ShneekeyTheLost
Farmer
Inclusion can be very difficult, because so often when devs explicitly *try* for inclusion, especially when they don't really understand what they're trying to include, it comes off more as flanderization or just repeating tired old tropes. Does that mean there shouldn't be inclusionism? Obviously not. However, it can be very challenging to accomplish.
I happen to really like the hands-off approach SDV does with this topic, and honestly at least for LGB, does an exceptional job at it. The only person in town who has any sort of issue with homosexuality is grumpy George, who is already the stand-in for 'old values that need to be reexamined'. And even he overcomes his prejudices if you are a male farmer who marries his grandson, which I find optimistic and well written. At the end of the day, he cares more about his grandson being happy than his prejudices. Alex and Sam are initially confused about being attracted to another guy, but it's honestly not so dissimilar from some 'when I realized' stories I've heard from friends. There's no negativity associated, merely a 'huh, never knew that about myself'.
Writing non-cis and enby for individuals not very familiar with it can be very difficult because, honestly, there's not many outward signs a random stranger can see. I mean, the whole topic here came up asking if Elliot was trans, but at the end of the day there is no definite answer because, honestly, if he is, he doesn't care to share that with anyone, and it is none of anybody's business but his and whomever he decides to share that with. It's not like you get branded with a scarlet letter when you undergo surgery, after all. Perhaps his lack of comment indicates that he was born male, one would assume that's a topic you would broach with a prospective life partner after all, or it could simply indicate he's not comfortable talking about it with anyone.
Other than that? Stardew Valley is certainly a place where anyone would feel welcomed and included, no matter their gender preference, arrangement, or any other metric one might possess or lack. I can't see anyone, other than maybe George, being upset at having someone who is trans in town. The town is welcoming and open to any and all. And that, in my opinion, counts for more than ticking boxes of 'this character is x while that character is y' that some game devs try for, and try to shoehorn in dialogue to explicitly state it that feels... I dunno, not just forced but extremely out of character? Like, who tells a random stranger the finer details of their sexuality out of the blue?
But there is one character who canonically *can* be anything... you. The farmer. Because there's more options than 'marry a guy' or 'marry a chick'. There's also Korobus, whom is a platonic partner and is essentially genderless (at least I haven't seen anything that assigns Korobus a gender other than the default 'he/him' that English uses as a singular gender neutral as much as masculine). Or, shocker, you can just... not. If your character is aro/ace, they can just opt to not marry at all. That's a viable option. And your character is never given any flack for any decision about their relationship status or any other metric.
To me, Stardew Valley is an open and inclusive place because you aren't going to meet any persecution no matter your alignment. It doesn't need to have every aspect explicitly called out within a character, so long as it is clear that such aspects would still be welcomed in the community. It would be nice to see something well written that did include more nonbinary characters, but that seems like a project well outside the scope of a one-man team like this one. For the scope of the project, I think SDV did as well as it could with the resources available at the time of creation. And it at least respects it enough to not try and shoehorn in tropes or stereotypes just to tick a box. Which is, frankly, more than I could say about most games.
I happen to really like the hands-off approach SDV does with this topic, and honestly at least for LGB, does an exceptional job at it. The only person in town who has any sort of issue with homosexuality is grumpy George, who is already the stand-in for 'old values that need to be reexamined'. And even he overcomes his prejudices if you are a male farmer who marries his grandson, which I find optimistic and well written. At the end of the day, he cares more about his grandson being happy than his prejudices. Alex and Sam are initially confused about being attracted to another guy, but it's honestly not so dissimilar from some 'when I realized' stories I've heard from friends. There's no negativity associated, merely a 'huh, never knew that about myself'.
Writing non-cis and enby for individuals not very familiar with it can be very difficult because, honestly, there's not many outward signs a random stranger can see. I mean, the whole topic here came up asking if Elliot was trans, but at the end of the day there is no definite answer because, honestly, if he is, he doesn't care to share that with anyone, and it is none of anybody's business but his and whomever he decides to share that with. It's not like you get branded with a scarlet letter when you undergo surgery, after all. Perhaps his lack of comment indicates that he was born male, one would assume that's a topic you would broach with a prospective life partner after all, or it could simply indicate he's not comfortable talking about it with anyone.
Other than that? Stardew Valley is certainly a place where anyone would feel welcomed and included, no matter their gender preference, arrangement, or any other metric one might possess or lack. I can't see anyone, other than maybe George, being upset at having someone who is trans in town. The town is welcoming and open to any and all. And that, in my opinion, counts for more than ticking boxes of 'this character is x while that character is y' that some game devs try for, and try to shoehorn in dialogue to explicitly state it that feels... I dunno, not just forced but extremely out of character? Like, who tells a random stranger the finer details of their sexuality out of the blue?
But there is one character who canonically *can* be anything... you. The farmer. Because there's more options than 'marry a guy' or 'marry a chick'. There's also Korobus, whom is a platonic partner and is essentially genderless (at least I haven't seen anything that assigns Korobus a gender other than the default 'he/him' that English uses as a singular gender neutral as much as masculine). Or, shocker, you can just... not. If your character is aro/ace, they can just opt to not marry at all. That's a viable option. And your character is never given any flack for any decision about their relationship status or any other metric.
To me, Stardew Valley is an open and inclusive place because you aren't going to meet any persecution no matter your alignment. It doesn't need to have every aspect explicitly called out within a character, so long as it is clear that such aspects would still be welcomed in the community. It would be nice to see something well written that did include more nonbinary characters, but that seems like a project well outside the scope of a one-man team like this one. For the scope of the project, I think SDV did as well as it could with the resources available at the time of creation. And it at least respects it enough to not try and shoehorn in tropes or stereotypes just to tick a box. Which is, frankly, more than I could say about most games.
