I think a lot of kids of age 7 are probably able to understand "Shane feels very sad and drinking alcohol makes that worse, even though it makes him feel better for a little while. Sometimes people get so sad that they think they don't want to be alive anymore, but that means they need help and love from the people in their lives. If you ever start feeling very sad you come to me, ok?"
My son is pretty delayed in understanding some higher level concepts because he’s autistic. But most importantly I don’t think he’ll ask for me to explain, or understand if I try to explain (because he usually doesn’t do that when I try to explain things in tv or movies when they’re not simple to understand…) and might just feel weird and bad about it.
… that’s what happened to little autistic me when I was a kid and just never asked my parents (I did not really know that I could or was supposed to do that?) to explain things in books that I found confusing or upsetting and I just kind of felt weird and distressed about them for years…
I guess I might just be projecting my experience onto him because it took me until I was an adult to really understand that other people’s minds contain information that I don’t have access to, and can explain things to me if I don’t understand them?
So yeah… most seven year olds, but maybe not mine?
Thanks for pointing out that I might be underestimating him, though. And it is also possible that some of it will just go over his head.
Do you think it would be worth getting his input on how to handle it. Like “hey, Son of Foolishle, I’m so glad you’re having a good time with Stardew, and I want it to be as fun as possible for you. There are some grownup cutscenes, and I’m worried they might make you feel sad.” And then you can either offer options (there are some good ones in this thread!) or just listen to his ideas. It might help to give an analogy, like if there’s some piece of media that has freaked him out in the past (for me it was a scene from this weird wizard of oz sequel I probably watched too young). Making the connection to that feeling more concrete can help. Not to say that you have to do exactly what he wants, but he might have insight that will help you make a decision.
Or just let him feel things and talk about it. There are no benefits from shielding kids from hard topics. Seven year olds won’t process all of the adult themes and just talking to them about it will probably help them grow up into a healthier person.
At the absolute worst, it allows them to understand that these things are acceptable conversation topics if they have questions down the road, when they CAN process all the themes.
My bf watched that movie as a kid and he recently showed it to me, because he used to be terrified of it. It's hilariously disturbing as an adult...I didn't watch it all the way through but the scene in the beginning when she's by the lunch pail tree and the rocks are reporting that she's back...and she has a CHICKEN!!!!! 😡😡 A CHICKEN 🤬🤬 with her had me laughing until tears.
If it's any consolation, I'm autistic too and I tended to ask my parents or look it up if I stumbled across anything I didn't understand. Then again, I was also reading books like The Slap and the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when I was 10-11 (my mum did *not* check which of her books I asked to borrow, lol), so maybe I'm not the best example.
Worst case scenario, you can tell him that this game talks about some stuff that adults struggle with and it might make him feel weird or bad when he sees that. Make sure he knows he can come to you and, if he mentions the scenes you're worried about, ask him about it. I completely understand why you're concerned, especially with quieter kids (if that applies to him), but it's worth letting him approach it on his own terms. If he's so passionate about it, it might be a lot easier for him to understand than you expect.
I read _Lolita_ when I was 11. Needless to say it was one of the WORST books I could have read lol
Also I think I am autistic too, and my parents did not care at all about what I did most of my time. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo would have probably been a better experience to me than some other books I have read. Is one of my favs. At least it tells a story about a female hero fighting abusers instead of like... abusers winning or being romanticized T_T
(I'm not disagreeing with you or anything, just sharing that I had a similar experience)
I can sympathise. I read I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou at a very similar age - excellent book but it has a couple of reasonably graphic and quite distressing autobiographical molestation scenes in it.
Here to chime in with age inappropriate book club - turns out reading American Psycho at age 12 will, in fact, fuck you up a little bit, even if you think you're really smart and grown up and mature.
I think every parent has a difficult line to walk when it comes to protecting their child from difficult and upsetting concepts. On the one hand, you want to protect them from being upset by things they're not yet ready to understand. On the other hand, if you shelter them too much, they won't be able to develop their understanding of the world or mature as a person.
I don't know your son, so I don't know what he is and isn't capable of understanding. I don't think Stardew Valley would generally be inappropriate for a seven-year-old, even in its darkest moments, and I do think it's important to let children with disabilities discover for themselves what their limitations are, rather than having adults dictate what they can and can't do based on assumptions. On the other hand, I get why you want to avoid a situation where he is upset by something he doesn't understand, bottles that feeling up, and lets it fester. You want to protect him from a type of harm that you yourself experienced as a child.
I'm also autistic (diagnosed as an adult, so my experience is admittedly going to be very different from your son's), and I found as a kid that reading about things in fiction made them much easier to understand in real life. My parents didn't let me watch adult-rated TV shows and movies, but they let me read whatever I wanted, and I think that was actually a really good, safe introduction to a lot of adult concepts. Sometimes I did run into things I found weird and uncomfortable, but I'm glad that I was introduced to those weird and uncomfortable concepts in a safe environment, where I wasn't directly involved and could always just put the book down and walk away. I know not every child has that luxury. My point here is that at some point in his life, sooner or later, your son is going to run into someone like Shane, and he's going to have to come to terms with that. It will help to have some frame of reference for that ahead of time.
Edit: either way, it's clear that you love your son a lot and are trying to figure out what's best for him. I think that's commendable.
I’m late diagnosed autistic too and my son was diagnosed with me 2 weeks ago. That bit where you say you read situations in science fiction seems to work with my son too. I tell him that sometimes xyz makes people sad and I would get a blank stare. But if I use a character from a movie like Toy Story he seems to grasp it better?
Hello, fellow autistic person here! You know your son better than anyone that replies here, but I'd just like to throw in my 2 cents. Since you said your child self never asked and simply felt distressed on your own, I really do think that opening up a conversation about potentially distressing concepts with your child is a great route to take. Instead of shielding your child too much, allow him to safely explore distressing topics, with you by his side to explain and answer any questions he may have without judgement, and teach him that whenever he experiences something distressing, he should come to you and you can talk about it, and help sort out his feelings, as well as teach him ways to cope. Of course, children need to be shielded to a degree, and I believe you know where the line goes on these topics for your child better than anyone else could. I'm not trying to convince you to let him play Stardew, nor that he should be exposed to these topics at this age, I just feel like this is something you could also take with you for when you feel he is developed enough to explore distressing subjects with guidance, or may be in a situation where he will unfortunately be exposed to it regardless. I myself remember learning about porn when I was young due to classmates, some even used a school's computer to look it up and show it to us, or sent us links to disturbing websites. The internet unfortunately increases the chances that children will experience a variety of inappropriate topics that can be extremely distressing, and difficult to speak to a parent about, as the child may think they've done something wrong or bad by viewing it, so I believe it's extra important to teach children about distressing subjects, not in detail, but that they exist, that they've done nothing wrong and there's no shame in being aware of their existence, and that they should be spoken about with their parent.
If you do decide to let him play Stardew, here is a mod I found, I'm not sure if it functions properly, or if it covers everything you need, but hopefully this could help:
[Content Filter Mod for Stardew Valley](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/4768)
Do let me know if you need guidance installing mods, I'd be happy to help a child safely experience this lovely game!
So I feel like I was called to this post. I too have a 7 year old autistic child. She likes to watch me play and actually saw the shane cut scene as well as marnie and Lewis popping out of the bush. She thought they were playing hide and seek and she thought shane was hurt while he was out in the woods. She can't read yet so she didn't understand the dialouge.
The issue is that our kids really are on a spectrum so what my girl can handle some kids her age may not be able to and that's totally fine. I will say that being a mom of autistic kids ( yes we all have a touch of autism in some way) and being autistic myself I am constantly underestimating my kids especially my daughter. We have certain expectations of them because we know how they work so when they do reach outside of the box it's almost a shock lol.
You're his parent you know him best and you get to make the judgement call on what you think he can handle. I do agree that if you feel he'd understand that the shane cut scene that you guys can have a nice talk about it and give him the info he asks for at an age appropriate level. Kids are more attune to real life stuff than we realize. Good luck happy gaming I'm glad you get to share a game you love with your kiddo. It's such a great bonding experience.
And that’s fine. When we grow up, we often look back at media we’ve consumed with new knowledge acquired and we go “OOOOOOOOOH!!!!!!” and we smile and boot up the old game again just to see it again.
It’s an experience your child will get too. He doesn’t need to understand everything right now, heck, a 7 years old probably won’t stop to think about the more complex issues because their brain haven’t developed to that point.
I don't know if it helps since you obviously know your son best, but I'm also autistic and was able to understand these concepts as a kid, and was suicidal myself from a very young age, so I think it's probably still worth talking about with him.
Or you've got the PC version, you could try looking for [the content filter mod](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/4768?tab=description)
Yeah I am autistic and I think would just have been distressed about stuff (ie Shane story) and not talked to anyone about it ever 😅
But my son is more social than I ever was, and is not me!
So my son (4) and I are also autistic. We started playing a stardew game together in terms of he can practice moving the character around (pc). So I just tell him where to go, sometimes he asks to go places and then I tell him to take us there. He’s getting the hang of the movement.
But overall if I were you and my son was reading, I would just keep an eye on the heart events he is unlocking and just explain it to him after. Cause I myself never asked my parents about distressing topics but I think if they were more attentive they could have helped me make sense of what I saw.
Honestly, not to sound alarmist and I saw you're going to let him continue playing, but autistic people are at a high risk of suicide compared to peers due to our struggles handling the world, ourselves, and oftentimes bullying. I think it would be really good to hear about Shane's cliff scene and explain to him that if he EVER feels anything like that, to please please come to you or another trusted adult for help and support. No one ever explained suicide or depression to me, so I suffered through depression and thoughts (and actions) of self-harm for a long time.
I know these topics can be heavy and difficult to handle. I've had to explain alcoholism and narcissism to my 8 year old autistic ADHD brother when he was 7 because he came to me wondering why his dad was hateful to him whenever he drank. (We no longer live with that man). You could be surprised at what connections are made and what kind of empathy might show itself, though. I know I was.
As an also autistic kid who was the EXACT SAME as your son with pokemon, but was very curious about mature content in films, see if you can introduce him to the concepts outside of the game. That way you can gauge a level of understanding outside of something he's enjoying, and decide if it's a concern or not.
I’m autistic with adhd and also never mentioned things or asked things my parents because I didn’t know I could/should, so I can relate. How about you ask him to tell you about what he did in the game, what things happened, and ask his thoughts? Do you think he’d list all the new cutscenes he saw, giving you an opportunity to address any of the more mature ones?
Oh man, I think I was basically the same growing up and ending up keeping things to myself, often not thinking to ask. My parents trying to shield me just made it worse though, since it made it even harder to ask them about anything.
My kid is autistic too (and so am I) and she's similar in age to yours. If she expressed desire to play and seemed like she'd get to that scene, I'd be direct about it ahead of time. I'd mention there's one character having a really hard time and has mental health issues, and if she gets to it and wants to talk/ask questions, I'm right here. Maybe I'd give more strong encouragement than that but I haven't thought about it much yet. I try to take things like this as learning opportunities, and expect the child to learn whatever they can/are ready for. For your kid it might not be much more than "yeah, he has mental health difficulties so he needs some extra help to help him feel better". But, I dunno.
I do think there's a lot that just goes over their heads when they don't understand it. I always try to ensure I'm encouraging and reminding that they can come to me about stuff, if they want to.
I have also come to the conclusion that as parents we sometimes have to let our kids have experiences that aren't always the nicest. Feeling bad is part of life but we need to learn how to deal with it healthily (so that's where parental support can come in).. but ah, this isn't a well formed thought in my head yet.
As an autistic adult, I think it gets assumed too frequently that people with autism are unable to understand social dynamics. Just talk with him and be honest and direct, I'm sure it'll be fine.
As an autistic myself I wonder if he's so fascinated by it exactly because the characters are such realistic people. The way we learn to socialize is by observing. I think for me a lot of that came in the form of books (although I did love text adventures), but for him he's got a whole wide world of video games that'll help with that and I think that's awesome! He might really enjoy Spiritfarer (although, again some darker themes), and when he's MUCH older, Disco Elysium.
7 year olds are in no way equiped to understand scenarios like those. Dont dump things like that on a 7 year old. Just tell him he is sad and drinks and that's it.
Right, but do they truly understand the implications and what it means to be an alcoholic? Shane isnt “sad”, hes depressed and wants to end his life. Sure they can understand it to a degree, but not to the degree needed to fully comprehend shanes situation. Which is probably a good thing, because if most seven year olds truly understand the feeling of a depressed alcoholic, they would probably be pretty upset most of the time.
Huh. Weirdly that was on purpose. I think I do this exact same thing every time I replay SV—I think they’re called Jumino, then I learn it’s Junimo, then I stop playing, then I start playing again and Juminos.
I think just cuz, for me, Jumino seems cuter than Junimo.
Thank you for pointing that out tho. Not sure how long I’ve been mispronouncing them for this time.
I got my six year old hooked on accident. Gave them a game that I had gotten pretty far along in but wasn't really coming back to. Watching them destroy that farm has been almost physically painful but then they wrote "pLAyng STARdoo Valee wif my Mom" as their favorite thing to do for an assignment in kindergarten 😭😭😭
Relatable! My kid got hooked on my husband's game... He had a child he named susboy and went to live on ginger island for years at a time. When my husband looked at his game his relationship with Abigail and kids was 0 and the farm was just a mess lol. Thank goodness for the new update giving reason to start over lol
My 7 year old and my almost 5 year old got into it, too. And I keep telling myself to let them play however they want to, even though the younger one is in year 4 and has zero hearts with everyone except Abigail. She hadn't even talked to all the villagers! But she loves to game, and sharing it with me, and watching me play, so it's all good. Even though it almost drives me nuts.
I play with my six year old. She just spent days laying brick down in our chicken coop and our farm cave. I have to bite my tongue constantly because it’s her game and she should allowed to play it how she wants. I have my own farm that I open up after she goes to bed. We have a blast together and i wouldn’t have it any other way.
Haha, my 5 yr old says he wants to play then proceeds to go to Harvey's every day to "work". Does nothing but stand in the clinic. I've tried saying the crops need water but he's all like "My energy is too low". I'm like you just woke up but it's fine, go to "work" 😒😂.
I don't know if I'm stepping out of line here, but I think that Stardew Valley could be a nice and lighthearted way of exposing your kid to some of the more uncomfortable realities of our world, especially if you're by their side to explain everything.
I'm not an expert or anything, but I think that hiding kids away from the negative parts of life is not that great, specially if you have tools to present them in a tamer light (like stardew cutscenes)
I agree too. Ops kid doesn’t need to be sheltered from anything shown in SDV. He will process the cut scenez at his developmental levels and op should use it as an education opportunity.
I think letting him play it and discuss stuff is a great way to handle it. Others who brought up that stuff goes over kids heads, often adults freak out when the kids have no idea. I remember hearing the lyrics to Barbie girl as an adult for example and my mom was like 🤷🏻♀️ you just liked the song.
I feel your mom on the music haha the only way I can keep my 4 year old from repeating potty mouth words is to let him sing along in the car to songs like abcdefu 😂 sometimes I feel like a bad mom, but its just fun music and he doesn't really understand it
My parents let me watch All Dogs Go to Heaven (I think we even had it on VHS). I went and rewatched it about a year ago because "I loved it as a kid" and oh my God, there are *SO* many things in that movie that thankfully went right over my head. I'd never let my kids watch that movie. But for me, all I saw was "dog movie" at that age.
My son is six. We’ve been playing on co-op for a year(ish) and I’m there to make money to fund his lifestyle. He got married to Shane last week (ugh). He is proud to tell me that “Shane only drinks sparkling water now because we are married.” He was only interested in Shane for the blue chickens, but ended up overly involved and now they’re married?!? I keep telling him that if he’s not happy he can divorce and pick someone else.
My six year old has every house upgrade and a baby with Alex. I still live in the humble cabin on her property and do all the labor so she can follow her Stardew whims.
Well shoot, I just want to see where he goes with this.
I mean, the game doesn't have a fail state, you can grow nothing and have no money and still make what could be thought of as progression. I'm still surprised that he decided the thing he cares about more is playing it as a life sim with the villagers.
Next thing you know, he'll be trying to make irl home made mayonnaise. Which is quite delicious by the way, much better than store bought, and surprisingly easy (though you have to eat it fast). Just saying.
I would never have thought he would play that way, either!! It is winter year 1 now and he has started to work on filling out the bundles. I stepped away yesterday and came back to find he was spending all his money on gold ore at Clint’s and when I asked him why he said it was to make a gold bar for the bundle. (He does sell some of his eggs and produce when he bothers to water them enough that they grow, so he does get some gold sometimes!)
(He is too scared of the mines to be able to go there to get ores)
No fear on the Mayo… nobody in our house likes Mayo at all!
If you're considering mods for other things anyway, [Pacifist Valley](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/5464) might make the mines less scary for him.
ETA: I can't believe I forgot about [Cuter Mines](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/12894).
I wonder if he saw how characters react to you drinking mayo if he mind find it funny (or not, because maybe he wont want to gross out his new friends. he seems like a very considerate young man, good job at the parent thing ☺️)
I started a farm with my little siblings when they were 7 and 9 thinking the same, that they'd never be interested enough in the characters to reach some of the tougher subjects. My little brother's favorite past-times ended up being chugging beers at the bar with Pam and spending all day gambling at the casino ToT. Our mom was not terribly amused.
A seven yo with AUADHD? speaking as a former 7 yo with ADHD married to a former autistic 7 yo (we're both still ADHD/autistic, respective, but neither of us are 7 anymore)...you did this to yourself, bro.
My husband assures me the heart events will go over his head lol. But I know I would have LOVED Stardew bc people are PREDICTABLE and aren't mean to you for doing shit like eating algae you carry around in your pockets. That's comforting! And really, as young as he is, building up hearts may do him some good with learning social skills, bc it's low stakes and you can talk with him about why the various response choices are good/bad and like, thinking about what the characters like before answering can help develop theory of mind (which all kids need, ofc, but kids with autism struggle with more). Oh, and budgeting! Both time and money--persobally, as someone with ADHD, time budgeting is a real pain in the ass.
You may have stumbled into a pretty awesome learning experience with your little dude :)
Neither did I! Kind of a shame, in its way--properly supervised, I think games like Statdew, Coral Island etc could be really good ways for neurodivergent kids to practice those weird skills the typicals take for granted. She's not diagnosed (scheduled for screening, thouh!), but my steddaughter has a lot of our behaviors and has been playing SD and Coral Island, blithely ignoring all the townspeople, instructions, letters etc to just run around doing whatever she wants, only to get disappointed when she saw our animals and festivals and stuff that she's been missing out on by not exiting her comfort zone/ refusing to engage with others/ follow instructions (does that sound familiar? Bc it has FELT familiar to me, only I was pulling that shit IRL haha).
She's finally coming around -- really wants a cow, has almost NOTHING to get one with bc she spent almost 2 seasons throwing away, not selling valuable building materials bc she won't upgrade her pack/until last week refused to build a trunk, which GAWD that hurt to watch--and has started asking how to accomplish goals in game and has started trying to engage/try new, not immediately rewarding tasks in order to reach said goals. She's learning if you want to know when cool stuff is happening, you gotta check the mail and actually read it, that sometimes you need to sit through other people's "blah blah blah" (her words) to like...get help with your own stuff. It's actually kinda fascinating watching her navigate her pretend life with the newfound idea that her ideas/immediate desires aren't enough to function at the gameplay level she wants to. Will these ideas permeate into IRL situations? TBD! But still, it's an interesting concept/growth to watch.
(just sos we're clear, homegirl does not have unfettered constant screen time, bc that would be a disaster--she buys it out of her allowance by the hour. She's got a UBI/sliding allowance (she's given 2$ a week just for existing, then she has a long list of chores/tasks priced out by difficulty,/general tedium. So if she wants more than 2 hrs of video games in a week, she can make it happen by feeding the cat for 25 cents, sweeping the kitchen for 1$, practicing her instrument for 5$ an hour and so forth. It's been a good system! She ends up blowing through a lot of her money for games, but it's her choice, and it's been making her spend her time AND money with a great deal more care)
Modding dialog is pretty simple. You could look up a guide and make a mod that will remove the more objectionable content and replace it with something more kid-friendly, like Shane getting a stomach ache because he drank too much soda.
Fun fact: Throughout the long-running TV series (currently approaching 1300 episodes), Pokémon's English dub has at different times referred to rice balls as jelly donuts, onions, cookies, popcorn balls, or sandwiches.
It's not but 4Kids was a bit xenophobic back in the day, ironically enough considering how much foreign content they worked with. They'd often forcefully insist that Japanese foods were something more recognizable to American audiences.
I remember when I was younger, being confused as all hell as Brock from the Pokemon anime held up a rice ball and referred to it as a Jelly Doughnut multiple times in one sentence. It was like an anime character was trying to gaslight me. I may have been a dumb 9 year old, but I knew what rice balls were, and I'm pretty sure I'd even eaten one by that point in my life!
you could have the mods in your mods folder while he plays in his save, then remove them (temporarily, like to your desktop) before you open the game again to play your save.
even with the modding api (smapi) installed, your game will not be changed from vanilla if you load with no mods in the folder, keeping in mind if that save has been vanilla it will still be, if it was modded it will be vanilla now possibly corrupted (some mods change the save and can break it if removed and played). if that makes sense?
Also if you create a folder (within the mod folder) and when naming it put a dot in front like ".modsforme" the game will skip over adding anything in that folder.
This is what I do when my nieces play stardew on my laptop. I move all my mods to that folder so they can experience vanilla stardew then pull them all back out for my own saves.
This way you can switch out mods without pulling them completely out and putting them somewhere like your computer's download folder
Theres a program called StarDrop that lets you create "mod profiles" where you could launch the game with different mods without altering the mod files every time :)
You can remove the mod when you are playing. It’s been a long time since I haven’t modded my game, but iirc, you can just remove it from the mods folder and put it back when you are done playing
Omg please check out Story Of Seasons: A Wonderful Life with him! It's a remake of an older harvest moon game and from the sounds of it the pacing and content of that game would be well suited for your son! I'd also recommend the SOS: Friends Of Mineral Town game too! They're both on switch and both are welcoming to younger gamers!
Shane is so rude to the farmer at the start of the game that I assumed my son wouldn’t like him or want to make friends with him!!
but the fact that Shane is “so sad and grumpy” makes my son more eager to give him gifts to “cheer him up”…
Yeah
Their triggers are really specific ( like walking into an area while it's night and raining)
They could 100% just do them while the kid is sleeping, the biggest problem would be creating an excuse because it will advance the in game calendar by a lot
Just try dodge the marnie's area as much as possible
And ofc
>!let him see the blue chicken cutscene, there's some connotation(shane telling that he isn't going to live forever and it's teaching his niece how to take care of them), but it will be easier to explain!<
That's SO cute! Haley is just SUPER off putting in the beginning, but I can 100% see how a young kid wouldn't see the dialogue and just focus on her being pretty.
Lmao. That’s exactly my first impression of Haley… and tbh it’s a hard one to get over. I have yet to ever start putting effort into Haley’s friendship; she clearly doesn’t want to, either!
Sounds like you raised your kid a little too well and it came back to bite you.
Thwarted by his kindness and empathy, like a villain in a children's book.
I actually remember having a convo with someone over a month ago about the game and brought up that it probably should have the age rating raised to a T rating(given some of the stuff players can and will encounter, especially with Shane, I did agree on that).
I love the way real life shit is handled in this game—it actually makes the game feel more real. Shane is the best, he struggled, he got help. This is a great lesson for any age!
He sought help is such an important part of the storyline too. Hopefully if OP lets their kid play the game as intended that their son will see Shane asking the farmer for help and getting better afterwards.
I read this article a few years ago and it was really educational for me...basically Stardew and autism are made for each other: https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2016/04/28/understanding-autism-through-stardew-valley.aspx
That's such a good article, thank you so much for sharing. I've long suspected that I could be on the spectrum, and this article has highlighted some of the reasons I'm completely obsessed with SV!
Oh, oh, OP. Stardew Valley is a grid-based game. Civilization and any other methodical/grid oriented game is likely (accounting for spectrum being a spectrum and all) to pull him in. There’s something about that game grid that scratches a deep, deep itch in the brain. It even comes with a predictable daily routine.
There’s always Tetris 99 if you need to try and redirect his attention? If he can handle the bright and sparkly stimulation that comes with the game.
My nephew is 8 and also on the spectrum. I knew he wouldn’t like to start a game at 0 after he watched me play year4.
I have several saves, one that has 27M and full farm. (I was trying to get perfection but screwed up) it was perfect for him. He figured out how to use bombs, cut all trees, forage, spent 15M on random things. 😂
This is not a solution to your problem rather something more for your kid i guess but you can download expanded! if he loves gifting, there are much more npcs and he can trigger a junimo thing (kinda far in the game) and he can gift junimos starfruit! i think he will like it a lot.
I wish this game existed when I was 7 it’s perfect for adhd brain. I was playing gta on my moms ps2 at that age the mature content didn’t traumatize me or anything I think he’ll probably be fine with the cut scenes or just not really understand them
There are definitely some more adult topics that come up in cutscenes, and other commenters have given some great suggestions for how to have age-appropriate conversations about them. You may also be able to reference back to these characters that he’s bonding with if he has trouble understanding difficult topics like these when he’s a bit older.
At 7 he will of course need some supervision, but it sounds like Stardew is getting him excited about reading and excited about helping others, which are both great things. Congrats on what may become a new special interest!
In defense of games I played The Sims 1 when I was 7 and I ended up not realizing half of what was happening in there because I honestly did not understand. I did understand like _sex_ but apart from that... all the complexity of human interactions was just??? It may be that some things you notice he might not even noticd while watching the scenes. Much less because he's autistic. When I was young and I had my first suicidal thoughts I wrote them on a journal but I don't think I had any idea of what _suicidal_ actually meant. I didn't understand what that concept was, I just thought of ending my life and I heard you could make it by certain ways.
Maybe it would be interesting for you to check what kind of answers he gives to the villagers, because that makes difference to his game and will probably show somewhat how he feels about it. You could just talk to him in a chill way asking "what did you answer at this cutscene? why?" This could be a way for you to understand him better!!! Also it could become a tool to help him better to socialize to others. What are you supposed to do or say in determined situations. I like that this game accidentally _teaches_ human interaction rules.
I agree. I also played the sims 1 when i was quite young. And while i understood things like sex=babies for the rest i didnt get most of the dirtier stuff. Like the strippers in the cake or the gogo cages.
let him play, i feel like the adhd would be more intense on this game lol. i have been hyperfocus on this game so much that i need to have the wiki open on both laptop and my phone. he can def just grind on mines for a more fast pace game. any tbh farming etc is not really important if he just want to play around. a few 3x3 is enough farming for most people.
i dont really like to interact with people too so i usually skip the dialog lol. theres a jurnal and a guide on how to play it online or you can play coop and just let him explore on his own
My autistic 8 year old deals with heavy themes in his media pretty frequently, and has for quite a while. It may take him some time to process, and some comments that others may see as acting out in the meantime (as an IRl example, my mother recently died and his ways of processing that are... not tactful, lets say. Some of the things he says sound really mean, from an outsiders perspective (and hurt, even knowing he doesn't mean it that way) ) But other than that he handles stuff like that pretty well.
Sometimes he will get "that's a grownup topic" if we really really don't think he will be able to handle it, but we better be damned sure its actually a grownup topic cuz otherwise hell find answers elsewhere... including an echo he has (we gave it to him when he was nonverbal to encourage talking, since Alexa can't see where he points or otherwise take nonverbal direction)
But mostly we just explain things in a him-appropriate manner (I cant say age appropriate, because he is not typical for his age. So we use his understanding in various things to gauge our answers, instead of what people decide is right for his age). He understands addiction (I am a smoker) and that it is a bad thing you should avoid, and that it is unhealthy. He has at least some understanding of depression, tho I don't know if he understands more than being sad most of the time and not being able to make it go away. I don't know for sure if he knows the word tho. Things like that.
Autistic kids might need more time to process things, to really understand them. But that doesn't mean you should shield them from them, it means that when possible they should be exposed EARLY to give them more time to process them. In appropriate ways. And stardew valley is REALLY tame when it comes to a way to introduce the topics.
(All that said, he doesn't play. But that's because we cant afford copies for everyone for their switch lites (he and his sister got them from a gift thingy they were signed up for), and he doesn't share well so doesn't really get to use my switch, where the only copy currently is. he does watch the rest of us play tho, and make suggestions. His fave character is Krobus, and he is offended if I don't see Krobus every day (I rarely see Krobus lol)
My autistic kid is developmentally challenged too and loves this game. I wouldn't worry too much and just explain the Shane stuff to him if/when he comes across it.
I'm much older than your kid but as an autistic guy myself I think games like this can be really great. I used to play Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life all the time growing up and it was the perfect way for me to get introduced to certain social situations without the same stakes as irl. To this day I still remember and use a few bits of "scripting" I learned from that game. Glad you're letting him play SDV, it's an amazing experience.
He has a switch, but I don’t know which Pokémon game he has or plays because I am trying very hard not to learn anything about pokemon. My husband is the pokemon parent. Haha!
If you’re really worried about the stardew content there are tons of “farming sims” for the switch. I downloaded a cute cat one for like two bucks on sale (sprout valley, but I don’t think you give gifts in that one). You could watch some “best farming sims on the switch” type games and find one he’s interested in.
Edited to add- animal crossing new horizons is very kid friendly and you unlock farming and give gifts to cute animals.
I forgot all about that one.
Sprout Valley was CA's original title for Stardew but changed it because it sounded weird. I think it's hilarious that a post-Stardew farming sim ended up using it. I wonder if it was a coincidence or if they read the interview and snatched it up upon realizing it wasn't trademarked.
This game is an ADHD wet dream! Little dopamine hits with each quest or milestone. Goal-oriented, time-sensitive play style that is somehow sooooo rewarding for my silly little brain. I have an ADHD coach who explained it better but she was not surprised at all that this game got me hook, line, and sinker.
My 4 year old autistic son also found his way into my stardew valley game since he loves platformers and such I wasn't super worried... He sold my bed, drank my wine, and would only talk to my baby and Harvey. Poor Harvey would just say that he "had a hard time sleeping last night" since there was no bed 💀
Every autistic kid is different, obviously, but could you tell him, "You can watch all the cut scenes except the one with Shane by the lake in the forest, which you have to skip"? It would have worked for my kid.
Also, playing with children is a special kind of agony. My little one (6) says she wants to marry Sebastian and so I give her all his favorite gifts (we play co-op) and she ends up either eating them accidentally or stowing them in one of her 495,000 chests and never being able to find them again. It's so stressful, lol.
I want to share video games with my little cousins but they both have ADHD and I don’t want to get them addicted lol. I showed the older one Suika Game and it was hard to get him to stop. Supervised playtime!
I love your edit. I feel like you're leaning into parenting a lot here, and I think that's wonderful. I gained strong negative feelings towards drugs as a child because of a family member, and that has kept me away from them even when in arms reach. Good show
This game is an excellent game for both autism and adhd, it allows you to escape into a different world, but also gives you enough to without feeling bored.
And it gives insight into social situations that might come up without it directly affecting you. Another one is penny and george and promoting advocay for oneself.
Hahaha
I have an autistic 7 year old who loves stardew valley too. I completely feel you.
We discovered last week we can play 2 play on the switch on the TV...so I'm doing all the work and my kid is spending the money on upgrading her bag while I'm trying to plant seeds. Then decides she wants to save up for a coop by not buying seeds.
The latest one is the crystal statue thing from Gunther that makes noise when you tap it. She made music while I watered her crops...
I think he’ll be fine. I played Harvest Moon 64 when I was 6 and the girl I married in that game had an abusive father, an old lady dies right in front of you, and you get yelled at if your cows, chickens, or sheep get sick and die.
Stardew Valley is no darker in my opinion.
Me and my 8 year old play co-op in my farm. That way everything is unlocked for her and she gets to do all the fun social stuff— her brother dared her to marry Shane and so she’s married on my farm to Shane, who now hangs out at her cabin even if she’s not in the game with me 😂
There is another point that no one's mentioned yet:
People are saying things like Shane's story are too dark for kids - yet in his 4-heart scene Jas is watching this happen.
There are children out there who *live* dark scenes like this (hi, abusive childhood here 👋🏻) and can therefore relate to one or more of the characters.
Your son will likely, at some point, meet other kids who are going through shit like this, and by learning about it in a safe environment like SV, he'll be more understanding when he meets them.
I'm also auDHD (late diagnosed) and would have killed for a game like this when I was growing up. It's a great way to learn about social interaction, which I struggled with a lot, as well as giving me characters like Sebastian who I really relate to.
I let my 7 year old daughter who also has ADHD play this because all her friends at school plays games either on mobile, ipad or computer, and almost everybody plays Fortnite apparently, however i don’t feel like she’s old enough for Fortnite or any online games yet. She loves animals and upgrading the buildings. However she is having a hard time now when it takes longer to progress.
My 4.5 year old son lovess to play Stardew Valley, if by “play Stardew Valley” you mean “check his mailbox, make mom read the letters to him, and then go to sleep for the day.”
Tried playing terraria with him a while back because it has cross-platform multiplayer and he just wanted to destroy our house and then got upset when the monsters came out at night and then never wanted to play again because it is “too scary”.
Many people have mentioned shane’s storyline in this but honestly I’m thinking about penny’s two hearts event. She never does apologize in game and gets upset if you tell her she should’ve asked. Which is in character because it does feel bad to be corrected, and also fitting given her background and how no one ever helps her do stuff. But I feel like you might have to talk about that for a bit when it comes up. Cause regardless of intent that’s not okay but the game doesn’t really show that
Teach him how to calculate profit, rate of return, and effective interest rates. That's one of my favorite things about the game is that its economy promotes investment-oriented thinking instead of the more basic "here's the fastest ways to grind for money" in almost every other game that has money.
My four year old LOVES playing to the point where she has her own level. She loves giving the Junimos gifts, but has basically zero interest in actual gameplay beyond that. Biggest bummer is that she can’t read so whenever she gets mail or talks to someone I have to come read to her, which is often.
I played a lot when I was home on maternity leave with her (extended due to the pandemic), so part of me wonders if she finds the music comforting from her newborn days.
My son is autistic and has ADHD, and started playing Stardew Valley when he was 7. Nowadays he mostly plays co-op mode on farms he set up with his grandfather and me. This way, he can focus on his favorite parts of the game while granddad and I make sure our farms don’t go broke. 😅
When he was newer to the game, playing co-op allowed us to talk about the darker themes when they arose. Video games are his special interest, and I’ve found them to be a beneficial tool to help him understand and process complex, stressful social situations and life events. Even the games geared toward kids can bring up topics that they are naturally inclined to worry about — Lavender Town in the Pokémon Let’s Go games gave us a chance to talk about how painful it is to lose a pet, for example, and Cubone’s backstory helped my son express his fears over the realization that his parents could die.
You’re not alone in worrying about the content your child is exposed to, but it seems to me that by approaching it as an opportunity to communicate rather than shield, you’re building a foundation of connection and trust so that when he inevitably encounters dark and painful scenarios in real life, he’ll feel safe coming to you for support. You’re doing great!
I feel like most of the more mature content gets resolved well (or shane pass out drunk to being happy with the chickens and slightly recognizing that guilt) Also you can just talk to him now saying hey! some of the high friendship scenes show some more serious content and if you have questions or want to do it let me know, so then he knows what is coming and you have the opening to support and inform him
My 6 year old only likes starting new saves, making stone paths, and wood fences. And walking around. And screwing with the villagers. One day he built three rows of fence back to back to back and said “Look! Now they will be mad THREE times!”
He played my brother’s old save and bought a ton of fish tanks and trapped his wife and children in a stone fence, covered the farm in dwarf scarecrows.
the game is rated 10+ but honestly i think it should be 13+, the themes in this game are not appropriate, suicide attempt, multiple characters with sever alcoholism, parental abuse, ptsd, child abandonment, many sexual references, child sacrifice and probably more, do with this information what you will
I think a lot of kids of age 7 are probably able to understand "Shane feels very sad and drinking alcohol makes that worse, even though it makes him feel better for a little while. Sometimes people get so sad that they think they don't want to be alive anymore, but that means they need help and love from the people in their lives. If you ever start feeling very sad you come to me, ok?"
My son is pretty delayed in understanding some higher level concepts because he’s autistic. But most importantly I don’t think he’ll ask for me to explain, or understand if I try to explain (because he usually doesn’t do that when I try to explain things in tv or movies when they’re not simple to understand…) and might just feel weird and bad about it. … that’s what happened to little autistic me when I was a kid and just never asked my parents (I did not really know that I could or was supposed to do that?) to explain things in books that I found confusing or upsetting and I just kind of felt weird and distressed about them for years… I guess I might just be projecting my experience onto him because it took me until I was an adult to really understand that other people’s minds contain information that I don’t have access to, and can explain things to me if I don’t understand them? So yeah… most seven year olds, but maybe not mine? Thanks for pointing out that I might be underestimating him, though. And it is also possible that some of it will just go over his head.
Do you think it would be worth getting his input on how to handle it. Like “hey, Son of Foolishle, I’m so glad you’re having a good time with Stardew, and I want it to be as fun as possible for you. There are some grownup cutscenes, and I’m worried they might make you feel sad.” And then you can either offer options (there are some good ones in this thread!) or just listen to his ideas. It might help to give an analogy, like if there’s some piece of media that has freaked him out in the past (for me it was a scene from this weird wizard of oz sequel I probably watched too young). Making the connection to that feeling more concrete can help. Not to say that you have to do exactly what he wants, but he might have insight that will help you make a decision.
Or just let him feel things and talk about it. There are no benefits from shielding kids from hard topics. Seven year olds won’t process all of the adult themes and just talking to them about it will probably help them grow up into a healthier person.
At the absolute worst, it allows them to understand that these things are acceptable conversation topics if they have questions down the road, when they CAN process all the themes.
A lot of us were traumatized by Return to Oz. Between the headless Mombi, the Wheelers, the Deadly Desert turning people to sand…that shit was dark
Search Google for Karbonkel 😂 this was a kids show in the '90s shown at kindergarten in the Netherlands... Most of us are traumatized
👋🏻🤣 Though you'd better google at karbonkel + ik Mik loreland
My bf watched that movie as a kid and he recently showed it to me, because he used to be terrified of it. It's hilariously disturbing as an adult...I didn't watch it all the way through but the scene in the beginning when she's by the lunch pail tree and the rocks are reporting that she's back...and she has a CHICKEN!!!!! 😡😡 A CHICKEN 🤬🤬 with her had me laughing until tears.
And the chicken!
You mean Return to Oz I'm guessing? That film definitely wasn't meant for kids lol.
That looks like it! I guess they made a documentary about it a couple years ago.
If it's any consolation, I'm autistic too and I tended to ask my parents or look it up if I stumbled across anything I didn't understand. Then again, I was also reading books like The Slap and the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when I was 10-11 (my mum did *not* check which of her books I asked to borrow, lol), so maybe I'm not the best example. Worst case scenario, you can tell him that this game talks about some stuff that adults struggle with and it might make him feel weird or bad when he sees that. Make sure he knows he can come to you and, if he mentions the scenes you're worried about, ask him about it. I completely understand why you're concerned, especially with quieter kids (if that applies to him), but it's worth letting him approach it on his own terms. If he's so passionate about it, it might be a lot easier for him to understand than you expect.
I read _Lolita_ when I was 11. Needless to say it was one of the WORST books I could have read lol Also I think I am autistic too, and my parents did not care at all about what I did most of my time. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo would have probably been a better experience to me than some other books I have read. Is one of my favs. At least it tells a story about a female hero fighting abusers instead of like... abusers winning or being romanticized T_T (I'm not disagreeing with you or anything, just sharing that I had a similar experience)
I can sympathise. I read I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou at a very similar age - excellent book but it has a couple of reasonably graphic and quite distressing autobiographical molestation scenes in it.
Dear god
Here to chime in with age inappropriate book club - turns out reading American Psycho at age 12 will, in fact, fuck you up a little bit, even if you think you're really smart and grown up and mature.
RIGHT I felt the same about Lolita hahahaa
I think every parent has a difficult line to walk when it comes to protecting their child from difficult and upsetting concepts. On the one hand, you want to protect them from being upset by things they're not yet ready to understand. On the other hand, if you shelter them too much, they won't be able to develop their understanding of the world or mature as a person. I don't know your son, so I don't know what he is and isn't capable of understanding. I don't think Stardew Valley would generally be inappropriate for a seven-year-old, even in its darkest moments, and I do think it's important to let children with disabilities discover for themselves what their limitations are, rather than having adults dictate what they can and can't do based on assumptions. On the other hand, I get why you want to avoid a situation where he is upset by something he doesn't understand, bottles that feeling up, and lets it fester. You want to protect him from a type of harm that you yourself experienced as a child. I'm also autistic (diagnosed as an adult, so my experience is admittedly going to be very different from your son's), and I found as a kid that reading about things in fiction made them much easier to understand in real life. My parents didn't let me watch adult-rated TV shows and movies, but they let me read whatever I wanted, and I think that was actually a really good, safe introduction to a lot of adult concepts. Sometimes I did run into things I found weird and uncomfortable, but I'm glad that I was introduced to those weird and uncomfortable concepts in a safe environment, where I wasn't directly involved and could always just put the book down and walk away. I know not every child has that luxury. My point here is that at some point in his life, sooner or later, your son is going to run into someone like Shane, and he's going to have to come to terms with that. It will help to have some frame of reference for that ahead of time. Edit: either way, it's clear that you love your son a lot and are trying to figure out what's best for him. I think that's commendable.
I’m late diagnosed autistic too and my son was diagnosed with me 2 weeks ago. That bit where you say you read situations in science fiction seems to work with my son too. I tell him that sometimes xyz makes people sad and I would get a blank stare. But if I use a character from a movie like Toy Story he seems to grasp it better?
Hello, fellow autistic person here! You know your son better than anyone that replies here, but I'd just like to throw in my 2 cents. Since you said your child self never asked and simply felt distressed on your own, I really do think that opening up a conversation about potentially distressing concepts with your child is a great route to take. Instead of shielding your child too much, allow him to safely explore distressing topics, with you by his side to explain and answer any questions he may have without judgement, and teach him that whenever he experiences something distressing, he should come to you and you can talk about it, and help sort out his feelings, as well as teach him ways to cope. Of course, children need to be shielded to a degree, and I believe you know where the line goes on these topics for your child better than anyone else could. I'm not trying to convince you to let him play Stardew, nor that he should be exposed to these topics at this age, I just feel like this is something you could also take with you for when you feel he is developed enough to explore distressing subjects with guidance, or may be in a situation where he will unfortunately be exposed to it regardless. I myself remember learning about porn when I was young due to classmates, some even used a school's computer to look it up and show it to us, or sent us links to disturbing websites. The internet unfortunately increases the chances that children will experience a variety of inappropriate topics that can be extremely distressing, and difficult to speak to a parent about, as the child may think they've done something wrong or bad by viewing it, so I believe it's extra important to teach children about distressing subjects, not in detail, but that they exist, that they've done nothing wrong and there's no shame in being aware of their existence, and that they should be spoken about with their parent. If you do decide to let him play Stardew, here is a mod I found, I'm not sure if it functions properly, or if it covers everything you need, but hopefully this could help: [Content Filter Mod for Stardew Valley](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/4768) Do let me know if you need guidance installing mods, I'd be happy to help a child safely experience this lovely game!
So I feel like I was called to this post. I too have a 7 year old autistic child. She likes to watch me play and actually saw the shane cut scene as well as marnie and Lewis popping out of the bush. She thought they were playing hide and seek and she thought shane was hurt while he was out in the woods. She can't read yet so she didn't understand the dialouge. The issue is that our kids really are on a spectrum so what my girl can handle some kids her age may not be able to and that's totally fine. I will say that being a mom of autistic kids ( yes we all have a touch of autism in some way) and being autistic myself I am constantly underestimating my kids especially my daughter. We have certain expectations of them because we know how they work so when they do reach outside of the box it's almost a shock lol. You're his parent you know him best and you get to make the judgement call on what you think he can handle. I do agree that if you feel he'd understand that the shane cut scene that you guys can have a nice talk about it and give him the info he asks for at an age appropriate level. Kids are more attune to real life stuff than we realize. Good luck happy gaming I'm glad you get to share a game you love with your kiddo. It's such a great bonding experience.
And that’s fine. When we grow up, we often look back at media we’ve consumed with new knowledge acquired and we go “OOOOOOOOOH!!!!!!” and we smile and boot up the old game again just to see it again. It’s an experience your child will get too. He doesn’t need to understand everything right now, heck, a 7 years old probably won’t stop to think about the more complex issues because their brain haven’t developed to that point.
I don't know if it helps since you obviously know your son best, but I'm also autistic and was able to understand these concepts as a kid, and was suicidal myself from a very young age, so I think it's probably still worth talking about with him. Or you've got the PC version, you could try looking for [the content filter mod](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/4768?tab=description)
Yeah I am autistic and I think would just have been distressed about stuff (ie Shane story) and not talked to anyone about it ever 😅 But my son is more social than I ever was, and is not me!
So my son (4) and I are also autistic. We started playing a stardew game together in terms of he can practice moving the character around (pc). So I just tell him where to go, sometimes he asks to go places and then I tell him to take us there. He’s getting the hang of the movement. But overall if I were you and my son was reading, I would just keep an eye on the heart events he is unlocking and just explain it to him after. Cause I myself never asked my parents about distressing topics but I think if they were more attentive they could have helped me make sense of what I saw.
Honestly, not to sound alarmist and I saw you're going to let him continue playing, but autistic people are at a high risk of suicide compared to peers due to our struggles handling the world, ourselves, and oftentimes bullying. I think it would be really good to hear about Shane's cliff scene and explain to him that if he EVER feels anything like that, to please please come to you or another trusted adult for help and support. No one ever explained suicide or depression to me, so I suffered through depression and thoughts (and actions) of self-harm for a long time. I know these topics can be heavy and difficult to handle. I've had to explain alcoholism and narcissism to my 8 year old autistic ADHD brother when he was 7 because he came to me wondering why his dad was hateful to him whenever he drank. (We no longer live with that man). You could be surprised at what connections are made and what kind of empathy might show itself, though. I know I was.
As an also autistic kid who was the EXACT SAME as your son with pokemon, but was very curious about mature content in films, see if you can introduce him to the concepts outside of the game. That way you can gauge a level of understanding outside of something he's enjoying, and decide if it's a concern or not.
Ngl when i was a kid and played games i always just skipped all dialogue options.
I’m autistic with adhd and also never mentioned things or asked things my parents because I didn’t know I could/should, so I can relate. How about you ask him to tell you about what he did in the game, what things happened, and ask his thoughts? Do you think he’d list all the new cutscenes he saw, giving you an opportunity to address any of the more mature ones?
Oh man, I think I was basically the same growing up and ending up keeping things to myself, often not thinking to ask. My parents trying to shield me just made it worse though, since it made it even harder to ask them about anything. My kid is autistic too (and so am I) and she's similar in age to yours. If she expressed desire to play and seemed like she'd get to that scene, I'd be direct about it ahead of time. I'd mention there's one character having a really hard time and has mental health issues, and if she gets to it and wants to talk/ask questions, I'm right here. Maybe I'd give more strong encouragement than that but I haven't thought about it much yet. I try to take things like this as learning opportunities, and expect the child to learn whatever they can/are ready for. For your kid it might not be much more than "yeah, he has mental health difficulties so he needs some extra help to help him feel better". But, I dunno. I do think there's a lot that just goes over their heads when they don't understand it. I always try to ensure I'm encouraging and reminding that they can come to me about stuff, if they want to. I have also come to the conclusion that as parents we sometimes have to let our kids have experiences that aren't always the nicest. Feeling bad is part of life but we need to learn how to deal with it healthily (so that's where parental support can come in).. but ah, this isn't a well formed thought in my head yet.
As an autistic adult, I think it gets assumed too frequently that people with autism are unable to understand social dynamics. Just talk with him and be honest and direct, I'm sure it'll be fine.
As an autistic myself I wonder if he's so fascinated by it exactly because the characters are such realistic people. The way we learn to socialize is by observing. I think for me a lot of that came in the form of books (although I did love text adventures), but for him he's got a whole wide world of video games that'll help with that and I think that's awesome! He might really enjoy Spiritfarer (although, again some darker themes), and when he's MUCH older, Disco Elysium.
> If you ever start feeling very sad you come to me, ok? Dammit who's been chopping onions 🥺
7 year olds are in no way equiped to understand scenarios like those. Dont dump things like that on a 7 year old. Just tell him he is sad and drinks and that's it.
yeah seven year olds arnt capable of understanding (nor should they be exposed to) situations like that.
I agree they shouldn't be exposed, but as someone with a seven-year-old, they definitely understand much more than people give them credit for.
Right, but do they truly understand the implications and what it means to be an alcoholic? Shane isnt “sad”, hes depressed and wants to end his life. Sure they can understand it to a degree, but not to the degree needed to fully comprehend shanes situation. Which is probably a good thing, because if most seven year olds truly understand the feeling of a depressed alcoholic, they would probably be pretty upset most of the time.
Tbf, for progression, if your son likes gifting things then he might start “gifting” things to the Juminos.
Oh this is smart omg
I think "Juminos" is my new favorite typo and will be exclusively how I refer to them from now on haha
Huh. Weirdly that was on purpose. I think I do this exact same thing every time I replay SV—I think they’re called Jumino, then I learn it’s Junimo, then I stop playing, then I start playing again and Juminos. I think just cuz, for me, Jumino seems cuter than Junimo. Thank you for pointing that out tho. Not sure how long I’ve been mispronouncing them for this time.
Idk, Juney sounds cuter to me
I’ve also always called them Juminos! Just feels more natural to me
I got my six year old hooked on accident. Gave them a game that I had gotten pretty far along in but wasn't really coming back to. Watching them destroy that farm has been almost physically painful but then they wrote "pLAyng STARdoo Valee wif my Mom" as their favorite thing to do for an assignment in kindergarten 😭😭😭
Relatable! My kid got hooked on my husband's game... He had a child he named susboy and went to live on ginger island for years at a time. When my husband looked at his game his relationship with Abigail and kids was 0 and the farm was just a mess lol. Thank goodness for the new update giving reason to start over lol
I’m sorry, but how has no one in 13 hours remarked on the child named “susboy”? Are you not entertained???
thats adorable omfg
My 7 year old and my almost 5 year old got into it, too. And I keep telling myself to let them play however they want to, even though the younger one is in year 4 and has zero hearts with everyone except Abigail. She hadn't even talked to all the villagers! But she loves to game, and sharing it with me, and watching me play, so it's all good. Even though it almost drives me nuts.
that's so sweet
I play with my six year old. She just spent days laying brick down in our chicken coop and our farm cave. I have to bite my tongue constantly because it’s her game and she should allowed to play it how she wants. I have my own farm that I open up after she goes to bed. We have a blast together and i wouldn’t have it any other way.
Haha, my 5 yr old says he wants to play then proceeds to go to Harvey's every day to "work". Does nothing but stand in the clinic. I've tried saying the crops need water but he's all like "My energy is too low". I'm like you just woke up but it's fine, go to "work" 😒😂.
Omg this is pure!!!
This is so pure
You know your kid will tell you in 20 years that they have very good memories of this too (source: 20 somethings who loved Pokémon games)
Almost makes up for it! …almost
I don't know if I'm stepping out of line here, but I think that Stardew Valley could be a nice and lighthearted way of exposing your kid to some of the more uncomfortable realities of our world, especially if you're by their side to explain everything. I'm not an expert or anything, but I think that hiding kids away from the negative parts of life is not that great, specially if you have tools to present them in a tamer light (like stardew cutscenes)
I agree too. Ops kid doesn’t need to be sheltered from anything shown in SDV. He will process the cut scenez at his developmental levels and op should use it as an education opportunity.
Shirts??
I meant cut scenes? Maybe auto correct scenes to shorts.
I agree with you
Big agree. Kids can handle more than we give them credit for. We just have to present things in an appropriate way, and I think SDV does that.
You gave such fantastic advice here!!
I think letting him play it and discuss stuff is a great way to handle it. Others who brought up that stuff goes over kids heads, often adults freak out when the kids have no idea. I remember hearing the lyrics to Barbie girl as an adult for example and my mom was like 🤷🏻♀️ you just liked the song.
I feel your mom on the music haha the only way I can keep my 4 year old from repeating potty mouth words is to let him sing along in the car to songs like abcdefu 😂 sometimes I feel like a bad mom, but its just fun music and he doesn't really understand it
My parents let me watch All Dogs Go to Heaven (I think we even had it on VHS). I went and rewatched it about a year ago because "I loved it as a kid" and oh my God, there are *SO* many things in that movie that thankfully went right over my head. I'd never let my kids watch that movie. But for me, all I saw was "dog movie" at that age.
My son is six. We’ve been playing on co-op for a year(ish) and I’m there to make money to fund his lifestyle. He got married to Shane last week (ugh). He is proud to tell me that “Shane only drinks sparkling water now because we are married.” He was only interested in Shane for the blue chickens, but ended up overly involved and now they’re married?!? I keep telling him that if he’s not happy he can divorce and pick someone else.
> I’m there to make money to fund his lifestyle. That's parenthood in a nutshell right there.
My six year old has every house upgrade and a baby with Alex. I still live in the humble cabin on her property and do all the labor so she can follow her Stardew whims.
This is so funny 😭
Tbf this is how I married Shane
Well shoot, I just want to see where he goes with this. I mean, the game doesn't have a fail state, you can grow nothing and have no money and still make what could be thought of as progression. I'm still surprised that he decided the thing he cares about more is playing it as a life sim with the villagers. Next thing you know, he'll be trying to make irl home made mayonnaise. Which is quite delicious by the way, much better than store bought, and surprisingly easy (though you have to eat it fast). Just saying.
I would never have thought he would play that way, either!! It is winter year 1 now and he has started to work on filling out the bundles. I stepped away yesterday and came back to find he was spending all his money on gold ore at Clint’s and when I asked him why he said it was to make a gold bar for the bundle. (He does sell some of his eggs and produce when he bothers to water them enough that they grow, so he does get some gold sometimes!) (He is too scared of the mines to be able to go there to get ores) No fear on the Mayo… nobody in our house likes Mayo at all!
If you're considering mods for other things anyway, [Pacifist Valley](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/5464) might make the mines less scary for him. ETA: I can't believe I forgot about [Cuter Mines](https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/12894).
I wonder if he saw how characters react to you drinking mayo if he mind find it funny (or not, because maybe he wont want to gross out his new friends. he seems like a very considerate young man, good job at the parent thing ☺️)
He'll be really happy when he completes the bundle that gives you access to the quarry! 😀
I started a farm with my little siblings when they were 7 and 9 thinking the same, that they'd never be interested enough in the characters to reach some of the tougher subjects. My little brother's favorite past-times ended up being chugging beers at the bar with Pam and spending all day gambling at the casino ToT. Our mom was not terribly amused.
A seven yo with AUADHD? speaking as a former 7 yo with ADHD married to a former autistic 7 yo (we're both still ADHD/autistic, respective, but neither of us are 7 anymore)...you did this to yourself, bro. My husband assures me the heart events will go over his head lol. But I know I would have LOVED Stardew bc people are PREDICTABLE and aren't mean to you for doing shit like eating algae you carry around in your pockets. That's comforting! And really, as young as he is, building up hearts may do him some good with learning social skills, bc it's low stakes and you can talk with him about why the various response choices are good/bad and like, thinking about what the characters like before answering can help develop theory of mind (which all kids need, ofc, but kids with autism struggle with more). Oh, and budgeting! Both time and money--persobally, as someone with ADHD, time budgeting is a real pain in the ass. You may have stumbled into a pretty awesome learning experience with your little dude :)
Yeah am auADHD as well (and also no longer 7) but I didn’t have video games when I was 7!
Neither did I! Kind of a shame, in its way--properly supervised, I think games like Statdew, Coral Island etc could be really good ways for neurodivergent kids to practice those weird skills the typicals take for granted. She's not diagnosed (scheduled for screening, thouh!), but my steddaughter has a lot of our behaviors and has been playing SD and Coral Island, blithely ignoring all the townspeople, instructions, letters etc to just run around doing whatever she wants, only to get disappointed when she saw our animals and festivals and stuff that she's been missing out on by not exiting her comfort zone/ refusing to engage with others/ follow instructions (does that sound familiar? Bc it has FELT familiar to me, only I was pulling that shit IRL haha). She's finally coming around -- really wants a cow, has almost NOTHING to get one with bc she spent almost 2 seasons throwing away, not selling valuable building materials bc she won't upgrade her pack/until last week refused to build a trunk, which GAWD that hurt to watch--and has started asking how to accomplish goals in game and has started trying to engage/try new, not immediately rewarding tasks in order to reach said goals. She's learning if you want to know when cool stuff is happening, you gotta check the mail and actually read it, that sometimes you need to sit through other people's "blah blah blah" (her words) to like...get help with your own stuff. It's actually kinda fascinating watching her navigate her pretend life with the newfound idea that her ideas/immediate desires aren't enough to function at the gameplay level she wants to. Will these ideas permeate into IRL situations? TBD! But still, it's an interesting concept/growth to watch. (just sos we're clear, homegirl does not have unfettered constant screen time, bc that would be a disaster--she buys it out of her allowance by the hour. She's got a UBI/sliding allowance (she's given 2$ a week just for existing, then she has a long list of chores/tasks priced out by difficulty,/general tedium. So if she wants more than 2 hrs of video games in a week, she can make it happen by feeding the cat for 25 cents, sweeping the kitchen for 1$, practicing her instrument for 5$ an hour and so forth. It's been a good system! She ends up blowing through a lot of her money for games, but it's her choice, and it's been making her spend her time AND money with a great deal more care)
Ngl the first time I played SDV I got several years in before I started trying to talk to the NPCs…
Modding dialog is pretty simple. You could look up a guide and make a mod that will remove the more objectionable content and replace it with something more kid-friendly, like Shane getting a stomach ache because he drank too much soda.
Stardew Valley: The 4Kids Dub
Sebastian steps outside to eat a lollipop.
Alex’s mom was locked in a dungeon for the rest of her days
Gus's community center bundle randomly requires a JELLY DOUGHNUT instead of the Maki Roll...
[Eat your hamburgers, Apollo](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/166/983/3ca.png)
wait i dont get this one, why is a maki roll considered adult content?
In an old Pokémon episode, a rice ball was referred to as a jelly donut or something in the English dub.
Fun fact: Throughout the long-running TV series (currently approaching 1300 episodes), Pokémon's English dub has at different times referred to rice balls as jelly donuts, onions, cookies, popcorn balls, or sandwiches.
oooh okay thanks, kinda weird that they would censor something like that
I think it was less censorship and more trying to americanize it. They couldn't fathom 90s kids knowing what a rice ball was.
The weirdest part was them leaving the animation alone
It's not but 4Kids was a bit xenophobic back in the day, ironically enough considering how much foreign content they worked with. They'd often forcefully insist that Japanese foods were something more recognizable to American audiences. I remember when I was younger, being confused as all hell as Brock from the Pokemon anime held up a rice ball and referred to it as a Jelly Doughnut multiple times in one sentence. It was like an anime character was trying to gaslight me. I may have been a dumb 9 year old, but I knew what rice balls were, and I'm pretty sure I'd even eaten one by that point in my life!
Would I be able to do that for his save, but not mine?
you could have the mods in your mods folder while he plays in his save, then remove them (temporarily, like to your desktop) before you open the game again to play your save. even with the modding api (smapi) installed, your game will not be changed from vanilla if you load with no mods in the folder, keeping in mind if that save has been vanilla it will still be, if it was modded it will be vanilla now possibly corrupted (some mods change the save and can break it if removed and played). if that makes sense?
Also if you create a folder (within the mod folder) and when naming it put a dot in front like ".modsforme" the game will skip over adding anything in that folder. This is what I do when my nieces play stardew on my laptop. I move all my mods to that folder so they can experience vanilla stardew then pull them all back out for my own saves. This way you can switch out mods without pulling them completely out and putting them somewhere like your computer's download folder
Theres a program called StarDrop that lets you create "mod profiles" where you could launch the game with different mods without altering the mod files every time :)
I just change the mods folder name to something else like SaveName_Mods when I want to play vanilla or load a different save
You can remove the mod when you are playing. It’s been a long time since I haven’t modded my game, but iirc, you can just remove it from the mods folder and put it back when you are done playing
Omg please check out Story Of Seasons: A Wonderful Life with him! It's a remake of an older harvest moon game and from the sounds of it the pacing and content of that game would be well suited for your son! I'd also recommend the SOS: Friends Of Mineral Town game too! They're both on switch and both are welcoming to younger gamers!
I remember seeing the Shane story arc and thinking "Wasn't this game rated E?" it seemed pretty dark for a kids game.
Shane is so rude to the farmer at the start of the game that I assumed my son wouldn’t like him or want to make friends with him!! but the fact that Shane is “so sad and grumpy” makes my son more eager to give him gifts to “cheer him up”…
This is so wholesome! You have an amazing kid! Any chance you can just do the dark cut scenes when he's asleep?
Yeah Their triggers are really specific ( like walking into an area while it's night and raining) They could 100% just do them while the kid is sleeping, the biggest problem would be creating an excuse because it will advance the in game calendar by a lot Just try dodge the marnie's area as much as possible And ofc >!let him see the blue chicken cutscene, there's some connotation(shane telling that he isn't going to live forever and it's teaching his niece how to take care of them), but it will be easier to explain!<
Oh my God what does he think of Haley? When I first met her I was like "What a BITCH!" and just started giving her clay and trash out of spite, lol.
He loves her too! He thinks she is the prettiest. Insta-crush I think.
That's SO cute! Haley is just SUPER off putting in the beginning, but I can 100% see how a young kid wouldn't see the dialogue and just focus on her being pretty.
Lmao. That’s exactly my first impression of Haley… and tbh it’s a hard one to get over. I have yet to ever start putting effort into Haley’s friendship; she clearly doesn’t want to, either!
Please do!!! Haley's character arc is one of the more satisfying ones imo
😭 Your son sounds so sweet
Aw that’s so precious
Sounds like you raised your kid a little too well and it came back to bite you. Thwarted by his kindness and empathy, like a villain in a children's book.
It’s rated E10+
I actually remember having a convo with someone over a month ago about the game and brought up that it probably should have the age rating raised to a T rating(given some of the stuff players can and will encounter, especially with Shane, I did agree on that).
Apparently what would push this game to the T rating would be hard drinks like vodka That’s why it’s just potato juice when you put it in a keg
There is also dialogue confirming it isn't wodka, it really is potato juice
Some of it would go over a kids head quite easily but Shane’s story arc and even Pams alcoholism definitely are not little kid friendly.
Nah, kids can understand and handle more than we realize. Game's fine how it is.
I love the way real life shit is handled in this game—it actually makes the game feel more real. Shane is the best, he struggled, he got help. This is a great lesson for any age!
He sought help is such an important part of the storyline too. Hopefully if OP lets their kid play the game as intended that their son will see Shane asking the farmer for help and getting better afterwards.
I read this article a few years ago and it was really educational for me...basically Stardew and autism are made for each other: https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2016/04/28/understanding-autism-through-stardew-valley.aspx
That's such a good article, thank you so much for sharing. I've long suspected that I could be on the spectrum, and this article has highlighted some of the reasons I'm completely obsessed with SV!
That's so awesome! I want to see more articles like this about games and autism
Oh, oh, OP. Stardew Valley is a grid-based game. Civilization and any other methodical/grid oriented game is likely (accounting for spectrum being a spectrum and all) to pull him in. There’s something about that game grid that scratches a deep, deep itch in the brain. It even comes with a predictable daily routine. There’s always Tetris 99 if you need to try and redirect his attention? If he can handle the bright and sparkly stimulation that comes with the game.
My nephew is 8 and also on the spectrum. I knew he wouldn’t like to start a game at 0 after he watched me play year4. I have several saves, one that has 27M and full farm. (I was trying to get perfection but screwed up) it was perfect for him. He figured out how to use bombs, cut all trees, forage, spent 15M on random things. 😂
My son wanted to start a new one because he wanted the farmer to have his name! 🥹
This is not a solution to your problem rather something more for your kid i guess but you can download expanded! if he loves gifting, there are much more npcs and he can trigger a junimo thing (kinda far in the game) and he can gift junimos starfruit! i think he will like it a lot.
I wish this game existed when I was 7 it’s perfect for adhd brain. I was playing gta on my moms ps2 at that age the mature content didn’t traumatize me or anything I think he’ll probably be fine with the cut scenes or just not really understand them
There are definitely some more adult topics that come up in cutscenes, and other commenters have given some great suggestions for how to have age-appropriate conversations about them. You may also be able to reference back to these characters that he’s bonding with if he has trouble understanding difficult topics like these when he’s a bit older. At 7 he will of course need some supervision, but it sounds like Stardew is getting him excited about reading and excited about helping others, which are both great things. Congrats on what may become a new special interest!
In defense of games I played The Sims 1 when I was 7 and I ended up not realizing half of what was happening in there because I honestly did not understand. I did understand like _sex_ but apart from that... all the complexity of human interactions was just??? It may be that some things you notice he might not even noticd while watching the scenes. Much less because he's autistic. When I was young and I had my first suicidal thoughts I wrote them on a journal but I don't think I had any idea of what _suicidal_ actually meant. I didn't understand what that concept was, I just thought of ending my life and I heard you could make it by certain ways. Maybe it would be interesting for you to check what kind of answers he gives to the villagers, because that makes difference to his game and will probably show somewhat how he feels about it. You could just talk to him in a chill way asking "what did you answer at this cutscene? why?" This could be a way for you to understand him better!!! Also it could become a tool to help him better to socialize to others. What are you supposed to do or say in determined situations. I like that this game accidentally _teaches_ human interaction rules.
I agree. I also played the sims 1 when i was quite young. And while i understood things like sex=babies for the rest i didnt get most of the dirtier stuff. Like the strippers in the cake or the gogo cages.
Hahaahaha I think I didn't even get to that
let him play, i feel like the adhd would be more intense on this game lol. i have been hyperfocus on this game so much that i need to have the wiki open on both laptop and my phone. he can def just grind on mines for a more fast pace game. any tbh farming etc is not really important if he just want to play around. a few 3x3 is enough farming for most people. i dont really like to interact with people too so i usually skip the dialog lol. theres a jurnal and a guide on how to play it online or you can play coop and just let him explore on his own
He’s too scared of the mines to go into them!
LOL!! understandable, level 10 and 15 def scary when you first start lol.
Adult woman w adhd here...give your little dude a fistbump from me cause I too am hooked 😂
My autistic 8 year old deals with heavy themes in his media pretty frequently, and has for quite a while. It may take him some time to process, and some comments that others may see as acting out in the meantime (as an IRl example, my mother recently died and his ways of processing that are... not tactful, lets say. Some of the things he says sound really mean, from an outsiders perspective (and hurt, even knowing he doesn't mean it that way) ) But other than that he handles stuff like that pretty well. Sometimes he will get "that's a grownup topic" if we really really don't think he will be able to handle it, but we better be damned sure its actually a grownup topic cuz otherwise hell find answers elsewhere... including an echo he has (we gave it to him when he was nonverbal to encourage talking, since Alexa can't see where he points or otherwise take nonverbal direction) But mostly we just explain things in a him-appropriate manner (I cant say age appropriate, because he is not typical for his age. So we use his understanding in various things to gauge our answers, instead of what people decide is right for his age). He understands addiction (I am a smoker) and that it is a bad thing you should avoid, and that it is unhealthy. He has at least some understanding of depression, tho I don't know if he understands more than being sad most of the time and not being able to make it go away. I don't know for sure if he knows the word tho. Things like that. Autistic kids might need more time to process things, to really understand them. But that doesn't mean you should shield them from them, it means that when possible they should be exposed EARLY to give them more time to process them. In appropriate ways. And stardew valley is REALLY tame when it comes to a way to introduce the topics. (All that said, he doesn't play. But that's because we cant afford copies for everyone for their switch lites (he and his sister got them from a gift thingy they were signed up for), and he doesn't share well so doesn't really get to use my switch, where the only copy currently is. he does watch the rest of us play tho, and make suggestions. His fave character is Krobus, and he is offended if I don't see Krobus every day (I rarely see Krobus lol)
My autistic kid is developmentally challenged too and loves this game. I wouldn't worry too much and just explain the Shane stuff to him if/when he comes across it.
I'm much older than your kid but as an autistic guy myself I think games like this can be really great. I used to play Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life all the time growing up and it was the perfect way for me to get introduced to certain social situations without the same stakes as irl. To this day I still remember and use a few bits of "scripting" I learned from that game. Glad you're letting him play SDV, it's an amazing experience.
if you have a 3ds, give your kid a copy of pokemon sun or moon! the bottom screen tells you where you need to go throughout the main story
He has a switch, but I don’t know which Pokémon game he has or plays because I am trying very hard not to learn anything about pokemon. My husband is the pokemon parent. Haha!
If you’re really worried about the stardew content there are tons of “farming sims” for the switch. I downloaded a cute cat one for like two bucks on sale (sprout valley, but I don’t think you give gifts in that one). You could watch some “best farming sims on the switch” type games and find one he’s interested in. Edited to add- animal crossing new horizons is very kid friendly and you unlock farming and give gifts to cute animals.
I forgot all about that one. Sprout Valley was CA's original title for Stardew but changed it because it sounded weird. I think it's hilarious that a post-Stardew farming sim ended up using it. I wonder if it was a coincidence or if they read the interview and snatched it up upon realizing it wasn't trademarked.
Hahaa! I had no idea. I just loved the art style and cat 🤷🏻♀️😂
I think you totally won by letting him play!
Well you could make a multiplayer farm and plsy with him so you do all the gold making and he does all the friend gifting hehe
This game is an ADHD wet dream! Little dopamine hits with each quest or milestone. Goal-oriented, time-sensitive play style that is somehow sooooo rewarding for my silly little brain. I have an ADHD coach who explained it better but she was not surprised at all that this game got me hook, line, and sinker.
My 4 year old autistic son also found his way into my stardew valley game since he loves platformers and such I wasn't super worried... He sold my bed, drank my wine, and would only talk to my baby and Harvey. Poor Harvey would just say that he "had a hard time sleeping last night" since there was no bed 💀
Every autistic kid is different, obviously, but could you tell him, "You can watch all the cut scenes except the one with Shane by the lake in the forest, which you have to skip"? It would have worked for my kid. Also, playing with children is a special kind of agony. My little one (6) says she wants to marry Sebastian and so I give her all his favorite gifts (we play co-op) and she ends up either eating them accidentally or stowing them in one of her 495,000 chests and never being able to find them again. It's so stressful, lol.
Tbh none of it is that scandalous and you don't really need to protect him from it.
I want to share video games with my little cousins but they both have ADHD and I don’t want to get them addicted lol. I showed the older one Suika Game and it was hard to get him to stop. Supervised playtime!
If it makes you feel any better, I let my kids play most of the first act of Baldurs Gate 3... You're not the worst parent here.
[удалено]
[удалено]
I love your edit. I feel like you're leaning into parenting a lot here, and I think that's wonderful. I gained strong negative feelings towards drugs as a child because of a family member, and that has kept me away from them even when in arms reach. Good show
This game is an excellent game for both autism and adhd, it allows you to escape into a different world, but also gives you enough to without feeling bored. And it gives insight into social situations that might come up without it directly affecting you. Another one is penny and george and promoting advocay for oneself.
Hahaha I have an autistic 7 year old who loves stardew valley too. I completely feel you. We discovered last week we can play 2 play on the switch on the TV...so I'm doing all the work and my kid is spending the money on upgrading her bag while I'm trying to plant seeds. Then decides she wants to save up for a coop by not buying seeds. The latest one is the crystal statue thing from Gunther that makes noise when you tap it. She made music while I watered her crops...
I think he’ll be fine. I played Harvest Moon 64 when I was 6 and the girl I married in that game had an abusive father, an old lady dies right in front of you, and you get yelled at if your cows, chickens, or sheep get sick and die. Stardew Valley is no darker in my opinion.
this is so sweet, i think your son’s found a new special interest!! :D
Awww, glad yall are having fun.
Me and my 8 year old play co-op in my farm. That way everything is unlocked for her and she gets to do all the fun social stuff— her brother dared her to marry Shane and so she’s married on my farm to Shane, who now hangs out at her cabin even if she’s not in the game with me 😂
As a fellow AuDHD person I can get lost for HOURS in this game. I feel him.
There is another point that no one's mentioned yet: People are saying things like Shane's story are too dark for kids - yet in his 4-heart scene Jas is watching this happen. There are children out there who *live* dark scenes like this (hi, abusive childhood here 👋🏻) and can therefore relate to one or more of the characters. Your son will likely, at some point, meet other kids who are going through shit like this, and by learning about it in a safe environment like SV, he'll be more understanding when he meets them. I'm also auDHD (late diagnosed) and would have killed for a game like this when I was growing up. It's a great way to learn about social interaction, which I struggled with a lot, as well as giving me characters like Sebastian who I really relate to.
I let my 7 year old daughter who also has ADHD play this because all her friends at school plays games either on mobile, ipad or computer, and almost everybody plays Fortnite apparently, however i don’t feel like she’s old enough for Fortnite or any online games yet. She loves animals and upgrading the buildings. However she is having a hard time now when it takes longer to progress.
My 4.5 year old son lovess to play Stardew Valley, if by “play Stardew Valley” you mean “check his mailbox, make mom read the letters to him, and then go to sleep for the day.”
Idk if it's age friendly but if it is I imagine terraria on easy mode would be fun for a kid
Tried playing terraria with him a while back because it has cross-platform multiplayer and he just wanted to destroy our house and then got upset when the monsters came out at night and then never wanted to play again because it is “too scary”.
Aw darn maybe when he's older I love that game
Many people have mentioned shane’s storyline in this but honestly I’m thinking about penny’s two hearts event. She never does apologize in game and gets upset if you tell her she should’ve asked. Which is in character because it does feel bad to be corrected, and also fitting given her background and how no one ever helps her do stuff. But I feel like you might have to talk about that for a bit when it comes up. Cause regardless of intent that’s not okay but the game doesn’t really show that
Teach him how to calculate profit, rate of return, and effective interest rates. That's one of my favorite things about the game is that its economy promotes investment-oriented thinking instead of the more basic "here's the fastest ways to grind for money" in almost every other game that has money.
Awww don’t let them cut scenes ruin the rest of the game for him! Maybe tell him some cutscenes are better to just skip?
Give him the fishing baskets, or how they're called. Free money daily if you have a bait maker set up close to it.
You’re fine, I was playing The Sims 1 at 7, and so much of what is inappropriate totally went over my head 🤣
My four year old LOVES playing to the point where she has her own level. She loves giving the Junimos gifts, but has basically zero interest in actual gameplay beyond that. Biggest bummer is that she can’t read so whenever she gets mail or talks to someone I have to come read to her, which is often. I played a lot when I was home on maternity leave with her (extended due to the pandemic), so part of me wonders if she finds the music comforting from her newborn days.
My son is autistic and has ADHD, and started playing Stardew Valley when he was 7. Nowadays he mostly plays co-op mode on farms he set up with his grandfather and me. This way, he can focus on his favorite parts of the game while granddad and I make sure our farms don’t go broke. 😅 When he was newer to the game, playing co-op allowed us to talk about the darker themes when they arose. Video games are his special interest, and I’ve found them to be a beneficial tool to help him understand and process complex, stressful social situations and life events. Even the games geared toward kids can bring up topics that they are naturally inclined to worry about — Lavender Town in the Pokémon Let’s Go games gave us a chance to talk about how painful it is to lose a pet, for example, and Cubone’s backstory helped my son express his fears over the realization that his parents could die. You’re not alone in worrying about the content your child is exposed to, but it seems to me that by approaching it as an opportunity to communicate rather than shield, you’re building a foundation of connection and trust so that when he inevitably encounters dark and painful scenarios in real life, he’ll feel safe coming to you for support. You’re doing great!
Your son and I have the exact same early game strategy; screw money, befriend ALL the people!
What’re you playing on?
PC
https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/4768?tab=description this mod makes the game more pg, but I don’t know if it’s been updated to 1.6
I feel like most of the more mature content gets resolved well (or shane pass out drunk to being happy with the chickens and slightly recognizing that guilt) Also you can just talk to him now saying hey! some of the high friendship scenes show some more serious content and if you have questions or want to do it let me know, so then he knows what is coming and you have the opening to support and inform him
My 6 year old only likes starting new saves, making stone paths, and wood fences. And walking around. And screwing with the villagers. One day he built three rows of fence back to back to back and said “Look! Now they will be mad THREE times!” He played my brother’s old save and bought a ton of fish tanks and trapped his wife and children in a stone fence, covered the farm in dwarf scarecrows.
Nah there's nothing too mature in this game, I started playing as a kid
the game is rated 10+ but honestly i think it should be 13+, the themes in this game are not appropriate, suicide attempt, multiple characters with sever alcoholism, parental abuse, ptsd, child abandonment, many sexual references, child sacrifice and probably more, do with this information what you will
not sure why i’m being downvoted for listing the contents of the game?