Analyzing the results of the Unofficial Fallen London Profile Questionnaire 2025 | From 269 responses to "Part I — The Character" and 192 responses to "Part II — The Player"
Survey respondents reported that their lodgings are a fairly important part of character and profile customization, ranked the third for the 2nd-most important aspect of character and profile customization. (Confused? See Player Values.) Headers were solidly the 3rd-most important aspect.
While players may live in or acquire a wide range of lodgings as they play the game, there are only three 5-card lodgings for end-game players. 70.6% of respondents reported living in 5-card lodgings. Recently, each of these 5-card lodgings received an update in the form of a new header, which may be used by any owner of the lodging for their profile’s page header.
One of the new lodgings headers have proven to be intriguingly popular. 29.7% of respondents live in a Suite at the Royal Bethlehem; it's the second-most popular lodging behind a Spire-Emporium of the Bazaar (30.9%). However, the header for the Suite is over twice as popular (8.6% of respondents) as the Spire-Emporium (4.1%). This makes it the second-most popular header, only behind the default, The View from Your Lodgings (15.2%). What's going on?
My guess? The Suite’s header looks like a living space (featuring a bed, vanity, and plant) as opposed to the solitary (uncomfortable-looking) chair featured in the Spire-Emporium’s header. I imagine that the Suite's header satisfies a little of the same urge that drives people to design miniature homes in the Sims, Minecraft, and other games, or even to play with dollhouses. It doesn't hurt that the Suite’s gradients and colors are beautiful. The header’s popularity is all the more impressive given that it had some graphics issues for the first couple weeks after its release!
A Sanctum at the Brass Embassy is by far the least-popular 5-card lodging, with 10.1% of respondents living there — less than a third of those who live in the Spire-Emporium. One might think that this has to do with the fact that buying it at its cheapest salespoint — at Christmas — requires selling one's soul. However, Hell’s 4-card lodging — a Guest Room at the Brass Embassy — is equally unpopular, used by only 2.2% of respondents compared to the 2-card Room at the Royal Bethlehem Hotel (4.9%) and Premises at the Bazaar (6.7%). Given this overall lack of appeal, it’s unsurprising that even fewer respondents chose the Sanctum’s header for their profile (1.1%). This header is also a living space, but to my eye it’s a little less pleasing than the Suite — the round, winged chair doesn't look terribly infernal, and the circles at the top give it an oddly festive look, considering it's Hell. (What are they, anyway, lanterns?)
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
1 respondent (0.4%) reported living in Dark Water (AKA where Mr Eaten lives). Unclear if this was a misclick or someone having fun. All I know is that it wasn’t Mr Eaten, based on their other responses.
And shout-out to @fl-lodgingless, the one respondent living in the New Newgate Prison Cell! Check out their tumblr for a fascinating look into Fallen London’s boundaries as they attempt to advance without moving out of their cell.
YOUR FEEDBACK
In Part II of the survey, most players (63.5%) were satisfied with the current available profile header options. 29.7% respondents reported wishing that there were more profile headers from the full list of existing headers, and 18.2% wished new profile headers could be added to the game. Only 2.1% of players wanted to see the art style change. Requests for profile headers included:
Mahogany Hall
Mind of London
Cline
No Header
Orphanage
Hinterland City
Laboratory
University
Iremi futures
Other lodgings beyond the current 5-card set
Firmament splash pages
While about half of players (51.6%) were satisfied with the available lodgings, 41.7% of players said they wanted to see more 1–5-card lodgings. Only 22.4% of players reported wanting 6+ card lodgings, suggesting it really is a roleplay/character-based desire to have more available lodgings.
Several respondents wished that lower-card lodgings could be used while still maintaining a 5-card hand:
“I wish we could live in a 3 or 4 card lodging and still have a 5 card hand if we own a 5 card lodging.”
“Mostly I'd just like it if you could have e.g a three-card lodging displayed on your profile but still have 4-5 cards in your hand. Like, maybe I want my characters to keep their abandoned steamer or rooms over a gambling den???”
“I wish you could have your lodgings be mechanically a 5-star but displayed as a 4-1 star if you owned that home too. How I long to return to that humble attic.”
“Some of the lodgings become totally redundant in late-game, or even mid-game, and I personally find that to be a bit of a shame in selecting character suitable decisions. Such as, an Urchin-associated character would benefit more from the lower cost Lodgings, but needs to take out a more expensive one for the 5-card accessibilities, which understandably can break character.”
Similarly, some players wished to be able to upgrade the 3-card remote lodgings:
“I wish that there was more options with remote adresses. Either to upgrade them or a way to make the higher tier lodgings count as remote? SOMETHING. Bit unfair on the hermit population of london to be limited to 3 cards.”
“I would like to see upgrades for the 3-card remote lodgings set”
Many players also wanted more lodgings generally, particularly lodgings that tie in with the latest game updates in Railroad and Firmament:
“It would be neat if we had one or two machinery/steampunk themed customization options. Or even faction-themed headers/lodgings. Although I'm not bothered by the current selection at all, since I don't care about vanity all that much ^^'”
“I really want Devs to add more cameos and possibly more unique lodgings”
“I would prefer special T5 lodgings in Ghent and Tracklayer City.”
“I wish that every Renown group had its own lodging, and some of the new content - Firmament housing, Parabola housing, housing at a Station…”
“A 5-carder in the Flit, Bugsby's Marsh, Prickfinger Wastes, or otherwise somewhere secluded in a more grounded manner.”
“Railway, Zee, or Roof Lodgings would be great. Transport Lodgings would also be incredible, having my character live in a train, ship, or airship.”
“I would like to see more unique lodgings with possible stories in a similar vein as Caveat Emptor non fate locked of course! they don't need to be viable at late game just interesting enough to add spice as the more interesting lodging variety comes early..”
“I am very pleased with my lodgings, but I also see reasons why others would be unsatisfied, considering you either live with devils, live with madmen, or throw your lot in with the Masters.”
Some respondents missed the profile headers changing with their character’s movement:
“An option to have the profile page header change to its respective location art i.e. visiting Moulin automatically changes the profile header to Moulin art.”
“I miss the profile header changing when you traverse the Neath.”
Respondents also wished to be able to show off their 5-card lodgings more:
“Wish I could show off my 5 card lodging a little more perhaps. I’m very pleased with it.”
“I can't say that I'd ever want to move out of The Bazaar, but I would like vanity customization for the 5 Card lodgings. Something to add variation, since most folks have one of three, eventually.”
And finally, a fair point about 6+ card lodgings:
“I really hope there aren't 6+ card lodgings. the power creep would be too much and it'd make it even harder to give a good range of choices for available lodgings.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
Failbetter could consider making it possible for players to live in lower-card lodgings while maintaining a 5-card hand. If they want to reduce the possibility of altering gameplay too much, perhaps once a player purchased a 5-card lodging, they could access an option on their lower-card lodging’s card to “upgrade” the lodging using various resources.
Failbetter could give players the option to have their profile page header change based on where a character is traveling.
Failbetter could unlock more of the available headers to be profile page headers. To fill the gap in mid-game headers for POSIs who have not yet reached Railroad or Firmament, Failbetter could let players unlock headers for those midgame areas where they spend a great deal of time (e.g. University, Lab, and the Shuttered Palace).
And my own two cents — I’ve always thought that the frame around the cameo looks a little lonely, and I personally think a frame around the lodgings would be a nice addition.
PERSONAL PROJECTS
This inspired me to start working on a customizable “build your own header” set, which I’ll be posting about soon!
Analyzing the results of the Unofficial Fallen London Profile Questionnaire 2025 | From 269 responses to "Part I — The Character" and 192 responses to "Part II — The Player"
NOTE: Failbetter beat me and released the new cameos before I published this post! I can't wait to see the full list and see how well they address player feedback.
Your character’s face! Cameos are pretty important to players (although less important than I’d anticipated), as the second-ranking 2nd-most important option when it comes to profile and character customization. Let’s take a look at the most popular and least popular cameos to spot some trends.
Popular cameo themes:
Faces are more proportional and less exaggerated (all).
Has hair (all, with the possible exception of Hooded.png). As you’ll see below, this is significant.
Accessories, hairstyles, and other elements featured in popular depictions of Victorian England or Steampunk (Cameogoggles.png, Writercameo.png, Magiciancameo.png, Curly.png, Dorian.png). Note: Fallen London is better described as Gaslamp fantasy than Steampunk. But many players seem to enjoy steampunk themes, based on respondents’ comments.
Unpopular cameo themes:
Exaggerated, disproportionate facial features (Drog2.png, Nightcap.png, Pirate2cameo.png, Monkcameo.png, Pipe.png, Drinker.png, Drogyne.png, Puritan.png). These cameos all have one or more features that pull them a little too far from realism into the realm of caricature. This makes them less “pretty” than the most popular cameos.
Bald (Blankcameo.png, Drogyne.png, Leper.png, Pipe.png, Skinny.png), balding (Drinker.png), or potentially hiding secret baldness (technically any with a hat where no hair is visible). Nobody wants to be bald :(
Clothing and/or accessories that tie the character to a racial, ethnic, or cultural minority in Victorian London (Fez.png, Ninja.png, Romany.png, and Turban.png).
The last point is particularly interesting and raises questions. Do players avoid these cameos out of mere lack of interest? Out of concern that they wouldn’t be able to do justice to a character’s background in their roleplay? Is there an element of conscious or subconscious xenophobia or racism? Or do these cameos feel in some way disrespectful of/like they’re misrepresenting the cultures that they’re attempting to portray? I’d be curious to hear what others think about this. Note: There is one cameo that fits within this category that didn’t make the cut for least popular—Kimono.png. Kimono.png is still relatively unpopular (1.1%), and may be fractionally more popular because it’s one of the more proportional “pretty” faces.
To illustrate what I mean by proportion and realism, let’s compare Curly.png and Puritan.png. Both have very similar face shapes — large forehead, pointy nose, pursed lips, small chin. But Puritan.png’s massive forehead and miniscule pointy chin (my main uses Puritan.png, so I say this with love!) pushes past the boundaries of realism. Curly.png also uses rounded shapes (like a real human face), with few sharp edges — again, compare their chins.
“Gender neutral” cameos are not significantly more or less popular than cameos with more (or more consistent) gender signifiers. Of the nine most popular cameos, three belonged to the former gender neutral category — or ⅓. Of the 17 least popular cameos, seven were formerly gender neutral — or 41.17%. While that might suggest the gender neutral cameos are slightly less popular, one must remember the overwhelming distaste players have for bald cameos — and three of those least popular gender neutral cameos are bald. (And come on, one’s leper.png!) When they’re subtracted from the count, only 28.5% of the least popular cameos are gender neutral cameos.
NEW CAMEOS: HIGHLY DESIRED
In April 2025, Failbetter released the results of their 2024/2025 Fallen London Player Survey, and stated their intention to add cameos to the game: “Looking further ahead, we also have our thinking caps on regarding: Additional cameos!” And on 10/20, they finally released a handful of new cameos!
This is a good move — players really want more cameo options! 63.5% of respondents reported wanting more cameo options in Part II of the survey, and 17% of respondent’s final thoughts or reflections on Part I (and 9.5% for Part II) mentioned wanting more cameos. Here’s some feedback I thought was particularly notable:
“More cameos fitting ones character. Like a Master cameo for Mr Cards.”
“You know what I'm hoping for? Looser, floppier character options. More long hair worn down. More big scarves. Less prim and buttoned-up.”
“Wish there were more cameos with fat people >:[ let me be big!!!”
“Let us freely play as species other than humans damn it!”
I see two trends across these few comments: players desire more diverse cameos to match the diversity of their characters (e.g. working-class or bohemian, fat, non-human); and players desire cameos that match their in-game decisions (e.g. a Master cameo).
NEW CAMEOS: ART STYLE
As a big fan of the new Fallen London art, I was curious what other players are looking for in the new cameos.
I asked if respondents would like the new art style to resemble the current cameos, Sunless Skies cameos, Mask of the Rose cameos, new Fallen London art examples with cameo-like aspects (SALON SCANDAL! and Estival 2025), or something else entirely. What was most popular?
The majority (53.4%) wanted the art style to resemble the current cameos. However, one respondent noted that while they like the current cameo style, “the proportions of the facial features are a bit off putting in most (size of the nose, brow, or chin),” and another highlighted the “current exaggerated proportions” — see my notes about unpopular cameo themes!
27.8% of respondents wanted new cameos to resemble the Sunless Skies cameos.
18.3% of respondents wanted the new cameos to resemble new Fallen London art. I love how this respondent described it: “I haven't given this much thought before these questions, but I think the "new art" is excellent and makes me want to engage with FL.” Same! One person doesn’t agree with us — “The New Fallen London art is NOT a cameo. The Estival option is the worst.” Sorry, Milton! They’re not wrong about it not being a cameo, though.
A significant number of respondents (45%) wish we could have customizable cameos, and this feedback came up in comments as well.
“I wish we had a cameo setup similar to MoTR/SSkies.”
“I feel like the current cameos are a tad limiting - I wish there was more customization to them a la Sunless Skies/Mask of the Rose”
NEW CAMEOS: TO USE OR NOT TO USE
Players may freely change their cameo with a Page from the Liber Visionis, earned through a storyline and, occasionally, during the advent. As such, it’s unsurprising that so many players are considering changing their character’s cameo.
The majority of respondents said they might change their character’s cameo — 44.8% to a new cameo, 10.9% to a current or new cameo, and 2.6% to a current cameo. 4.5% of respondents definitely plan on changing their cameo to a new one when the new options are released. And this is before we know anything about the new cameos! Alternatively, nobody (0%) is definitely going to change their cameo to an existing cameo.
Less than a third — 30.7% — of respondents say they’ll never change their character’s cameo, while 6.4% have already changed their cameo and won’t change it again.
Now that the new cameos are out, I'm very curious how many players end up making a change!
RECOMMENDATIONS
Today, Failbetter released a handful of new cameos. I'll be excited to see how they stack against the big takeaways from this survey:
My two biggest pieces of advice would be to stick closer to realistic facial proportions, and to create fewer bald cameos.
I’d also recommend that Failbetter include cameos with diverse representations of Victorian (and maybe by now Edwardian) fashion and style, including diversity of race, ethnicity, culture, hair texture, and weight that maintain the Victorian theming. Failbetter’s strong record of cameos with diverse gender presentations should also be upheld.
Players largely report wanting cameos in an art style resembling the current cameos with more realistic proportions.
Customizable cameos in that style would make many players very happy.
Next — Profile Portrait Frames!
(Previous — Headers & Lodgings)
Analyzing the results of the Unofficial Fallen London Profile Questionnaire 2025 | From 269 responses to "Part I — The Character" and 192 responses to "Part II — The Player"
Over the years, Failbetter has made multiple additions and improvements to the game’s gender-related character creation and customization options. Let’s see how players engage with this!
PRONOUNS
Pronouns are a surprisingly late addition to Fallen London, having only been added as a component of character customization last year in October 2024 alongside a host of other new profile page features, including cameo frames and new adjectives and noun options.
Pronouns may be fairly new to Fallen London, but they’re a hit! With 26.7% of respondents rating them as “of the utmost importance,” pronouns were the third highest rated aspect of profile and character customization. He/him pronouns are most frequently used at 37.7%, closely followed by she/her pronouns (32.8%) and they/them (25%). It/its pronouns are least commonly used at 3.7%.
The majority of respondents (82%) feel that their character’s in-game pronouns fit them perfectly. 15% of respondents play characters who use multiple pronouns, which is not possible automatically in-game. (One respondent noted that they frequently switch between their character’s multiple pronouns in-game — a clever use of this feature.)
One thing I regret not asking is whether players’ chosen pronouns and nouns are in the same gender category. I think it would be interesting to find out how many players are taking advantage of the separation of pronouns and nouns to choose ones from different gender categories (e.g. “he/him” pronouns and the noun “dowager”) to better express their character’s gender, presentation, and sense of self.
TRANSITIONS
Most players (83.7%) have not changed their character’s in-game pronouns since they first made their account. The majority of respondents who have changed their character’s in-game pronouns did so because their character transitioned and uses different pronouns (6.1%). 1.5% changed their character’s pronouns because they became a Master of the Bazaar. Intriguingly, 3.4% reported that their character has “transformed in some other way and uses different pronouns.” I wish I’d created more space for a written response here, because that’s so cool and interesting! 0.8% changed the pronouns associated with their profile when they created a new character using an old account. This question got some interesting write-in responses, including that a respondent changed their character’s pronouns following their own real life transition — showcasing how this type of flexibility is not only important for character-building, but for self-representation and reducing players' dysphoria.
In 2016, Failbetter decided to unlock all cameos for characters of all genders. The vast majority of survey respondents made their character post-2016. Of the 17.1% of players who made their character prior to 2016, 4.3% (0.7% of total respondents) of respondents changed their cameo to one that would have been locked from their character’s gender back in 2016 or earlier.
Transitions have impacts on other character creation aspects beyond pronouns. 8.2% of respondents reported wanting to change their character’s name in-game because their character has transitioned.
PRESENTATION
When asked whether they were satisfied with the current available outfits and outfit items for their character, 4.2% of respondents reported that they feel there are gaps in outfit items that fit their character’s gender presentation.
To editorialize, I added this question because I personally feel there are gaps in outfit items for a traditional Victorian feminine presentation. Consider how there are suits that lack a dress counterpart, and how many “unisex” items like cloaks lack the decorative elements that feature prominently in Victorian women’s fashion. I think Fallen London also is lacking in outfit items that creatively explore how fashion might have evolved in a Victorian London where many citizens don’t fit within binary gender identities. After all, traditional men’s clothing and its features—such as a lack of decorative flourishes—are no more gender neutral/GNC/nonbinary/etc. than traditional women’s clothing.
YOUR FEEDBACK
Some respondents were in favor of multiple sets of pronouns and neopronouns:
“And an option for more than one set of pronouns would be good.”
“I would enjoy if you could set multiple pronoun sets for your character, especially considering they’re not really used in game narration yet, but that’s a minor thing for me :P”
“Even if I don't need em myself, neopronouns would be swag!”
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on player feedback, the ability to use multiple sets of pronouns and neopronouns would be well received.
Newer updates like the Fruits of the Zee coral items have done a much better job at offering clothing items with a spectrum of gender presentations, and I would love to see older items updated to equally inclusive sets.
Analyzing the results of the Unofficial Fallen London Profile Questionnaire 2025 | From 287 responses to "Part I — The Character" and 200 responses to "Part II — The Player"
Other than names, the mantelpiece and scrapbook was ranked highest for the most important aspect of character and profile customization, with 30.2% of players saying it ranked #1 (see Player Values).
Given the importance placed on them, it’s unsurprising that the mantelpiece and scrapbook are widely used; 97.1% of respondents reported that they use the mantelpiece and scrapbook space. Of the 2.9% that don’t, 1.8% don’t want to display anything on their mantelpiece or scrapbook, and 1.1% didn’t know about the mantelpiece and scrapbook.
Scrapbooks and mantelpieces are one of the aspects of profile and character customization that players tend to change up (67.5% of respondents). 29.6% of respondents always keep their scrapbook and mantelpiece items the same. Most (62.8%) change the mantelpiece and scrapbook “occasionally,” as opposed to the 4.7% who change it “frequently.”
Although I didn’t ask a question about how satisfied players were with the mantelpiece and scrapbook, it’s clear players find something lacking; the majority of comments in Parts I and II of the survey have been requests for more mantelpiece/scrapbook space. We’ll delve into those comments shortly.
In the meantime, let’s examine what players are putting on their mantelpiece and scrapbook! Charts below the cut.
What type of item have you chosen to display on your mantlepiece?
What type of status have you chosen to display in your scrapbook?
Regrettably, this question highlighted my non-encyclopedic knowledge of the game — there were many write-in responses, some of which defied the categories I’d come up with (particularly those related to SMEN, weddings, Fate or Exceptional Friendship, or game bugs), or were a blend of multiple categories. To make it easier for us to examine the data, I re-categorized write-in responses, and added a few categories where necessary. I’m sure my re-categorizations of some write-in responses didn’t capture the true essence of their meaning to the respondent, or that respondents would have chosen one of the newly created categories (e.g. SMEN, House of Chimes, or wedding-related) if available. My hope is that the overall trends still make this data worth examining.
Most popular mantelpiece items:
One or more of an ordinary item that has some significance to your character (18.1%)
A vanity item (e.g. a Heptagoat, a Firkin of Hesperidean Cider, or the Inescapable Ubiquity of your Countenance) (11.6%)
A souvenir from an Estival or holiday (e.g. a Parietal Kingscale or Deconstructive Lens) (10.8%)
An item or reward from your Ambition (8.7%)
A companion with some significance to your character (8.3%)
An item that illustrates your character's appearance or personality (e.g. A Notable Absence of Scars, A Brooding Aura of Pain, or the hat they're wearing in their cameo) (6.9%)
One or more of an item that you personally like (5.8%)
An item that represents your advancement in a story (e.g. your Academic Gown or Director's Commemorative Overcoat); and a Tier 7/8 item (e.g. an Impossible Theorem or A Tasting Flight of Targeted Toxins) (5.4%)
Least popular mantelpiece items:
An item that showcases that you are up to date with the latest additions to the game; and SMEN-related (0.7%)
7 (or 77, or 777, or 7,777,777) of an ordinary item; 7 (or 77, or 777, or 7,777,777) of a Tier 7/8 or vanity item; and your destiny (1.1%)
An item that is not usually available; and one or more items that your character created (e.g. a Classic Short Story) (1.8%)
Most popular scrapbook items:
An accomplishment or quality related to your ambition; a vanity quality (e.g. Poet-Laurate, The Prestige of Your Laboratory 777, A Woeseller, A Private Tattoo of your Noman); and a stories quality, accomplishment, or route representing your progress in a story, event, or dream (14.8%)
A status that is otherwise representative of your character (13%)
A status that you personally like (9.7%)
A connection or acquaintance (e.g. The Masters of the Bazaar, the Captivating Princess, Glass); or your character's POSI, POSI Tier 2, or Paramount Presence status (5.4%)
A quirk or prominence (e.g. Hedonist, Daring, Bizarre, Respectable); or a skill (e.g. Dangerous, Mithridicy, or A Scholar of the Correspondence) (4%)
Least popular scrapbook items:
A Fate-locked quality; form of address; a status that showcases that you are up to date with the latest additions to the game; admitted to the House of Chimes quality; or SMEN-related (0.4%)
Your character's Chiropteromantic Zodiac sign; your notability or Making Waves; a status that is not usually available; a wedding-related status or accomplishment (0.7%)
A tattoo (a Skin-Bound Memory); a professional specialization (e.g. Crimson Engineer) (1.8%)
Some things that interested me:
So many respondents noted that they used their mantelpiece to display their destiny that I had to create its own category. This seems significant, given that destinies already have their own dedicated slot in an outfit; their destiny must feel so meaningful, that they’d want to highlight it in a second place! This also makes me wish I’d inquired whether players were highlighting their Treasure (another item with a dedicated slot) separately from another “item or reward from your Ambition.”
In profile development and curation, players balance roleplaying a character, showcasing gameplay advancement and exclusivity, and indulging in their own personal interests and preferences. The boundaries between these categories are permeable. For example, based on write-in comments, many players reported that the Tier 7/8 items on their mantelpiece or other more “exclusive” items have a deep meaning for their character. What else drives you when you’re curating your mantelpiece and scrapbook?
YOUR FEEDBACK
The most commonly requested feature in this survey was for more mantelpiece and scrapbook space! 17.4% (8/46) of “final thoughts or reflections about, or wishes for, character and profile customization” for Part I and 15% (3/20) of responses for Part II requested more mantelpiece and scrapbook space:
“I wish there were a way to share more items on the mantlepiece and scrapbook”
“A few more types of 'spotlight' slots (like the Mantelpiece and Scrapbook) would be cool, in the same way equipment has become more divided up in past updates.”
“I wish that you could select more items to display in the mantlepiece/scrapbook section.”
“An easier way to categorise Mantlepiece/Scrapbook selections would also be appreciated.”
“More scrapbook & mantlepiece space please I have so many things to show!!”
“I want a BIGGER scrapbook and BIGGER mantlepiece, so that I can flaunt more items and achievements, not just one of each.”
“I wish the mantlepiece allowed for more displays, and that we had a wider range of free cameo frames to pick from. I also wish you could turn slots off on your profile's outfit: I never intend to get a spouse for my character, so the blank space is wasted.”
“As with others responses, I'd be in favor of more mantlepiece slots.”
“I wish we could pay to expand our mantlepiece; there are so many things I want to show off!”
“I wish the mantlepiece allowed for more displays”
“I do occasionally wish for a few more Mantlepiece and Scrapbook slots.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
A while back, @violant-apologia had a very cool idea that mantelpiece (and presumably scrapbook) space should increase with improvements to your character's lodgings. I'm very much in favor of this proposal, or something similar! At a minimum, 2 slots for each once a character reaches five-card lodgings would be great.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Did anyone notice that I misspelled “mantelpiece” on the survey? Whoops!
Next — Outfits and Outfit Items!
(Previous — Adjectives & Nouns)
Analyzing the results of the Unofficial Fallen London Profile Questionnaire 2025. Note: More people have taken the survey! Hooray! Now, that does alter our data a bit, so I’ll be using the most up-to-date numbers in this entry and moving forward. Analysis now comes from 274 responses to "Part I — The Character" and 196 responses to "Part II — The Player"
Forms of Address have long been a customization option available to (or forced upon?) players, first generated automatically when creating a character with options for “Sir,” “Madam,” and the famous “Si-, er, Mad-, er, yes.” In March 2019, Failbetter expanded forms of address (the main way character gender was addressed in-game) and decided to “take the Sunless Sea approach of asking for your preferred form of address.” (They also removed the “Si-, er, Mad-, er, yes” title, only to reinstate it after player feedback.) Forms of address can be updated via the Roof-Tops: Urchins Opportunity Card, and now includes a host of options from the classic three to Ambition-dependant options to Fate-locked options.
Happily, players are largely satisfied with the available Forms of Address, with 85.7% of respondents reporting as such. This makes Forms of Address the customization option that most satisfies players!
The most popular forms of address suggest that players prize Watchful activities above all else, with the most popular forms of address being Professor (8%), Correspondent (7.7%), and Doctor (7.3%). Captain (6.9%) is also popular — unsurprising, given the amount of sea exploration and pirating involved in the game. Correspondent is far more popular than other professional titles, which range from Silverer (3.3%) to the highly unpopular Licentiate (0.7%)! Whether this reflects the overall popularity of those professions or Correspondents are simply more likely to use their professional title is hard to say.
Interestingly, feminine titles (11.7% overall) “My Lady” (7.3%, tied for third-most popular) and “Madam (4.4%) are used slightly more than gender neutral/genderful titles (11.3% overall ) “Si-, er, Mad-, er, yes” (6.6%) and Citizen (4.7%) and both are used far more than masculine titles (7.7% overall) Sir (5.9%) and “My Lord” (1.8%). This is in spite of the fact that “He” pronouns (37.6%) are used more than “She” (32.8%) and “They” (24.8%). (Note that I’m discounting “It” pronouns from this analysis because many players using It pronouns are Masters of the Bazaar, who tend to use “Mr” as a title.) This suggests that it’s more important for players with female and nonbinary characters to clarify their character’s gender than it is for players with male characters. Possible reasons include: the other titles feel slightly less representative of female and nonbinary characters’ gender and presentation (consider the change from Glassman to Silverer); for whatever reason (sexism?), some players have trouble associating women with certain titles; or, because many internet users and gamers strangely still think that there are no women (let alone nonbinary) gamers/on the internet, female and nonbinary players want their characters’ gender to be obvious.
As a game that leans into power fantasies, it’s no surprise that the two least popular titles confer the least amount of power. 0% of players use the title “Private” — it’s hardly shocking that the lowest rank in the army is even less popular than the higher-ranking “Sergeant” (1.8%) and the highest-ranking military title “Lieutenant” (albeit still unpopular at 0.7%). Deacon, at 0.4%, also is lower-ranking than the professional title “Canon” (2.2%) one step up the church hierarchy, and far below the popular Fate-locked “Bishop” (4.4%), the highest in the church hierarchy available as a title. (Sidenote: the history of the Devil’s advocate title in the Catholic Church is very interesting! Doesn’t seem to have a specific spot in the church hierarchy, though, so we’re ignoring the Advocate title for now.) All of this makes you wonder how many players would use the title “Pope” or “Archbishop of Canterbury” if given the option. In fact, let’s look at a projection!
If trends held, 10.44% of players might choose to give their character the title of Supreme Governor or Pope if given the option.
Of course, “Regent” is an option, and thereby puts you in line to be the Supreme Governor of the Church of England… but as an ambition-locked title, its lack of popularity (0.7%) is understandable.
A more popular ambition-locked title is Lyon, used by a respectable 5.5% of respondents. This option comes from one of two choices Light Fingers players can make, as opposed to one of five possible endings for Heart’s Desire players. Also, it’s the option where you can choose to be a cat — is it so surprising that more people want to be a cat than a royal?
YOUR FEEDBACK
Just because it’s the customization option that most satisfies players doesn’t mean everyone is satisfied by forms of address, of course. 14.2% of respondents (including comments) said they wish there were more choices of forms of address, commenting:
“I wish there were forms of address based in other languages”
“Vanity Quality (777) Specific” – Note: Septenary sounds most like a title to me of the seven-related adjectives
“I'd like to have multiple that were interchangeable maybe? My character is both a professor and a doctor, and I can never decide which to use >_<”
“A form of Address for having the Robe of Mr. Cards”
“'Engineer' would be perfect for my character”
“I wish for an option to be Addressed As a 'sorceror-scientist' as referred to on the Tracklayer's City card https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Genii_Locorum option https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Listen_to_the_tales_being_told”
“I wish there was an option for “Miss,” the closest option is “Madam/Ma’am”, and it seemed weird for people to call my character that when she was a young, unmarried woman.”
“More please thank”
RECOMMENDATIONS
If the Reverend Professor Major Sir Henry Winthrop-Smythe can have four titles, why can’t we?
Failbetter could add a character’s higher profession as a form of address (e.g. Engineer, Teratomancer, Beatificator, or Iniquitor).
“Mister” and “Miss” do feel like titles that are missing — they’d create better options for the young unmarried women and the Masters of the Bazaar alike.
Next — Adjectives and Nouns!
(Previous — Gender, Transitions, and Identity)
Analyzing the results of the Unofficial Fallen London Profile Questionnaire 2025 | From 269 responses to "Part I — The Character" and 192 responses to "Part II — The Player"
One of the biggest surprises for me from Parts I and II the questionnaire was that a character's name was considered to be of the utmost importance in character customization, while also being the characteristic that the greatest number of players desire to change.
49.2% of players said that, when it comes to profile and character customization options, their character’s name is "of utmost importance.” No other #1 ranking came close!
In spite of the importance placed on names, many players are dissatisfied with their character’s name. Only 36.4% of respondents reported that they would never change their character’s name in-game. 34.2% of respondents reported that they would change their character’s name if there was a free option to do so, and 22.7% of players would consider changing their character’s name. Only 3.3% of players are planning on spending the money to change their character’s name. It may be that it’s harder for players to justify spending money on a name change, something purely related to roleplay, as opposed to spending money on a new story or an upgrade that improves their character’s skills, capacity, etc. Alternatively, it could be that most players who can afford to spend money to change their character’s name tend to do so without delay — 12.3% of respondents reported that they had already changed their character’s name.
Why so much dissatisfaction? First, let's examine the kinds of names players are choosing.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
The most common type of name is a username, according to nearly a third (33.2%) of respondents. Based on respondents’ comments, this seems less like a choice and more like players are getting confused about the distinction between a username and character name when creating a new character, or didn’t realize that they couldn’t freely change their character’s name later. Sadly, players are not happy about their character’s name being a username — one respondent spoke for everyone when they said “It's my username and that sucks :(“
67.7% of respondents used one of the six types of canonical names I identified — full name (e.g. Cora Bagley or Millicent Clathermont); partial name (e.g. Clara); nickname (e.g. "Furnace" Ancona); descriptive epithet (e.g. "The Ambitious Barrister" or "The Youthful Naturalist"); title and full or partial name (e.g. Sister Lydia, Dr Schlomo, or the Reverend Professor Major Sir Henry Winthrop-Smythe); or partially normal, partially unusual or whimsical name (e.g. Sinning Jenny or Poor Edward). Of those types, the most common way to name a character is the character’s full name (27.9%), followed by part of their name (14.5%) and their descriptive epithet (10.8%).
Of course, not all characters are named like a Fallen London NPC. 11.1% of characters have “an unusual or whimsical name” (6.3% of which are not the character’s actual name, 4.8% of which are). (My main, Wallet Moneybucks, is a good example of this type of name.) 4.1% of respondents use their own real life name or nickname for their Fallen London player character. Least common of all naming conventions is using the name of an existing character or celebrity (1.1%), followed by the name of a previous OC (1.9%, if you include various write-in responses).
A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME?
Now that we know what types of names players are choosing, let's examine why and how players want to change their names:
Of 194 respondents (72.38% of all respondents), 48.7% (including write-in responses) would like to change their character’s in-game name from their current goofy name, username, or other name that is not their character’s actual name. 14.9% have decided upon a new name for their character. Some characters have transitioned (8.2%) or become a Master (7.7%)
What do players want to change their name to? 30.3% of respondents would like to rename their character to a descriptive epithet. 15.4% wish to rename their character to a standard name. Only 3.1% of respondents wish to rename their character to a nickname.
Players who have decided upon a new name for their character but can't or won't pay to change it have a few options. Of the 142 respondents (52.4% of all respondents!) who have chosen a different name for their character and haven't changed it in-game...
5.6% have changed their username, which doesn't display on the public profile page, but does show up for contacts (in parentheses) when they're selecting a contact for a social action;
7% have written their character's name in their personal description;
18.3% have shared it on a social media platform; and
73.9% have not chosen to showcase their character's name anywhere.
YOUR FEEDBACK
“I understand the thought process, but locking renaming your character behind Fate feels quite bad.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
Given the importance placed on names, the number of players who want to change their name, and the significant number of players who had some confusion between entering their character’s name and username — not to mention the issue that when creating an account from Google or Facebook or Twitter, the game applies the name from that service to your Fallen London account — I have two recommendations for Failbetter:
Make it more obvious during account creation how a character’s name is used and displayed.
Grant one name change freely to all players. Possibly through a storyline, like how the Page from the Liber Visionis can be earned from the story Uncovering the Secrets of the Face-Tailor.
Next — Gender, Transitions, and Identity!
(Previous — Profile Portrait Frames)
Analyzing the results of the Unofficial Fallen London Profile Questionnaire 2025 | From 274 responses to "Part I — The Character" and 196 responses to "Part II — The Player"
Last year in October 2024, Failbetter expanded the character and profile customization options on the profile page, including a slew of new adjectives and nouns. Failbetter made an interesting decision for determining how nouns and adjectives are made available to players: “Most of these [adjectives] reflect advanced accomplishments – raising advanced skills, obtaining big-ticket items, and so on. [...] Nouns don’t have requirements; we’ve decided to draw a line where adjectives tend to reflect player accomplishments, while nouns are a purely expressive choice and all nouns are available to all players.” A year later, how is this update resonating with players?
ADJECTIVES
The four main attributes—Watchful, Persuasive, Shadowy, and Dangerous—are generally popular as adjective choices, with Watchful adjectives (12%) being the most popular by far, followed by Persuasive adjectives (9.5%) and Shadowy adjectives (6.2%). Dangerous adjectives (4.4%) are the least popular of the four. It seems likely that this would also be the ranking for players’ preferred main attributes. The popularity of Watchful adjectives goes hand in hand with the most popular form of address being Professor.
Of the advanced skills, the Artisan of the Red Science adjective “Irrepressible” is most popular at 11.3%. Why is it so much more popular than any other advanced skill adjective? AotRS is a late game skill which can only be developed once the player has hit a certain point in the Railway arc, and to be able to hit the 9 points required to select the adjective highlights how advanced your character is. Chthonosophy is the newest of the advanced skills, requiring the player to have reached a certain point in the newest storyline to the game, Firmament. It may be that Chthonosophy is too new, or has too few associated outfit items, for a significant number of players to be able to hit the 9 points required to select the adjective — only 2.2% of respondents use it (“Chthonic”). Alternatively, AotRS may resonate the most with players on a character-building level — this skill represents a character’s ability to understand and manipulate the grand order of the universe, specifically to break the Great Chain of Being and other laws of the Judgements. Quite the power fantasy! Finally, it could be that “irrepressible” is simply a more positive and flattering description than other advanced skill adjectives.
Besides AotRS, other fairly popular advanced skill titles include those for A Player of Chess (“Machiavellian”) at 5.1%, and Monstrous Anatomy (“Chimeric”) at 4.4%. The other skills are nearly evenly used at half that rate (or less), with 2.2% for Chthonosophy (“Chthonic”) and Glasswork (“Silvered”) and 1.8% for Mithridacy (“Janusian”), Kataleptic Toxicology (“Venemous”), and Zeefaring (“Zalty”). Least popular is Shapeling Arts (“Malleable”) at 1.1%.
And it’s hardly shocking that “Reprehensible” is unpopular, used by 0% of players — the punishment for being A Wretched Recidivist, required to unlock the adjective, is quite punishing indeed.
The least popular faction-related adjectives may show us which factions are least popular — adjectives for Docks (“Proletarian”) and Criminals (“Dodgy”) being used by 0% of respondents, followed by Urchins (“Tall”) and Church (“Pious”) at 0.4%, and ending with Tomb-Colonists (“Bandaged”), Society (“Genteel”), Rubbery Men (“Ululating”), and Constables (“Vigilant”) at 0.7%.
The most popular faction-related adjectives are for Revolutionaries (“Radical”) at 4.7% of respondents, followed by Bohemians (“Unconventional”) at 4%, Hell (“Infernal”) at 3.6%, and the Great Game (“Cosmopolitan”) at 1.5%.
(Do these line up with the actual popularity of factions? Not quite, according to @quilavabucket’s surveys HERE and HERE. Then again, that survey was about your character’s favorite faction, not the actual faction to which they’re Connected.)
Interestingly, vanity adjectives are not majorly popular. This may point to the challenge of achieving these vanities. The most popular of vanity adjectives is “Enduring” (unlocked with a Firkin of Hesperidean Cider) at 3.6%, followed by “Blasphemous” (unlocked in the Company of a Hellworm) at 1.8%.
NOUNS
The most popular noun (“Scholar” at 14.9% of respondents) continues the trend of Watchful activities being prized above all else, as we saw with adjectives and forms of address.
The three original gender signifiers are the next most-popular — Gentlemen (13%), Lady (11.2%), and Individual of Mysterious and Indistinct Gender (8.2%). This is unlikely to be because players didn’t know they could change their nouns or don’t know how to (a mere 1.1% of respondents); it's more likely that players simply prefer these nouns.
Of the new nouns, Vagabond (5.6%) and Recluse (5.2%) are most popular.
Some of the new nouns are decidedly unpopular. With 0% of respondents, Dowager, Lad, Chap, and Oaf are at the bottom. Dowager and oaf make a certain amount of sense — they require that one defines their character by their being a widow or, in part, their lack of intelligence. Chap and Lad’s lack of popularity surprised me. Does “Lad” sound too young to players? Its feminine counterpart “Lass” is also unpopular, used by a mere 0.4% of respondents along with the old-sounding Matron and Pugilist (less surprising — as we saw from adjectives, Dangerous is the least popular of the four main attributes).
Overall, masculine nouns (17.6%) are used slightly less than feminine nouns (18.9%), continuing the trend observed in forms of address. Of course, there are two more feminine nouns (eight in total) than masculine nouns (six in total). (Only 11.6% of players use the two dedicated gender neutral/gender mysterious nouns “Individual” and “Individual of mysterious and indistinct gender,” but it’s unfair to include them in the comparison alongside the numerous masculine and feminine nouns.)
I do find it interesting that of the 17 gender neutral nouns available, 11 (64.7%) are relatively negative terms (Scoundrel, Rake, Waif, Naïf, Wastrel, Oaf, Vagabond, Mourner, Reprobate, Lout, and Recluse), either implying some weakness of character or unfortunate circumstances. (Remember, the biblical meaning of vagabond suggests a fugitive living a life without spiritual grounding.) The seven neutral gender neutral nouns (Scholar, Pugilist, Scientist, Detective, Worker, Aesthete) for the most part reference one’s line of work, and neutral nouns are slightly more popular than negative nouns, chosen by 27% of respondents. Still, the negative nouns are fairly popular, with over a quarter (25.1%) of respondents choosing them. Of the negative nouns, least popular are Oaf (0%), Naïf and Reprobate (0.7%).
Overall, gender neutral nouns are significantly more popular (63.7%) than gendered nouns (36.5%). Whether this is simply because there are so many more of them (19 in total) than there are gendered nouns (14 in total), or because players like the specificity it brings to their character’s personality and role, is unclear.
YOUR FEEDBACK
While the majority of players are satisfied with the available adjectives (69.9%) and nouns (72.4%), well over a quarter are not! This lines up with the comments respondents made.
Respondents described generally wanting more adjectives and nouns:
“I like the new ones that FBG added recently, especially when you can separate your noun and pronouns, but a lot of the new ones don't really fit any of my characters :(“
“I would also like more adjectives and titles as I am not fully happy with any of them for my character.”
“I feel like the character descriptors aren’t as extensive as they should be”
“More please thank”
A couple of respondents described wanting two adjectives:
“I would like it if you could choose two adjectives to describe your character instead of just one. That's how it used to be back when they were automatically selected, and bringing it back would open up a lot of possibilities for customization. Plus I just think the cadence of a two-adjective description sounds nicer, but maybe that's just me.”
“I also wish there was an option for more than one adjective.”
A couple of respondents wanted to be able to pick from the main stats’ adjectives:
“[...] it sucks the highway stats are locked to the highest level you have. (+ they only really encompass an aspect of the stat.)”
“I would love to be able to pick from the main stat adjectives, rather than it being based on the current base level of the stat.”
This feedback is similar in a way to the request that players had to be able to live in more humble lodgings while maintaining a 5-card hand. While the narrative of Fallen London pushes your character to be more high-status, well-known, and popular, it’s clear that some players don’t enjoy that forced power fantasy, and wish for their characters to stay connected to their roots.
Several respondents noted a noun or adjective they felt was missing:
“It would be nice to have [...] some more variations on Adjective choices for certain traits (e.g. my character's main defining skill is Mithridacy, and whilst 'Janusian' is a very fitting adjective, the Roman origin of that term would be completely unrelated to my character, and so an option for a term separate from a very specific Roman deific etymology would feel more appropriate. Until then, my character adopts the term "venomous".)”
“An option to be Addressed As a 'sorceror-scientist', as referred to in the text for the Tracklayer's City card https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Genii_Locorum option https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Listen_to_the_tales_being_told”
“I want customizable nouns. Specifically there's a noun that would be perfect for my character but doesn't currently exist. It would be tied to the number of statues of onesself that exist”
“Always bugged me how we have "A Lady" but not "A Lord."”
RECOMMENDATIONS
Failbetter could consider allowing players to use two adjectives, as profiles used to use. This change may have come from Failbetter wanting profiles to better mimic the cadence of descriptive epithets in-game. But it’s clear that a significant number of players already use a descriptive epithet for their character (either as their character’s official name, or in in their head), and the choices are limited — expanding to two adjectives would allow players to better showcase their characters’ values, skills, friends, and possessions.
Failbetter could allow players to select from the adjectives available for the four main attributes as they unlock them.
Failbetter could offer a second choice of adjective for each of the advanced skills.
Given the popularity of gender neutral nouns, I would recommend Failbetter add more gender neutral nouns (and fewer nouns with negative connotations).
Next — Mantelpiece & Scrapbook!
(Previous — Forms of Address)
Analyzing the results of the Unofficial Fallen London Profile Questionnaire 2025 | From 269 responses to "Part I — The Character" and 192 responses to "Part II — The Player"
This is a quick one. People generally like the new profile portrait frames (added to the game in October 2024) — only 14.2% of respondents purposefully choose not to use one. Sadly, it seems like the option to choose frames is still confusing players — 10.4% of respondents reported not knowing they could choose a profile portrait frame, or how to do so.
In spite of their popularity, the current profile portrait frames are not satisfying players. Only a quarter of respondents are satisfied with the available profile portrait frames, making them the aspect of profile customization players are least satisfied with.
YOUR FEEDBACK
You want more frames! (And free ones, at that.) 71.9% of respondents wish there were more available profile portrait frames.
10.2% wish the frames had a different art style — more than any other aspect of profile customization, including outfit items (7.1%), cameos (6.1%), profile headers (2%), and lodgings (1.5%).
22.4% also wish that lodgings had a frame.
Comments throughout the surveys reflected a desire for more frames:
“I wish [..] that we had a wider range of free cameo frames to pick from.”
“Please, more cameo frames!”
"Again, to elaborate, I actually really love the existing frames, but would enjoy more mostly just because I think they’re pretty, add some cool flare, and I want more options"
"More please thank"
Although some players were less enthusiastic:
"I don't really like portrait frames from an aesthetic standpoint. I am very happy with a simple border."
"I wish there were less available options. Never really understood pfp frames in games. Always seemed kinda out of place."
RECOMMENDATIONS
The new “Dice and Doubt” frame for TTRPG Kickstarter donors is charming, and hopefully signals that Failbetter is planning on making more.
Here are some options I’d love to see for profile portrait frames:
Frames themed and colored to compliment the 5-card lodgings' profile headers
Frames themed around the art schools (i.e. Nocturnals, Bazaarines, Celestials, Mycologenes, Terpsichoreans)
Frames themed around factions
Recolors of the existing frames so players can better match them with their chosen header
Lodging frames (either matching the cameo frames, or a simple frame complimenting them)
