer's ability to eat cheese, though.

 

[HaleyRocks]

OP, it's HELL, no doubts ifs and buts! Imagine having juicy chickens, fat pigs, healthy bovines, fluffy rabbits, nice ducks, big ostriches and interesting lambs around, but no tasty, succulent meat, ever graces our table!

This is the definition of TORMENT! Being forced to raise such excellent food, yet being deprived of the unique feast we could have enjoyed... All this, while watching them strut around, munching high quality grass, leaving us all with much to be desired...

Now i know that the moment i die, abandon hope and enter hell, the floor receiving me, is going to be a stardew valley farm map, full of barns coops and yummies, that i will never be able to savor and feast myself upon, all the way towards eternity!

 

[Kb10!]

i think she might want meat in stardew

 

[REtroGeekery]

Now that I'm thinking about it, more characters have jobs than I realized:

• Player Character: Farmer
• Willy: Fisherman/Shop owner & operator/Ferryman
• Shane: Jojomart employee/ranchhand/chicken breeder/egg seller
• Sam: Jojomart employee/museum employee/babysitter/composer (if married)
• Sebastian: Programmer
• Maru: Nurse/Inventor/lab assistant
• Gus: Saloon Owner/chef/barkeep
• Emily: bartender
• Sandy: Sho owner & operator/landlord
• Pierre: Shop owner & operator
• Caroline: Shop owner
• Alex: Part-time ice cream salesman (they really should sell other items in other seasons)
• Pam: former truck driver/bus driver
• Penny: Part-time tutor
• Harvey: Doctor
• Kent: Soldier/Retired
• George: Retired/disabled
• Evelyn: Retired
• Lewis: Mayor
• Marnie: Rancher/animal breeder/Pet salesperson
• Robin: Carpenter
• Demitri: Biologist (I think)
• Elliot: Author
• Jas: Child
• Vincent: Child
• Leo: Child
• Abagail: Unemployed/part-time student/assists in parents' shop
• Jodi: Unemplyed
• Haley: Unemployed
• Linus: Unemployed (appears to be independently wealthy)

 

[LRangerR]

Just because you don't see the money transferred doesn't mean it didn't happen. That's a pretty. Cynical way to look at the valley

Also, seb is technically unemployed. Food for thought

 

[Lew Zealand]

Not sure about "welfare state" as the heads of household do work and seem to be good at their jobs. They may not bring up finances in casual conversation as they consider it a gauche topic though.

Lewis makes the rounds and collects taxes from the local businesses so there is g being transferred between parties.
The Bookseller isn't in town only to serve the Farmer. I'll bet Gunther makes a deal with him to get first crack at the best new books for Penny, Elliott, Abby, Caroline and probably others to read, well before the lazy Farmer rolls out of bed.
Harvey mentions thinking of taking in customers from other towns to make ends meet, there's no reason to believe he hasn't done that.
Robin and Clint have likely taken in jobs from other people, after all Clint works at the forge after 5pm almost every day.
Who knows how many art pieces Leah has sold?
Seb's job is entirely online, he could be contributing to the family's bottom line more than Demetrius.
Maru works 2 days a week at the clinic.
Kent had better be paid well for his years of service and probably has a decent pension.
...and others. Krobus is making a killing!

And this ignores the cost of living, which seems low but could be difficult to determine. Well, maybe not but instead I'll say "migraine-inducing" for me to determine, have at it for anyone who's interested!

Which is to say that Stardew Valley is not Satisfactory or an economics simulator but still seems to address the topic in a reasonable manner. The biggest "gimme" is never seeing anyone from out of town patronizing the local businesses but the few excursions out of town with Shane and Sam show that traveling to other towns is no big deal, so it can be reasonably assumed that the opposite is also true.

 

[FilthyGorilla]

Now that I'm thinking about it, more characters have jobs than I realized:

• Player Character: Farmer
• Willy: Fisherman/Shop owner & operator/Ferryman
• Shane: Jojomart employee/ranchhand/chicken breeder/egg seller
• Sam: Jojomart employee/museum employee/babysitter/composer (if married)
• Sebastian: Programmer
• Maru: Nurse/Inventor/lab assistant
• Gus: Saloon Owner/chef/barkeep
• Emily: bartender
• Sandy: Sho owner & operator/landlord
• Pierre: Shop owner & operator
• Caroline: Shop owner
• Alex: Part-time ice cream salesman (they really should sell other items in other seasons)
• Pam: former truck driver/bus driver
• Penny: Part-time tutor
• Harvey: Doctor
• Kent: Soldier/Retired
• George: Retired/disabled
• Evelyn: Retired
• Lewis: Mayor
• Marnie: Rancher/animal breeder/Pet salesperson
• Robin: Carpenter
• Demitri: Biologist (I think)
• Elliot: Author
• Jas: Child
• Vincent: Child
• Leo: Child
• Abagail: Unemployed/part-time student/assists in parents' shop
• Jodi: Unemplyed
• Haley: Unemployed
• Linus: Unemployed (appears to be independently wealthy)

Yeah, someone brought this up a while ago and I was mentioning a bunch of jobs they missed and were suprised. The unemployment rate of the valley isn't that bad. You only really have Linus and Haley (who even then could be selling the photos she takes without us knowing). Jodi is a homemaker which I would totally consider a job too, as it fills a necessary role (and she works a LOT too).

 

[REtroGeekery]

The biggest "gimme" is never seeing anyone from out of town patronizing the local businesses but the few excursions out of town with Shane and Sam show that traveling to other towns is no big deal, so it can be reasonably assumed that the opposite is also true.

My farmer spends so much time on the farm and in the mines that the town could be a thriving tourist destination and they'd never be the wiser, so this is what I generally imagine.

It would be cool if some of the tourists from the fair and the fishing derby were occasionally seen around town, though. Just shopping, fishing, reading/working at the library desks, or in the waiting room at the clinic. Probably a lot of work though for something that isn't really needed.

Haley (who even then could be selling the photos she takes without us knowing).

I hadn't considered that. Sebstian appears to work entirely on the computer and there's the option to suggest Leah sell art online. Haley could be making a killing with her photography for all we know.

 

[LRangerR]

I would be cool if some of the tourists from the fair and the fishing derby were occasionally seen around town, though. Just shopping, fishing, reading/working at the library desks, or in the waiting room at the clinic. Probably a lot of work though for something that isn't really needed.

This would be completely unnecessary, very cool, and totally a Stardew vibe.