A warning against playing Stardew Valley - it's darker than you think!

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Stardew valley looked like a ton of fun as I've always had an interest in farming games and what really sold it for me was the ability to play coop with friends and family members.

Very early on in the game I received a letter from a wizard addressing the strange 'spiritual' sensations when visiting the abandoned city hall. Something just didn't sit right with me and I did further research to check if the game was clear from too many 'occult' experiences.

I was horrified to find out that the game actually touches upon sacrificing children to idols in a witch hut in order to remove them permanently from your life, or in other words, killing them so you never see them again. And to think this game is marketed to young children as a fun and safe experience...

I felt driven to expose the pure evil in this game in order to warn parents and gamers not to support and play a game that supports such evil practices. As a follower of Christ I know the severe consequences of turning to occult practices and promoting so called 'progressive' ideas such as gay marriage so its important to bring such things into the light for all to see.
 
I'll admit that I thought this was a hoax at first, but then I did some research and found this video:


And then I found this article on the Stardew Valley wiki: https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Dark_Shrine_of_Selfishness

I'm still skeptical that the developers intended to promote child sacrifice, especially given that they chose to name the mechanism for removing children from your playthrough "Dark Shrine of Selfishness." My guess is that they responded to player demand for a way to remove children from a save game while perhaps taking a jab at the players who made the request.
 
Skipped it because of the same sex marriage. Now I am doubly glad I did.

They could have just had the kids grow up and move away yeesh.
 
So I was thinking about this earlier today and I wonder if the game developers aren't promoting child sacrifice, but rather condemning the selfishness of people who want to abdicate their responsibilities are parents, going to so far as to call such attitudes and actions evil?

Think about it. If you designed a game and your players kept nagging you to add a way to get rid of their kids and you never intended to allow players to simply "change their mind" about being parents, maybe, just maybe, you would add the feature but do so in a way that clearly communicates your own disagreement with the act (even going so far as to name the method for unloading digital children as the "Dark Shrine of Selfishness").

Just a thought.
 
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So I was thinking about this earlier today and I wonder if the game developers aren't promoting child sacrifice, but rather condemning the selfishness of people who want to abdicate their responsibilities are parents, going to so far as to call such attitudes and actions evil?

Think about it. If you designed a game and your players kept nagging you to add a way to get rid of their kids and you never intended to allow players to simply "change their mind" about being parents, maybe, just maybe, you would add the feature but do so in a way that clearly communicates your own disagreement with the act (even going so far as to name the method for unloading digital children as the "Dark Shrine of Selfishness").

Just a thought.

It's a respectable idea as the word "selfishness" does show disdain on the creator's part. It's possible it could make people think about their actions and learn... or they could just click and forget like a million other things people ignore. Reddit comments run the gamut from jokes about it to revulsion but most just ask questions on the effects of it or, to rephrase, ask making certain they avoid consequences.

In my dreams of making a multiplayer game I want a built in language filter but would include a method of disabling it (mainly because things never function perfectly and I myself possess a certain uncertainty as to some words). Also if I ever made a realistic game children being invincible, like Skyrim, just wouldn't work. Honestly slavery is one of the themes I've thought about depicting but I digress. When you portray realism you have to depict sin and the freedom to have it. The problem is most depict sin without showing any consequences to it. It's the explicit and steamy James Bond romp that is most popular not an inferred off screen act that deals with the pregnancy, stds, or the broken relationships that result. However I don't think either of those reasons apply in this case. Even if this was done with disdain there aren't any lasting consequences to the act. Ghost children don't haunt you and your spouse is none the wiser. Also the modding community could have easily created, and probably did, a mod to allow the removal of children. Giving people the freedom to do wrong is a different thing than directly helping them. Reminds me of Arron making a golden calf, didn't really want to, but, thought it was better than them murdering him. Not sure that's good logic because you can use it to justify doing a lot of "lesser" evil because you were afraid of what might happen.

For me it comes down to I wouldn't have added the feature when they already had the freedom to add it themselves. It's especially true when there are other more realistic ways to remove children that don't involve bird-ification. Just have them grow up and move away or, if you must, adoption. Applying disapproving text and pangs of regret work with adoption too and could depict lasting consequences. I've read the game is actually supposed to be more dark than you'd think with some subplots on abuse, drug addiction, porn, etc. There are also a million other features a small developer could have better spent their time on yet they chose to add this. The entire point of being an indie developer is to make the game you want to make not the one other people want you to so the "fans wanted it" excuse doesn't fly with me.

I will say the indeterminate nature of the approval on child killing is far more palatable to me than the clear approval of gay marriage. With the former it's possible to draw a negative conclusion of it and by itself may not have stopped me from buying the game. The later did stop me though and with this my resolve to avoid it has increased.
 
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bought this game to play for 8.99 from steam and thought it was a good relaxing games and looks on google and found this post and got scared so i deleted the game.... ugh why! btw im glad it was only 8.99 when i bought it but yeah.. just going to stick with animal crossing
 
bought this game to play for 8.99 from steam and thought it was a good relaxing games and looks on google and found this post and got scared so i deleted the game.... ugh why! btw im glad it was only 8.99 when i bought it but yeah.. just going to stick with animal crossing
Yeah I got a free copy of Undertale I am passing on too. As this is a sinful world nothing we play will be perfect, but more and more things I find myself avoiding not wanting to give support or money to. Tough decisions, but keep Christ first whatever you do.
 
If I may add-in. While I agree that it was not a great move to add in gay marriage, divorce, and Occult, etc. I would like to remind everyone that these are optional parts of the game just as it is optional in real life. You can breeze through the entire game without having to encounter such things (except occult, but I downloaded a Christian Conversion mod for that). Ultimately, if it is your conviction to not play the game, then I fully understand, but I just want to remind people that there is a way to enjoy the game without the sin aspect to it.
 
If I may add-in. While I agree that it was not a great move to add in gay marriage, divorce, and Occult, etc. I would like to remind everyone that these are optional parts of the game just as it is optional in real life. You can breeze through the entire game without having to encounter such things (except occult, but I downloaded a Christian Conversion mod for that). Ultimately, if it is your conviction to not play the game, then I fully understand, but I just want to remind people that there is a way to enjoy the game without the sin aspect to it.

You are correct but we are really talking about two different things as Paul did with eating food offered to idols 1 Corinthians 8 . It is possible to personally eat food offered to idols if the idol is meaningless to you but you still have to consider on how your actions effect others. More directly if we as Christians give our money (technically it's all God's money) to things that support and encourage sin you get more things supporting and encouraging sin and more sin as we have with LGBT. When people openly encourage and validate sin as good it can't get more clear to me that is causing my brother to stumble. So I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to stumble.

I remember coming across a blog post where a homosexual woman was talking about her first exposure to gay marriage and homosexuality as a child. It was a same sex marriage choice all the way back in Fallout 2 (I think it was 2 but it's been a long time). Before then the concept of homosexuality was foreign to her. A game definitively influenced her. I just got through reading about, according to the wiki, the "Influence and legacy" of Revolutionary Girl Utena on the creator of Steven Universe, the bisexual and non-binary, Rebecca Sugar . She wants to, and I quote the wiki...
Sugar has discussed the importance of creating LGBT representation and content, especially in children's entertainment. On Cameron Esposito's podcast QUEERY, Sugar stated "I want to champion LGBTQIA, all of it, content...in G-Rated, family entertainment. I want to do that forever". She also explained how Steven Universe has helped her come to terms with her own identity as bisexual and non-binary. She believes that early and positive exposure to the LGBT community can help queer identifying children avoid experiencing shame in their own identities.
Who will she pass the torch to next and encourage in sin? The cycle will repeat until enough people say "no" by not watching, supporting, or giving money to such media. Whether it is Christians in Christ or sinners in their sin human beings look for validation and encouragement of their values and behavior. It is not enough for us to only "avoid personal sin". To do only that not only selfishly abandons others to their sin it means that one day you will find yourself alone.

"Games" are just another forum of media like books, TV, or movies. They are not special in that respect, however, no media, no purchase, no action should be excluded from considering the consequences that come from that choice. Do my actions further the kingdom of God, His will, or push people farther away from it into sin. We must make an evaluation of whether our actions, which includes everything from what we buy to how we vote, are profitable or counterproductive to Christ.

Yes no media will be perfect as we live in an imperfect world rather ask yourself is it causing you to sin, is it causing others to sin, and ask are your actions profitable to God with it. I've regrets and mistakes in buying some things, likely worse than Stardew, but with others they were the best available option to have any interaction with the world otherwise I would have never had the opportunity to represent Christ to anyone. We must be in the world but never be conformed to it. We are supposed to be changing the world for Christ, not being changed, not being silent, not just following, much less supporting, the popular flow directly or indirectly. I may never change the world but for the love of God I will try to run the race like I mean to win it.

Look I think there are worse games out there than Stardew Valley that I would avoid first. If you've already bought it you already supported the developer's choices, the bridge is burnt, so if there is no temptation to sin with it I see no reason for you not to play it now. If it keeps you from looking at porn or something I can even see a positive but even that can easily become an excuse to ignore quote "lesser" sin, responsibilities, or consequences. As in "Yo I didn't rob a bank or do drugs today I'm going to treat myself to some porn." X.X . A Christian should never go blithely with the world ignoring the consequences of their choices. If you are old enough to comprehend these words there is no neutral, no middle ground, you are either making things better, pursuing God, or making them worse, pursuing the world. Part of the problem or part of the solution. Which sounds more like being salt and light to you?
 
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