"Representation" and Stardew Valley.

Welp if you don't hate me already, then this certainly might make you.


So a recent heavy topic on entertainment (mostly video games) has been representation of minorities and the LBGT+ crowd. People are demanding, sometimes violently, that video games need more representation. I, personally, don't see a problem with it, but a lot of people do.

I was recently playing a game called Stardew Valley. Stardew Valley, for those who don't know, is a massive game in the vain of Harvest Moon and it was all made by one person. It's become an indie hit, and it's one of the best games I have played in a long, long time. It does have it's problems, but I'm able to over look them because of how good the rest of the game itself is. One of the biggest things about the game is that, regardless of what sex you make your character, you can marry any of the bachelors and bachelorettes, one of which is black. I thought that that was a great thing, though I'm still iffy on it being everyone since I do believe that that takes away from the characters character. I thought that it was a smart choice to do that, due to the more recent problems people are having with games (though I hope that he did it because he wanted to do it and not because he felt like he had to), but boy was a wrong...

There has been a slew of people taking the piss out of Stardew Valley. From calling it “not realistic enough” to “sexist” to just calling it “racist because there are only two black characters in it” and this needs to stop. Stardew Valley was made for people to relax while playing, not to have people argue over it, but that's not the point of this. I wanted to talk about one aspect of the arguments. That being “representation”.

A lot of people on the forum NeoGAF (and for the record I do not recommend going onto the website and hoping for the civil discussion, it's nothing but a giant echo chamber) have been complaining left and right about this topic due to Demetrius, the towns scientist, and his daughter, Maru, a nurse at the clinic and one of the bachelorettes, being the only black characters in it (not including the player character if you decide to make them black). There was another controversy with a mod that someone made where you can make Demetrius and Maru white, and the guy who made it getting called all sorts of names, and he might have gotten doxxed as well. There is also a mod for the game that makes all of the characters black.

In my opinion, there is no problem with either mod. I'm not going to use any of them, and I don't want either of them to get taken down, but due to all the shit one of them got thrown at them, one of them got taken down by the creator. I don't have to tell you which one. Now while I don't agree with the mod (since the release got taken down, I can't see why he made it) I hate how the guy took it down out of fear. Anyway that's beside the point. My point is is that neither of these mods are necessary because the representation in Stardew Valley is fine. There doesn't need to be more of it in the game.

You might be crying “but there does” and I'm saying that there doesn't. Think of it this way. There could have not been any black characters in the game at all, and just there being a black character, someone who is not white, makes it diverse. It might not be what you think diverse means, but it's still diverse. Look at a game like Borderlands and how many LBGT+ characters are in it. Granted, I still think they went at it the wrong way and that it's bad representation because I do not think they did it as a way to represent anything, but it's still representation. If they had only one gay character in it, it would have still be representation, and I think one of the main reasons there are so many in it, is because of the huge cast and Stardew Valley doesn't have NEARLY as many characters in it's cast.

I see this as no different then when people were complaining that Fire Emblem Fates had only two gay characters, and they were split between each game. You can cry all you want about representation, but just because it doesn't mean what you think the word means, doesn't mean that it's not representation, or that it's not diverse, and this load of crap needs to stop.

People are making it hard for developers to make what they want to make because they fear what sites like Polygon and Kotaku, two gaming news sites that have a large following (because God only knows why that is) might slander their game before it's even released. Look at what happened with Fire Emblem Fates and with Team Ninja not wanting to release any more Dead or Alive games state side. These sites are catering to a crowd of people who have no interest in playing these types of games, or any kind of game. They just want to start something. They want a world where game devs self censor themselves and can't make what they want to make, and if they want to make a game where all the characters are either black or gay or trans or whatever, then go ahead. I have no problem with it as long as it's something that you wanted to make, but if it's something that you felt that you needed to make to make everyone happy, then I will have a problem with it. If you make a mod because you feel like the game isn't the way it should have been, then why are you even playing it to begin with? Are you so insecure in your race and sexuality that you need to make everyone else insecure about it as well? Granted I know that most of the people who complain about this crap are straight white people, but whatever.

And that's all I want to say on this matter. Sorry I didn't disclose any links to my claims, I didn't really want to look up anything since this was still fresh in my head. Also sorry if this article seemed more off them my usual ones. I wrote this in one sitting in about an hour or two because I didn't want to dwell on it and got mad about this Stardew Valley thing since I really love the game and I love that the dev made what he wanted to make. You can honestly feel all of the love and hardwork that he put into the game with every minute that you play of it, and it will only get better from here.

Also I want to point something else out that if you disagree with me, that's fine. Hell, you can even say it and give your reasons in the thread. I am not looking for an echo chamber and am open to actual debate (meaning actual discussions and not name calling that leads to attacks and doxxing/blocking). I get the feeling that people think that I'm a Gater, which is another beehive for another day, and because of the misconception with Gaters and SJW's I think people are afraid to talk to me about the stuff I write, and the reason I write these things is because I want discussion. I want there to be another side of an argument and I am more then willing to play that part as long as the other person is mature about it.

Anyway I got more article ideas in the making, just need to find the time to write them. I was working on some big project, but life happened and I've been really busy and drained lately.

 

Part of the issue is people wanting something in games, comics, or whatever but instead of taking the time to learn and make their own they decide to complain to the ones who make it. The supply and demand of the economy is at work, but it's hard to make what people want when there is not really a consensus on what they want. I have wandered onto comment trains and forum post that say a game has met someones idea of representation or not having a female character as a sex object only to be decried by many others saying that they are wrong. Or in one of the funnier cases I've seen, "They just made the traditional male character into a female," it's not progressive enough whining.

I'm not saying that devs shouldn't be more inclusive, but people need to learn to be quiet sometimes. Sure Maru may be the only black character, but how is she portrayed? Is it bad? Good?

I'll just leave this bit here as an open observation. I work as an EMT in my city with a large black population. I also did some clinical rotations in Detroit, both in an ambulance and an ER towards Oakland. There is a surprising lack of black nurses and CNAs. There are some facilities with many, but for the most part the healthcare system I've seen is primarily filled with whites. African Americans in the health field is pretty low. The company I work for has four african americans working on the road out of the entire force in the city.

It's just an odd observation I've made.

 

@Heizengard

Welcome to the world we live in today.... The internet is a great tool with a lot of tools using it (Pun intended).

I am going to try to word this in the least offensive way possible if I offend any one of you I apologies it was not my intention.

I chuckle every time I hear people complain about lack of diversity in games, movies, Books & TV series because to me all these categories are considered a form of art.
Art to me, although I am not very good at being artistic, is the ability someone has to express themselves in a form of a story, pictures or video games and what not. If I as a person want to create a story with a Male white straight hero then who the F are you to tell me I am wrong? Its my story if you dont like it don't read it and create your own character the way you wish to create them. To me people who complain in lack of diversity in this stuff are basically people who are to lazy to try and change it themselves so they want someone else to do it for them and that does not sit well with me.

Now with that said, should these people be allowed to voice their opinions? Of course they should as long as it is done in moderate way and I do strongly believe that they are changing the gaming industry in this form as long at it is done in a constructive way. There is never anything wrong with feed back from people, that's how new Idea's get's started and progress is made. The problem is with most people who post on the internet anonymously (the Irony in this makes me laugh as i am here posting anonymously as well) are not giving them constructive feed back, they shred the artist to piece's as a sexist racist bigot and to me that is wrong.

I am also not trying to say that diversity is not a good thing it is, but to crucify someone for not being diverse enough is ludicrous. Its his story let him tell it the way he wants to tell it.

As for the mod that changed the black characters to white and vice-versa in a world that is fair both mod should be canned or both should be aloud to exist. unfortunately we dont live in a world that's fair... But I do question his motive for creating that all white mod I mean has this guy lived under a rock for the past 20 years to not know that it would have this kind of backfire to it? In my honest opinion I can only see two reason's for him to create this mod either he really is a racist or the most likely scenario he was simply trying to be the biggest asshole internet troll and have a kick out of the fallout that his mod would create. but without knowing the guy personally I cannot really see what his motives were.

Anyways that is just my 2 cents.

 

Yeah I was hoping to find the thread that he made, but it was edited so I wasn't able to get a motive from him/her. I think they were just trying to start something and got more then they bargained for.

 

People complain far too much. If a story lacks diversity, as in omitting LGBT, I see that as just wanting to keep the story simple.
Besides, the way a story works, what happens in it is just the way it is. The hero dies, and people can end up calling it an awful story because they did not like that part, not because the story itself was poor.
That is the way the story went, and that is the way it will be, for that is what happened. If people treated true stories and reality like that, then life would probably be one badly rated experience (people cheating on each other, killing each other, etc. petty acts). If a story has a romance between a man and woman, with no other relationships taking place, just a simple straight relationship between the two, will people still fuss over that because they wanted something else? It would not surprise me. Get over it, that is what happens in the story. It should be as unchangeable as the true stories of reality.

This is something that gets me.
A media/commercial/video (or whatever) involving a white woman can/will get some sort of flak for sexualizing her or presenting her as stupid. Same goes for a black woman. ANY WOMAN.
A media/commercial/video (or whatever) involving a male or female of a different gender orientation will get some sort of flak if the individual is the recipient of something unfortunate.
A media/commercial/video (or whatever) involving minority will get some sort of flak if anything that happens to them or the way they are represented is negative in any interpretable way.
It seems the only person that the only person available for flak, ridicule, and scorn are we white men. White men like me. How many people do you know of that complain about white men being abused in media?
Sorry if that above stuff did not make sense. I used a Reader's Digest article I read on white men being treated as the fools in commercials since it would be politically[?] incorrect to use women for the idiot parts.

Well, time to start a new movement. I call it the White Pride movement, where all white men are the minority, and our flag is white with a grey quad-swastika. Let me know if you want to sign up.

I must be ultra racist, since I play games and watch anime that tend to have a lot of white people in it (or at least less than two blacks).
I see that situation as, according to an unsaid part of the story, 'Two black people wondered in to Stardew Valley. There used to be none.'

I guess with all of that, it ticks me off that people want Eqwality, and are getting too fragile because of that. They did not like what someone said, and feel victimized. There is not diversity all over the place, and they feel it is discriminitive. There is a song by Lincoln Park called 'Numb" that contains the phrase "I want to be more like me, and be less like you.' This is how I would feel if people were wanting me to make something that would conform to what they would want and think right. Art is not really art if it is held back because it is shaped by others opinions. At that point, it is no better than propaganda.
People used to be upset or feel persecuted because they felt that nobody agreed with their views, but now they are persecuting others for not agreeing with them. I start to wonder if all/some of our American freedoms will be our downfall, by becoming too weak and fragile like that as a society. Being unable to handle hard words.

I have a feeling some of this stuff is going to leave a person shaking their head for some reason, either because I mad no sense or because my view appears to be skewed. Please notify me if that is the case.
As for now, I am just going to cool off from the disgust I feel towards petty people.