This is kind of an opinion dump thread so it's going to seem pretty ranty. I just want to know others opinions and if they agree, and this place is a little more down to earth than most places on the internet.

I got NH on release date, and upon coming onto this website, I saw a TON of negativity about the game, and to be honest, I felt really out of place as I actually liked it. And still do like it a lot. The sheer amount of quality of life upgrades (40 inventory slots, 1600 storage, etc) as well as the sheer amount of customisation options (almost everything in the game having color variations, ability to put things outside, fences, actual built-in paths, terraforming), I thought this game was a huge improvement over New Leaf. But everyone kept funneling in on three basic things: crafting, tools breaking and lack of shops.

Well, I'm going to be honest, I've paid of all debts and currently have several million bells banked, so tools breaking isn't an issue - I just buy new ones. Bulk crafting would still be handy. The shops one, I didn't really understand, Nook sells plants (you can even buy them in bulk now), Ables now sells shoes and socks (and Kicks still roams) and you can change your hair on a whim. Everything got repurposed and applied elsewhere. The only things they flat out got rid of were Gracie, Katrina, the cafe (which is coming back) and the Dream Suite.

When I decided to stop checking this site, I stopped playing for 2 or 3 weeks. But I realised outside of this place, New Horizons had received much more positive feedback, and started playing again.

Buuut I'm not happy. I'm not happy with the playstyle this game encourages, and it's made me miserable. And I partially blame the game and partially blame many of the new people who have joined in.

At first, I was looking at online trading. I've made probably about 14 million bells total selling turnips at people's islands, and Nook Mile Tickets to other people, which was fun. But the problem is - that's the only viable way to make money in this game. Trading. The second best options are buy turnips and pray your own prices are passable, or going on Tarantula/Scorpion island and the sell to Flick who appears completely random, which makes a fraction of the money for far more work.

Look, turnips have always been a thing. I get that. But catching bugs on the island in New Leaf was almost as viable if you didn't time travel and had no internet access. It was the most boring thing in the world, but you could make a million a night easily.

This game encourages a completely different kind of play style less focused on, well, gameplay and more focused on trading and decorating. Once I've caught all my bugs and fish for the month, I hang up my net and call myself done with it. And I can see why others would hate this.

Though I need to talk about two elephants in the room: Nook Mile Tickets and Raymond. These two things have, combined, ruined online trading, in my opinion.

I don't hate Raymond. I find him bland and boring, but if like like that villager, you do you. Everyone has a favourite villager. But the people selling him for thousands of Nook Miles are ridiculous. I don't like how Nook Miles have become a second currency. I don't like how Nook Mile Tickets are the expected currency to trade with, meaning I have to jump through hoops to get money as I don't use NMTs. I'm not interested in island hopping and there's better ways to make money.

So let's talk about the Raymond problem. It's an issue with how villagers rotate in and out of the town in this game. Dreamies have always been a thing, but in older games it was far easier for a villager to accidentally leave if you didn't play for a while or just weren't paying attention. In this game, you can't get a villager to leave unless you actively say they can so it rendered villagers essentially permanent decorative objects that stay in your town, making them far more valuable. I think Nintendo thought this was a good idea to do because of the idea of dreamies - but all it's done is encourage a huge market value for villagers, caused a divide where only the top 30 or so most popular villagers are in 90% of people's towns, and makes it far harder to get rid of villagers you just don't like.

To add to this, I've seen far more elitism in this game than previous, on social media really. "If you don't have Raymond, Marshal, Judy, this that and the other villager for any reason, your town is terrible". And people being bullied for liking any villager the community deems ugly (been made fun of for my dreamie Eugene, who IMO is not even ugly, especially compared to many others). I miss the days when everyone had a favourite villager and well, you respected their choice, and it was unique to them. Now it's become a popularity contest of who can have the most tier 1 and 2 villagers in their town to the point *I've* become obsessed with tiers.

I've seen the same kind of elitism for how people's towns look, but to a lesser extent, to add to this.

So TL;DR, I love the game. I don't like the gameplay cycle it encourages.

Do you think social media has a lot to do with it? I started playing when Wild World came out, and there was very little social media and any trading was done through forums like this and only for hardcore fans.

Now it seems like everyone and their mother is trying to do one-upmanship with this game, either through their villagers, or bells or decoration. Whatever happened to playing one day at a time at your own pace? Everything just seems so competitive. To me, getting an island full of your dreamies, and intending to keep those same villagers forever within a few months of getting the game just seems pointless!

Personally I'm loving the game but like you hating a lot of the gameplay attitude. It's playing for the sake of 'looking better than everyone else' instead of personal enjoyment.

Oh, and the NMT thing is mental. I hate that everyone wants something in return...back in the 'olden' days, people were more willing to help out for the sake of it, not just asking for a 'best offer' and only then willing to trade. I mean, people charge fees to let other people catalogue their items. I swear that NEVER happened back when it was WW and NL!!

Does my head in! I don't get involved in any of that nonsense...if I have good turnip prices or a good DIY going, I'll post it and let people come to my island. Aside from that, I don't really want anything to do with the modern AC trading community because it's pretty dire (no offense to anyone here - I'm speaking mostly of Facebook groups).

So my summary is, the game is great, but the trading side of it is appallingly bad.

"Do you think social media has a lot to do with it? I started playing when Wild World came out, and there was very little social media and any trading was done through forums like this and only for hardcore fans."

I hate to sound super "back in my day" but I think a lot of it comes from the culture social media breeds - being the most popular, being the prettiest, having the most likes. Not to mention, videos reacting to "ugly" villagers have gone viral on TikTok. People have always considered certain villagers ugly, but I never remember it being a spectacle like this (almost like a circus freak show to be honest) and it's pretty disheartening.

"Oh, and the NMT thing is mental. I hate that everyone wants something in return...back in the 'olden' days, people were more willing to help out for the sake of it, not just asking for a 'best offer' and only then willing to trade.  I mean, people charge fees to let other people catalogue their items. I swear that NEVER happened back when it was WW and NL!!"

I literally offered to give Tammy (bear cub, I got rid of her because I wanted the new horse villager, Reneigh, who has been vastly overshadowed by the "cuter" new villagers) to someone for free on Nookazon, and they gave me 10 Nook Mile Tickets in return because "It's nice to see someone not being greedy in this game for once and offering something for free"! It took me aback. I've given villagers to people for free in older games and it was just... a thing people did.

To be honest, I didn't do much trading back in the older games with the exception of a few rarer items, but this is pretty mental to me.

You both have made excellent points. I love this game too, but absolutely hate the trading aspect of everything. I just this morning let people catalog my gnomes for free because it's the nice thing to do, and I enjoy being nice. I give my fruit away constantly. I've been to large catalog events whee all that was wanted for entry was one wishlist item, which seems about right.

But charging 1-3 NMT for entry to get a diy a villager is crafting is insane!!! Or charging to see Saharah, or Leif. Celeste, I kinda get, but still!

And don't get me started on the dreamy craze. The whole fun of AC, imo, is the surprise at who your next villager will be. I have Judy, got her naturally as she was the first non-forced camper on my island. Yeah, she's cute, but will I let her go? Heck yeah! It defeats the purpose to spend the first month getting 10 villagers that you won't let leave.

"And don't get me started on the dreamy craze. The whole fun of AC, imo, is the surprise at who your next villager will be"

I'm at a point where I just wanted my favourites because I have had most of the other villagers in older games, to be honest. I have been playing this franchise since I was 6 years old, after all. So I can understand people just wanting to get their favorites and have that over and done with.

But when people are coming new into this franchise and being like "i don't want this villager, or this villager, or this villager because they're not cute and pastel", I find it a little odd, especially given a lot of the new people seem to only like the same 30 villagers, less than 10% of the entire roster. There are some villagers that imo, are just as cute as the top 30, but dismissed, for some reason.

I distinctly remember most villagers getting at least some love from someone out there back in NL, and especially in GC, WW and CF, but now people are being mocked for going against the grain with regards to villager choice.

I find the disconnect between popular villagers in New Leaf vs New Horizons honestly disparaging and kind of weird too. Like, I very distinctly remember Eugene and Static (two of my villagers) being pretty popular back in the day. Static now seems to get a reaction kind of like "oh he's ok but i wouldn't take him", and people have been actively malicious towards my choice of Eugene. I've had the character be called a neckbeard, ugly, weird and annoying, and had people flat out ask me how I can like him like he's some kind of hideous monster. He's a black and white koala in sunglasses, are we looking at the same villager here? It seems if a villager is not cute in a very obvious way now, they get dismissed as ugly. I never remember it being like this.

Not to be 47 year old guy not in touch with society much, but I do agree Social Media has been good for the game but bad also.

I gave up Turnip buying back in Population Growing.  So it can be frustrating to see people who I've followed on YT in the follow up to the game or Pokemon Go people also on YT with fully fleshed out towns.  Meanwhile I have not paid off my house, have two bridges & a few tires & other places to sit and gaze out on.  There will be times I feel like I'm doing something wrong or being left behind.  But in the end I'm okay with it.  Other than Wild World which was lost when I had a 3DS accident, I play all my other 3 platforms towns on a daily basis.  I just have to remind myself that in 2030 long as I have a working Switch, I'll be playing my town and enjoying my little animals company & daily activities.  

As to things they did right in the game, I want to nominate not needing water my flowers.  I get it makes sense to have to do, but it is one chore I just never gravitated to.  

And to go back to my long game view of this game, that is where I am also okay with things being rolled out in updates.  Having Gyroids would be normal & I could get on that, but long as we get them eventually I'm okay.  Not having Redd in the beginning or artwork didn't diminish things for me, it just allowed me to focus on other things.

drew

I have a half and half sort of Thought on this-

Im not a fan of the "Hype" trades- My life partner was going to spend $10 on Audie on ebay.. I told him how stupid that was! (Our friend had already done so and he thought "oh me too") No...dont do that.. you spent enough REAL money on this game- minus if they ever do DLc you need to pay for you dont need to spend REAL money on a villager... what? (Amiibo cards are different they're reusable and I like collecting cards... anyway thats not the point here.) I told him to go find Audie on Nookazon if he was that adamant to get her- OR island hop or even wait to see if a friend has her moving out- Other options first- I even offered to give him the million bells needed that someone was selling her for-

Sorry small rant..

Back on topic. I dont trade alot honestly- Im not a fan of the exorbitant prices people ask for- and honestly I prefer to give stuff away too- All my money (house fully paid for, pretty established island- able to buy tools whenever needed etc) arent from turnips or being greedy. Its from hours of hunting butterflies and fish- because I enjoy it. And when you know which ones to look for and how to look for them making bank is easy- sure you have to put in some work- but really...

I did one trade that I set up today- A galaxy floor- someone offered me 30 nook miles tickets... I was like okay cool why not- (Im trying to get a dream villager at islands when pinky moves out-)

I have a few other issues with this game (nothing game breaking/make me not want to play) But mroe than issues with the game I have issues with the new-coming greedy mentality I've been finding places. So I generally stay in my little corner (its in my signature lol) and here sometimes... and Hang out with my friends..because the outside/random world of AC is scary now... I really miss the old animal crossing days.

That was longer than I meant it to be and I probably totally forgot the subject partway through XD
I do love this game..And Im excited for whats coming in the future.

I don't have the problems discussed in the original post, because I prefer to play as a solitary player. So, no problem. No trading, no negative interactions, no purchases of items or villagers, no competition. I just play. I have not come across Raymond, but if I do, that will be fun. If I don't, so what. I am still enjoying the game.

I completely agree with you, ILoveACCF!

I don't do the turnip thing either. Always hated it. It's too random and unreliable.

Maybe, if the game had better and more current online features (instead of being stuck in like, the early 2000's), having to visit islands to get Bells wouldn't be so bad. But as it stands? It's annoying, tedious, and not enjoyable in the least bit.

I also don't do the tarantula island thing either. Again, seems very tedious and annoying.

Without any surefire way to make the loads of Bells it costs to buy certain furniture etc., I do feel like I'm missing a lot from the game that others are getting.

As of now, I haven't turned the game on in days. The last time I did, it was a 20-minute session of: get fossils, check for hybrids, buy items I don't already have. It got boring to do that day after day.

I'll play again when a new holiday comes around, or if someone wants to play with me. But other than that, I guess I just got tired of it. Happens with every AC game for me after an initial month or so. I take a break, then pick it up later again. I think NH actually lasted the longest out of all of them so far.

The NMT thing is just odd to me, and again, I want no part of it.

I invited every villager I found on an island. Yes, including Barold. Because he's funny, goofy, and gives my town some variety. So my town doesn't look like everyone else's. I have no plans to try and get rid of him.

Tbh, the whole Dreamy thing reminds me of Beanie Babies. I used to love those adorable yet useless chunks of fabric and pellets. (Not sure if anyone here is old enough to remember the heyday of them. I barely was.) But those were a physical object. And I don't remember people really trading them. Gifting them, yes. Which nobody will do with physical data in a game.

I adore Raymond, he's adorable. But I think Eugene is way cooler, honestly. My favorite koala by far, and I'd much rather him than Raymond. I was also surprised to see him getting so much hate... he's a 1950's greaser koala, what's not to love??

I guess it's just sad to see social media try to ruin one of our favorite game series, but that's just a sign of the times.

I like that NMT (and to an extent, golf nuggets and star frags) have become a second form of currency because in previous games, bells were made to be pretty much meaningless and lacked value. Nook Miles and NMT have value because they take actual work and time to get and can’t be cheesed easily.

Trading sucked in previous games because it was difficult to put a price on anything and values were all over the place.

Scarcity is beneficial to an economy. Yes, it can create elitism, but that’s just par for the course in any system with real values. I’m glad that there’s a baseline for trading now.