The Player

The Player refers to the playable character in Stardew Valley.

Character customization

The character creation screen.

The following options are available at the beginning of a new game:

Appearance - This includes 24 skin tones, 56 hairstyles, 20 accessories, 4 pants, and 112 shirts. All of them can be used by either gender, with the option to randomize appearance. This has no effect on gameplay, can be changed later, and can be augmented with hats and boots.
Name / Farm Name - These are limited to most of the ASCII printable characters, which are spaces, uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and `~!@#$%^&*()-=+[{]}\|;:'",<.>/?_. Although " is in the valid ASCII printable character range, the textbox does not accept this character.

Both fields accept copied text (paste text using Ctrl + v).

The length of the name is determined by the total pixel width, and the allowed maximum is restricted to the width of the textbox.

Name and Farm Name are sometimes used in dialogues during gameplay.

Animal Preference - This determines the type of pet that arrives in Spring of year 1.
Favorite Thing - This affects the text displayed after eating a Stardrop. The character limits are the same as the Name / Farm Name text boxes.
Gender - This has minor effects on gameplay:
- Characters will use the appropriate pronoun in dialogue.
- Restriction to the men's or women's spa entrance. (Note: Alex sometimes works out in the men's locker room.)
- It is possible to marry an eligible NPC regardless of gender. In a different gender marriage, the woman can become pregnant for 14 days (with no effect on speed or movement) and give birth to a child. In a same-gender marriage, children can be adopted.

When entering "Name", "Farm Name", or "Favorite Thing" on the Character Creation menu, certain keys produce special sounds and/or symbols.

Entering certain terms as the Favorite Thing triggers an Easter egg.
There are no character traits in Stardew Valley.
Your choices in cutscenes and dialogues don't significantly impact the story. They may increase or decrease friendship points, or change a future cutscene or dialogue slightly.
You can befriend most NPCs and there are no mutually exclusive friendships. (Some NPCs like Gunther have no friendship status.)
While NPCs have a breathing animation, the player does not. Instead, the player's character blinks his/her eyes.

PC/mobile only: naming your character using an internal object ID number in brackets will give you the item that corresponds with the number whenever an NPC mentions you by your name. For example, entering [645][499][163] will give you an Iridium Sprinkler, Ancient Seeds, and a Legend. (This exploit also works with naming children and animals.)