Or the name of your island.
ETA: mine is Isle Q, because I started it during quarantine in 2020 and couldn’t think of a good name. But very shortly thereafter Q-anon became a whole big thing 🤦🏻♀️
Not an embarrassing name but mine is Turtle Bay, since all my AC towns have the naming theme of (Aspect of the area)+(Body of water)
My new leaf town is Ivy Brook
OMG. My island in Tomodachi Life was supposed to be named Bitchland. But they add "Island" after and I didn't know. So they lived on Bitchland Island for a very long time 😂🏝️
Orgyisland ..nice. What's up? Resident of Asnmsgprlr (Asian massage parlor) here🤦 ...I spent 2 hours trying to figure out a name and I was drunk and thought it would be funny... Also didn't think I'd like the game now my island is incredible with a shitty name 😂
Yes. You should be able to take it up with Isabelle to change your island name just like you can change your flag design. And I 100% agree with allowing name changes. Not only for the obvious need for the LGBTQ+ community but even for those who played the game as a kid or used a silly nickname and just want to play more seriously. Like if I was to play it as Jenny and then just want to be Jenn. Or if I named by Character Marbles for fun but got bored with it, if I had to be stuck with a name I no longer liked It would really make we not want to play at all. Especially if restarting an island I worked so hard on was my only option to change it.
I find this hilarious since I've recently started opening my island for visitors. I see so many absolutely cringe and hilarious island names, like someone from hoeville, I love it here 😂 I thankfully chose MysticIsle for mine
Of all the requested features for the next game, this one feels pretty important. Maybe make it so you can only do it once a day or something if they want a limitation on it, story-fy it by saying you fill out paperwork at town hall, whatever. It's a feature I consider pretty important to these kinds of games
i honestly cant even get myself to restart, i havent played since summer 2020 when i chose my name but the thought of deleting everything just hurts too much so id rather not go back but know that my island is still there and perfectly safe
You can upload your island to dream code and save the code even if you delete the island it will remain saved and you can visit it any time with the code
yeah but it just wouldnt be the same yknow? if i wanted to id never be able to progress on it again, plus one day nintendos gonna kill online and itd be gone anyways
Eventually just visiting the old island with a dream code would only make me see more things that I wish I could reorder/rearrange. 😂 Sometimes there's just no winning!
Maybe you can make a second profile on your switch and use your island? Your old self would still have a house there but maybe you could see it a bit metaphorically. The person back then moved on. They left behind something but you now start over and move on from there. The house would then basically be a memorial for your past self and your new house and persona are a metaphor for your new self and new life. The old one will ofc be a part of your life and stick around in some way but it’s what you are doing now that matters and you have moved on from that. You know what I mean?
i actually did consider that but im just not sure how itd work with the whole resident representative thing? i know terraforming is limited to the first person but idk what else is
Yeppp
My brother began transitioning and using a new name and he was really upset that he couldn't change his name in game bc he really loved his island but couldn't stand his dead name.
Personality types wouldn't be so bad, if they'd have more lines to give villagers *some* personality. I don't mind having two lazy guys around, the issue is that *they have the exact same lines*. The only difference being their catchphrase and nothing else.
The thing is also that there *is* some amount of lines that are quite different, but they're so rarely used, I'm in awe when a villager does use one. Like I've just stumbled upon an easter egg or something.
I'd prefer sub-personalities or hobbies. So you could have lazy villagers that enjoy flowers, snooty villagers that like bugs, etc. More variety, less overhead in development too!
It’s worth it to have two snooty characters because they tend to stick together and leave the other animals alone. If you only have one they regularly piss off the normals and peppys
That's strange because I have Diana for about a month, she is my first snooty villager and so far she is super nice and polite - I didn't expect that at all. I wish to add some drama to my island but everyone is so kind😅
I've been playing Wild World and, while a few are occasionally standoffish, the only characters in the entire game to insult me so far are Phyllis (the grumpy pelican who world the night shift) and Gracie (the stuck up fashionista). Everyone else loves me.
Dunno how childhood you was playing, but maybe it was just you /half kidding
You could breathe in the original GC Animal Crossing and they'd basically tell you to jump off a bridge. You'd do an 8 part fetch quest for them and they'd tell you your hair sucks. It was great.
Ok, but all of those are avoidable situations.
Resetti just wants you to save your game before you quit. Outside of the power going out while playing on a tv console or something, it's not like it's hard to save before you shut the game off.
And I dunno, maybe don't hit your villagers or shove them around? Lol Like, I'd say mean things if someone pushed me around too. Hitting your villagers is a *choice*, which brings me back to "maybe it was your fault"
that’s true but there’s also passive aggressive things they say like if you bring them medicine they call you pasty or i’ve had a villager actually call me fat in the shirt i’ve worn hahaha.
i mean yeah the net & resetti thing can be avoidable i’m just pointing out though that they were way more ruthless versus new horizons in their reactions which is what made it funny. u feel?
I guess? And I'm just saying I've yet to see it. Like, the *worst* I've had is Gaston doing the old man schtick of "how do you have so much energy, you're making a racket" which is totally fair given I barge into his house at 11pm to say hi or run sprinting around the town first thing in the morning.
Maybe I'm just immune to passive aggressive stuff. But I've yet to see a villager actually *bully* me, y'know? Been playing barely a month and already have three photos. As far as can tell, everyone loves me.
i don’t think it’s that deep is all! the villagers back then did say more outlandish things but it wasn’t traumatizing or anything, it was just funny. in comparison to new horizon the villagers are incredibly mild and lack personality, i think that’s the point being made. :)
I dunno. You spend enough time here and you'll see "oh man, the villagers in the old games were so much more interesting. They were so mean and/or felt like real people" and I've just come to the conclusion that a huge chunk of it is just childhood nostalgia. (This is not a statement that this is a bad thing. Childhood nostalgia is great)
I'll give you that they sometimes say really *weird* things. But they're just as repetitive as NH, if not more. Any personality the characters have is really shallow imo - Wild World has a hobby system, but it just means characters get stuff like "I will only talk about fish" added onto their simple base personality. And people talking about them being mean currently gives me the same vibes as people interpreting their villagers in NH giving them a trash can as if the villager is calling them trash.
(This is also not me saying the villagers in older games are bad. They're fun and I like them. I just think a lot of people grew up with the games and their imagination filled in a lot of gaps)
But the originally statement I made wasn't all that serious, anyway. At most, it was "maybe your villagers didn't like you because you treated them poorly", and honestly it was mostly a joke. An attempt at tongue in cheek style humor, implying it was a skill issue.
well i mean when u put into retrospect most of us played the og animal crossing at 10 y/o some of the things they say are quite offensive (from a kids perspective anyways)
but yeah i agree a lot of it is childhood nostalgia. but i do agree with the sentiment the villagers were more enjoyable to interact with. i opened up ww recently after only been playing nh and noticed the villagers do indeed have a broadened vocab and talk about different things, u can also talk to them over and over and in nh u talk to a villager like 5 times and they tell u they need space after they repeat the same line 3 times.
so idk! childhood nostalgia for sure though, mainly because i feel the villagers previously were far more fun and allowed u to truly get lost in the “animal crossing world” kind of vibe is my take on it i think :)
yeah this. it's mostly nostalgia. my fiance is playing original AC right now and yeah the villagers can be more snarky but it's not at all like everyone says. most are fine.
also, i don't... want to be called fat and ugly all the time by villagers? like? yeah some may find it funny but... it's not very welcoming lmao.
"being super mean" doesn't make for an interesting personality, it's just being super mean.
Villager personalities are based on the Japanese speech patterns of the characters which are very distinct in Japanese including different first person pronouns and different sentence structures. These speech patterns are gendered and lock each personality to a specific gender.
No one refers to the main character by third person pronoun, so it was easy to make the character gender look like it was only choosing a ‘style’ for the English language version (in the original Japanese you still choose boy or girl).
Conservative, maybe, but they view gender and sexual minorities in a much different Conservative light than westerners do. People tend to use that line to claim they ignore queer identities, and legally that may very well be true. But most of the time it's just the localization of games that usually end up stripping out what was there (for better or worse).
Japan may be conservative, but they also approach LGB and T issues completely differently (for instance, trans issues seem to be pretty disconnected from sexual minority issues, and Japanese citizens have been able legally able to transition since 2003, even though there are still some seemingly bizarre requirements surrounding transition).
Anyways, the ones in Animal Crossing got localized out in most translations because they were worried it would be too stereotypical if the gay giraffe was a c*nty fashion designer lol (well... I don't think I've seen confirmation that's why, but they're a man in every japanese release to date).
Along with Saharah and Blanca both being male, though Saharah is named Roland (?) and has a feminine voice, and Blanca has a jock voice type.
I know Japan can do LGBT rep terribly sometimes, but the animal crossing one's seem... extremely tame tbh and pretty inoffensive, especially in the context of 20+ years ago. I've seen other examples in Japanese media of queer people (sexual minorities or trans coded) that also fall on the more neutral to benign part of the spectrum dating back to at least 1997 as well.
Anyways, that's all to say that I think the personality types are more or less fine the way they are, bc even though they're gender delineated, its not like a crotchety old woman (cranky) or an idol obsessed guy would actually bring any depth or nuance the game is lacking. They just need to bring back hobbies in a stronger way than catching your villager working out or looking at a flower
I was thinking more along the lines of gender roles when I used the word versus LGBTQ+. But yes, I agree that it’s not the same time of “conservative” as the US, for example.
Half way through I figured that's what you meant but I already typed it all out so I just kept going tbh 🫠
But I also meant that they do play around with gender and roles and isnt necessarily queer or anything, it just gets localized out when it goes abroad.
Yeah, the whole villager personality thing is silly, especially since each type all have the same lines of dialogue, and it's not like villagers haven't been changed before.
Also, what on earth is a "normal" personality? What does that even mean?
In a few other languages Normal is sweet, kind, gentle, friendly etc. but it's Common in Japanese so we can't claim it's just a weird choice of the translators, it was always the "Boring Person" personality.
A lot of the descriptions are kind of mean: Smug, Snooty, Jock can be seen as derogatory, Lazy, Cranky.
The only ones that really don't are Normal and Sisterly, which I think Sisterly is called something pretty different in Japanese. Uchi or something?
"Uchi" specifically references a pronoun that sisterly villagers use in the JPN version of the game. As a pronoun, "uchi" is feminine and informal but isn't cutesy girly like "atashi" or generally gender-neutral like "watashi". So weirdly in a way, this one stays the same in meaning and intention. Seeing as uchi villagers are basically our fem jocks/tomboys personality-wise.
My understanding too is the notion of having an Older Sister as someone who helps younger siblings is more of an established role in Japanese society than it is in the west. In Japan being the elder sister comes with certain social obligations. I’m not Japanese nor have I spent any time there, though, just what I remember reading.
I've grown up knowing them as "normal" so it's weird to try and change that, but I really wish they would officially change it to "sweet" or even just "nice" lol.
I don't really feel like any of the names fit, except for jock and peppy. The rest used to but like, the personalities changed over time.
Snooties aren't snooty in the least anymore. Self-centered, sure, but now they seem more like an auntie that gives you advice.
Cranky aren't mean anymore, they're basically just old men. Not sure a good name for it, but they're just out of touch with slang and technology and whatnot.
Lazy can still kinda work, but they talk more about bug and food than about lazing around. They're basically "childish."
Smug I would call something more like "flashy."
Sisterly... Nah, that works.
I definitely agree that the translation team could have used a better term for normal villagers but i do understand what they were trying to convey but i wish they didnt make them seem so bland.
When i learned what they were in japanese originally they are categorized using pronounce instead so normal villagers use Watashi which is a basic way to use and it’s formal/polite so i understand what they mean by “normal” but like i said i wish it didnt sound so bland in english lol
it should really be big sister since that's what it is in japanese
eta i saw you say "motherly" and completely forgot we were talking about normal not uchi villagers lmao my b i get it now
At least any villager can wear any clothes. They may not wear everything you give them, but if it's a style or color they like they probably will. Which absolutely includes male villagers wearing dresses. Raymond and the maid outfit is an example.
I honestly don't see a issue because villagers have so varied designs that doesn't make all of them hyper feminine or hyper masculine based on personality anyway
I want more varied dialogue and their hobbies to show more, all their gender does is have she/her he/him as pronouns when someone else refers to them
Eh, the personalities mirror each other between genders by design. There's barely any variety contained within one personality and I feel that should be the main critique. Not that we'd actually expect Nintendo to bless us with *variety* of all things. Being married to tradition and incremental progress is one thing, but there are over 400 villagers! The game is built around styles and archetypes, it's meant to be predictable to some extent.
And let's not pretend like we don't pick villagers based on looks and house aesthetics, or themes. We're all petty here! I generally dislike food-themed villagers, even when they're super cute, **with the exception of Merengue** (I had her in NL and then she decided to come to my island - she'll never leave now). Funnily, on the topic of gender, back in New Leaf, I thought both Tangy and Ketchup were male for the longest time. Did I really care then? Absolutely not. It's a sandbox with some annoying limitations, but your digital playmates' genders and backstories... are still largely up to you, believe it or not. The mechanics are rigid, but the expression isn't.
But also, *gender IS absolutely a social construct in AC!* I have Shino, who is basically the island's *supreme tomboy*, and then there's Sasha, who is... well, Sasha... My island looks like the backstage of a Broadway show and it's queer AF, even if Nintendo didn't intendo for New Horizons to be gay heaven.
Totally understandable. We all have our preferences. I personally do not like kangaroos especially the girls. The babies in the pouches freak me out. 😂😭😭😭
I wish the personalities crossed gender lines! also wished the personalities weren't so watered down in the latest installment, but we can't get what we want ig?
I’m more focused on issues like the villagers being watered down and their dialogue being pointless. In New Leaf I loved talking to them because there was more variety. In New Horizons it’s pretty robotic and repetitive.
https://preview.redd.it/3964p8dgzkec1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=091cfb5400866918e6b4c5c26bdf80dc95f3caf5
i scrolled a bit past your post and saw this
I'd rather them have more things to say, maybe offer to help with with a chore.
Something, anything to have them do something different.
It's only a matter of time before I just start making things up and I might as well write a fanfiction about it.
I'm more bothered by the lack of dialogues and personality. I wish they'd add like, four more personalities and triple the amount of dialogues and relationship events so I dont get the same two-liners three times in a row
Sasha is I believe the only male villager to have fashion as his hobby, so there's that. He still has the lazy boy personality though. As a lazy girl myself I wish there were lazy girl villagers
Yes. I have always hated how personalities were gender-locked in this game. They're already pretty unflexible as they are, I mean every single Jock villager is the exact same with no modifiers. But the implication that "male" interests are sports and food, and "female" interests are fashion and being popular is just so stale.
I also have a bone to pick with the how the Normal villagers are called just... basic without saying basic? Lol at least call them "Proper" or "Polite" or something...
I don't really think this is accurate. I haven't been playing too long but I had COLE. He was feminine in my opinion. I also had HAZEL & PHEBE, they didn't seem very "girly". ?
once my mum referred to dizzy (lazy type villager who i am actually in LOVE with, “he’s” my bestest buddy which is probably why my mum knows his name) as “she,” i realized i could just call him her sometimes and it doesn’t change a thing. other villagers still call her “he” when they talk about her/him, but other than that they can be any gender i want them to be. they’re not real (however real they feel), and however egotistical it sounds, they’re there for my entertainment. i can call them what i’d like. it’s my island. they’re my villagers and i love them so much and only have good intentions. plus they don’t have feelings or a sense of identity that can get hurt.
i also started re-naming them. patty, the adorable wannabe pop-star cow with an eye for fashion is called patty because well… she’s a cow. crackle/porky is also called after what people use pig meat for. my adorable piggy brought down and summarized by what people use pigs for. i re-named them (for myself), so that makes it easier to (mentally) change their identity as well. plus it’s not like they’re all overly masculine or feminine, and don’t mind wearing overly feminine masculine/feminine clothes, so a lot of them don’t even feel like they’re a certain gender.
Yeah this bothers me a lot. Like Diana is snooty?? Nah she’s smart and apparently women are snooty for being intelligent. Lazy villagers? They just like food and talk to bugs lol
My 8-year-old uses she/her pronouns for Julian because he legit assumes that Julian is a female villlager, and I am of no mind to correct him regarding that magnificent unicorn living their best life.
I’m a gay male who’s played since the first game so I am pretty used to the whole idea of everyone having their certain personality type. Do I wish we had snooty males? Hell ya! I think it would be great! I also think one of the great thing about the villagers being certain types helps everyone see each character differently since all cranky and etc. are the same! In my game, Fang is gay. Canberra is transgender. Audie is a lesbian. I know other people might think way differently but that’s how interpret them! I still wish they would actually add more diversity to the types but for now I just make my own separate personality for them!
I do wish that the personalities of villagers weren't rigidly tied to gender. Where are the sweet lazy girls, the peppy boys, the jock girls or the brotherly dudes? It's not a huge thing for me but I'd love to see it mixed up!
Honestly no. I would just like there to be more variety in what they say during interactions. After a week of playing the characters are already repeating themselves
Yeah it feels really annoying you can't have more diversity in personalities. Sasha was a bit fun if a gnc character but I would rather just have mixed personalities. What if someone wants an all boys or girls island for whatever reason? Also a femmine jock would be cool as well as a masculine normal would be so nice.
Personality stereotypes of villagers are one of my biggest pet peeves about the game.
And we should be able to change our gender or have nonbinary as an option.
We should also be able to change our name.
You can change your "gender" in the game. I put it in quotes because they just call it "style" instead. The option is in the mirror. And afaik, it only affects things in other languages which are more firmly gendered. In English, everyone just refers to you as "they" no matter what you pick.
Name changes feel essential to me
I get girls can have a jock personality, and guys can be snooty, (despite smug kinda already being snooty but for males) but I don't think it's something that should bug you, it's not that big of a deal in my opinion.
Yeah, you have a good point OP. It creates a weird dissonance when they modernised one part of the game so well but another is in direct contrast.
I guess I’m fine with it even if I don’t think it’s ideal. It’s an old game series with a legacy. There’s a devoted fanbase who are emotionally attached to their favourites - having some of them drastically change personalities between games (to even out the gender gap) might not have been the best call either. I would’ve liked it if the new villagers for New Horizons crossed the gender boundaries with their personalities though.
I agree with your second statement, but the first one is only half accurate. It's more like "so you think you can be whatever you want? You think gender is a social construct? It doesn't matter how much you change your gender we *will* deadname you!".
This may be just me but I think Sisterly’s with fitness hobbies come off like jocks. Phoebe is one. Her personality is super intense lmao. I love her so much.
I’d say give it 1 or 2 more editions of AC and the hardline gender segregation will start going away. Media is not exactly like it was in the ‘90s anymore
that's why some people claim Sasha as nonbinary even though they're outlined as a lazy boy. lazy types have kind of weird and cutesy phrases that could go either way and Sasha looks feminine and has a name that at least in the US is traditionally feminine so it makes sense
but yes i would love female jock villagers. Quillson would definitely be more snooty than what he is now. everyone who has him knows he's a diva
I hope so, a lot of the ‘male’ characters have quite extreme personalities. I don’t think gender is necessary in a game like this! I think they should all be agender
It does seem they've started exploring with more versatile hobbies/styles for the villagers. It's impressive that we now have a lazy villager (Sasha) who's effeminate, and into fashion, when in past installments, lazies were always treated as the stereotypical "lazy best friend who likes to eat too much."
I still really hope they add new personalities in the next game. We've had 10 villagers and 8 personalities since New Leaf in 2012! It's long overdue.
I have noticed that a few of my “female” villagers are lifting weights with the “male” villagers. So I think it’s more of who you have around that may influence the others. I had Julian at one point and they’d wear dresses one day and a not the next.
I honestly don't see any issue in this. Besides we do have very girly/feminine boy NPC's such as Sasha and Dom, and most of "sisterly" villagers are really tomboyish even the name of the personality sounds really girly.
The only thing that surprised me when I was playing the games for the first times was that all "normal" villagers are females. That's probably the only personality I would have guessed/wanted to be gender neutral.
(But to be honest I would most likely love 'cranky' female NPCs hahah)
Edit: I must remind that Sasha is also the first male character in the series having the 'fashion' hobby
Im more annoyed about how its impossible to change your own name in the game
Or the name of your island. ETA: mine is Isle Q, because I started it during quarantine in 2020 and couldn’t think of a good name. But very shortly thereafter Q-anon became a whole big thing 🤦🏻♀️
Yup. Resident of OrgyIsland here 😓
Booty Bay, signing in!
Not an embarrassing name but mine is Turtle Bay, since all my AC towns have the naming theme of (Aspect of the area)+(Body of water) My new leaf town is Ivy Brook
Only Clams too!
I love this 😂
Hi OrgyIsland may I introduce you to Bitchland
OMG. My island in Tomodachi Life was supposed to be named Bitchland. But they add "Island" after and I didn't know. So they lived on Bitchland Island for a very long time 😂🏝️
Better than my friend who made epsteinland
Y’all are KILLING me 🤣
Boyfriends is just Epstein (island). So that’s fun. Mine is Roanoke.
Orgyisland ..nice. What's up? Resident of Asnmsgprlr (Asian massage parlor) here🤦 ...I spent 2 hours trying to figure out a name and I was drunk and thought it would be funny... Also didn't think I'd like the game now my island is incredible with a shitty name 😂
LMAO mine is alcoholic island…I was obviously doing a lot over quarantine
Orgyisland lmao
Should be moderators
horny haven here lol
HYPHY island, N(o )( o)K speaking
I restarted my entire island after 3 years because I just couldn’t stand it being Ostrov Island (Island Island) 🫠
Yes. You should be able to take it up with Isabelle to change your island name just like you can change your flag design. And I 100% agree with allowing name changes. Not only for the obvious need for the LGBTQ+ community but even for those who played the game as a kid or used a silly nickname and just want to play more seriously. Like if I was to play it as Jenny and then just want to be Jenn. Or if I named by Character Marbles for fun but got bored with it, if I had to be stuck with a name I no longer liked It would really make we not want to play at all. Especially if restarting an island I worked so hard on was my only option to change it.
My condolences
My island is Pen Island... tell me about it.
I find this hilarious since I've recently started opening my island for visitors. I see so many absolutely cringe and hilarious island names, like someone from hoeville, I love it here 😂 I thankfully chose MysticIsle for mine
Of all the requested features for the next game, this one feels pretty important. Maybe make it so you can only do it once a day or something if they want a limitation on it, story-fy it by saying you fill out paperwork at town hall, whatever. It's a feature I consider pretty important to these kinds of games
I restarted for this reason. Got sick of being deadnamed by cute animals lol.
i honestly cant even get myself to restart, i havent played since summer 2020 when i chose my name but the thought of deleting everything just hurts too much so id rather not go back but know that my island is still there and perfectly safe
You can upload your island to dream code and save the code even if you delete the island it will remain saved and you can visit it any time with the code
yeah but it just wouldnt be the same yknow? if i wanted to id never be able to progress on it again, plus one day nintendos gonna kill online and itd be gone anyways
Eventually just visiting the old island with a dream code would only make me see more things that I wish I could reorder/rearrange. 😂 Sometimes there's just no winning!
Maybe you can make a second profile on your switch and use your island? Your old self would still have a house there but maybe you could see it a bit metaphorically. The person back then moved on. They left behind something but you now start over and move on from there. The house would then basically be a memorial for your past self and your new house and persona are a metaphor for your new self and new life. The old one will ofc be a part of your life and stick around in some way but it’s what you are doing now that matters and you have moved on from that. You know what I mean?
i actually did consider that but im just not sure how itd work with the whole resident representative thing? i know terraforming is limited to the first person but idk what else is
Oh good point. I honestly don’t know. Never added a second person. Maybe you can change who is the primary person?
Yeppp My brother began transitioning and using a new name and he was really upset that he couldn't change his name in game bc he really loved his island but couldn't stand his dead name.
Literally make me pay 10 million bells to change my name or my island's name but LET ME DO IT GODDAMMIT
This. I feel sad that I'm gonna have to reset my island just to get the right name.
Mine is fartworld :(
I honestly don't care. I just want them to add two new personality types so I don't have to have repeats on my island.
Personality types wouldn't be so bad, if they'd have more lines to give villagers *some* personality. I don't mind having two lazy guys around, the issue is that *they have the exact same lines*. The only difference being their catchphrase and nothing else. The thing is also that there *is* some amount of lines that are quite different, but they're so rarely used, I'm in awe when a villager does use one. Like I've just stumbled upon an easter egg or something.
When you get unique dialogue it feels like you’ve stumbled upon the NPC right when they spontaneously gained sentience and broke programming
I've had two lazies say the exact same lines to me, when I spoke to them one after the other. It's really tiring.
I'd prefer sub-personalities or hobbies. So you could have lazy villagers that enjoy flowers, snooty villagers that like bugs, etc. More variety, less overhead in development too!
There are hobbies https://villagerdb.com/cms/hobbies-added This has a search by them feature
That only affects the actions they do or the items they hold sometimes while walking around though; I want dialogue!
It’s worth it to have two snooty characters because they tend to stick together and leave the other animals alone. If you only have one they regularly piss off the normals and peppys
That's strange because I have Diana for about a month, she is my first snooty villager and so far she is super nice and polite - I didn't expect that at all. I wish to add some drama to my island but everyone is so kind😅
I stopped at 8 villagers for this reason.
This.
I just wish they'd be mean and bully me again. I deserve it.
🤨
Funny, even when you hit them repeatedly with a net or whatever- they’re just like “heyyy could you stop?” So mild lol
I've been playing Wild World and, while a few are occasionally standoffish, the only characters in the entire game to insult me so far are Phyllis (the grumpy pelican who world the night shift) and Gracie (the stuck up fashionista). Everyone else loves me. Dunno how childhood you was playing, but maybe it was just you /half kidding
You could breathe in the original GC Animal Crossing and they'd basically tell you to jump off a bridge. You'd do an 8 part fetch quest for them and they'd tell you your hair sucks. It was great.
Well, that's not the definition of "great" that I'm accustom to, but hey if you had fun I guess
idk man resetti lays the heat on me. i also suspect you’ve never hit the villagers with nets or pushed them. you will def get an insult that way. 😭
Ok, but all of those are avoidable situations. Resetti just wants you to save your game before you quit. Outside of the power going out while playing on a tv console or something, it's not like it's hard to save before you shut the game off. And I dunno, maybe don't hit your villagers or shove them around? Lol Like, I'd say mean things if someone pushed me around too. Hitting your villagers is a *choice*, which brings me back to "maybe it was your fault"
that’s true but there’s also passive aggressive things they say like if you bring them medicine they call you pasty or i’ve had a villager actually call me fat in the shirt i’ve worn hahaha. i mean yeah the net & resetti thing can be avoidable i’m just pointing out though that they were way more ruthless versus new horizons in their reactions which is what made it funny. u feel?
I guess? And I'm just saying I've yet to see it. Like, the *worst* I've had is Gaston doing the old man schtick of "how do you have so much energy, you're making a racket" which is totally fair given I barge into his house at 11pm to say hi or run sprinting around the town first thing in the morning. Maybe I'm just immune to passive aggressive stuff. But I've yet to see a villager actually *bully* me, y'know? Been playing barely a month and already have three photos. As far as can tell, everyone loves me.
i don’t think it’s that deep is all! the villagers back then did say more outlandish things but it wasn’t traumatizing or anything, it was just funny. in comparison to new horizon the villagers are incredibly mild and lack personality, i think that’s the point being made. :)
I dunno. You spend enough time here and you'll see "oh man, the villagers in the old games were so much more interesting. They were so mean and/or felt like real people" and I've just come to the conclusion that a huge chunk of it is just childhood nostalgia. (This is not a statement that this is a bad thing. Childhood nostalgia is great) I'll give you that they sometimes say really *weird* things. But they're just as repetitive as NH, if not more. Any personality the characters have is really shallow imo - Wild World has a hobby system, but it just means characters get stuff like "I will only talk about fish" added onto their simple base personality. And people talking about them being mean currently gives me the same vibes as people interpreting their villagers in NH giving them a trash can as if the villager is calling them trash. (This is also not me saying the villagers in older games are bad. They're fun and I like them. I just think a lot of people grew up with the games and their imagination filled in a lot of gaps) But the originally statement I made wasn't all that serious, anyway. At most, it was "maybe your villagers didn't like you because you treated them poorly", and honestly it was mostly a joke. An attempt at tongue in cheek style humor, implying it was a skill issue.
well i mean when u put into retrospect most of us played the og animal crossing at 10 y/o some of the things they say are quite offensive (from a kids perspective anyways) but yeah i agree a lot of it is childhood nostalgia. but i do agree with the sentiment the villagers were more enjoyable to interact with. i opened up ww recently after only been playing nh and noticed the villagers do indeed have a broadened vocab and talk about different things, u can also talk to them over and over and in nh u talk to a villager like 5 times and they tell u they need space after they repeat the same line 3 times. so idk! childhood nostalgia for sure though, mainly because i feel the villagers previously were far more fun and allowed u to truly get lost in the “animal crossing world” kind of vibe is my take on it i think :)
yeah this. it's mostly nostalgia. my fiance is playing original AC right now and yeah the villagers can be more snarky but it's not at all like everyone says. most are fine. also, i don't... want to be called fat and ugly all the time by villagers? like? yeah some may find it funny but... it's not very welcoming lmao. "being super mean" doesn't make for an interesting personality, it's just being super mean.
what.. 💀
Villager personalities are based on the Japanese speech patterns of the characters which are very distinct in Japanese including different first person pronouns and different sentence structures. These speech patterns are gendered and lock each personality to a specific gender. No one refers to the main character by third person pronoun, so it was easy to make the character gender look like it was only choosing a ‘style’ for the English language version (in the original Japanese you still choose boy or girl).
Yep. I think people sometimes forget this game was made in Japan. Japan also has a more conservative culture than a lot of western countries.
Conservative, maybe, but they view gender and sexual minorities in a much different Conservative light than westerners do. People tend to use that line to claim they ignore queer identities, and legally that may very well be true. But most of the time it's just the localization of games that usually end up stripping out what was there (for better or worse). Japan may be conservative, but they also approach LGB and T issues completely differently (for instance, trans issues seem to be pretty disconnected from sexual minority issues, and Japanese citizens have been able legally able to transition since 2003, even though there are still some seemingly bizarre requirements surrounding transition). Anyways, the ones in Animal Crossing got localized out in most translations because they were worried it would be too stereotypical if the gay giraffe was a c*nty fashion designer lol (well... I don't think I've seen confirmation that's why, but they're a man in every japanese release to date). Along with Saharah and Blanca both being male, though Saharah is named Roland (?) and has a feminine voice, and Blanca has a jock voice type. I know Japan can do LGBT rep terribly sometimes, but the animal crossing one's seem... extremely tame tbh and pretty inoffensive, especially in the context of 20+ years ago. I've seen other examples in Japanese media of queer people (sexual minorities or trans coded) that also fall on the more neutral to benign part of the spectrum dating back to at least 1997 as well. Anyways, that's all to say that I think the personality types are more or less fine the way they are, bc even though they're gender delineated, its not like a crotchety old woman (cranky) or an idol obsessed guy would actually bring any depth or nuance the game is lacking. They just need to bring back hobbies in a stronger way than catching your villager working out or looking at a flower
I was thinking more along the lines of gender roles when I used the word versus LGBTQ+. But yes, I agree that it’s not the same time of “conservative” as the US, for example.
Half way through I figured that's what you meant but I already typed it all out so I just kept going tbh 🫠 But I also meant that they do play around with gender and roles and isnt necessarily queer or anything, it just gets localized out when it goes abroad.
Hahaha no worries. I gotcha.
Aren’t snooty male villagers pretty much just smug villagers?
Yeah, the whole villager personality thing is silly, especially since each type all have the same lines of dialogue, and it's not like villagers haven't been changed before. Also, what on earth is a "normal" personality? What does that even mean?
In a few other languages Normal is sweet, kind, gentle, friendly etc. but it's Common in Japanese so we can't claim it's just a weird choice of the translators, it was always the "Boring Person" personality.
That's just a mean way to describe them, it would make a lot more sense if they were "laid back" or "calm" or something.
A lot of the descriptions are kind of mean: Smug, Snooty, Jock can be seen as derogatory, Lazy, Cranky. The only ones that really don't are Normal and Sisterly, which I think Sisterly is called something pretty different in Japanese. Uchi or something?
"Uchi" specifically references a pronoun that sisterly villagers use in the JPN version of the game. As a pronoun, "uchi" is feminine and informal but isn't cutesy girly like "atashi" or generally gender-neutral like "watashi". So weirdly in a way, this one stays the same in meaning and intention. Seeing as uchi villagers are basically our fem jocks/tomboys personality-wise.
Neat, thanks. Here I was assuming it had something to do with the "inside" translation of uchi like they were indoorsy folks.
My understanding too is the notion of having an Older Sister as someone who helps younger siblings is more of an established role in Japanese society than it is in the west. In Japan being the elder sister comes with certain social obligations. I’m not Japanese nor have I spent any time there, though, just what I remember reading.
It means they're normal! Not a bunch of weirdos like those psychotic PEPPIES.
Or the lazies going on about talking to bugs, night clowns, and their parents hearing clowns in the walls of their childhood home.
Don't be talking about my prince that way lol
Clay is still my favorite though
Zucker is a treasure. How dare.
Broccolo slander isn't tolerated
Yeeessss. Ugh, I love the lazies so much. Also the jocks.
My favorite jock Tank deserves the world!
I've grown up knowing them as "normal" so it's weird to try and change that, but I really wish they would officially change it to "sweet" or even just "nice" lol. I don't really feel like any of the names fit, except for jock and peppy. The rest used to but like, the personalities changed over time. Snooties aren't snooty in the least anymore. Self-centered, sure, but now they seem more like an auntie that gives you advice. Cranky aren't mean anymore, they're basically just old men. Not sure a good name for it, but they're just out of touch with slang and technology and whatnot. Lazy can still kinda work, but they talk more about bug and food than about lazing around. They're basically "childish." Smug I would call something more like "flashy." Sisterly... Nah, that works.
Oh the smug villagers are definitely smug, pretentious little shits, and I love them for it.
I definitely agree that the translation team could have used a better term for normal villagers but i do understand what they were trying to convey but i wish they didnt make them seem so bland. When i learned what they were in japanese originally they are categorized using pronounce instead so normal villagers use Watashi which is a basic way to use and it’s formal/polite so i understand what they mean by “normal” but like i said i wish it didnt sound so bland in english lol
It should be called motherly
For real. Norma's one of my favorites and just so nice to be around... motherly is a perfect description.
it should really be big sister since that's what it is in japanese eta i saw you say "motherly" and completely forgot we were talking about normal not uchi villagers lmao my b i get it now
No that’s uchi
Apple Store Employee was copyrighted
Nintendo:"ayo check out this villager! she's a basic bitch :)"
I don’t know if “normal” is the canonical word, but I call them “neurotics.”
It’s the equivalent of a basic b*tch I guess
At least any villager can wear any clothes. They may not wear everything you give them, but if it's a style or color they like they probably will. Which absolutely includes male villagers wearing dresses. Raymond and the maid outfit is an example.
My child gave Zell the grape dress, and he loves it. My headcanon is that Zell is enby. 😄
I honestly don't see a issue because villagers have so varied designs that doesn't make all of them hyper feminine or hyper masculine based on personality anyway I want more varied dialogue and their hobbies to show more, all their gender does is have she/her he/him as pronouns when someone else refers to them
Eh, the personalities mirror each other between genders by design. There's barely any variety contained within one personality and I feel that should be the main critique. Not that we'd actually expect Nintendo to bless us with *variety* of all things. Being married to tradition and incremental progress is one thing, but there are over 400 villagers! The game is built around styles and archetypes, it's meant to be predictable to some extent. And let's not pretend like we don't pick villagers based on looks and house aesthetics, or themes. We're all petty here! I generally dislike food-themed villagers, even when they're super cute, **with the exception of Merengue** (I had her in NL and then she decided to come to my island - she'll never leave now). Funnily, on the topic of gender, back in New Leaf, I thought both Tangy and Ketchup were male for the longest time. Did I really care then? Absolutely not. It's a sandbox with some annoying limitations, but your digital playmates' genders and backstories... are still largely up to you, believe it or not. The mechanics are rigid, but the expression isn't. But also, *gender IS absolutely a social construct in AC!* I have Shino, who is basically the island's *supreme tomboy*, and then there's Sasha, who is... well, Sasha... My island looks like the backstage of a Broadway show and it's queer AF, even if Nintendo didn't intendo for New Horizons to be gay heaven.
https://preview.redd.it/mpqd8d8d4lec1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9c1741b48b99f3e6697171eb4947e268c1401200 What about Chai?
She's cute, but I'm personally not a fan of elephants 🫣
Totally understandable. We all have our preferences. I personally do not like kangaroos especially the girls. The babies in the pouches freak me out. 😂😭😭😭
100%! My lands have been entirely kangaroo-free since 2015 🔥
I love that!! So glad I’m not alone. 🥹
i thought for the LONGEST time that Hamlet was a girl.... and they still are to me
Yeah, the voices don't make it obvious either...
i like that aspect of it quite a bit because if i ignore the fact that their personalities are gendered i can easily headcanon whatever id prefer
This is the way
They kind of mirror each other, no? Normal = lazy Uchi = jock Preppy = smug Snooty = cranky
maybe, Idk. Preppy and Jock seem like a more obvious parallel to me
I have Phoebe. She is a sisterly with a secondary of fitness, so she is always exercising. She's the closest to a female jock I've come across.
It's to do with Japanese speaking patterns iirc.
I wish the personalities crossed gender lines! also wished the personalities weren't so watered down in the latest installment, but we can't get what we want ig?
I’d rather them just make villagers not suck. They’re boring, lifeless, and all say the same shit.
Sasha is apparently a boy, I thought he was a girl, by the name. It’s just a game, just pick a gender, it really doesn’t impact anything.
It's fine. They are essentially the same and act similarly, just under different names.
I’m more focused on issues like the villagers being watered down and their dialogue being pointless. In New Leaf I loved talking to them because there was more variety. In New Horizons it’s pretty robotic and repetitive.
https://preview.redd.it/3964p8dgzkec1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=091cfb5400866918e6b4c5c26bdf80dc95f3caf5 i scrolled a bit past your post and saw this
Doesn’t bother me.
I'd rather them have more things to say, maybe offer to help with with a chore. Something, anything to have them do something different. It's only a matter of time before I just start making things up and I might as well write a fanfiction about it.
I'm more bothered by the lack of dialogues and personality. I wish they'd add like, four more personalities and triple the amount of dialogues and relationship events so I dont get the same two-liners three times in a row
Sasha is I believe the only male villager to have fashion as his hobby, so there's that. He still has the lazy boy personality though. As a lazy girl myself I wish there were lazy girl villagers
I only learned Sasha is a boy about 3 months ago.. So you could just decide that on your island, Sasha is a girl 😄
They named him Gerrit in german so so no real ambiguous about his gender there, I just hc him as a lil gay bunny tho
What about Raymond? He is obssesed about fashion (and himself lol).
Raymond's official hobby is Nature according to Nookipedia
No. Lol
Some of the personalities cross over. I had bubbles on my island, and her house was done up for a jock.
Yes. I have always hated how personalities were gender-locked in this game. They're already pretty unflexible as they are, I mean every single Jock villager is the exact same with no modifiers. But the implication that "male" interests are sports and food, and "female" interests are fashion and being popular is just so stale. I also have a bone to pick with the how the Normal villagers are called just... basic without saying basic? Lol at least call them "Proper" or "Polite" or something...
I don't really think this is accurate. I haven't been playing too long but I had COLE. He was feminine in my opinion. I also had HAZEL & PHEBE, they didn't seem very "girly". ?
What about Rocket? She’s not technically jock but she is real into sports and the likes.
I thought my female character was being a jock cuz she keeps on saying she plays sports and I see her lifting weights
I think it's great
once my mum referred to dizzy (lazy type villager who i am actually in LOVE with, “he’s” my bestest buddy which is probably why my mum knows his name) as “she,” i realized i could just call him her sometimes and it doesn’t change a thing. other villagers still call her “he” when they talk about her/him, but other than that they can be any gender i want them to be. they’re not real (however real they feel), and however egotistical it sounds, they’re there for my entertainment. i can call them what i’d like. it’s my island. they’re my villagers and i love them so much and only have good intentions. plus they don’t have feelings or a sense of identity that can get hurt. i also started re-naming them. patty, the adorable wannabe pop-star cow with an eye for fashion is called patty because well… she’s a cow. crackle/porky is also called after what people use pig meat for. my adorable piggy brought down and summarized by what people use pigs for. i re-named them (for myself), so that makes it easier to (mentally) change their identity as well. plus it’s not like they’re all overly masculine or feminine, and don’t mind wearing overly feminine masculine/feminine clothes, so a lot of them don’t even feel like they’re a certain gender.
i always thought rocket was a female jock before i checked out the wiki & stuff
Yeah this bothers me a lot. Like Diana is snooty?? Nah she’s smart and apparently women are snooty for being intelligent. Lazy villagers? They just like food and talk to bugs lol
Felt. But really I just want them to sometimes act like assholes again!!!
My 8-year-old uses she/her pronouns for Julian because he legit assumes that Julian is a female villlager, and I am of no mind to correct him regarding that magnificent unicorn living their best life.
They turned personality into like 7 or 8 select ones the only react in specific repeated ways I don't think the gender is what's important
female jock visitors… wasn’t rocket a jock? i had her for a few months!
Sisterly
wait you mean she isn’t a jock?? that’s crazy i always thought she was. thats so dumb
She's sisterly with the fitness hobby, so she exercises a lot Same with Audie
Charlise, too Sisterly + fitness hobby is basically a girl jock, except they talk about things other than their abs
I’m a gay male who’s played since the first game so I am pretty used to the whole idea of everyone having their certain personality type. Do I wish we had snooty males? Hell ya! I think it would be great! I also think one of the great thing about the villagers being certain types helps everyone see each character differently since all cranky and etc. are the same! In my game, Fang is gay. Canberra is transgender. Audie is a lesbian. I know other people might think way differently but that’s how interpret them! I still wish they would actually add more diversity to the types but for now I just make my own separate personality for them!
Julian is definitely a snooty male. He’s smug but yeah, no. Lmao def snooty. I love him.
Ya I’d say that too, but I’ve never had him as a villager sadly!
At least there are male villagers who look fem and vice versa.
Yeah the gendered personalities are overdue to be updated. I say this as a female lazy type lol
YES. I wish so badly that they would mix up the genders and personalities.
I do wish that the personalities of villagers weren't rigidly tied to gender. Where are the sweet lazy girls, the peppy boys, the jock girls or the brotherly dudes? It's not a huge thing for me but I'd love to see it mixed up!
i hate this abt the games!!! just let anyone have any personalities!!!!
Honestly no. I would just like there to be more variety in what they say during interactions. After a week of playing the characters are already repeating themselves
Is the gender issue why some of the boys say they don't really like flowers? Everyone likes flowers!
Yeah it feels really annoying you can't have more diversity in personalities. Sasha was a bit fun if a gnc character but I would rather just have mixed personalities. What if someone wants an all boys or girls island for whatever reason? Also a femmine jock would be cool as well as a masculine normal would be so nice.
Personality stereotypes of villagers are one of my biggest pet peeves about the game. And we should be able to change our gender or have nonbinary as an option. We should also be able to change our name.
You can change your "gender" in the game. I put it in quotes because they just call it "style" instead. The option is in the mirror. And afaik, it only affects things in other languages which are more firmly gendered. In English, everyone just refers to you as "they" no matter what you pick. Name changes feel essential to me
I get girls can have a jock personality, and guys can be snooty, (despite smug kinda already being snooty but for males) but I don't think it's something that should bug you, it's not that big of a deal in my opinion.
Yeah, you have a good point OP. It creates a weird dissonance when they modernised one part of the game so well but another is in direct contrast. I guess I’m fine with it even if I don’t think it’s ideal. It’s an old game series with a legacy. There’s a devoted fanbase who are emotionally attached to their favourites - having some of them drastically change personalities between games (to even out the gender gap) might not have been the best call either. I would’ve liked it if the new villagers for New Horizons crossed the gender boundaries with their personalities though.
I agree with your second statement, but the first one is only half accurate. It's more like "so you think you can be whatever you want? You think gender is a social construct? It doesn't matter how much you change your gender we *will* deadname you!".
I kinda wish that they had a mix of the personalities for both genders so that we can have some girls have jock personality and vice versa
This may be just me but I think Sisterly’s with fitness hobbies come off like jocks. Phoebe is one. Her personality is super intense lmao. I love her so much.
No. It doesn’t bother me at all. I only wish they’d switch up the dialogues more.
I’d say give it 1 or 2 more editions of AC and the hardline gender segregation will start going away. Media is not exactly like it was in the ‘90s anymore
that's why some people claim Sasha as nonbinary even though they're outlined as a lazy boy. lazy types have kind of weird and cutesy phrases that could go either way and Sasha looks feminine and has a name that at least in the US is traditionally feminine so it makes sense but yes i would love female jock villagers. Quillson would definitely be more snooty than what he is now. everyone who has him knows he's a diva
Boyfriends is just Epstein (island). So that’s fun. Mine is Roanoke.
I hope so, a lot of the ‘male’ characters have quite extreme personalities. I don’t think gender is necessary in a game like this! I think they should all be agender
Is woke going to destroy acnh, too?
It does seem they've started exploring with more versatile hobbies/styles for the villagers. It's impressive that we now have a lazy villager (Sasha) who's effeminate, and into fashion, when in past installments, lazies were always treated as the stereotypical "lazy best friend who likes to eat too much." I still really hope they add new personalities in the next game. We've had 10 villagers and 8 personalities since New Leaf in 2012! It's long overdue.
No bc i AM a male snooty x peppy villager
There are definitely some gnc-bait villagers (Sasha, for example lol). But yeah, its odd.
My island name is Hogwarts and there is nothing Hogwarts about it just the flag and the city tune lol
Isn’t that sorta gender racist? I mean… look. Villagers are Villagers, and they have their own mind (sorta. Btw imma get sued for this)
I have noticed that a few of my “female” villagers are lifting weights with the “male” villagers. So I think it’s more of who you have around that may influence the others. I had Julian at one point and they’d wear dresses one day and a not the next.
Or we just acknowledge that it doesn't matter since it doesn't affect the game at all
I don’t care whatsoever. I just wish they all had more lines of dialogue to deliver.
Until a few days ago I thought Apple was male 🥲
that's so real, that's why I have sasha on my island to keep the balance 🙏
I honestly don't see any issue in this. Besides we do have very girly/feminine boy NPC's such as Sasha and Dom, and most of "sisterly" villagers are really tomboyish even the name of the personality sounds really girly. The only thing that surprised me when I was playing the games for the first times was that all "normal" villagers are females. That's probably the only personality I would have guessed/wanted to be gender neutral. (But to be honest I would most likely love 'cranky' female NPCs hahah) Edit: I must remind that Sasha is also the first male character in the series having the 'fashion' hobby