Like, I get it, parents and some adults go waaaay overboard to 'protect the children', but seriously, shielding them from everything you think could hurt them isn't really going to help them in the long run. Giving them a framework with which to make sense of things will.
Thanks for making this mod. It's just what I was looking for. Will it be updated to 1.5? Also, If I remember correctly, some of the monsters drop a blood pool on the ground after they die. If that's true I think there should be an option to turn that off as well.
While I appreciate some of the options here (non-smoking Seb for example), I find the bit about trying to protect kids is a little much.
***TRIGGER WARNING AHEAD DEALING WITH SUICIDE***
Speaking from experience, and sorry this gets personal, I dealt with my mom trying to commit suicide when I was a child. I found her unresponsive on the floor next to my bed. Because I was sheltered, or "protected", I didn't know what was going on. I thought she was sleeping, I just couldn't wake her up. Fortunately, I walked with a friend each day to school and told her and her mom that the reason I was here later than usual was because my mom wasn't waking up. My friend's mom called the ambulance. If that hadn't happened, my mom would be dead now. She was chocking when they got in and time was of the essence.
And this is the reason why "protecting" children from certain topics is a VERY BAD idea. I get you come from a good place, I'm sure your intentions are good. You probably want them to not experience the darkness in life when they're so young... But it has some real disastrous consequences you might not consider.
Talking to your kids, communicating and explaining in a way that is age appropriate, does a lot more good than hiding things. That goes for every subject. If you struggle with how to talk in an age appropriate way, there's resources for this. Experts have written and talked about how to do this. It's a common struggle and it's often easier to make things taboo than sitting down and talking. It's the "do what you're told because I say so" mentality rather than giving them a chance to chose to do things because you've explained why it's important. It does a lot more harm than good in the long run.
Nice mod! I noticed that the item names for specific fruit beverages still have wine in the name. Blackberry wine, Starfruit wine, etc. The description seems to have been changed properly, and any item that is just Wine (like the ones sold by the Travelling Cart) is successfully changed to fruitade. Is there a way I can fix this issue for the fruit beverages my kegs produce?
I'm old and my children are grown and gone. If I still had little ones around, a mod like this would be very useful. Thank you for making it--even though I do not need it now.
so, if i may; the problem with this mod isn't the mod. it is the pr. if it just said something along the line of 'removes problematic content for people who don't feel personally comfortable with it' then it would be a pretty great mod as it would be seen as a way for persons with traumas or lifestyle restrictions to better enjoy the game, angling it specifically as a mod for preserving the innocence of children however comes off as hand-wringing and preachy to a lot of people and can incite anger in those who, on a mechanical level have a use for the mod but on an ethical on cannot abide by the idea of someone making a tool to disenfranchise children
i think if you just reword the description to not include children specifically it would lead to a lot less headache
as for the mod itself i have issues with gus, elliot pam and of course shane because of the alcohol so i have a use for a mod that would change these things. i rather like pam and elliot and shane and gus have useful grants tied to them so being allowed to play without being forced to drink or dealing with alcoholics would be swell(and if you needed help changing the art i could be convinced to help, just shoot me a line)
Thank you for the tips on PR. I should probably change the description to be more inclusive. I'm not sure if the alcohol filter in its present form does enough for someone who would rather not be reminded of alcohol. The coat of paint might look kind a bit in some places. The alcohol filter does not change any graphics. Do you think any need to change?
Beer, Pale Ale, Wine, and Mead all look the same but have been renamed to "Root Beer", "Apple Cider", "Fruitade" (something like "orange soda" but made with real fruit), and "Bee Tea". (It's called "bee tea" because made from honey and I was sad about loosing the rhyming name of "pale ale" from the one made from hops.) Hops also look the same, but are called "Cider Apples". The Keg is still called a keg.
The sign on the Stardrop Saloon still says "food & spirits". "Passing out" is changed to "sugar crash". And depending on the setting, the cans of beer on the ground will instead be root beer (if alcohol is completely disabled) or Joja Cola (if alcohol is enabled but alcohol abuse is removed).
I wanted to minimize graphical changes so that people playing the game with this mod as kids wouldn't think that that vanilla game doesn't look like the game they fell in love with later in life. I'm open to changing some graphics if you think that would help, though.
no, no. i totally get not wanting to change the graphics and i suppose if you squint a bit they could pass. i'd say it wouldn't hurt to have it as an option though especially since the beer and wine are unmistakable as such to those who already know what they are on sight
in the end it is your call^^ though for sure i will be editing my own game so it's no extra work for me
Thank you. If you send some art, I will probably include it. You probably already know this, but "Maps/springobjects" and "LooseSprites/emojis" contain the wine and beer icons and their emoji versions.
Just going to leave the obligatory post here that we really need to stop trying to protect children from "bad words". It's futile & just makes cussing more appealing to teenagers. On to more serious topics.
As for the alcoholism having a realistic version of that presented to children will help them be more informed when it comes up in their life. Protecting children like this is a great way to leave them misinformed having filled in the blanks their parents refused to with inaccurate sometimes dangerous ideas.
Concerned Ape deals with these all in very safe, easy to digest ways. It's like having Dumbledore's death as a jumping off point to have a family discussion about the nature of mortality, rather than waiting for grandma to die.
That said, your adults they are your kids. Either you agree with me or you don't. That's it.
^ What the person here posted rings very true. I understand the meaning behind this kind of mod but at the same time making something 'kid friendly' by removing every aspect of realism (such as people struggling with addiction, depression, thoughts of self harm and suicide) leaves kids heavily misinformed and unable to recognize the warning signs in real life. Not everything is marshmallows and rainbows and it's not as if the game introduces these situations in some gruesome way. Also, Shane's struggle with mental health and an alcohol addiction is a key point in his character, and building a friendship with him helps build him up from where he thought was a point of no return.
Also, the whole 'bad words' thing never made sense to me. In my head, the word damn isn't a bad word. It's only classified that way because people associate it with a bad outcome in a religion I don't choose to participate in. We are the ones who create the words, we give them meaning. Thus, we are the ones who choose to be affected by them. I understand if people don't want to curse, some just don't like the way the words sound or feel to say and that's perfectly fine.
But changing every aspect you don't deem to be kid-friendly enough in a game that's intended to be a life simulation leaves it censored from some critical, and even life saving, aspects of reality. Kids won't fully grasp what's going on with Shane but they're not dumb. I'm not saying don't protect the kids, because there's some real and true danger out there. But don't censor them from reality because one way or another they're going to learn what addiction is, what depression is, and what swear words are. Wouldn't you agree that it's better to help them understand these things early on than simply cross your fingers and hope they never have to learn?
While I 100% agree with you that we shouldn't shelter kids from real life problems... this is just a mod. It's optional, and kids would have to go out of their way to find and download it. I just don't see it happening.
I think it's nice that the OP created this mod even though I'd never use it. They clearly didn't have bad intentions. I feel like a lot of people play Stardew to get away from real life problems, so I wouldn't blame those who don't want to hear about things like alcoholism or suicide, especially if they already deal with stuff like that in real life. It's nice that people can have a choice to see it or not.
Again, I totally agree with what you're saying, but I really don't think this mod will hurt anyone.
The main purpose was to remove rude words in order to avoid young. impressionable children from repeating phrases they see.
I'm also concerned about Sebastian romanticizing smoking or making it look cool. I was initially planning to use this alongside another mod that removes his smoking, the one I know of is out-dated, especially when used with SDV 1.4.
The suicide discussion seems fine for maybe a 12 year old, but I understand someone not wanting it in a game for their 7 year old.
I don't really have a problem with the alcohol content, but removing it's going to be an option for those who'd rather not have it.
You know there's a funny story about learning what suicide is at 7, I actually learned what that word meant at 6. Not through tragedy thankfully, but through a misunderstanding & the vigilance of my teacher. You see I had just learned what a last will and testament was. So like kids do, I played 'imitate the grown ups' & I wrote my own childish version while bored in class one day.
Long story short my teacher found this "will" & well... It was a document willing away everything I understood as "mine" (the backyard, etc.) So she decided, better safe than sorry. She called a meeting before school the next day. My parents were grateful for her concern & of course relieved that nothing was wrong after all.
So given the nature of this misunderstanding, they had to define the word suicide to me, a 6 year old. I said "that's just silly, why would anyone do that" and it was a little upsetting to think about, so I didn't. It had nothing to do with me. So I left it in a box & it stayed there forgotten until long after I relearned the word as a teen.
That's just a story I wanted to share. As its so rare kids have suicide explained to them under any circumstance, let alone entirely benign ones. No real point, just an anecdote.
I don't know. My parents kept everything G-rated and I never saw the appeal of cussing when I was a teen. (Or now as a still-young person. But I've always been a bit of an odd duck, I suppose.)
I totally agree. Although adults could also use it if they're recovering from addiction or something and don't want to see that. Overall we all have different opinions, and I definitely agree with not completely shielding children away from reality.
I can see your point about this also being a mod used by people struggling with recovering from their own addictions. I think most responses to seeing stuff like this are made because of recent COPPA actions so everyone's on a hairpin trigger whenever something is deemed 'kid-friendly'.
Speaking from my own personal experience, I wish that this kind of stuff had been explained to me instead of having to discover it on my own (in the worst way at times). I remember when I first learned that telling someone to 'screw off' had nothing to do with an actual hardware screw and a block of wood, because I'd heard it somewhere before. I ended up being smacked for it and told off about how I shouldn't say stuff like that but no one stopped to explain to me why I shouldn't say stuff like that, or what stuff like that even was.
Kids are impressionable and they're bound to repeat things they hear/see, which is why it's important to take the time to explain why something is wrong/hurtful to say, or why you shouldn't curse. I swear like a sailor now in casual conversation because they're just words to me now, I've adjusted to the point where they don't hold any impact on me and I don't feel offended if someone else uses them in my presence. I made a mistake as a kid and got punished for it and didn't understand why, and eventually adopted that taboo act into whatever rebellion I could get away with growing up, even if it resulted in me getting my mouth washed out with soap.
So here are my thoughts, I won't ever use this mod but I can understand where the idea is coming from. But at the same time, maybe relax on the filter or you're going to COPPA the entire game. Sebastian's smoking is definitely romanticized, but it's been romanticized in movies and TV for years. If anything most smokers I know started in high school due to peer pressure, not video games or media intake. Honestly, you have to be more wary of them vaping these days...
Shane's drinking habit could be swapped with juice/soda instead of booze, and could be a switch from alcoholism to him struggling with being diagnosed with diabetes and trying to adjust to the fact that he's not very good at taking care of himself and his health (something I've had a friend struggle with for years, she used to do whatever she could to pretend like she didn't have diabetes and it ended up with her hospitalized). That way his character arc stays intact, but alleviates the key problem that people seem to have with his character as a whole. Plus I enjoy the idea of a subtle message about how important it is to take care of your body and mind, especially if you have a medical condition that makes it harder to do both.
Relax on the filter? Every feature in this mod is optional as is the mod itself.
COPPA has nothing to do with this. COPPA is about children's privacy. This mod has no tracking or advertising features. I'm not understanding your use of COPPA as a verb.
What's up with all these unsolicited opinions from people with no interest in the mod. I don't care about all your hangups over controversial mods.
This is neither a parenting advise forum or a place to tell other people how to raise their children.
I see that you have a problem with cuss words, alcoholism, depressions, suicide, and tobacco use, but are totally fine with gambling. How do you plan on tackling the casino in the desert.
No, I don't. In fact, I am in agreement with most people here that we should not try to make everything kid friendly. 4kids did that to a lot of anime, and look how well that turned out. This game is categorized as a slice of life, so one should expect some sort or realism in it.
I'm using COPPA and its current stranglehold on Youtube's content as a reference towards what many deem to be an overreaction. I did say I wouldn't be using the mod, but I could understand why other people would. You uploaded this mod with comments enabled, yet become aggressively defensive that several people are having (what I consider) a constructive debate and conversation about censorship and restrictions. To quote:
"What's up with all these unsolicited opinions from people with no interest in the mod. I don't care about all your hangups over controversial mods.
This is neither a parenting advise forum or a place to tell other people how to raise their children."
1) You uploaded a 'controversial mod' but don't want people to comment about the issue they take with it, yet choose to respond rather than simply disable public comments. 2) From the description of this mod, you describe it as such: "This mod tries to make the game more appropriate for younger players by adding options to remove rude language, tobacco smoking, alcohol, alcoholism, and suggestions of suicide. Each can be enabled and disabled separately." The only people who would care about making a video game more appropriate for younger players are the parents of said players. If you're allowed to tell parents that they can censor their kids content, then we're allowed to tell them why it could be beneficial not to.
I ask that you read all the way through my comment before replying, because in my last one I did offer a suggestion towards Shane's alcoholism which would be deemed more friendly towards younger players but still carry weight because it's supposed to be a very serious moment. In fact, several of us have made suggestions in amidst our concerns and criticism. Just because people don't agree with an idea doesn't mean it's a bad one or shouldn't be shared, but the thing about opinions is that not everyone is going to agree with them. Many people commenting here are doing so because of the tag line that this mod is geared towards parents of younger players. Changing the wording so it's more neutral as a whole would be a start but at the same time you need to start asking yourself: When does it go too far?
Switching Sebastian's smoking for gaming and changing alcohol to juice/pop is just exchanging one addiction/vice for another. What about George's homophobic comments if Alex marries a male farmer? There is a mod out there that changes this very aspect of his character, but it's not even mentioned in your list of 'offenses'. The more people play a game, the more things you're going to be adding to that filter. If someone finds issue with something and asks you to add it, but you don't find that it's a problem to begin with and refuse... What then? Does that suddenly make their opinion and feelings about said issue invalid because you don't find it problematic?
My comments get long winded and I apologize for that, but I felt it needed to be said seeing as I felt distinctly called out due to my use of COPPA as a verb when it was mostly used as a generalization of what I personally deem to be an overreaction.
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***TRIGGER WARNING AHEAD DEALING WITH SUICIDE***
Speaking from experience, and sorry this gets personal, I dealt with my mom trying to commit suicide when I was a child. I found her unresponsive on the floor next to my bed. Because I was sheltered, or "protected", I didn't know what was going on. I thought she was sleeping, I just couldn't wake her up. Fortunately, I walked with a friend each day to school and told her and her mom that the reason I was here later than usual was because my mom wasn't waking up. My friend's mom called the ambulance. If that hadn't happened, my mom would be dead now. She was chocking when they got in and time was of the essence.
And this is the reason why "protecting" children from certain topics is a VERY BAD idea. I get you come from a good place, I'm sure your intentions are good. You probably want them to not experience the darkness in life when they're so young... But it has some real disastrous consequences you might not consider.
Talking to your kids, communicating and explaining in a way that is age appropriate, does a lot more good than hiding things. That goes for every subject. If you struggle with how to talk in an age appropriate way, there's resources for this. Experts have written and talked about how to do this. It's a common struggle and it's often easier to make things taboo than sitting down and talking. It's the "do what you're told because I say so" mentality rather than giving them a chance to chose to do things because you've explained why it's important. It does a lot more harm than good in the long run.
My two cents.
i think if you just reword the description to not include children specifically it would lead to a lot less headache
as for the mod itself i have issues with gus, elliot pam and of course shane because of the alcohol so i have a use for a mod that would change these things. i rather like pam and elliot and shane and gus have useful grants tied to them so being allowed to play without being forced to drink or dealing with alcoholics would be swell(and if you needed help changing the art i could be convinced to help, just shoot me a line)
Beer, Pale Ale, Wine, and Mead all look the same but have been renamed to "Root Beer", "Apple Cider", "Fruitade" (something like "orange soda" but made with real fruit), and "Bee Tea". (It's called "bee tea" because made from honey and I was sad about loosing the rhyming name of "pale ale" from the one made from hops.) Hops also look the same, but are called "Cider Apples". The Keg is still called a keg.
The sign on the Stardrop Saloon still says "food & spirits". "Passing out" is changed to "sugar crash". And depending on the setting, the cans of beer on the ground will instead be root beer (if alcohol is completely disabled) or Joja Cola (if alcohol is enabled but alcohol abuse is removed).
I wanted to minimize graphical changes so that people playing the game with this mod as kids wouldn't think that that vanilla game doesn't look like the game they fell in love with later in life. I'm open to changing some graphics if you think that would help, though.
in the end it is your call^^ though for sure i will be editing my own game so it's no extra work for me
As for the alcoholism having a realistic version of that presented to children will help them be more informed when it comes up in their life. Protecting children like this is a great way to leave them misinformed having filled in the blanks their parents refused to with inaccurate sometimes dangerous ideas.
Concerned Ape deals with these all in very safe, easy to digest ways. It's like having Dumbledore's death as a jumping off point to have a family discussion about the nature of mortality, rather than waiting for grandma to die.
That said, your adults they are your kids. Either you agree with me or you don't. That's it.
Also, the whole 'bad words' thing never made sense to me. In my head, the word damn isn't a bad word. It's only classified that way because people associate it with a bad outcome in a religion I don't choose to participate in. We are the ones who create the words, we give them meaning. Thus, we are the ones who choose to be affected by them. I understand if people don't want to curse, some just don't like the way the words sound or feel to say and that's perfectly fine.
But changing every aspect you don't deem to be kid-friendly enough in a game that's intended to be a life simulation leaves it censored from some critical, and even life saving, aspects of reality. Kids won't fully grasp what's going on with Shane but they're not dumb. I'm not saying don't protect the kids, because there's some real and true danger out there. But don't censor them from reality because one way or another they're going to learn what addiction is, what depression is, and what swear words are. Wouldn't you agree that it's better to help them understand these things early on than simply cross your fingers and hope they never have to learn?
I think it's nice that the OP created this mod even though I'd never use it. They clearly didn't have bad intentions. I feel like a lot of people play Stardew to get away from real life problems, so I wouldn't blame those who don't want to hear about things like alcoholism or suicide, especially if they already deal with stuff like that in real life. It's nice that people can have a choice to see it or not.
Again, I totally agree with what you're saying, but I really don't think this mod will hurt anyone.
I'm also concerned about Sebastian romanticizing smoking or making it look cool. I was initially planning to use this alongside another mod that removes his smoking, the one I know of is out-dated, especially when used with SDV 1.4.
The suicide discussion seems fine for maybe a 12 year old, but I understand someone not wanting it in a game for their 7 year old.
I don't really have a problem with the alcohol content, but removing it's going to be an option for those who'd rather not have it.
Long story short my teacher found this "will" & well... It was a document willing away everything I understood as "mine" (the backyard, etc.) So she decided, better safe than sorry. She called a meeting before school the next day. My parents were grateful for her concern & of course relieved that nothing was wrong after all.
So given the nature of this misunderstanding, they had to define the word suicide to me, a 6 year old. I said
"that's just silly, why would anyone do that" and it was a little upsetting to think about, so I didn't. It had nothing to do with me. So I left it in a box & it stayed there forgotten until long after I relearned the word as a teen.
That's just a story I wanted to share. As its so rare kids have suicide explained to them under any circumstance, let alone entirely benign ones. No real point, just an anecdote.
Speaking from my own personal experience, I wish that this kind of stuff had been explained to me instead of having to discover it on my own (in the worst way at times). I remember when I first learned that telling someone to 'screw off' had nothing to do with an actual hardware screw and a block of wood, because I'd heard it somewhere before. I ended up being smacked for it and told off about how I shouldn't say stuff like that but no one stopped to explain to me why I shouldn't say stuff like that, or what stuff like that even was.
Kids are impressionable and they're bound to repeat things they hear/see, which is why it's important to take the time to explain why something is wrong/hurtful to say, or why you shouldn't curse. I swear like a sailor now in casual conversation because they're just words to me now, I've adjusted to the point where they don't hold any impact on me and I don't feel offended if someone else uses them in my presence. I made a mistake as a kid and got punished for it and didn't understand why, and eventually adopted that taboo act into whatever rebellion I could get away with growing up, even if it resulted in me getting my mouth washed out with soap.
So here are my thoughts, I won't ever use this mod but I can understand where the idea is coming from. But at the same time, maybe relax on the filter or you're going to COPPA the entire game. Sebastian's smoking is definitely romanticized, but it's been romanticized in movies and TV for years. If anything most smokers I know started in high school due to peer pressure, not video games or media intake. Honestly, you have to be more wary of them vaping these days...
Shane's drinking habit could be swapped with juice/soda instead of booze, and could be a switch from alcoholism to him struggling with being diagnosed with diabetes and trying to adjust to the fact that he's not very good at taking care of himself and his health (something I've had a friend struggle with for years, she used to do whatever she could to pretend like she didn't have diabetes and it ended up with her hospitalized). That way his character arc stays intact, but alleviates the key problem that people seem to have with his character as a whole. Plus I enjoy the idea of a subtle message about how important it is to take care of your body and mind, especially if you have a medical condition that makes it harder to do both.
COPPA has nothing to do with this. COPPA is about children's privacy. This mod has no tracking or advertising features. I'm not understanding your use of COPPA as a verb.
What's up with all these unsolicited opinions from people with no interest in the mod. I don't care about all your hangups over controversial mods.
This is neither a parenting advise forum or a place to tell other people how to raise their children.
The mod doesn't remove Shane's depression, by the way. It just changes it so that he's not contemplating suicide.
"What's up with all these unsolicited opinions from people with no interest in the mod. I don't care about all your hangups over controversial mods.
This is neither a parenting advise forum or a place to tell other people how to raise their children."
1) You uploaded a 'controversial mod' but don't want people to comment about the issue they take with it, yet choose to respond rather than simply disable public comments.
2) From the description of this mod, you describe it as such: "This mod tries to make the game more appropriate for younger players by adding options to remove rude language, tobacco smoking, alcohol, alcoholism, and suggestions of suicide. Each can be enabled and disabled separately."
The only people who would care about making a video game more appropriate for younger players are the parents of said players. If you're allowed to tell parents that they can censor their kids content, then we're allowed to tell them why it could be beneficial not to.
I ask that you read all the way through my comment before replying, because in my last one I did offer a suggestion towards Shane's alcoholism which would be deemed more friendly towards younger players but still carry weight because it's supposed to be a very serious moment. In fact, several of us have made suggestions in amidst our concerns and criticism. Just because people don't agree with an idea doesn't mean it's a bad one or shouldn't be shared, but the thing about opinions is that not everyone is going to agree with them. Many people commenting here are doing so because of the tag line that this mod is geared towards parents of younger players. Changing the wording so it's more neutral as a whole would be a start but at the same time you need to start asking yourself: When does it go too far?
Switching Sebastian's smoking for gaming and changing alcohol to juice/pop is just exchanging one addiction/vice for another. What about George's homophobic comments if Alex marries a male farmer? There is a mod out there that changes this very aspect of his character, but it's not even mentioned in your list of 'offenses'. The more people play a game, the more things you're going to be adding to that filter. If someone finds issue with something and asks you to add it, but you don't find that it's a problem to begin with and refuse... What then? Does that suddenly make their opinion and feelings about said issue invalid because you don't find it problematic?
My comments get long winded and I apologize for that, but I felt it needed to be said seeing as I felt distinctly called out due to my use of COPPA as a verb when it was mostly used as a generalization of what I personally deem to be an overreaction.