Villager Flirting in Animal Crossing: New Leaf

In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, NPC villagers may flirt with the player-character regardless of their gender. Some fans have observed that the Smug personality trait (first introduced in New Leaf) makes certain male villagers more flirtatious than usual, even towards the male player-character. The Smug villagers have been criticized for playing into gendered stereotypes about masculinity, and there is some debate over whether their advances towards male characters should be considered romantic or simply brotherly. Other fans have speculated that some of the villagers in Animal Crossing have varying randomly generated “sexualities” that determine the subjects of their flirtatious advances.

LGBTQ References in this game series:

Animal Crossing (2001): Blanca, Gracie, Julia, Saharah

Animal Crossing: Wild World (2005): Mentions of Same-Sex Relationships, Opposite-Gender Haircuts

Animal Crossing: New Leaf (2012): Crossdressing and Gender Expression, Isabelle, Villager Flirting

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020): CJ and Flick, Mentions and Queer Readings, Removal of Gender Choice

Citations:

  1. HowManyPrincesses?. (2013, June 9). Gender Expression and Race in Animal Crossing. How Many Princesses (Video Game Cultural Criticism Blog). Retrieved from https://howmanyprincesses.wordpress.com/2013/06/09/gender-expression-and-race-in-animal-crossing/
  2. Various. (n.d). Animal Crossing Trope: Ambiguously Gay. TV Tropes Wiki. Retrieved from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/AnimalCrossing
  3. Various. (n.d). Smug (Personality Trait). Animal Crossing Wiki. Retrieved from http://animalcrossing.wikia.com/wiki/Smug
  4. Various. (2013, August 8). I keep being hit on by other guys. GameFaqs Forum. Retrieved from https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/997811-animal-crossing-new-leaf/66893184
  5. Various. (2013, August 8). Smug villagers theory. GameFaqs Forum. Retrieved from https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/997811-animal-crossing-new-leaf/67039306
  6. Various. (2014, April 21). Smug villagers. Bell Tree Forums (Animal Crossing Fan Community). Retrieved from http://www.belltreeforums.com/showthread.php?166762-Smug-Villagers
  7. Various. (2013, July 23). Is AC: New Leaf reinforcing outdated stereotypes?. Golden Deer Pub (Gaming Community Forum). Retrieved from http://www.intothelabyrinth.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1906