I love this game as a solo player, really fun and versatile.
However, when playing with multiple people, this is a no.
If someone starts the game "just to try it" then its THEIR island. Yes you can build your home on it, but to progress anything then the first person has to play.
You cannot change town resident representative.
My partner bought this game for me, and started just to try. It wasnt until 10 days later when he wasnt playing anymore, I learned he had to play if we wanted to progress at all. He would play casually but now either I have to play on his profile or he has to play, or the island is in stasis.
Side note to say that honestly its really pretty but they could have made better use of the controller and everything else. Its like they did minimal work and said it was good to go.