Is it just me or the majority of people in the AC fandom are 'lookists'?

[AkiddoRBTwentySix]

Definition for lookism:

Lookism is the discriminatory treatment of people who are considered physically unattractive. It occurs in a variety of settings, including dating, social environments, and workplaces. Lookism has received less cultural attention than other forms of discrimination (such as racism and sexism) and typically does not have the legal protections that other forms often have, but it is still widespread and significantly affects people's opportunities in terms of romantic relationships, job opportunities, and other realms of life. The same concept from the opposite angle is sometimes named pretty privilege.

Physical attractiveness is associated with positive qualities; in contrast, physical unattractiveness is associated with negative qualities. Many people make judgments of others based on their physical appearance which influence how they respond to these people. Research on the "what is beautiful is good" stereotype shows that, overall, those who are physically attractive benefit from their good looks: physically attractive individuals are perceived more positively and physical attractiveness has a strong influence on judgement of a person's competence. Furthermore, research shows that on average, attractive individuals have more friends, better social skills, and more active sex lives.

So...

I know what you're thinking when you're typing the response on the title. I'm not here to lambast the community. I'm just saying that there might be a few handfuls or more people have a strong disdain towards some villagers they deemed 'ugly'. Notables including Barold, Hazel, Jambette, and etc. They've been slandered mostly because of their looks.

Now, I get that everyone has different opinions on a lot of villagers, hell, there's about 400-500 villagers for everyone to choose, and the fact that they lambasted them for their appearance to me is a bit disheartening. I'm not saying that you MUST love them. I'm saying that this is quite a common thing in the Animal Crossing community. It's like the car community, where people like to lambast the Fiat Multipla, or the Pontiac Aztek, while a handful, or a few, maybe even a lot of people actually enjoy them, not because of what they looked like, but rather their qualities.

Obviously this post is not gonna stop people from continuing to abuse any ugly villagers they have on their island, but what do you think of the 'lookists' or the perfectionists in the Animal Crossing community, who only wants the cutest/attractive villagers, or who only wants the most popular villagers, and has any of these types of people ever made any of you feel sad, because they mocked your favorite, and they deemed them ugly?

EDIT on 24th Sept. '23: I really shouldn't have pointed this out but people think I'm calling them out, so...

THIS POST ISN'T ABOUT YOU.​

If you wanna bully any villagers, go ahead, we're not stopping. That's your business. But this isn't about you. This post is about people who have a strong disdain on ugly villagers, and by that I mean, a really STRONG disdain. It's not a very lighthearted word to say. This also isn't about people who prefer the popular villagers. I get it, you love Sasha and he's a cutie. That's fine. But remember, this post isn't about you.

Please remember, this post talks about the people amongst the Animal Crossing community who were participating in bullying or bashing a villager they dislike, or even a fan of said villager they dislike, among other things. Thank you.

 

[Rubygame]

I find this post very courageous, and I like it a lot!
It must obviously be specified that this is a game, so we cannot talk of abuse -reality and fiction must always remain separate- instead we can certainly talk of personal preferences, but it is undoubtedly true that there are many, many people in AC fandom who hate characters only for their appearance, and I not use the verb "hate" lightly, I really mean that they despise them!
Many times I have been saddened by people who have used these emojis to talk about the characters they don't like:""
All right, you can call him ugly, you have every right to think so, but I don't think there's any need to react like that… he's just a fictional character from a cozy game.

I said earlier that we must always separate reality from fiction, but I'm not only referring to the fact that calling a fictional character "ugly" is not an abuse(it's just your opinion) I'm also referring to the fact that attacking a fictional character is an extreme and senseless behaviour because it's not real.
You're completely out of your mind if a character, meant to be your friend, that doesn't exist, arouses a feeling of hatred in you!
Each of us has our own personal tastes and we can express them freely, we are in a free country thank goodness, but without falling into extremes, it's not healthy for the community, for ANY community.
But when I say "freely" I mean we should express our personal opinions always with respect for REAL people, because there is such a thing as politeness/manners that should never be forgotten.
"I dislike it for its appareance" not "It's ugly! Bleah", you don't know the sensitveness of the person who is reading that comment!
It's not an abuse but people can feel bad about it, it's utopian to want a world where people also think about each other, right?

By now on the Internet everyone feels entitled to say everything because they are protected by a screen, to vent their own frustrations instead of facing them and finding a balance, this causes every fandom to have a toxic side, and this is precisely the toxic side of Animal Crossing.
It's not a game to compete for who has the most beautiful characters and the most beautiful town/island, it's a game that makes you appreciate the little things.
In a game like this there's no point in talking about ugly characters, because they're just…friends. They were all meant to be your friend… in a community of a cozy game like AC, why should we care if they're ugly? Who cares!

That's not the point of the game.

Basically you may dislike characters for their looks, for their character, for the way they walk, for whatever you want, but it's absurd to hate them and bully them.
It's just... unhealthy.
Anywhere, on the internet or in real life, we should just learn to take better care of words, because words matter to real people.

Spoiler

Lastly, I absolutely want to say that this forum is like my second home for me, here I have only met wise, sensitive, respectful and incredibly altruistic people, there is no fairer place than the Bell Tree Forum, I am so glad to be part of our community

 

[AkiddoRBTwentySix]

I find this post very courageous, and I like it a lot!
It must obviously be specified that this is a game, so we cannot talk of abuse -reality and fiction must always remain separate- instead we can certainly talk of personal preferences, but it is undoubtedly true that there are many, many people in AC fandom who hate characters only for their appearance, and I not use the verb "hate" lightly, I really mean that they despise them!
Many times I have been saddened by people who have used these emojis to talk about the characters they don't like:""
All right, you can call him ugly, you have every right to think so, but I don't think there's any need to react like that… he's just a fictional character from a cozy game.

I said earlier that we must always separate reality from fiction, but I'm not only referring to the fact that calling a fictional character "ugly" is not an abuse(it's just your opinion) I'm also referring to the fact that attacking a fictional character is an extreme and senseless behaviour because it's not real.
You're completely out of your mind if a character, meant to be your friend, that doesn't exist, arouses a feeling of hatred in you!
Each of us has our own personal tastes and we can express them freely, we are in a free country thank goodness, but without falling into extremes, it's not healthy for the community, for ANY community.
But when I say "freely" I mean we should express our personal opinions always with respect for REAL people, because there is such a thing as politeness/manners that should never be forgotten.
"I dislike it for its appareance" not "It's ugly! Bleah", you don't know the sensitveness of the person who is reading that comment!
It's not an abuse but people can feel bad about it, it's utopian to want a world where people also think about each other, right?

By now on the Internet everyone feels entitled to say everything because they are protected by a screen, to vent their own frustrations instead of facing them and finding a balance, this causes every fandom to have a toxic side, and this is precisely the toxic side of Animal Crossing.
It's not a game to compete for who has the most beautiful characters and the most beautiful town/island, it's a game that makes you appreciate the little things.
In a game like this there's no point in talking about ugly characters, because they're just…friends. They were all meant to be your friend… in a community of a cozy game like AC, why should we care if they're ugly? Who cares!

That's not the point of the game.

Basically you may dislike characters for their looks, for their character, for the way they walk, for whatever you want, but it's absurd to hate them and bully them.
It's just... unhealthy.
Anywhere, on the internet or in real life, we should just learn to take better care of words, because words matter to real people.

Spoiler

Lastly, I absolutely want to say that this forum is like my second home for me, here I have only met wise, sensitive, respectful and incredibly altruistic people, there is no fairer place than the Bell Tree Forum, I am so glad to be part of our community

Thank you for your opinion on this Ruby! It's funny how they bully those people with nets and pitfalls in the world of AC but when they're trying THAT in real life, oh, boy...

I also hate the fact that like, people get to mock those villagers when simply in fact, maybe those villagers might've been someone's favorite. They always say "Ew, no Animal Crossing fan would ever have this villager on the island", when in reality, there are just a very few who would, and wouldn't care about their opinions on those villagers.

 

[Rubygame]

Thank you for your opinion on this Ruby! It's funny how they bully those people with nets and pitfalls in the world of AC but when they're trying THAT in real life, oh, boy...

I also hate the fact that like, people get to mock those villagers when simply in fact, maybe those villagers might've been someone's favorite. They always say "Ew, no Animal Crossing fan would ever have this villager on the island", when in reality, there are just a very few who would, and wouldn't care about their opinions on those villagers.

Yes, definitely!
One of my favorite characters is Chops! It means a lot to me because he's a character that a close friend and I shared, indeed he moved to her town in NL after she visited mine, and we joked a lot about that. At first we didn't like him at all because neither of us has ever had a soft spot for pigs, but then we fell in love with him! The smugs' Italian dialogues are translated with Spanish phrases to give the idea of the "Latin lover", it's something I don't like because in my opinion it "ages" you. But with characters like Chops this way of speaking is very spot on, after all its design (house and appearance) give the idea of an aristocrat Don Giovanni of the nineteenth / twentieth century, who more than him would call you: "beautiful senorita"?
Also it's really very cultured and deep, there are some dialogues in AC New Leaf that are specific to some characters even if they have the same personality, that's a very nice thing!
I'm sorry for the many contemptuous comments that have been made to him

 

[nightglow]

Interesting thread, and I'll enjoy reading more responses.

I think lookism is more of human thing than an animal crossing thing or fandom thing. And sadly lookism is real life and how the world works. It's why you can have two workers who do the same thing and same quality but one will be more liked than the other or even one will do a worse job and still be more liked.
Or only one is allowed to like certian things or talk about certain things or wear certain things because the other isn't attractive enough to according to the social group around them and if they do so anyway, then they are fake or a wanna be. (Its dumb but I've seen it soo many times).

Now a population of people who play video games where the game has a focus on decorating and organizing, you will have a higher percentage of people with their idea perfectionism and nick picky habits. Impo. And that's different because that is items and not living things. The video game is an environment they can control without others intruding.

Now there is a difference between not picking a villager and saying you don't like a villager vs ranting and fuming about how you hate a villager.

And I'd also like to point out as a side note there are people who like the commonly labeled ugly villagers but find the villagers commonly held as looking nice as ugly.

But we can bring up living things in the real world with lookism and it actually effect the life of a living being. Pets. When buying a pet or adopting a pet. Who is picked? Missing out on a great critter? Ouch.

But maybe that's the purpose why people have various likes and dislikes? One may like x while another doesnt. Does it eventually even out, or no? (Rhetorical, not trying to change topic)

 

[Corrie]

I'd argue humans in general are lookists. It's the reason why we have the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover." We like attractive looking things. It's also why the makeup industry is huge, it's why fashion is huge. The majority of us want to look good and we want others to look good.

Anyone who doesn't follow this usually gets looked down upon. People who are naturally 'ugly' get picked on unfortunately. So it's not surprising this happens in a video game too. It's not really AC fans specifically.

 

[.: Meri :.]

I mean, I think plenty of villagers widely considered ugly are kind of adorable, and there's some cute/popular villagers I just don't see the appeal in. But I think a shallow view of villagers is kind of inevitable when they're basically entirely interchangeable with other villagers of their personality type. Their design/appearance is quite literally the only thing that separates them from other villagers.
If villagers all had completely distinct personalities, I'd probably want to let most come and go as they pleased so I could get to know as many villagers as possible, and only prevent my absolute best-buddies from leaving. But they don't, they're all going to say the same lines of dialogue anyway, so I aim for the ones I like the best. It's just one of many playstyles and I don't really see anything wrong with however someone chooses to play AC.

It is kind of weird to me when someone seems to viscerally hate a villager, and I think extended public bashing of the villager can be pretty rude to their fans (and of course it's rude if it crosses into the territory of hating on people who like the villager). But I also tend to assume that a lot of people who hit their disliked villagers with nets/push them into pitfalls/etc. don't actually feel that strongly about them, they're just being silly or having fun with the available game mechanics.
I personally feel really guilty if I ever upset a villager, but I admit I've laughed when I saw people who'd built prisons on their island for villagers like Beardo. (And I like Beardo!) Even in-game, if you actually do offend a villager somehow, they get upset for about five minutes before they forget the incident entirely and go back to normal. And their AI isn't advanced enough for Beardo to care that iron bars have been placed around his house. It really is just a game and I don't tend to take people's actions in it too seriously, or as indicative of their real-life views.

In short, I don't really think it's comparable to real-life discrimination based off physical appearance.

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

Though I don't want to write a lengthy response. I completely understand everyone's responses and this thread. I enjoy fashion and looking good but I WHOLE HEARTEDLY believe everyone is beautiful and wonderful in their own ways. I don't care what villagers I get as long as they are nice and have cute lil personalities which they all do. If your a good person IRL thats all that matters to me. I have been made fun of for so many years of my life for being Chinese and how my eyes are "squinted?" I hate watching ACNH YouTube videos as most people make fun of villagers appearance and it just disgusts me. It reminds me of my entire life and stuff. I know its not that deep and people can play however they want but I have honestly not enjoyed the ACNH community near as much as I enjoyed the ACNL community. There were still lookists in "New Leaf" but it felt like everyone understood that people have preferences and favorites.

 

[Yoshi155]

I think starting in New Leaf it because more evident that fans were like this. If you look at a New Lear villager tier list, almost everyone towards the bottom is a villager people consider “ugly”. There’s not that many villagers I dislike just because I think they’re ugly Jambette. There was even an interview where the New Lead staff said they purposely made villagers look “ugly” because it’s like real life. Everyone looks different in real life and it makes them unique. Everyone also has their own preferences, so it’s okay to not like a villager because they don’t fit your taste preferences. But I’ve seen a lot of people, especially with the rise of popularity after New Horizons, start taking it way too far. People were just posting TikToks and tweets about them just bullying villagers. Literally the only thing different about villagers is their appearance. There’s no special dialogue or anything, just abusing villagers only because of their appearance, especially in ACNH where villagers don’t even really have any mean dialogue to pick fights with you, is just ridiculous. Let me make it clear, you CAN dislike a villager based on how they look, and you can want them to leave, but people need to stop taking it to unreasonable levels. Like, maybe using in game mechanics like pitfalls isn’t that bad since, in the end, it just lowers your friendship with someone you don’t like, but there are definitely instances where people are definitely overreacting. Also, just because someone happens to like a certain villager doesn’t mean you should attack them too. This is a reason I don’t really like the ACNH community.

 

[CylieDanny]

Ohh kay. I wasn't gonna say anything but, uh, as someone who has villagers that are *popular*. Well I wanna speak on half of those people. I feel like not many people speak up for the popular villager lovers.

Ill be honest, This is a step too far.
--

Why do people always have to compare Sasha lovers to Gaston haters. Ione lovers to Hazel haters.

Sasha might be very popular for people who like that design, but whats wrong with that? For many of us its not because we hate Gaston, when it comes to AC its by pure choice? I didnt pick Marshal over Hazel because I think Hazel is hideous, I just like Marshal more? Its not a lookist thing. I just love Marshal.

People with popular villagers have to endure just as much judgement as people with none popular villagers. I get the whole point here. But Sasha recives tons of hate for being too popular, just as much as Jambette recives for being unpopular. Its equal in other words.

So give us Popular villager lovers a break. Were not here to be lookists, we just have an opinion like you do.

 

[AkiddoRBTwentySix]

Ohh kay. I wasn't gonna say anything but, uh, as someone who has villagers that are *popular*. Well I wanna speak on half of those people. I feel like not many people speak up for the popular villager lovers.

Ill be honest, This is a step too far.
--

Why do people always have to compare Sasha lovers to Gaston haters. Ione lovers to Hazel haters.

Sasha might be very popular for people who like that design, but whats wrong with that? For many of us its not because we hate Gaston, when it comes to AC its by pure choice? I didnt pick Marshal over Hazel because I think Hazel is hideous, I just like Marshal more? Its not a lookist thing. I just love Marshal.

People with popular villagers have to endure just as much judgement as people with none popular villagers. I get the whole point here. But Sasha recives tons of hate for being too popular, just as much as Jambette recives for being unpopular. Its equal in other words.

So give us Popular villager lovers a break. Were not here to be lookists, we just have an opinion like you do.

This doesn't exactly have anything to do with people who just don't like them for their appearance and ignored them. You're not one, and that's fine.

I'm mostly talking about those who have been 'abusing' these villagers just because they find them ugly, as well as those who unabashedly invite others to mock and insult the villager (and those who love them). Hope I made myself clear. ^^;

 

[Rubygame]

Ohh kay. I wasn't gonna say anything but, uh, as someone who has villagers that are *popular*. Well I wanna speak on half of those people. I feel like not many people speak up for the popular villager lovers.

Ill be honest, This is a step too far.
--

Why do people always have to compare Sasha lovers to Gaston haters. Ione lovers to Hazel haters.

Sasha might be very popular for people who like that design, but whats wrong with that? For many of us its not because we hate Gaston, when it comes to AC its by pure choice? I didnt pick Marshal over Hazel because I think Hazel is hideous, I just like Marshal more? Its not a lookist thing. I just love Marshal.

People with popular villagers have to endure just as much judgement as people with none popular villagers. I get the whole point here. But Sasha recives tons of hate for being too popular, just as much as Jambette recives for being unpopular. Its equal in other words.

So give us Popular villager lovers a break. Were not here to be lookists, we just have an opinion like you do.

I also like very much popular villagers
As @AkiddoRBTwentySix specified, this thread concerns people who hate(not "dislike") characters only for their looks, and instead of respecting the tastes of others, they tend to ridicule these characters and offend them on social media, which is quite a wrong attitude in a community of a game meant to be friendly and relaxing. Everyone has their own personal tastes, but one should politely express one's judgment because on the other hand there could be someone who loves that character and can feel bad about it!
The expression "lookism" refers to the fact that in society we tend to appreciate more what follows the "standards" of beauty, which are constantly changing because beauty is subjective (but few realize it apparently). It is very true that some people can attack popular characters, triggering the reverse phenomenon, but it is very rare because our society is more interested in appearance than in quality. After all, it's also natural, isn't it? Appearance is the first thing that catches the eye! But that's exactly what education is for: to respect everyone and everything, because my freedom ends where yours begins.

As many have already said this phenomenon is not about the AC fandom specifically, it is simply a consequence of how the world works, and this is a way to share opinions and compare experiences.

 

[Mr_Keroppi]

snip

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I agree with both of you! I honestly think everyone just needs to stop being so judgmental. Whether you like obscure villagers or mega popular ones we can all have fun talking and doing requests for our animal friends. Whenever your favorite is popular people like to call you basic and make rude comments which is completely unneeded. Or if you love a villager that most don't people, they will be called ugly. Overall people need to just be positive and let everyone have their fun.

 

[VanitasFan26]

Listen at the end of the day no matter what villager everyone has its not nice to shame others who don't like villagers that they have on their island. I remember when Raymond was popular I witness people making fun of others just for having him. It bothers me how people will go to extreme lengths to just have certain popular villagers. I don't care how a villager looks or how they behave. All I care personally is talking to them, getting their photo and letting them go. I am not going to treat them unfairly or abuse them (seriously that method that hitting villagers with a net just to make them move out is so stupid). Whatever villagers people have I do not care or judge them. I respect their choices at the end of the day.

 

[Yoshi155]

Ohh kay. I wasn't gonna say anything but, uh, as someone who has villagers that are *popular*. Well I wanna speak on half of those people. I feel like not many people speak up for the popular villager lovers.

Ill be honest, This is a step too far.
--

Why do people always have to compare Sasha lovers to Gaston haters. Ione lovers to Hazel haters.

Sasha might be very popular for people who like that design, but whats wrong with that? For many of us its not because we hate Gaston, when it comes to AC its by pure choice? I didnt pick Marshal over Hazel because I think Hazel is hideous, I just like Marshal more? Its not a lookist thing. I just love Marshal.

People with popular villagers have to endure just as much judgement as people with none popular villagers. I get the whole point here. But Sasha recives tons of hate for being too popular, just as much as Jambette recives for being unpopular. Its equal in other words.

So give us Popular villager lovers a break. Were not here to be lookists, we just have an opinion like you do.

I agree, there’s nothing wrong with liking villagers that are popular. There’s a lot of villagers I like that are popular, like Lolly. Also, I think people shouldn’t hate people just because they like popular villagers. But people also shouldn’t be hated for liking unpopular villagers either.

 

[Xara]

i’ve been trying to figure out how i want to word my response to this for the past day, so apologies if this doesn’t make any sense

this is actually the first time that i’m hearing of lookism and “lookists”. as someone who has never been conventionally attractive or met society’s beauty standards, i of course know that lookism and pretty privilege are real and pretty unfair and awful, but i didn’t know that there was an actual term for it, so thank you for educating me!

i can’t speak on the animal crossing community as a whole since i obviously haven’t met everybody in it, but i wouldn’t consider any of the people that i have met or seen a “lookist”. i’m someone who is more drawn towards the cute/popular villagers—not because they’re popular or widely considered cute, but because i just genuinely like them and their designs—, but i also like quite a few “ugly” villagers as well. katt, hazel, coach, diva, bertha, iggly, tabby, rilla, stinky etc are just some of my favourites, and barold gets bonus points for being my birthday twin. there are definitely villagers that i see get hated on or called ugly more often than others, but it’s all subjective. while i was trying to figure out my response to this post, i actually googled lists of ugly villagers to see what would come up, and every single list was different. there were of course some repeats like jambette and barold, but quite a few lists even had popular villagers on them, like marshal and stitches. “ugly” all depends on who you ask— the cute/popular villagers aren’t so cute to some people, and every “ugly” villager has at least one person who thinks they’re amazing and considers them their favourite.

imo, there’s no such thing as an “ugly” villager. they all look different just like we do, but they all have good qualities to them. the villagers that i like and think are cute don’t make any of the others ugly, just like someone not liking any of my favourites doesn’t make them ugly. i’ve always found it a little odd when people hit their villagers with nets, push them into pitfalls, send them mean letters etc just because they think they’re ugly, but i wouldn’t consider that ”abusing” them, since that’s honestly a strong word to be bringing into animal crossing… it’s just silly behaviour imo, but people are free to do what they wish with their game and their villagers so long as it doesn’t negatively affect or hurt anyone

to me, there’s a big difference between being a “lookist”, only really liking cute and/or popular villagers, and being hurtful. there’s nothing wrong with anyone who tends to prefer cute/popular villagers— most of the time, they go for these villagers because they genuinely like them, not because of their popularity. that doesn’t make them perfectionists or “lookists”, it just means they want to have the villagers that they like. i’ve never seen anyone bash anyone for liking more unpopular/“ugly” villagers, but i don’t doubt that it has happened. i wouldn’t really consider those people to be “lookists” either, but i would consider them to be hurtful people. there’s never any reason to make anyone feel bad for the villagers that they like, or the villagers that they don’t.

tldr; taste is subjective. everyone should be able to like or dislike whichever villagers they want, so long as they don’t make other people feel bad.

 

[Seastar]

10 years ago I acted weird towards Limberg, who I wanted out of my New Leaf town. Nowadays? I don't care that much. I don't know why I even acted that way. He actually still shows up around the shops to visit and I don't remember having any strong feelings the last time I played that town and saw him.
I've also incidentally become attached to Hazel who I previously let move out. Really interesting she randomly moved into my 3rd town after I had realized I regretted letting her go.
I don't really know how to respond to the main topic. I think people have said far more than I could've thought of.

 

[moonz]

There is also one problem, people can easily get attached to other people's opinion (i'm one of them) there is lots of villagers i used to love, but when i heard people saying they were ugly, i started believing the same.
Some time ago i seriously spended 5 hours time travelling to remove all villagers of my town and get the "popular and cute" villagers. I almost cried when an "ugly" one moved in.

Then i tought "why the hell i'm spending so much time in something so futile?"

The producers themselfs said there was unnatractive villagers so people learn that appearence doesnt matter and someone can be your friend regardless of who or what they are.

Its scary how appearence matter so much to humans.

 

[QueenCobra]

For some reason I thought this was gonna be about AC fans being rude to other fans (humans), and thought, "Huh! That's never happened to me before...!"

But generally speaking, yes, people see the "cute" or even "popular" villagers like Ankha or Raymond and want them for their island, rather than just the random ones who they find on the islands. My island is a mixture of "cute" and not traditionally cute, nobody is super-popular, but nobody is unpopular either. I confess I give the "cuter" ones more hats and clothes, but that's only because the hats shrink on hamsters and mice....

I think even the "ugly" villagers are cute and the dialogue is funny based on personality type-- not appearance.

 

[Dunny County]

I remember my late grandmother saying to me, when I was just a young child, "Remember, looks don't matter, especially if your an anthropomorphic animal in a japanase video-game." - and looking back today, I guess she was right... Thanks Nana. x