My wife called the Desert Trader "a little bit racist" and I can't unsee it.

[Phate4569]

Last night my wife came in while I was trading crystalarium Quartz for Bombs. She asked what I was doing and I said "Buying Bombs".

Wife: "Why are you buying from him?"

Me: "It is the best place and the cheapest."

Wife: "It's a little bit racist that the best source of bombs is an obviously Middle Eastern person."

Now I can't go to the Trader without thinking about it. Obviously it isn't intentional, but now that the thought is there it is stuck.

To be fair my wife is a bit sensitive to racial stuff lately given the asian stuff going on (and she was a bit off put that there is no asian representation in SDV in the resulting conversation). So that may lead to some perception bias.

 

[Honeywell]

Maybe thinking about why the desert trader was added to the game and what purpose they serve will help put those thoughts to rest?

 

[imnvs]

The Dwarf is where I go to get bombs. Srsly, 5 iridium is worth more than 5k cash, so I wouldn't waste it at the Desert Trader.

 

[Odin]

As Imnvs mentioned, once you get into late game the Dwarf is a much better option for getting bombs. And for mega bombs I think the Dwarf is a better deal at any point. The Desert Trader is a great source for staircases though, if you set up crystalariums to create jade.

 

[Magically Clueless]

The Desert Trader was first added to the game as the nice person who gives you coffee at the Winter Market! Later they were in the desert to give you useful items for mining (among other very nice and rare goodies)

 

[Phate4569]

The Dwarf is where I go to get bombs. Srsly, 5 iridium is worth more than 5k cash, so I wouldn't waste it at the Desert Trader.

I use quartz. A shed of crystalariums harvested first thing in the morning and last at night nets me 56 bombs (84 if I get all 3). And the cost is 125 gold instead of 600.

Since I go anyways for Stairs, Triple Shots, and Eel, it is efficient.


Yeah, I know why she was added and how she started, it is still kinda facepalm-ish.

(It's a she! :D)

 

[Odin]

I know why he was added and how he started

It would be "she" in this case (as mentioned by Sandy) :)

 

[Phate4569]

It would be "she" in this case (as mentioned by Sandy) :)

Huh, I missed that! Thanks!

 

[Worblehat]

The aspect of the Desert Trader that made me slightly question the design is that she seems like a massive rip-off artist at first glance. Who among us wouldn't gladly give people cheese in exchange for emeralds, if anyone existed who wanted to buy cheese with emeralds?? (Or spiced eel for rubies, or espresso for diamonds). Of course this is just another aspect of the setting being a strange alien world ConcernedApe reskinned to look vaguely Earth-like for our convenience, just like the "pumpkins are worth more than gold bars" weirdness (or magic, or all the other weird stuff...). Whatever "cheese" and "emeralds" are in this world, they're pretty similar in value, so the trade isn't unreasonable, it just looks nuts to us Earthlings because of the labels they were assigned.

 

[LRangerR]

The aspect of the Desert Trader that made me slightly question the design is that she seems like a massive rip-off artist at first glance.

I must admit that I don't like the desert traitor. They feel slightly out of place to me and i'm not sure why.

 

[BlaDe]

I like a shop that takes other items as currency, not just g. It gives variety and enables different strategies.

For example, in a speedrun to complete the missing bundle, we do a skull caverns dive for iridium ore to trade for mega bombs to blast fell the trees that have taken over the farm for upgrading farm buildings (cheaper than buying the wood).

It would be good to have more traders like this.

 

[Phate4569]

I like a shop that takes other items as currency, not just g. It gives variety and enables different strategies.

For example, in a speedrun to complete the missing bundle, we do a skull caverns dive for iridium ore to trade for mega bombs to blast fell the trees that have taken over the farm for upgrading farm buildings (cheaper than buying the wood).

It would be good to have more traders like this.

I'd love a trader to take all these minerals that come from geodes.

 

[junimobrat]

This post reminded me of that one post on tumblr that I read a couple of weeks ago. I believe it was about racism and colonialism?

My thoughts on this, as an asian woman, is that this is not intentional. Concerendape is just one man, and we can't expect him to know everything about this things. It may be racist to some people, its not for some. The point is, its only a game. A fantasy-farming game. It is far from reality, and it has a lot of cliché found in the fantasy genre.

The most important thing is that we don't treat other people, real people, the same way we treat fictional characters. This is just a personal thought of mine. I always think there is only one race, and that is the human race.

 

[Salty1]

I'd rather use crystalariums to produce jade for staircases, or otherwise arrange for other gem-based trades. I'd much rather just burn iron/coal on bombs, or G.

 

[Ereo]

Bombs don't seem to be the same evil thing they are in the team world.

My wife gives me bombs. My friends send me bombs in the mail. They hardly hurt when they explode, but they are useful for mining.

 

[LettuceFarm]

idk I think it might be a bit of an overreach, although I would feel differently if the desert trader was somehow the only source of bombs. But the whole character design is very stereotypical considering that the desert trader is the only brown representation in the game.

 

[Phate4569]

I'd rather use crystalariums to produce jade for staircases, or otherwise arrange for other gem-based trades. I'd much rather just burn iron/coal on bombs, or G.

Like I said, I have those too, and rubies and diamonds

 

[Anhaga]

Bombs don't seem to be the same evil thing they are in the team world.

My wife gives me bombs. My friends send me bombs in the mail. They hardly hurt when they explode, but they are useful for mining.

This seems like the more useful angle to take on this. Game worlds, while they are adjacent to our world and often draw on it, tend to have distinct logic and context. In the context of Stardew, the Desert Trader is a mining supplier, like the Dwarf. If you take the Trader completely out of the game context and put her into our context, it looks a little weird (the turban implies Indian more than Arab, unless you're only working with stereotypes gleaned from early Hollywood movies), but in the context of the game . . . is it a stereotype to see a person with a turban and think "mining supplier"?

It also looks less weird if you're using a diversity mod on the game. Stardew is startlingly white-European coded in vanilla form; that makes me uncomfortable, period, so I always run with Diverse Stardew Valley on, which makes people with brown skin much less unusual.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Pls only read if you are suffering from insomnia.

I find it informative to look at the artist's original intent and then the effectiveness of their execution. You may never get a direct answer to the former (see: Mona Lisa) and the latter is subject to a thousand opinions, all of which are valid.

The Desert Trader originally gave free coffee (every 10 minutes before that exploit was fixed) at the Night Market and was a brown-skinned woman in a turban. Perhaps she didn't need the turban but then perhaps her character design could have been anything else, including a Shadow Spirit, Talking Bear, or a Pig in a fez & shades. The chosen characterization seems reasonable and as a single-use NPC, she did not stand out any more than the Mustachioed Victorian Gentleman who hosts the Deep Sea Fishing venture. He is at least as much of a one-use stereotyped character as she is, or the Governor. They serve a purpose, though perhaps some less-traditional gender roles could have been considered for the NPCs.

I liked the addition of the Desert Trader's post to the Calico Desert as she seemed to fit in there pretty well, and she allowed for an expanded use of materials for access to Skull Cavern. IMO, the inclusion of Bombs to her suite of options is consistent with being useful in the Skull Cavern in exactly the same way that Bombs being sold by the Dwarf at the entrance to The Mines are useful in that place. That Bombs were already sold by the Dwarf before the Desert Trader's post was added to the game shows what CA's intent was: to give you easier access to tools which add to the strategy of the game.

CA could have added a new NPC to sell to you in the Desert and then that person or magical being could have been anything. Instead he chose to expand the visibility of an existing one-note NPC, for whom having a trading post in the Desert would not be a big character stretch. Additionally it seems that the Desert Trader is also a nice match with the Wandering Trader, both of whom are women. Taking those 2 things together does make it seem to me that the Coffee Merchant morphing into the Desert Trader was a good choice in game.

That she is brown-skinned and sells Bombs is an unfortunate correlation that some will choose to associate with some sort of social commentary. I don't feel that was CA's intent and as many others here have pointed out, she is neither the original nor exclusive source of Bombs, and Bombs are an in-game tool for a particular reason: to clear spaces. There are a great many other stereotypical elements to this game that were intentional (Haley??) which IMO could be discussed with equal validity, including Anhaga's note of the sparse diversity in the Valley.

I suppose in the end I am of 2 minds about this, which is difficult as I can barely string along one coherent thought. One is that it's just a game, made by a guy who squeezed blood from a stone to make it happen and unintentional transgressions are to be given the benefit of the doubt. The Principle of Charity: Always assume that the person you are engaging with has the best of intentions, not the worst. But then you should still have a dialog like this one about how to make things better and more equitable. Because all these stereotypes, big or little, serve to entrench old ideas and keep them as the norm. How are we to understand someone else's viewpoint on anything if we don't at least acknowledge that there's a problem in the first place? That needs to happen first before you can try to fix it.

Yeah OK, I'm done.

 

[Potatoes]

The Principle of Charity: Always assume that the person you are engaging with has the best of intentions, not the worst. But then you should still have a dialog like this one about how to make things better and more equitable. Because all these stereotypes, big or little, serve to entrench old ideas and keep them as the norm. How are we to understand someone else's viewpoint on anything if we don't at least acknowledge that there's a problem in the first place? That needs to happen first before you can try to fix it.

I really like this feeling, especially after the last few years, I always need reminders that there are good people out there that just want to do good things. We can never know what everyone is thinking or how certain words or actions will effect others and I hope that this can continue to be a space where we can have open and insightful conversations.

CA is just one person, and we are all susceptible to mistakes, and there is always room for growth. I feel like there was a lot that this game did that we're big steps forward. The ability to make your farmer any number of skin tones (even non conventional ones), look anyway with either gender, the ability to have same sex marriage as if it was nothing, and even the way he portrays so many different types of families that live together in the valley. Can there be improvement in the diversity of the NPCs (and other areas), absolutely. I feel like so many people are trying to improve that everywhere in the world right now, and I hope the work that has been done shines through, lighting the way for more to be done.

I'm a cis, white, male that grew up in a small town and grew up rather sheltered. I learned a lot of negative and untrue things growing up, but have since changed how I perceive the world. I know I am not perfect and still have a long way to go to be a good ally and steward to humanity, and I completely get it that some things that I will never understand will bother people, and rightfully so. I feel like SDV has been such a major thing that's become part of our world, and I hope that it can continue to be a tool the provides peace and happiness for people even with it's flaws and we can continue to see it improved. And along with that I hope we can continue finding a way to talk with one another, and learn about each other.

Without SDV we literally wouldn't be here right now having this conversation. To me you're all just icons and user names. I know you are all real people with real lives and hopes and feelings and dreams. I don't know any of your backgrounds, ethnicities, genders or anything like that, but I know you're people that I share this planet with and I hope every one of you finds the peace and happiness you deserve.