How do you feel about players starting to be mean to their villagers after the latest friendship datamine?

[Altarium]

I know they're nothing more than a bunch of pixels but it still feels wrong to bully them, maybe I'm too sensitive but I don't have the heart to do it. I'd rather ignore them or talk to them less rather than actively being mean lol.

 

[metswee]

I personally do not like being purposefully mean to villagers bc theyre all so nice to me! Theyre my friends and I love them all

On the other hand my partner has Rodney and theyre always hitting him w a net. I told them if they hate him so much they could swap him out but they said they like having him around? I guess they kinda roleplay it as having that one neighbor they dont get along w? its an interesting perspective I guess LOL

 

[dizzy bone]

I haven’t read through the datamine fully yet but I definitely feel bad even if I accidentally hit a villager I dislike. This reminds me of when I went over to a friend’s island and me and the host made a barricade around her Scoot and took the hits when our other friend tried to hit him with a net for fun :’D I want to max out friendship with villagers I dislike or don’t intend to keep so I have a chance at getting their photo, although if I’m impatient and if they really are stubborn about moving out I’ll resort to kicking em with amiibo rather than altering the friendship by hitting.

 

[UglyMonsterFace]

When I first started the game, I did hit Rocket with a net just to see if the villagers still got mad, and when she did, I felt guilty. That was the last and only time I did it. Now I feel bad if I have to push them out of the way to get past. Sometimes I stay there and wait for a while til they move on their own or go the longer way just so I don't have to push them lol. But I also don't get upset or offended if other people do it because ultimately, they're not real and so I don't think they're doing anything bad. It might just be entertaining to some people to annoy a bunch of pixels hehe. Who am I to judge? What kinda bugs me is when people are *actually* offended by those pixels because of how they look. To the point where they're incredibly mad and throw tantrums. Now that's weird haha

 

[wrenbow]

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[FlimsyAxe]

I hit Pinky once because I got curious but instantly felt bad when she cried. I wont criticize players who bully villagers though. It would be hypocritical of me considering I torture my sims lol

 

[Alicia]

I feel bad when I accidentally hit one of my villagers with a net so I'm definitely not going to do it on purpose.
I don't really like being mean to my villagers, even if I'm not a fan of them.

 

[Hirisa]

I will always find cruelty upsetting and saddening, whether it’s “real” or not. I cannot feel otherwise, because even though the targets of the cruelty are not real, the initiators of it are and they’ve made the choice to abuse someone who cannot fight back. And that reveals something ugly and small about their nature, imo.

 

[Toasties]

What does it say in the new datamine? But I agree, I don't go out of my way to bully my villagers, I've only ever accidentally hit them when trying to talk to them but I'm holding a net.

 

[LambdaDelta]

imagine if nintendo did stuff in the game to "punish" this sort of behavior

 

[wearebap]

Unpopular opinion:
I personally dont mind or care when I see other people push/bully their characters.
I dont reward them or hype them up and I dont even do that myself. I dont bully my villagers.
But if i see someone else do it i basically just shrug my shoulders. Idk y but it just doesnt bother me.
I know many have an emotional connection to the game, and so do i, i love this game!
But when I see others do something like this, it doesnt bother me and I wonder why.

 

[Fey]

In NL I once surrounded Moose’s house with pitfalls—after seeing him flail around in the first one I immediately rushed to dig up all the others. There’s something distinctly uncomfortable about causing suffering, and I’m glad that I can feel that way even if it’s only for pixelbits.

What other people do in their games doesn’t concern me much, though it does rub me the wrong way a bit if someone repeatedly beats up a villager just for being “ugly”, or makes posts or videos about it. I dunno. Pretend violence is still violence on some level.

 

[*The Oakboro Mayor*]

I would feel... really really bad if sent garbage to the villager I want to get rid of. The only remotely rude this I’ve done to get rid of a villager is ignore them. I feel bad about that too, but you have to do something to make someone move out. I could never trap them or hit them with nets, it just seems wayyyyy to cruel! But I’m glad I learned something, I had no idea that actually hitting them with nets makes them move! I’m sure Twitter will be overjoyed with the good news

 

[naranjita]

I hate it. I don't understand why people feel the need to inject negativity and violence in a game like Animal Crossing, especially when it's caused by something as shallow and stupid like a villager being "ugly"

also, people who brag about it online are the worst of the worst. I once googled Shari (my favorite villager) to show a picture of her to my girlfriend who doesn't play Animal Crossing and one of the first results was some stupid youtuber's video thumbnail where he pretends to hold her disembodied head. that made me so mad. yes I know it's not that deep, it's just a video game, the cartoon animal can't get sad, whatever whatever. that's not the point.

 

[Rosch]

It wasn't surprising. At all.

People intend to hit them with the net, push them around, use a pitfall, trap them, and ignore them way back when the game was released because that's how it has always been.

It just stopped because we believed that move outs were random. But now that there's data that shows otherwise, cruelty has returned.

It feels bad. That's why I try to avoid random move ins.

 

[stiney]

I can’t even bring myself to ignore villagers (I only lasted one day the time I tried) so yeah it makes me sad when people purposefully are mean to their villagers.

 

[nammie]

I read a post? Or image? Saying that if you're mean to your ugly villagers, then you're the ugly one... and that's exactly how I feel. I feel so bad when I accidentally whack them with a net already, I can't imagine doing it on purpose

I've had a few villagers on my island who I didn't like the look of, but I still treated them nicely and gave them gifts like I did with everyone else!

 

[loveclove]

I would never do that. I just wait for a camper to come, or something else. But it doesn't fell right to me

 

[coderp]

I personally think it makes sense that villagers with high friendship want to leave less. But I see the dilemma it creates, I wish there was another way of reducing friendship organically without the guilt. I haven't and will not be smacking anyone with nets, lol

 

[thegunpowderincident]

I mean... I've never felt like the villagers were real, even as a kid. Not that I don't like or care about my villagers, it's just... it's a game y'know? If people wanna hit villagers with net to see their reaction/dialogue when they get upset, or because they want to lower their friendship, I'm not gonna peg them as a bad person lmao. It's not that deep.