Stardew Valley fans have called for better inclusion in the popular game by adding more pronoun options for players.
Per Polygon, Canadian content creator Atmos Fierce began a petition on Change.org titled “Pronoun Options for Trans and Non-Binary Players in Stardew Valley.” The petition implores Stawdew Valley creator Eric Barone, also known as ConcernedApe online, to add more pronoun options for non-binary players with the upcoming 1.6 update. At the time of writing, the petition has over 4,000 signatures.
Stardew Valley Lacks Non-Binary Inclusion
Since Stardew Valley was released seven years ago, the game has only allowed for “he/him” or “she/her” pronouns based on the body type chosen at the beginning of the game. Fierce pointed out that a PC mod adding pronoun options had 40,000 downloads to date. There is no such option on some other platforms, however.
“I hope that Eric Barone will see this movement, and realize just how important this change is for the game,” Fierce said. “While new content like more dialogue and festivals is all fun and great, before we can have any of that we first need to address this issue in the game.”
Some Stardew Valley fans expressed support for the movement, detailing their experiences with the game’s misgendering. One of Fierce’s supporters, a non-binary gamer named Mika, described how the current gender options left them feeling “dysphoric” when playing.
“Stardew using the wrong pronouns for me feels very alienating and distant. I tend to make characters that resemble me in many things, so when NPCs use she/her pronouns while referring to my character, it makes me feel extremely dysphoric and drains all of the joy of playing the game, but he/him pronouns don’t feel right either, like they are talking about a completely different person,” Mika said.
Similar petitions have worked in the past. Fierce cited a similar one for The Sims 4 as inspiration. A streamer, MomoMisfortune, started a petition to add non-binary pronouns to the game after many years without. A year later, The Sims 4 developers Electronic Arts announced the addition of non-binary pronouns and other inclusive gender functions.
Besides PC, Stardew Valley is available to play on PlayStation 4 among other consoles.
