being a brand new human

[Pax Callow]

so, this may be a little specific of a topic, haha.

but throughout my whole history of animal crossing, i've always been the same character in the same town. sugar in spirit. i don't usually play as "myself" in video games, so it was fun to imagine up a little character in sugar and see how she changed over the various games. it didn't really matter if the towns were radically different from game to game, i guess they were just like AUs of the same town.

has anyone else played this way? had their animal crossing "persona" or "OC" that they stuck with since the beginning? and, with that in mind...

do you plan to come up with a new one, come new horizons? new horizons is such a radically different game (well, radically different as far as animal crossing is concerned) and to me, it just feels right to hang up the cape with sugar and come up with a brand new villager persona to build up a brand new island town with. maybe my new villager will be sugar's kid or younger sibling or something, haha!

i would be interested in learning if anyone else has played in this same way and is looking to shake it up in new horizons.

 

[Fey]

Funny coincidence, as this subject just came up in a thread I started earlier today! xD

Personally I don?t make up a character, since I see the player as a representation of myself. I might create a small background story to explain why I ended up in that situation (moving to a new town, in a world of speaking animals etc.) but overall it?s me rather than an OC.

I can see why inventing a different persona would be fun though?I?d just not do it because it would feel like living someone else?s life to me.

(Also hey, welcome to the forums! ♥ )

 

[UglyMonsterFace]

I actually always play as myself but I usually name my character Arize since it fits more than my weird real name. For New Horizons, I might actually use my real name (the name that no one uses unfortunately) since it's a name from a fantasy novel so would fit better. I don't always care to make the avatar LOOK like me, but she is always a representation of me and my personality. So I guess there will be no persona built up for her. Maybe for my alt characters though! My alts for my New Leaf town are all based on some of my favourite characters (Link, Zuko, and Eponine) and so I also don't have made up personas for them... I'd like to maybe make one character in New Horizons a completely different character that doesn't represent something else i like, since now we can have up to 8 characters ^_^

 

[Fey]

I actually always play as myself but I usually name my character Arize since it fits more than my weird real name. For New Horizons, I might actually use my real name (the name that no one uses unfortunately) since it's a name from a fantasy novel so would fit better.

You’ve got me very curious what your “weird” name is. lol Sounds intriguing. I personally use “Fey” in-game and irl because my full name is much too long and difficult to pronounce where I live.

 

[MarcelTheFool]

I've always played as myself tbh!!! i used to use my middle name tell I realized I'm trans so now I used my new name or Sleepy as my personas name. It was kinda fun seeing my villager change with me in appearance and style. I always use the same sleepy eyes (now i use the sleepy boy eyes since im a guy) and when you can dye hair, always do the messy boys hair cut, and make it pastel purple.

This time I think I'm gonna play as my DBZ OC Chisai, or make my islander half of one of mine and my boyfriends OTPs

 

[Maiana]

I always make an OC or base my characters off a Kpop Idol or Cartoon character lol.
But for New Horizons, I'm definitely using myself. I am currently saving up for a name change on here so I can be referred to as my islander's name. And I'm also going to be buying a second copy of the game so if I do want to play as an OC or have a specific theme, I can

 

[UglyMonsterFace]

You’ve got me very curious what your “weird” name is. lol Sounds intriguing. I personally use “Fey” in-game and irl because my full name is much too long and difficult to pronounce where I live.

Hehe, I don't really like posting my real name, but I guess I can say that it is weird to me, and people have made fun of it many times (I don't mind really lol), but a lot of people say it's really nice. (Though I truly believe that's just them being polite LOL - It just doesn't sound nice I think.)

 

[Speeny]

I usually don't play as myself particularly. But, my town represents my style/interests for sure.

 

[TJRedeemer]

I've always seen Animal Crossing as an escape from reality, so I always make my character represent myself. However, I was also thinking of making up a backstory for myself just like Fey mentioned earlier. Basically my character would somehow go crazy in his New Leaf town (still working that out) and after ammassing a huge fortune, buys his own private island with the help of Tom Nook and abandons the town that he used to lead.

 

[Chris]

I'm in the same boat.

I've always used my name in video games, but I've found more in recent years I'm not comfortable with that anymore. So with New Horizons I'm planning to go with a different identity rather than playing as "me". I'll also be changing my username on here at some point in the near future for the same reason.

 

[Fey]

To anyone saying they aren?t comfortable using their real name / playing as themselves:
Could you put into words why?

It seems to be a fairly common feeling among players, but I don?t really understand why?and am extremely curious. Someone on another thread said they ?needed that separation? between themselves and the character, and I?ve been thinking about it for a while now. To be clear, I?m not judging in any way; just trying to understand better because it?s an interesting concept to me :3

 

[Pax Callow]

To anyone saying they aren?t comfortable using their real name / playing as themselves:
Could you put into words why?

It seems to be a fairly common feeling among players, but I don?t really understand why?and am extremely curious. Someone on another thread said they ?needed that separation? between themselves and the character, and I?ve been thinking about it for a while now. To be clear, I?m not judging in any way; just trying to understand better because it?s an interesting concept to me :3

it doesn't make me uncomfortable lol. it's just way more interesting to come up with a new character who is shaped by their circumstances than just pretend that i, personally, am living with some animals.

it doesn't seem like most people are saying that it necessarily makes them uncomfortable either, just that it's their choice. there's nothing really deep here to "get."

 

[Fey]

it doesn't make me uncomfortable lol. it's just way more interesting to come up with a new character who is shaped by their circumstances than just pretend that i, personally, am living with some animals.

it doesn't seem like most people are saying that it necessarily makes them uncomfortable either, just that it's their choice. there's nothing really deep here to "get."

You might not be uncomfortable with it, but I?ve seen that exact word come up enough times to be curious. Not saying everyone?s reasons and feelings are complicated like that though.

Nothing wrong with creating a character, but playing as myself is plenty interesting to me. You?re pretending to be a different person, I?m pretending to live a different life?both are valid and interesting depending on what you make out of the situation.

(Me for example, I imagine that I ran away from home. I grew up living right next to railway tracks, and would often dream about just hopping on a train and getting far away from all my troubles. I use those memories as inspiration for my in-game story. My Player character is definitely shaped by circumstances; they just happen to be my own. Like a fictionalized, alternate form of my life)

 

[Tasty]

For me it's been:

Population Growing: <real first name>
Wild World: <online username>
City Folk: <online username>
New Leaf: <online username>

But for New Horizons I'm going "back" to using my real first name for the first time since GameCube... I generally consider myself the same character, but if splitting hairs there is a difference between thinking in-game as "myself" vs. my online identity.

So... it's complicated.

 

[jim]

oh, i love making up little characters and backstories for them that progress in real time as my town develops. i used to make up scenarios in my head and have my characters send each other letters back and forth, sometimes with gifts. or leave presents outside their houses to progress the "storyline."

it's very fun and relaxing. i recommend it to anyone who feels like their playthroughs are missing a bit of life!

 

[RisingSun]

I usually use my real name in past games, but my user name for my Switch is my online name, so I am thinking that it will be my name for online. It will probably depend on how they handle the name in game.

 

[watercolorwish]

This is an interesting topic! I had a character I played as since my first game back in 2012 which was wild world. I made so much art of her and had a backstory too. I kind of lived through her, so I guess she represented everything I wanted to be at the time. I was confused about my gender and thought I might be trans, but I was like 10 so of course I didn't know yet. I just liked wearing dresses and wigs skskksk. Somewhere down the line, I think two years into new leaf, I wanted to play as myself irl instead of the character I made up. I restarted and played as myself but she came back in the form of a path slave to hold all my qr codes skdjsjsdaljdhsalkjd

I'm going to play as myself in new horizons but i'm definitely going to make new OCs for the side profiles and turn their houses into cafes or hotels or something

 

[Chris]

it doesn't seem like most people are saying that it necessarily makes them uncomfortable either, just that it's their choice. there's nothing really deep here to "get."

In Fey's defence, they posted directly after me and I had used that exact wording.

To anyone saying they aren?t comfortable using their real name / playing as themselves:
Could you put into words why?

For me it's an extension of identity-related issues I've struggled with since my teen years.

 

[Officer Berri]

I almost always use my real name.

However, I used the name "Lunafae" when I played Pocket Camp, and I like how it sounds so I'll probably keep that for New Horizons.

 

[Melodie]

I never play as myself or do I use my actual name. Over the time, I always created OCs for any video
games I play and also use names I came up with where I think they would fit to the characters. I just
feel more comfortable that way.