The Evolution of Villagers in Animal Crossing

As I have now gotten more than one concerned commenter about the ending of the video, I'd like to clarify in a pinned comment that I did not mean to place the blame for these changes on the audience of Animal Crossing games as outlined in the video as "young women and young LGBT." I instead meant to to place the blame on the business model of gachapon and explain who I believed this model was targeting in this specific case. Nintendo has made several gachapon's aimed at various demographics and I believe this is their attempt to spread the same practice to the demographic that plays Animal Crossing. I apologize if my remarks were homophobic as that was not my intent. I believe that this demographic is underserved when it comes to media and that they deserve GOOD media that is made with them in mind. I just don't believe that a gacha game falls under the umbrella of "good media." I understand however that my remarks were careless, and I again apologize if I hurt anyone with this assumption. Adding to this, I can't exclude myself from the group of people described in the video that cares about aesthetics. I care about aesthetics more and more as time goes on. I think it is a wide cultural shift that is affecting many different age groups and demographics, not just AC fans. Linked here is the ending I originally wrote for this video and impulsively scrapped the night before recording. I think the video would have been improved if I had found some middle ground and left these sentiments in. They make my own biases more apparent and show empathy towards those who may prefer the game the way it is. twitter.com/TamashiiHiroka/status/1272850450392338…

I guess this is the reason this whole "no uglies" movement came to be...When I was a little kid playing Wild World I didn't care so much about what the villagers looked like. I just loved them so much because it felt like you actually build a relationship with them.

The villagers almost never talk about themselves but just what you’re up to. Basically every time I talk to a villager they say “hey you dug up some fossils?” Or whatever

The old villagers are like sable, you gotta make her warm up to you in order for her to talk and its amazing

Honestly, everyone's always saying that they want the Gamecube personalities back, but I'd rather have the Wild World personalities back. They still had the tendency to be mean and sassy, but not quite as extreme as its predecessor, making them more likeable, and they still all felt like different, well-rounded individuals.

yeah.. that's probably why so many people are obsessed with their villagers' looks. bc that's literally the only thing that's left

So the old Animal Crossing games WANTED you to talk to your villagers more than once? Wow that’s changed a lot...

Animals in New Horizons have so little personality that I’m no longer afraid of picking the rude dialogue option.

Wild World is where villager dialog peaked. I want to be verbally abused.

It is kind of funny how when I played Wild World I had a villager named Nan move in literally right next to my house. It made it almost impossible to have flowers, trees or even fences and paths on the right half of my yard. I remember being SO frustrated that I had no say where she moved into but her being so close forced me to interact with her and she quickly became my favourite villager! Then, when she decided to move one day, it was literally heartbreaking. I suddenly had my yard back, but I lost my best friend :C

The slow power creep of animal crossing ACGC: Some random kid ACWW: Villager ACCF:Worker ACNL: Mayor ACNH: GOD

that’s why I loved the old post office so much, cuz there was so much drama with the pelicans, and sometimes brewster would get in on it at the coffee shop. god I loved it

I went back to new leaf after playing new horizons, and EVERYONE was talking to me, asking requests, etc. I was like why is everyone bothering me!? Because I was so used to no one talking to me in ACNH

Here's a meta gaming pro for the repetitive dialogue of NH: Change the language of your switch and learn it by playing ACNH. After a few 100s hrs of normal gameplay I sort of memorized the dialogues, the bug/fish capture one liners, etc. I changed the language to French and I've gotten to the point where I can talk with my French roommate and hold a conversation pretty well. LOL

As someone who doesn't really care about the online/multiplayer aspects of ACNH, the constantly repeated dialogue about what I did yesterday is what ended up driving me to quit. Talking to them began feeling like a chore, and without the villagers all that was really left for me was a daily loop around the island for fruit, fossils, etc. It ended up just feeling pointless.

This is why I want 1. "Mean mode," which makes villagers more antagonistic towards the player and lower levels of knowing them makes them aggressive. 2. VARIETY. Hybrid personalities - villagers who have a mixture of multiple personalities, which means they'll randomize which dialogue or reaction they'll have to an item. This will mean your villagers have more distinct personalities, along with a few hybrid-exclusive dialogue lines. And more dialogue. This makes them feel like actual people who don't just say the same thing all day. This is also why hybrid personalities are good - it makes them feel less predictable. You know what Alice is gonna say if Norma's said it before (seeing as they are both Normal villagers). 3. CONSEQUENCES. Maybe they would actually start bullying you if you bullied them first (like pushing them around a lot). 4. LESS ONE-SIDED TALKING. Make them ping you more. 5. OPINIONS. Stop them from complimenting you regardless, and make them go "that doesn't look nice on you" if an outfit you have uses colours they dislike personally. Have them knock on your door while you're in, and you have the choice to let them in or not. If they are inside, they'll give you their opinions on your house, based on their favourite/least favourite sets of furniture. Hope Nintendo adds more villager-related things, though I doubt this.

The thing about Animal Crossing becoming a franchise more based on aesthetics and online interaction and less in overall character interaction with villagers is that it has a pretty high chance of alienating a part of its fanbase. For example, I'm not particularly good at placing furniture around my town, or designs, or fencing, or anything like that, and when the game's current fanbase cares mostly about those types of things, as a fan of the same game, it can feel like exclusion. Another thing is loners like me who are also anti-social and awkward have more difficulty in making friends, whether it be online or in real life, and when the game harps so much on interacting with other players, and actively doing things with them, like going to their towns for turnip prices, feels like it is innately more difficult to have a good time with the game when instead of depending on other people giving you money, or the previous turnip price example, to make money in the game in a singleplayer way becomes that more time-consuming and tiring :V

I was honestly so excited about interacting with villagers in NH. I am sad the villagers are more just another "thing" to collect.

It seems NH is going to be heavily carried by updates, so I reeally hope they're planning on expanding villagers dialogues and overall interactions. Good video!

I want wild world type dialogue. New leaf music. And new horizons everything else. Also Brewster and to eat food. That’s literally all I want.