Friends

One of the coolest aspects of Animal Crossing the ability to use the Wii's built in Wi-Fi to visit and chat with friends. Below we will try to help you get the most out of this feature.

Getting Your Friend Code

To get your friend code, go to your town gate and talk to Officer Copper. Click "Friend Code." Write it down and then post it online to a friend code exchange.

Finding Friends

You don't necessarily have to know anybody to play online.
There are many websites, including ours, that have a way of exchanging friend codes with other players. Click here to visit
the friend codes page of our forum. There you can post your info for other people to register you. They will reply back with their info.

Registering Friends

You can register friends in a few easy steps.

• Go to your friend roster
• Click "Register Friend"
• Enter the friend code of your friend
• Enter the name of your friend's character
• Enter the name of your friend's town
• Write any comments, such as "WiiSpeak: yes"

Meeting up With Friends

Once you have registered friends, you can play with them whenever they are on.  In order to play, either you or your friend must have the town gate open.

The Town Gate

If you want to visit friends, talk to Officer Copper and he will tell you if any of your friends' gates are open.  In the list, next to your friend's name, you will see four people icons.  The number of icons that are light blue colored is the number of people that are currently in the town.  A maximum of four people (3 visitors) can be in a town at once.  Click on the town to visit.

If there are more visitors in town, you can register them too.  Click on your friend roster and go to the tab that show the people currently visiting.  Click on your new acquaintance and choose register.

If there is no one with their gates open, open up your gate.  Talk to Officer Copper and say "Invite friends!"  He will open the gate.  Go about your business and wait for visitors.  The best thing to do while waiting is fishing or collecting fruit (to avoid connection issues).

BEFORE YOU OPEN YOUR GATE

Sell all of your fruit, buy what you want at Nook's and the Able Sisters', dig up stuff, and check for stuff lying around.  People will come and take stuff if you don't first.

troubleshooting

Sometimes, when you try to go out, Officer Copper will report that there is a problem.  The following are some common problems:

• Your friend is having a conversation.  This means that your friend is talking to an animal, or selling at Nook's, etc.  Any time that a talk bubble is up, friends cannot visit.  A message will come across your friend's screen saying, "Please halt all conversations."   Wait a second to give your friend a chance to finish up, and then try again.  When you have your gate open, keep your talking to a minimum.
• Nintendo WFC is so busy that you cannot get on.  You may have to wait at least an hour to get online.  This means that tons of people are playing Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, or other online Wii games.
• Your router connection isn't working.  As I'm sure you already know, this can be a pain to fix--it can be anything.  You're on your own for this one!  It should give you an error code which you can look up at support.nintendo.com.
• Another person is traveling to the town (or leaving) at the same time you are.  This is not uncommon--just try again in a second.
• The reason, according to Copper, is "unfathomable."  This means he has no idea.  Keep trying.

You also may get disconnected in the middle of an online session.  If this happens, you will lose everything since the last save (when someone came or went).  Go right back on and your friend may still be on.  This is usually due to one or the other person's internet/router connection.

Occasionally, people will get stuck while in your town.  If your friend is just sitting there, ask them a question.  If they don't respond after several questions, assume they are stuck and end the party.  We once had this happen in our town, and our friend reported being able to see Greg running around, but not being able to move or type.

Ending the Party

Normally you should wait for everyone to go back home and then ask Officer Copper to close the gate.  If, for some reason, you need to end the party (someone is stuck, etc.), click on the save button in the top right corner and click "End party."  The game will save, the gate will close, and your friends will go back to their towns.

Playing with Friends

There is so much to do with friends! You can spend hours playing online. (Just don't forget to go to bed!) If you want to keep your friends, you should use a little etiquette.

Etiquette

When you visit friends, the number one thing you should remember is to be courteous.  You know how it is in your town--you need that fruit for money, you're going to donate those fossils to the museum, you meant to pick up your stuff from the ground before you opened your gate, etc., so you don't want someone to come in and sell your fruit, dig up your fossils and take your stuff, right?  Well, common courtesy is not to do that to other people.

In general, it is best to ask before you do anything (even fishing or exploring).  Yeah, this is a little silly, since you aren't going to tear up their town; however, asking makes your friend feel secure.  If someone asks me if they may explore, I don't feel like I have to follow them around.

WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT DO

• Don't pressure your friends--don't beg them for stuff, don't threaten them, etc. because it's totally mean.
• Don't use bad language or talk about anything that might not be suitable for a little kid--you have no idea who you are playing with!  Besides, when you use bad language, many people will de-friend you.
• Don't ask for or give personal information--again, you have no idea who you are playing with!!!
• Don't take stuff without asking
• Don't buy stuff from Nook's without asking--Remember that furniture, flowers, tools, carpet, and wallpaper will sell out and your friend won't be able to buy it.
• Don't overstay your welcome.
• Don't end the party without asking.

WHAT FRIENDS LIKE YOU TO DO

• Bring fruit or presents--you will be well-liked for this!  Other towns may need more kinds of fruit.
• Look at their house--and find something to compliment.
• Find out what sets they are looking for--and offer to keep an eye out for it.
• Pull weeds.
• Ask permission to do stuff.

WHEN TO DE-FRIEND YOUR FRIENDS

If things aren't going so great in your friendship, you can de-friend your friend.  Simply bring up your friend roster, click on a friend, and click de-friend.  The person you de-friended will not be notified; however, they will no longer be able to go to your town.  The following is a list of some situations in which you may need to get rid of a friend (use your judgment, however):

• If they make you feel uncomfortable or ask you too many personal questions
• If they do not treat your town with respect
• If you don't like their language (i.e. cursing)
• If they call you names or insult you.
• If they agree to buy something of yours and then rip you off (this is where the guide comes in handy with lists of prices so that you don't get ripped off).
• If your friend roster is full and you need to add a new friend (in this case take off someone you've not played with yet.

HACKERS

There are some really mean, cruel, sick people out there who might hack into your town and ruin it.  If you do suspect that someone is hacking your town, do not save: reset instead.  Keep in mind that when they leave, the game saves, so reset before they leave.  Most people are not this cruel, so don't worry.  If someone from our friend codes group does this--let us know, please.

Fun Stuff to Do with Friends

There are endless ways to have fun with friends, but here are a few for starters.

• Go fishing--be sure to show off the big ones you catch (by clicking on the fish in your item screen you can select "Show off.")
• Tour houses--play with your friend's stuff (TV, etc.)
• Play games using the timer--when Nook upgrades to Nook 'n' Go, he will start selling timers.  You can use the timer to play games with friends.  For example, you can see who can catch the best fish in a certain time limit, or you can play hide and seek (it's a good idea to make this outside only or in the museum only).
• Show off your accessories--bring all of them and change into your many looks.
• Show off your emotions--all at once or at appropriate times.
• Invite them over to your town or ask to go to theirs--one of you can go back home and open the gate.
• Trade stuff--or buy stuff.  If you trust your friend, you can let them hold one of your items for a second so that it will be available to them in their Nook catalog.
• Talk, chat, jabber...

Talking With Friends

When you buy Animal Crossing, you have three options:

• Animal Crossing Only - $50
• Animal Crossing/WiiSpeak Bundle - $70
• Animal Crossing - $50 + WiiSpeak - $30 = $80

Using the WiiSpeak Microphone

Animal Crossing City Folk is the very first game to make use of the WiiSpeak microphone.  To use it, you need to place the microphone part on top of your TV--not near any speakers.  Then plug it into the back of your Wii.

To turn it on, click on the heart button (friends) at the bottom of your screen.  Then click on the mic icon at the top of your friends box.  You can change your settings and turn WiiSpeak on or off here.

LISTENING IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A MIC

If you don't have a mic, and your friend does, you can still turn on WiiSpeak to hear them.  You can hear them, but they can't hear you.  Then you can type messages to them while they speak to you.

Using a the Wii Remote

For those that did not purchase the WiiSpeak/Animal Crossing Bundle or purchase WiiSpeak separately they will either have to use the Wii Remote to point and type or find a USB keyboard that works with the Wii. So don't worry if you did not get WiiSpeak: you can still communicate without it.  Pointing and clicking to type is much slower than the other two options; however, it does work. Unfortunately, the keyboard takes up your whole screen.  You can tell when someone is using the on-screen keyboard because they will stand still and look like they are thinking (see the character behind the green box in this screen shot?).

Using a USB Keyboard

If you are used to typing on the computer you will find the keyboard very simple to use. I prefer to use the keyboard.  The keyboard is way faster to use than the Wii remote.  In addition, the on screen keyboard does not show up; instead, a little green typing box appears at the bottom of the screen.  You can just start typing at any time and then click the enter key.  You can even type while fishing! The wireless "Logitech EX100" keyboard (Picture on right) works well with the Nintendo Wii. Also Logitech's Cordless Keyboard for Wii looks great with your Wii console, is compact, and has Wii system keys for use while browsing the web.