How Old is the Main character supposed to be?

[ozzma]

So, coming back to Stardew Valley to try the new stuff and I noticed something odd. The main character starts working some sort of corporate office job, that they've already come to hate. So initially I assumed they were implied to be somewhere between mid to late twenties, but I started noticing stuff.

A few of the Villagers refer to the main character as kid. Then they got a letter from their dad indicated that the main had just moved away from home. Yet the weirdest thing was during the Egg Festival the main character participates, even though the only other challengers are kids and teenagers.

It feels kinda inconstant, like was the main character supposed to be quite young at some point in the game's development, but the JoJa stuff got added in later. Has anyone else noticed this?

[Nakos]

Yep, it IS inconsistent.

You don't get that sick of a job that quickly, the implication is that the main character must be at least in their mid 20's to have had enough time to get that sick of the soulless corporate cubical farm.

(That isn't to say that there aren't jobs that one might get heartily sick of long before one hit say ... 20 ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Long_Way_Gone So ... ya know ... 20-21st century 1st world problems ... (mea culpa, mea culpa, etc))

I always assume my character is between 25 and 30. And I ALWAYS feel deeply creepy participating in the Egg Hunt. But ... there are rewards, and the game expects you to participate, so ... onwards and upwards. Sam, Sebastion, , Abigail, Maru, Pam, Haley, Alex ... they're all supposed to be about 18-19. All of them feel like children to me.

[ozzma]

Nakos původně napsal:

Yep, it IS inconsistent.

You don't get that sick of a job that quickly, the implication is that the main character must be at least in their mid 20's to have had enough time to get that sick of the soulless corporate cubical farm.

(That isn't to say that there aren't jobs that one might get heartily sick of long before one hit say ... 20 ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Long_Way_Gone So ... ya know ... 20-21st century 1st world problems ... (mea culpa, mea culpa, etc))

I always assume my character is between 25 and 30. And I ALWAYS feel deeply creepy participating in the Egg Hunt. But ... there are rewards, and the game expects you to participate, so ... onwards and upwards. Sam, Sebastion, , Abigail, Maru, Pam, Haley, Alex ... they're all supposed to be about 18-19. All of them feel like children to me.

Since Stardew Valley seems to be inspired by Harvest moon, Story of Seasons, etc, I expect it stared with a younger main character as those games do.

[Queen Droxxanna]

OH Yes you can get sick of some jobs fast, I worked an one job that I hated and was bored out of my skull after the first shift. I quit after only a month. So the main character can easily as young as 20.

[ozzma]

Queen Droxxanna původně napsal:

OH Yes you can get sick of some jobs fast, I worked an one job that I hated and was bored out of my skull after the first shift. I quit after only a month. So the main character can easily as young as 20.

Possible, though one does usually need a college education to get that kind of white collar office work. The main would have to be quite cleaver to get out with a degree by twenty.

[Nakos]

ozzma původně napsal:

Since Stardew Valley seems to be inspired by Harvest moon, Story of Seasons, etc, I expect it stared with a younger main character as those games do.

An yet, there are bachelors/bachelorettes like ... Harvey, who's got through at least 8 years of medical school (plus Residency which typically runs 3 to 7 years). So ... Harvey (at his youngest), must be in his late 20s, and is more likely to be in his early to mid 30's. Like most medical doctors (who have independent practices). And Elliot, who's also clearly in his late 20's to early 30's, or Leah, who's been in an (extremely serious) relationship before, and is at least in her mid 20's, if not older. (And Shane, and Emily, both of whom are also clearly supposed to be older (than 18-19)).

Games like Harvest Moon may well have been focused on younger characters (Games like the My Time at Portia and My time at Sandrock also seem to assume the main character is about 18-19). But I think CA realized that's a little weird, and that his audience might well NOT be 12-16 year olds, imagining what it must be like to be 18-20ish.

I dunno.

If your game is aimed at the handheld market, then yeah, it's probably safe to assume that your audience is younger. If your game is inspired by those sorts of games, then maybe there's some carry-over. But SDV is a PC game, it was always a safe assumption that the audience was older (than middle-school).

Personally, I think it's better to leave some "wiggle room" in the MC's age.

[Útost Alronbem]

Kind reminder that in some variants of English "kid" can be used towards a person which is not skilled enough, didn't got enough knowledge of life, is lacking experience.

Sebastian, Alex and Abigail are of relatively same age. Sebastian possesses valid driving license for motorcycles - he wouldn't be able to take rides to the city otherwise. Which (under most generic circumstances worldwide) sets him (AND whole gang by extent) slightly above of "just teenager".
And even if Sebastian, in the end, just commits another petty crime by not having that thing, if they're bangable - they're well above 18 (or 21). Which is well above 'teenager' age "tier" either. Riiiiiiiight?

Harvey is at the very best in his early fourties. Maybe 45 - after all, he's a doctor and he's taking care of himself...
Unless I'd misunderstood George's storyline, George was relatively young when his incident happened. Which leaves relatively tight "window" of age difference between them.
And since George is well above 60 (they've raised Alex - so 60 seems to be legit estimate)...

Unless I'm missing something or Shane is really hormonal, Shane is in his early thirties, judging by how his face looks like after skipping few shaves... and judging by his mental state. The player is probably slightly younger than Shane - by the time Shane goes all in, player character still has grit to change something. Despite working in much more taxing environment.

Bonus point for player being just old enough to be at around 27.
Maru (and not only Maru) admits player's softness of hands. What a surprise.
If the player is in early twenties - why it surprises them? After all, it's expected for a person young enough!

[Nakos]

DrinkFromTheCup původně napsal:

Kind reminder that in some variants of English "kid" can be used towards a person which is not skilled enough, didn't got enough knowledge of life, is lacking experience.

Sure ... the word can be use derogatorily like that, but it's mostly commonly used to indicate that the speaker feels the subject is youthful, young. A child in spirit, if not in literal age.

DrinkFromTheCup původně napsal:

Sebastian, Alex and Abigail are of relatively same age.

Sebastian, Alex, Abigail, Maru, Penny, Haley, Alex are all in the same age range. All of them are marriagable candidates, meaning they're all at least 18 years of age (that being the legal minimum age of "majority" in most places in the world).

Eighteen and Nineteen year olds are still teenagers. Human brains aren't really done growing until about 25. The distinction between someone who's 15-16 and someone who's 18-19 is that the latter group are legal adults, but that's about it. Anyone who's older than about 30 isn't likely to consider the two sub-groups as being very different behaviorally. It's the kind of difference that feels huge when one is living through it, but when viewed through the lens of adulthood seems far smaller and less significant.

DrinkFromTheCup původně napsal:

Harvey is at the very best in his early fourties. Maybe 45 - after all, he's a doctor and he's taking care of himself...
Unless I'd misunderstood George's storyline, George was relatively young when his incident happened. Which leaves relatively tight "window" of age difference between them.
And since George is well above 60 (they've raised Alex - so 60 seems to be legit estimate)...

I think you're misunderstanding the conversation between Harvey and George. Harvey is the town Doctor, but that doesn't necessarily mean he was the town Doctor when George was injured. George's age, and the potential dates of his injury are not indicative of what Harvey's age is.

Harvey's a doctor, which is a graduate degree, indicating approximately 8 years of schooling, minimum. Medical school is usually followed by a Residency which typically lasts between 3-7 years. Technically, Harvey COULD be as young as 25, but it's far more likely that he's in his early to mid thirties.

DrinkFromTheCup původně napsal:

Maru (and not only Maru) admits player's softness of hands. What a surprise.
If the player is in early twenties - why it surprises them? After all, it's expected for a person young enough!

I don't think that has anything to do with the player's age (or apparent age), more likely it's an indicator that the player has been working an office job and hasn't built up any callouses from doing physical labor (as one would expect from someone working on a farm).

[Daniel]

You’re reading too much into it. That one doctor guy looks like a 16 yo kid with one of those fake beards glued on. So, there’s literally no way he could be real doctor (not even low level GP) with a license.

[Coffee Addict]

the character is as old as you the player want it to be if you say your character is 40 then they are 40 if you say they are 10 then so be it

[Queen Droxxanna]

Niki Lauda původně napsal:

the character is as old as you the player want it to be if you say your character is 40 then they are 40 if you say they are 10 then so be it

lol, well I am in my mid 60's myself, so playing a character that is in their early 20's makes me feel younger, lol.

[Maya-Neko]

ozzma původně napsal:

Possible, though one does usually need a college education to get that kind of white collar office work. The main would have to be quite cleaver to get out with a degree by twenty.

I don't know how it is in your country, but over here you can get into apprenticeship right after 9th class, which is when you're 15/16. And there's no law about what kind of degree you need for these kind of jobs over here, so as long as the employer thinks that you're capable of it, then they might consider employing you.

[Nakos]

Daniel původně napsal:

You’re reading too much into it. That one doctor guy looks like a 16 yo kid with one of those fake beards glued on. So, there’s literally no way he could be real doctor (not even low level GP) with a license.

The art is the art. it's an abstraction.

It's fine if you dislike it, but basing Harvey's age on your opinion of the quality of the artwork is silly.

[Sunny]

I think it's left vague/ambiguous so that you can imagine your character to be the age you want to imagine them. Thus why you have such a range of age in marriage candidates.

[Dimensional Traveler]

The Junimos, sensing your destiny in Pelican Town, magically reset your character's age to _____ when he arrives in town.

[LurkinLikeAFlerken]

I honestly assumed the player character and ALL the marriage candidates were 20-30 years old. Apart from the magic and junimos and stuff like that, stardew shows a pretty realistic rural village. My sister-in-law is basically Dr. Harvey. She graduated med school and all, and then started being the village doctor at 27.

My brother got his certification (mechanic) at 21 and came back to live with our parents and work at dad's business, which I think must be what Maru and Penny did to become the town nurse and teacher, and Abigail says she is staying with her parents while taking her education to save money, so she's probably currently doing an online degree. A lot of our friends just stayed and took jobs at local businesses straight after graduation, kind of like Emily, and Sam, or found ways to work from home, like Sebastian.

I went to university in the city, got my degree and a soul-crushing job I quit after only a year and a half. I was only 23 when I was quitting a job like the player character does. I was moving to my village to start over, like Shane and Leah, possibly Elliot, but he might be a first try instead of starting over after things didn't work out on first try. Haley and Alex are the only marriage candidates without any kind of career or education going on. Haley's photography isn't a job, and Alex just seems a bit lost after he got a sports injury and couldn't pursue his dream of playing gridball for a university team or maybe go pro. They're like adults who failed to launch.

edit to add: and as for adults participating in festival activities, our village has more than middle-aged adult's trick or treat with alcohol treat's every halloween and sit on Santa's knee at the Christmas party. Getting old in a village where there's so little going on, you never get too old to play around at festivals.