Purchasing/Trading Villagers & The Impact on the Game's Atmosphere

[Kirby of the Stars]

After coming to this lovely site a few days ago, I began to poke around and noticed that the villager trading and auction board is massively popular. This board is filled with cyclers that seek to keep inputting and outputting different villagers on a daily basis. As many already know, purchasing a villager you love is a quick way to make your town what you wish it to be. However, what impact does this have on the game's atmosphere itself?

Personally speaking, as a child, I was always fascinated with the villagers that would come and go from my town. This is especially true when viewing the villagers that inhabit your town when you first start the game. There was a sense of wonder of whom you might get, and those whom you do get become close neighbors; your friends. Sure, often times you would get a few runts in the litter, but overall, the people whose company you enjoyed most often become one of your future dreamies down the line.

It is in this sense that I would like to discuss the impact of trading and selling these villagers. Does it take away from the mystique? Does it still feel the same purchasing someone you love as compared to the excitement you feel when their plot first appears? Last, does the game feel any less real to be able to get whomever you want, whenever you want? Please, post your opinions down below, as I would love to read and discuss what people think on the matter.

 

[snowblizzard24]

Well, it kinda does get rid of the mystery behind who would move in that day. When I first, I always wondered who I'd get as the next move in. Who would be the next cute villager I'd be able to love and possibly not want to move? It was really fun that way, until you seriously start decorating and planning out your town. That's probably my turning point. When I started placing down hybrids and pwp and trees in a certain way, that was when random move ins became a problem.

Kyle was the very first problem I had, he moved right in front of my train station and blocked access to the campsite basically. I did like him though after a while, but it just bothered me everyday when I go across his house. That's probably the main reason behind why people look for certain villagers instead of allowing random move ins to occur. It does get rid of the chances you might meet someone you absolutely love, but would never know it too, but there are 333 villagers. There would always be a large number of them you'd never meet regardless, so I don think it's that big of a deal. It's great that cyclers are here. It gives you the opportunity to have any villager you like in your town. Animal crossing doesn't have a set goal to follow anyways and this process just creates a goal to look forward to whenever you play your game in a way.

 

[Hypno KK]

It doesn't have to take away from the mystique of the game. The game is very open-ended so (for the most part) you set your own goals and everything depends on what's interesting to you. Some people enjoy meeting different villagers and others enjoy having their dream town. Buying, selling, or trading villagers is an optional feature so nobody's really obligated to do it if they think it's boring. I guess that some people might end up being bored once they achieve their perfect town and set of villagers but others probably don't.

I guess you could ask the same question of a lot of other things, like the ability to sell/trade items and TBT for in-game bells or plot resetting.

The only downside of those things that I've noticed is the way some people end up being really impatient. There are posts on a regular basis of people complaining that they don't have their 10 dream villagers, a fortune, or a perfectly arranged town right away. The game, even when you're using things that make it easier to accomplish things, is still meant to be a challenge and some people end up forgetting that. In the case of buying and selling villagers, it's like they get frustrated if they need to wait for someone to put up those villagers in the trading board or to win the one they want.

Personally, I haven't bought/traded villagers but I've considered that. There are some villagers I'm really sure I want and they can be hard to find otherwise. I have traded in TBT for in-game bells and I don't regret it because being able to focus on collecting items and decorating my town makes the little time I have to play more fun for me if I don't have to worry about repetitive chores every day.

By the way, there are also ways to get even some of the tier 1 villagers for free. Some people with cycling towns give them away for free, and other people hold contests or adoptions for them. It might just take a bit of extra time and patience.

 

[Zulehan]

I am sure there are active players who know about this cycling business but steer clear of it anyway due to the same concerns, but of course their visibility is a lot lower since they have no business to conduct on the forums related to villagers. Although I am a cycler, I only paid attention to the concept several months after registering to this forum, and I got New Leaf (my first Animal Crossing game) on Christmas. When I saw someone giving away Apple, I wanted her because she seemed adorable and I love hamsters. I had no idea about the 'tier' system here or elsewhere in making the consideration.

But now I do have a sense that the 'tier' system, kept going by the 'engine' of cycling and selling villagers, influences what we think of villagers before we get them. Sure, at the end of the day, villagers are a matter of aesthetics since they have 'personality type' rather than 'individual personality.' However, spurred on by what members say about villagers and how villagers are 'treated' in cycling and sales, we may choose to avoid or seek certain villagers in our own town based largely on that mostly subtle influence. On the flip side, this is an influence we choose to remain steeped in through our continued participation in such forums as this, even as we talk about it here.

 

[Kirby of the Stars]

IN a lot of the ways you presented, I agree with you Snowblizzard. Surely I have also had some insanely inconvenient move-ins from villagers that to this day, I still adore. But that also brings up a sort of internal dilemma I am sure that other people can relate to. Usually, I think, "They are one of my first villagers and best friends! I can't let them move!" This is followed quickly by, "But holy crap, it would be very nice to walk around and not have this eyesore in my way." In this sense, I am honestly a bit surprised the developers did not allow people, as mayor, to dictate where new residents will move in.

On the note of how many sheer villagers there are, I also had this in mind. It is not that this thread is meant to complain about cyclers or online trading, but to discuss its implementation. I actually think it is quite useful. After starting college, I don't have the time to play very often, so getting the villagers I love while I can is a huge plus. A 1-333 chance every couple of weeks is rough on people whom aim to make their town a dream town. Sometimes it's just a matter of time.

 

[Mairen]

I'm half and half on this. While I love having a village full of my top 10 favorite residents, it does kind of take away that element of excitement of "who's going to be moving in this week??" A lot of times you'll hear that people become bored after they get their dreamies simply because there's nothing left to look forward to. Yes, you get to unlock shops and place public work projects, but there's no more element of suprise.

sometimes I want to stay away from that trading board simply because to me, it's addicting! If I happen to wander in there and see someone giving away a villager that I love, I'll jump right at the opportunity to give them a home in my town.

sometimes I just want to let villagers come and go. This way I don't grow tired of anyone and I can still feel happy when I get a favorite village to move in all on my own luck. I think there is more excitement to having a favorite villager move in unexpectedly, rather than making arrangements with someone to exchange the villager over.

 

[LilyElizabeth]

To be honest, it sucked so much fun out of the game for me - I wish I hadn't done it.

Not just the villager trading, but trading anything seems to ruin it for me. I only did it for a few weeks but that was enough to make my town feel like a shell of what it used to be, I really regret it :/

 

[Cuppycakez]

I'm not all yeehaw on the selling them part. Makes me think that people are treating them like slaves. But what ya gonna do.

I buy them but usually only for other people.

 

[Zulehan]

On the note of how many sheer villagers there are, I also had this in mind. It is not that this thread is meant to complain about cyclers or online trading, but to discuss its implementation. I actually think it is quite useful. After starting college, I don't have the time to play very often, so getting the villagers I love while I can is a huge plus. A 1-333 chance every couple of weeks is rough on people whom aim to make their town a dream town. Sometimes it's just a matter of time.

Relatedly, a lot of people simply do not play that much due to time constraints, so while browsing cycling topics they may come across villagers they did not know they would like, as they otherwise may not ever have seen them. (In short, the 'discovery' process for villagers is 'streamlined.') Indeed, I have been cycling for months and still get surprised by a villager I have never seen before.

Also, these players may be spurred on by the 'urgency' of seeing the 'interesting' villager 'in boxes,' giving cycling a similar effect as to a driver in a bit of a rush but stopped at an intersection. The driver is at least a little hungry and notices several fast food signs surrounding him, may notice the exaggerated inviting culinary smells permeating the air, etc. In other words, it is one thing for the potential patron to browse a menu at home then decide to drive out to the fast food restaurant, and quite another to be right next to the restaurant with a few seconds to decide. Similarly, it is one thing for the potential adopter to browse a list of villagers at The Animal Crossing Wiki, and quite another to see one available right now 'in boxes.'

Influenced by this belief, I have included images of every villager in my cycling town, so that anyone potentially interested in adopting sees what they look like. And I include their personality type, so that the potential adopter not only has an idea what the villager looks like, but an idea of their attitude (providing a 'clear picture' of what the new villager would 'offer' for their town).

 

[Kirby of the Stars]

There are just so many in-depth and interesting posts I wish to reply to! I wish I could cover them all. To touch down on just a few points, yes it can become boring or frustrating to most for obvious reasons. The sheer availability of certain items or characters makes trading and the online economy a lot of fun, but it also deprives the player of the fulfillment that sheer luck can pull through. It can bring despair in the sense that your town already has all it will ever have in terms of villagers. But in another way, you don't have to look at old, pink tiger that looks like a bellsack.

On a side-note about the personalities, it feels that the gamecube version's personalities were a bit more dynamic, and a bit less token. The fact that this version could hold fifteen villagers and that they could come and go much more as they please was interesting and combined with the dynamic personalities, made each character seem both more flavorful and favorable. If your friend somehow had Lucky or Octavian, you wished so bad to visit there town in the hopes that they would hop onto your memory card. Most of the villagers I had never even seen in real life. It is this that the new online availability fails for me. Nothing feels quite as rare anymore, and it saddens me just a little.

 

[crestedbooka]

It was really fun that way, until you seriously start decorating and planning out your town. That's probably my turning point. When I started placing down hybrids and pwp and trees in a certain way, that was when random move ins became a problem.

Same position in my case. I haven't played AC games previous to New Leaf ( they're impossible to come by in my country), so I can't really compare but the villagers being able to place their homes anywhere on the map is a turning point for me as well.

It's true that trading/buying villagers on the forum seems like rushing the pace of the game, but seeing how much control you have over landscaping in this game (I take it it wasn't to the same extent in previous games), it feels like you'd have to favor one aspect of the game from the other in order to play at the pace it proposes (landscaping, plot resetting, breeding hybrids VS letting villagers come and go as they want, when they want, meeting new neighbors, etc).

It doesn't have to take away from the mystique of the game. The game is very open-ended so (for the most part) you set your own goals and everything depends on what's interesting to you. Some people enjoy meeting different villagers and others enjoy having their dream town. Buying, selling, or trading villagers is an optional feature so nobody's really obligated to do it if they think it's boring. I guess that some people might end up being bored once they achieve their perfect town and set of villagers but others probably don't.

I guess you could ask the same question of a lot of other things, like the ability to sell/trade items and TBT for in-game bells or plot resetting.

The only downside of those things that I've noticed is the way some people end up being really impatient. There are posts on a regular basis of people complaining that they don't have their 10 dream villagers, a fortune, or a perfectly arranged town right away. The game, even when you're using things that make it easier to accomplish things, is still meant to be a challenge and some people end up forgetting that. In the case of buying and selling villagers, it's like they get frustrated if they need to wait for someone to put up those villagers in the trading board or to win the one they want.

Personally, I haven't bought/traded villagers but I've considered that. There are some villagers I'm really sure I want and they can be hard to find otherwise. I have traded in TBT for in-game bells and I don't regret it because being able to focus on collecting items and decorating my town makes the little time I have to play more fun for me if I don't have to worry about repetitive chores every day.

By the way, there are also ways to get even some of the tier 1 villagers for free. Some people with cycling towns give them away for free, and other people hold contests or adoptions for them. It might just take a bit of extra time and patience.

This too. As Laser Beams said it's really up to your goals, and people enjoy different aspects of the game. I also agree that spending time on collecting bells is really time consuming and can get repetitive (personally I'm reluctant to spend an hour beetle hunting on the island every day), and I enjoy collecting furniture/items and decorating my town and trading/selling/buying here on TBT helps greatly with that.

Lastly, from personal experience I don't have dreamies as it is, more like villagers I'd like to live in my town. I'm keeping most of my initial move-ins and eventually I'll let them go if they want. I have bought one villager, and adopted another, and I'm following a cycling thread for Alfonso currently. Blanche is leaving my town and I originally wasn't intending to let her go. I don't use paths in my town so when someone moves I can keep plot resetting to a minimum and only if the move-in places their plot on a REALLY bad spot, lol. So bottom line, personally I like to have control over who moves in and when, but I don't have a set list of dreamies, but more like a list of all the villagers I like most, so I can let them come and go.

 

[Mairen]

Nothing feels quite as rare anymore, and it saddens me just a little.

I think this is true for a lot of video games in relation to how connected we all are through the internet. Back when I was a kid, if you encountered something really rare in a game, or uncovered a big secret, you were the popular kid of the neighborhood that week! Now? Everything can be hacked or traded online.

 

[SoSu]

I agree with a lot of the trade-offs people have mentioned, but I think this aspect of the game has drawn quite a few of us to this community. That has been such a fun element of the game for me, and I don't think I would be here enjoying the discussions if I hadn't first been drawn here for trading. I hope the game retains that incentive to bring us together, even if there should be more curbs on certain aspects. I imagine, for example, that the dreaded 16 villager cycle was part of a plan to get us to keep trying new villagers even though so many are available to trade online.

 

[Middykins]

I think it removes some of the charm from the game. The initial idea was that we all get different villagers and items and that's the reason each of our towns is unique. When everybody aims for the most desired objects, some of the individuality is lost.

That said, I don't think there's a right or wrong way to play the game. If what pleases you is completing a checklist and obtaining all of the rarest and most valuable items, go for it. For me, the appeal lies in dealing with the cards I'm dealt (with a few exceptions, I like choosing house locations) and the challenge of running a town I don't have complete control over. I'm not after the one-of-a-kind items or the prettiest villagers, I'd rather work with the items I have to make my town feel like home and accept that less admirable characters are just another part of a story with many chapters.

 

[Kirby of the Stars]

More good posts by everyone. Again, I'd quote some mentionable posts, but at this point, it'd fill the page! But I suppose I will bring up a little personal conundrum I am having, and how I am debating resolving this. Erik is one of my original villagers, there from the very beginning. Over time, I grew to love him very much and we are just all around good buddies. The problem is, he is parked RIGHT in front of my Retail, which sits in a corner with the other side blocked by a pond. It is beyond obnoxious to walk anywhere in the upper left-hand side of my town, due to this. So this illustrates the idea of friendship versus in-game convenience. You become attached to the people you know and love, but on the flip-side, sometimes bringing other people to the table helps your game and its experience in several other ways.

I sort of see this idea as a scale. On one side, you have the pathos attached to the friend in question. On the other, you have the logos of it being a game, specifically, your game to design how you please. Sure, villagers can merely be cycled out, replaced, or even cycled back in. However, the two scales, in my opinion, begin to mix when you question, "Is this the same person I am getting back?" Sure, I could replace Erik with stitches or any other lazy villager, but is it worth the shift in friendship for the shift in location?

I apologize if this seems deviated a bit from the topic, but I think it is a great outline for what many people can experience when looking at the situation of your dream-town vs. the in-game sense of reality. Playing by a sense of literal friendship is not an accurate representation of real friendship, but it adds an atmosphere to your town if you play as though these people are real to you and your character.

 

[LambdaDelta]

this is the most tl;dr thread I've read in ages lol

also, I don't care either way. though I refuse to sell/buy villagers out of principle

 

[thatawkwardkid]

It is in this sense that I would like to discuss the impact of trading and selling these villagers. Does it take away from the mystique? Does it still feel the same purchasing someone you love as compared to the excitement you feel when their plot first appears? Last, does the game feel any less real to be able to get whomever you want, whenever you want? Please, post your opinions down below, as I would love to read and discuss what people think on the matter.

I'm going to answer based on my personal experience so I can't speak for everyone.

I prefer to get my villagers by accident now. I kind of realized after getting my villagers from the Villager Trading area that I don't get as excited as I thought I was going to be when I actually get them. Even if they're villagers I really like (ex: Joey, Nibbles, Melba, etc.) And if all the villagers in my town are all my favorite villagers, it kind of takes away the fun for some reason. Also, I can't experience talking to other villagers and see if I like them because sometimes when I restart, the first thing I do is get all my favorite villagers. That's one of the reason I restarted. I just wanted to go with the flow, and get villagers by surprise.

So to answer your questions:
1: Yes, it does.
2. Not really.
3. It doesn't really matter to me if getting your villagers make it any less real. It's like asking your friend to move to your neighborhood when you find out there's a house for sell.

I don't know, basically, I feel like it makes the game a little more boring if I choose my villagers instead of getting them from surprise. I'm sorry if my thoughts weren't clear and was unorganized.

 

[Middykins]

More good posts by everyone. Again, I'd quote some mentionable posts, but at this point, it'd fill the page! But I suppose I will bring up a little personal conundrum I am having, and how I am debating resolving this. Erik is one of my original villagers, there from the very beginning. Over time, I grew to love him very much and we are just all around good buddies. The problem is, he is parked RIGHT in front of my Retail, which sits in a corner with the other side blocked by a pond. It is beyond obnoxious to walk anywhere in the upper left-hand side of my town, due to this. So this illustrates the idea of friendship versus in-game convenience. You become attached to the people you know and love, but on the flip-side, sometimes bringing other people to the table helps your game and its experience in several other ways.

This was my reasoning behind having control over villagers' houses. I'll cheat the system a little just to make sure they're not practically wrecking the town and then I'll run with it. I had the same problem with Marcel. When I started I was hoping I could convince him to leave simply because I didn't like the location of his house, but now he's one of my favourite villagers. It doesn't sound quite as annoying as your situation though, so I'm going to try and keep him.

 

[Hypno KK]

I'm not all yeehaw on the selling them part. Makes me think that people are treating them like slaves. But what ya gonna do.

I understand why people would feel this way and it's a personal choice but I can't bring myself to compare this to slavery. For me, no matter how much we love or hate the villagers, they're still fictional characters. Slavery affects real humans and hurts them badly.

But now I do have a sense that the 'tier' system, kept going by the 'engine' of cycling and selling villagers, influences what we think of villagers before we get them. Sure, at the end of the day, villagers are a matter of aesthetics since they have 'personality type' rather than 'individual personality.' However, spurred on by what members say about villagers and how villagers are 'treated' in cycling and sales, we may choose to avoid or seek certain villagers in our own town based largely on that mostly subtle influence. On the flip side, this is an influence we choose to remain steeped in through our continued participation in such forums as this, even as we talk about it here.

I'm not convinced that tiers are that influential. I know there's some people who like popular villagers just because they're popular but for most people, it's probably just a matter of taste. There are some looks and things that I've noticed are really popular among ACNL players, which probably explains why so many people like the same villagers. It's the same as town themes. There are people who pick popular themes like fairy tales just to be trendy, but many more probably pick them because they think they look nice.

I've never paid any attention to tiers when choosing villagers, I choose based on personality and design. There are some I like that are more popular and others that just get auto-voided most of the time. I can't say that everyone thinks the way I do, but my point is that I'm not going to stop liking some of the more popular villagers just because their popular. I'm not going to stop liking unpopular villagers just because they're unpopular, either.

More good posts by everyone. Again, I'd quote some mentionable posts, but at this point, it'd fill the page! But I suppose I will bring up a little personal conundrum I am having, and how I am debating resolving this. Erik is one of my original villagers, there from the very beginning. Over time, I grew to love him very much and we are just all around good buddies. The problem is, he is parked RIGHT in front of my Retail, which sits in a corner with the other side blocked by a pond. It is beyond obnoxious to walk anywhere in the upper left-hand side of my town, due to this. So this illustrates the idea of friendship versus in-game convenience. You become attached to the people you know and love, but on the flip-side, sometimes bringing other people to the table helps your game and its experience in several other ways.

I sort of see this idea as a scale. On one side, you have the pathos attached to the friend in question. On the other, you have the logos of it being a game, specifically, your game to design how you please. Sure, villagers can merely be cycled out, replaced, or even cycled back in. However, the two scales, in my opinion, begin to mix when you question, "Is this the same person I am getting back?" Sure, I could replace Erik with stitches or any other lazy villager, but is it worth the shift in friendship for the shift in location?

I apologize if this seems deviated a bit from the topic, but I think it is a great outline for what many people can experience when looking at the situation of your dream-town vs. the in-game sense of reality. Playing by a sense of literal friendship is not an accurate representation of real friendship, but it adds an atmosphere to your town if you play as though these people are real to you and your character.

This is a tough one, but personally, I think you should do whatever makes your game more fun. I'm probably going to plot reset a bit for my next villagers but with the ones I've had so far, some of them have plotted in really inconvenient locations. I'm not going to get rid of them, not just because I like them, but also because I'm too lazy to move them out. I don't mind laying down my paths differently. In a situation like yours I might cave if it made it really difficult to use Re-Tail, though, but if you really like Erik you should keep him.

 

[Kirby of the Stars]

This was my reasoning behind having control over villagers' houses. I'll cheat the system a little just to make sure they're not practically wrecking the town and then I'll run with it. I had the same problem with Marcel. When I started I was hoping I could convince him to leave simply because I didn't like the location of his house, but now he's one of my favourite villagers. It doesn't sound quite as annoying as your situation though, so I'm going to try and keep him.

To be honest, I think I might let go of the remainder of some of my long-time villagers. I love them dearly, but without that excitement of random chance, or even remotely decent house placement, things are becoming tired and stale. Part of this is due to the fact that I began to purchase villagers for the first time a night or two ago, in hopes of getting Kabuki and Freya (both of which were two of my starters in the original GC, and I love them so.)

Sometimes I want to stay away from that trading board simply because to me, it's addicting! If I happen to wander in there and see someone giving away a villager that I love, I'll jump right at the opportunity to give them a home in my town.

This cycling for more rare and unobtainable villagers can be addicting, as stated. I have picked up three characters online so far and part of me doesn't want to quit. It is extremely fun and satisfying in the moment to get the villagers you know and love. But then the feeling washed over that it simply just doesn't feel as much like my town anymore. I hate to let people go, but I think that if I let a few random people move in, it will help bring a gentle wind of the magic back to the village.

As SoSu and others have stated, this trading of villagers is not without its upsides. It adds an online economy to things, helps people obtain what they want, and all around gives chance to both in-game and online blossoming. Now, in terms of actual economy, the in-game economy has suffered from online-interactions in terms of bells. Duplication of crowns, bags, or other rare furniture has created issues when it comes to the actual value of currency. That is why the trade of villagers, and more or less, the trading of TBT has sort of balanced some of these issues. In a game where bells begin to mean less, unpurchasable things become a much stronger commodity. Therefore, the trade of these villagers does indeed add a sense of depth in terms of actual economics, if not the wondrous atmosphere.