Tragic Jock NPC in Animal Crossing

Trigger warning, I am writing about the topic body image, weight loss and fitness, also bullying.  The video game Animal Crossing New Horizons that I’ve been playing for about 6 months did not come with such a warning! It’s a cute dollhouse kind of game where your neighbors in the village can have different personality types.  They are clothed and upright anthropomorphic creatures like a horse, sheep, bird, etc. Their programming and lore has them behave with overall traits like: sisterly, peppy, snooty, smug. It isn’t mandatory to interact with them, but there are obvious rewards when you do. One of the characters on my digital island since day one, is a “jock” type. He is a small yellow hamster called Hamlet. I’ve been worried about him or else become triggered pretty frequently from our interactions (for me this means anxious, self conscious, the urge to self-harm or relapse into starvation/purging, that sort of thing).

There are a few methods to be rid of an unwanted character, but I have purposefully kept around the ACNH hamster anyway. He loves to challenge me about diet/exercise and I sometimes wonder if he’s tempting me into an ED pact. He’s not real! It’s just a game. The package says this game is appropriate for all ages. It’s meant for lighthearted fun so I try not to take the strange dialogues too seriously. I know there are some who would advise me to quit playing or block him but it’s my life and I choose to keep in touch with my problematic fake pal Hamlet

It does affect me though and reminds me of my obsession with weight loss. You can’t make Hamlet shut up about his muscles and I’ll never stop wanting to be more skinny either. Sorry for being toxic, it’s hurtful for me too. Here are some images of my best friend in Animal Crossing. I’ll try to share something more chill and cheerful when I post again

This exchange seemed especially ironic, in the skeleton costume 💀