- Appearance - This includes 24 skin tones, 73 hairstyles, 112 shirts, 4 pants, and 20 accessories. All of them can be used by either gender, with the option to randomize appearance. This has no effect on gameplay, can be changed later, and can be augmented with additional shirts and pants, as well as hats, and boots.
- Name / Farm Name - These are limited to most of the ASCII printable characters, which are spaces, uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and
`~!@#$%^&*()-=+[{]}\|;:'",<.>/?_. Although"is in the valid ASCII printable character range, the textbox does not accept this character. Name and Farm Name are sometimes used in dialogues during gameplay. The player's name can be changed later, but not the farm name.- Both fields accept copied text (paste text using Ctrl + v).
- The length of the name is determined by the total pixel width, and the allowed maximum is restricted to the width of the textbox.
- The letter case used when the name is inputted will not change (e.g., if the name is inputted in all lowercase; the first letter will not be corrected to uppercase).
- Animal Preference - This determines the type of pet that arrives in Spring of year 1. There are six options; three dogs, three cats.
- Favorite Thing - This affects the text displayed after eating a Stardrop. The character limits are the same as the Name / Farm Name text boxes.
- Gender - This has minor effects on gameplay and can be changed later.
- Characters will use the appropriate pronouns in dialogue.
- Restriction to the men's or women's spa entrance. (Note: Alex sometimes works out in the men's locker room.)
- It is possible to marry an eligible NPC regardless of gender. In a different-gender marriage, the woman can become pregnant for 14 days (with no effect on speed or movement) and give birth to a child. In a same-gender marriage, children can be adopted.
- Female characters will receive letters from Dad, while male characters will receive letters from Mom.