Petition to add more pronoun options to Stardew Valley surpasses 1000 signatures

October 3, 2023

At the end of September, Atmos Fierce started a petition on Change.org asking Stardew Valley developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone to add more pronoun options for players in the game’s next big update, 1.6. The goal of this request is to help make the game more inclusive to transgender and nonbinary players who may not want to use binary he/him or she/her pronouns.

“When starting a new farm you are tasked with creating a character, but there are only two gender options to choose from. This excludes non-binary players from fully feeling represented in their gameplay, forcing them to select between being referred to as he or she throughout their entire gameplay experience,” Fierce wrote in the petition’s description. “For many trans and non-binary players, the gendered language in the game can feel incredibly disheartening, and invalidating, causing feelings of dysphoria when misgendered while they are playing. 2SLGBTQIA+ players deserve to see themselves represented to the fullest extent in their game.”

ConcernedApe posted a sneak-peek of what’s to come in update 1.6 the day before this petition went live, likely inspiring its creation, as the sneak-peek did not include anything about pronoun additions. Fierce noted on the petition page that “with the 1.6 update currently being worked on, now is the perfect time to make a change like this to the game.”

Currently, the lack of gender neutral or other alternate pronoun options isn’t a huge problem for Stardew Valley players on PC, as they can use the Gender Neutrality Mod. But players on other platforms where mods aren’t available aren’t so lucky. That’s why Fierce feels it’s important to add more pronoun options to the game itself.

“I truly hope that this change can be made for the sake of all the amazing queer Stardew players who I have had the pleasure of encountering in this community,” Fierce wrote. “You are seen, you are valid, and I hope that this petition shows you that you are not alone!”