# Is the community of AC becoming toxic?



## Trip_Away (May 7, 2020)

What do you think? Is the community of Animal Crossing becoming the new toxic fandom?


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## salem_ (May 7, 2020)

honestly im pretty sure that toxic communities are waaaaaaay worst than ac one
im watching u lol community


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## cloudmask (May 7, 2020)

there have always been toxic people in this fandom, as with any. i think that they simply seem worse recently because quarantine has everyone cooped up and stressed.


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## GreenBacon (May 7, 2020)

I'm new to the forum but all my experiences here have been wonderful. Lots of nice people an awesome community.


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## cloudmask (May 7, 2020)

salem_ said:


> honestly im pretty sure that toxic communities are waaaaaaay worst than ac one
> im watching u lol community



right, like i used to be in the steven universe fandom...this is literally nothing in comparison lol


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## DJStarstryker (May 7, 2020)

No. It's nowhere near as toxic as some other fandoms. Especially because at least here on Bell Tree, it feels like we're an oasis, where nice people are the majority.


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## Khaelis (May 7, 2020)

All communities have some form of toxicity to them. Animal Crossing is no different. Just look at the time travel debates.


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## Chris (May 7, 2020)

It's been toxic for years. We do our best to try and keep the worst of it away from TBT.


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## DinoTown (May 7, 2020)

Toxicity in communities always has, and always will exist. The Bell Tree forum is typically a nice place, there's been a couple of people who haven't been particularly nice over the game and aspects of it (see: Time Travel debates), but the AC community isn't just limited to these forums, and outside of it, it can get pretty bad (Twitter, for example, and also Nookazon is a prime example of the community turning to pure greed rather than wanting to help each other out (10 NMT for 600 turnip island, scams, etc)).

It's a sad fact of life, but in general, the AC community is not nearly as bad as some other fandoms and communities, and the TBT forums are one of the best places you can be if you're seeking out the most wholesome side.


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## Asarena (May 7, 2020)

I've played Animal Crossing since the GameCube game, but I only really started interacting with other fans since New Horizons came out. So I'm not super familiar with how the fandom was before, but I feel like every fandom I've been a part of has had a loud, toxic vocal minority. It almost seems inevitable at this point. I always just try to remind myself that those people are, in fact, a small minority of fans.


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## windloft (May 7, 2020)

Every fandom will have its bad apples ; sometimes it'll seem worse than it actually is depending on exposure and such – looking at you, twitter. I think it's a little more ... frequent, due to the sheer number of newcomers and mainstream attention AC has been receiving as of late.


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## Dormire (May 7, 2020)

Not exactly. The definition of toxic for me (personally) would be like K-Pop fandom (and Steven Universe).
AC is leagues far from that. The only toxic behavior AC people display would be asserting their own ideals and beliefs regarding playstyle and harassing ""ugly"" villagers. It really hasn't lead to forcing someone to go "not alive" unlike SU's/K-pop fandom has done LOL.


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## Altarium (May 7, 2020)

There's toxic people in every gaming community, and considering how wildly popular New Horizons has become, it's no surprise the amount of toxic people has gone up too. But I do have to say, AC has one of the least toxic communities in all of gaming.


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## elphieluvr (May 7, 2020)

Dormire said:


> . The only toxic behavior AC people display would be asserting their own ideals and beliefs regarding playstyle and harassing ""ugly"" villagers.



...hitting ugly villagers with nets is toxicity now? Well crap, there I go.


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## coffee biscuit (May 7, 2020)

As everyone else has said, every fandom has it's toxic side. The bad side of the Animal Crossing fandom is nothing compared to other certain fandoms lol...

I think it's mostly because tensions are pretty high right now. The game is new so everyone is worried about time traveling, battling to get the villagers they want, this whole thing with NMTs and entry fees, etc.
Especially with the state of the world right now lots of people are stressed and isolated/bored so I feel like even though AC generally has a fantastic fandom full of great people, the bad side is showing itself a bit more than usual due to many different circumstances.

I'm really tired so I hope what I said makes at least a little bit of sense ^.^'


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## serudesu (May 7, 2020)

I feel like it's always been toxic. I've been playing since New Leaf, so I definitely see a growth in new players as well as certain behaviours that shouldn't be happening I guess.. like the scamming and all... 

Although, I think the main thing is which community/forum you are in. Say Reddit, Discord, Bell Tree, GameFAQs and the AC community what have you, I think they're all different in terms of who uses them. Different vibes from each. I'm not going to say which ones are my favourite, but there is definitely a bit of toxicity in each platform, some worse than the others.  

Which is kinda sad cause some people really revolve their lives around the game and I think that's where the toxicity starts, to the point, they think that they can patrol anybody and whatever they want to say. Remember people, it's a game to have fun, meet people through trading and overall *have fun. *


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## Feraligator (May 7, 2020)

Altarium said:


> There's toxic people in every gaming community, and considering how wildly popular New Horizons has become, it's no surprise the amount of toxic people has gone up too. But I do have to say, AC has one of the least toxic communities in all of gaming.


This is so true. I was apart of another community (happens to be another Nintendo game) and the amount of people who make racist, homophobic, or offensive comments as "jokes" is ridiculous. Some of them aren't even jokes. Not going back there again.

The AC community has toxicity as does a lot of communities, but it's definitely not as bad as some others.


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## Jared:3 (May 7, 2020)

You can't avoid toxicity no matter which forum for ACNH you are on, forums of all kinds will always have a toxic part to them


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## Dormire (May 7, 2020)

elphieluvr said:


> ...hitting ugly villagers with nets is toxicity now? Well crap, there I go.


I'm just saying it's the most "aggressive" thing people can do in AC community. (Besides calling TTers war criminals and the catalyst of World War 2 /s). While it's not equally as toxic as the two fandoms' behavior that I mentioned, it does look kinda bad as an outsider's perspective ngl. I hate Bunnie with every atom of my being but I would never hit her with a net or yell at her. I would rather boot her out via Amiibo or ignore her.

You do you tho as long as you don't rly go out on your way going out in a feral rampage on Twitter and telling someone to drop "not alive" then you're ok.


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## Silh (May 7, 2020)

I've actually met sooooo many kind people in the ac community. Way more than toxic ones. And like people said, there's always going to be toxic people in any fandom but from what I've experienced, most people are super friendly <3


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## cicely (May 7, 2020)

I think we should all agree on a definition of "toxic" before making this discussion. That's such a vague word


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## elphieluvr (May 7, 2020)

Dormire said:


> I'm just saying it's the most "aggressive" thing people can do in AC community. (Besides calling TTers war criminals and the catalyst of World War 2 /s). While it's not equally as toxic as the two fandoms' behavior that I mentioned, it does look kinda bad as an outsider's perspective ngl. I hate Bunnie with every atom of my being but I would never hit her with a net or yell at her. I would rather boot her out via Amiibo or ignore her.
> 
> You do you tho as long as you don't rly go out on your way going out in a feral rampage on Twitter and telling someone to drop "not alive" then you're ok.



lol, I guess I just find hitting villagers with nets funny. My brother and I also have a contest when we visit each other to see who can sneak attack each other with the net first. We just do it to be silly, there’s no ill intentions behind it.


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## Raz (May 7, 2020)

Some people are saying that it's not as toxic as other fandoms. While I agree with that statement, it doesn't mean AC's community didn't become (or already wasn't before) toxic.

But I also have to question what exactly means "toxic", as different people qualify a fandom as being toxic for different reasons. Some say it has become toxic simply for the fact that there's people ranting and complaining about things in the game and/or in the community. And I disagree completely with that notion. A community isn't a "hugbox" or an "echo-chamber", at least not a healthy one. If anything, hugboxes and echo-chambers are much more prone to toxicity than communities where people with different opinions, ideas and points of view discuss openly about the subject in question.

Examples of toxic communities are FIFA's, Final Fantasy's and COD's. In those communities, people will often attack and disrespect other members with insults, threats and even doxxing. Disagreement isn't toxicity, and when someone thinks it is, then we have a huge problem.

These are my two cents, and I won't say another word on the matter.


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## Mairen (May 7, 2020)

There's good and bad people in every group. Due to the laid back nature of the game, the fans tend to be more laid back as well. Because Animal Crossing is the current fad, however, everyone is hopping on board so we're seeing a much wider audience getting involved in this game than is typical. As with anything that increases in popularity, you are going to see more interactions between players, both positive and negative. I wouldn't say the fandom is toxic... I just think that the negativity sadly ends up being more loud than the positivity. There are plenty of good and beautiful things happening between people because of this game, they just tend to be more quiet and not spread around as much.


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## thatveryawkwardmayor (May 7, 2020)

can someone give examples of toxicity in the AC fandom because i can’t think of any. i think TT discourse and the busted game economy are pretty mild, unless you consider the hate among “ugly” villagers and tier popularity toxic.

ive been in other fandoms where the toxicity was way wayyy worse (i.e doxxing)


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## Dewasa (May 7, 2020)

I don't think it's that toxic. There's no player vs. player or anything competitive about the game. I personally play this game because it's relaxing more than anything.


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## Lily1402 (May 7, 2020)

Very new to animal crossing and I’ve had no issues with TBT. Fantastic forum with nothing but nice people. A lot of trades are based on good faith and trust and I’ve not encountered any scammers or dishonest people. I love the etiquette!


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## Celes (May 7, 2020)

With any community, more popularity = more toxicity. NH has exploded in popularity lately and as a result, there are way more "toxic" fans than in the past. The most toxic gaming communities out there involve a lot of competition/PvP. NH is a lot more of a design sim compared to previous games, and I've seen way more jealousy and insecurities come out of people comparing towns like it's a competition lol. This ties in to people trying to put down amazing towns by criticizing TTing, villager trading, etc.


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## locker (May 7, 2020)

The most Toxic community I’ve ever experienced is the ARK survival community, compared to that community the animal crossing community is heavenly!


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## daisyy (May 7, 2020)

literally any community, internet or otherwise, has toxic pockets. i still find that the ac community is overwhelmingly positive compared to others, even with all the changes and new members.


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## DinoTown (May 7, 2020)

Dormire said:


> (Besides calling TTers war criminals and the catalyst of World War 2 /s).


... Is this an actual thing that the anti-TTers have done? Like an actual thing and not just an example you made up?
That's... that's the biggest leap in logic it makes my brain hurt.
Thank god I've not seen anything like that here.


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## Blueskyy (May 7, 2020)

TBT is the 5 star island of the community.


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## thatveryawkwardmayor (May 7, 2020)

DinoTown said:


> ... Is this an actual thing that the anti-TTers have done? Like an actual thing and not just an example you made up?
> That's... that's the biggest leap in logic it makes my brain hurt.
> Thank god I've not seen anything like that here.


TTers did 9/11 /s


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## Dormire (May 7, 2020)

DinoTown said:


> ... Is this an actual thing that the anti-TTers have done? Like an actual thing and not just an example you made up?
> That's... that's the biggest leap in logic it makes my brain hurt.
> Thank god I've not seen anything like that here.


It's only on Twitter. The person locked their account because I think more famous people caught on and called them out for going feral over TTing. I'm not sure if someone SS'd the whole tweet chain though. That was hilarious as hell.


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## thatveryawkwardmayor (May 7, 2020)

Dormire said:


> It's only on Twitter. The person locked their account because I think more famous people caught on and called them out for going feral over TTing. I'm not sure if someone SS'd the whole tweet chain though. That was hilarious as hell.


wait i saw that tweet lmfaooo that thread was the best thing to come out of NH tbh


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## DinoTown (May 7, 2020)

thatveryawkwardmayor said:


> TTers did 9/11 /s


of course... how could we have been so blind


Dormire said:


> It's only on Twitter. The person locked their account because I think more famous people caught on and called them out for going feral over TTing. I'm not sure if someone SS'd the whole tweet chain though. That was hilarious as hell.


It sounds legitimately insane and I'm growing more and more glad that I have basically never used my Twitter account


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## TheDuke55 (May 7, 2020)

If you find the right community you can stay out of the toxicity. TBT and some small AC discord channels I frequent are great. But places like twitter bleed toxic for AC. I hated seeing all those anti-TT and pro-TT posts on my feed. Both hardcore groups are equally annoying. 

I honestly feel like Animal Crossing can be just as bad as some of the other communities because with some of them it's expected. The game in question is competitive or the such. It's jarring to see it with a chill game like AC, but it's just as frequent if you look in the right place.

And if you look in the right place you can find a pretty rad community for smash or any other competitive game. I remember frequenting one channel where we would get together to watch the directs before AC2019 was hinted. And oh my god the salt was unreal. People were swearing off Nintendo and that they were such and such system fans now, were going to boycott Nintendo. And when it was delayed to 2020 cue more rage...and during the pandemic people were badgering Nintendo to release the game earlier because screw people's safety and health I want my AC.

So yeah AC can and is just as toxic if you look in the right places. Just stay away from those fans.


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## Dormire (May 7, 2020)

thatveryawkwardmayor said:


> wait i saw that tweet lmfaooo that thread was the best thing to come out of NH tbh


For real. I thought they were joking tbh until I saw most of their posts. They haven't unlocked until now so that's more funny.



DinoTown said:


> It sounds legitimately insane and I'm growing more and more glad that I have basically never used my Twitter account


Yeah. Twitter's no good unless you just wanna admire art. Some people are just...rly bad there.


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## neoratz (May 7, 2020)

i don't think it's becoming toxic at all! if anything i think animal crossing's popularity was just MAJORLY boosted with new horizons' release and i guess it's kind of like.... trendy right now? i don't mean that in Le Epic Hipster way i just mean the fanbase feels bigger than it's ever been, and due to the large amount of people into it right now you're (unfortunately) more likely to find weirdos too! this applies to any fanbase and i think it's the same reason communities for MASSIVELY popular things/stuff popular with kids (fnaf, undertale, my hero academia)/etc have a reputation for being "toxic". they're not actually bad, they're just huge making it SEEM like there's more bad people


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## Cadbberry (May 7, 2020)

I think there are toxic people out there who like AC and attempt to gate keep. It is sad to see but most of the fans aren't toxic! The general fandom isn't but the loudest voices stand for fans more than softer ones.


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## Rave (May 7, 2020)

If a fandom's biggest problem/point of toxicity is people debating if it's okay to change the system clock, I think they're doing pretty good overall.


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## KnoxUK (May 7, 2020)

I feel that quarantine is amplifying everyone's emotions in the real world and the internet, It's noticeable.

What find weird about the community at the moment is that everyone seems to be set on being perfectionists. Like restarting 100 hour islands for something so minor like the colour of the airport. Or traveling to mystery islands a dozen times for a specific villager, only to have them move out later. It just seems naive because we don't know the all the options yet, Nintendo are constantly updating it. By people doing these actions it makes them more pessimistic and unhappy overall. Hence why people are becoming more toxic i guess.


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## Chachamaru (May 7, 2020)

Wholeheartedly. Well, okay, not THE most toxic fandom (not by a long shot) but it has def gotten worse since the release of NH.

I wanna say. Animal crossing seems to be a game that attracts a lot of mentally ill individuals. NOW, I don't mean that negatively or to cause offense. I myself have severe ocd and agoraphobia (this quarantine is NOTHING different then what my daily life has been for the better half of 3 years now).. And when you get a lotta people with lots of strong opinions, sensitivity, and emotions, yikes. It is what it is though.

The twitter community is hilariously toxic. But, then again, it's twitter. On here, I have encountered 2 or 3 people I had to do a double take at then slowly back away lmao. People are also getting greedier with the game. It's nothing like it was back then. I guess that's to be expected with the advancement of online communication and trading though huh.. Idk.


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## absol (May 7, 2020)

ac has a ton of fans ofc there are gonna be some bad apples
the fandom as a whole is pretty chill imo, at least compared to other ones

I agree w/ other posters about twitter though
seems to be the hotspot for toxic people from every fandom for some reason


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## FrogslimeOfficial (May 7, 2020)

To be honest, I haven't seen any toxic person within this fandom.


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## Chachamaru (May 7, 2020)

Dormire said:


> It's only on Twitter. The person locked their account because I think more famous people caught on and called them out for going feral over TTing. I'm not sure if someone SS'd the whole tweet chain though. That was hilarious as hell.





thatveryawkwardmayor said:


> wait i saw that tweet lmfaooo that thread was the best thing to come out of NH tbh


I couldn't stop reading, it was like watching a train wreck.. Glad other people on here saw it too.


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## Aliya (May 7, 2020)

The toxic individuals make up the louder majority so it can seem to be toxic, but many people (especially on here) are incredibly kind. I choose not to acknowledge or play with toxic people whenever possible!


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## Dormire (May 7, 2020)

Chachamaru said:


> I couldn't stop reading, it was like watching a train wreck.. Glad other people on here saw it too.


Honestly, it didn't felt real. I think no one has that amount of rage in soneone's heart until I found their tweet demeaning Etika and trivializing his mental illness...I fully understood that that person is vile and evil. It takes a special someone to say very hateful words. So I guess them going wild was a normal thing for them.


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## DinoTown (May 7, 2020)

Dormire said:


> Honestly, it didn't felt real. I think no one has that amount of rage in soneone's heart until I found their tweet demeaning Etika and trivializing his mental illness...I fully understood that that person is vile and evil. It takes a special someone to say very hateful words. So I guess them going wild was a normal thing for them.


I'm highly tempted to go try and find this thread of tweets just to understand what on Earth went down but at the same time, from the sounds of it, it would be really bad for my blood pressure.


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## usa-chan (May 7, 2020)

it may seem like there's more and more "toxic" people in the ac community, but it's just because they like to draw attention to themselves. no one in the community is perfect, but there are plenty of genuinely nice and trustworthy people out there. i'd say that for every "toxic" player, there are at least a hundred of friendly players, especially on this forum


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## seularin (May 7, 2020)

havent had any “toxic” experiences, but i know that there _are _people like that in every community. to be honest, the ac community makes me feel like i have a whole nother family.


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## Dormire (May 7, 2020)

DinoTown said:


> I'm highly tempted to go try and find this thread of tweets just to understand what on Earth went down but at the same time, from the sounds of it, it would be really bad for my blood pressure.


The AC stuff they did was more comedic-sounding than anything because of how unrealisticly angry they sound but their other "hot takes" are kinda...truely not good for your BP lol.


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## 0orchid (May 7, 2020)

I don't really think so on the whole. You can find toxicity within any group of people though, humans gonna human. I've only met sweeties so far on AC personally and I ignore the toxic parts of the community.


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## juneau (May 7, 2020)

I haven't really noticed it, personally, but maybe I just spend more time actually playing the game than getting involved/keeping up with the drama, lol. The only people I've encountered for this game were for trading (and you lovely people on this forum!), and I've had positive experiences with all of them.

I know there's crazy people like that one viral tweet (I'm sure there's many more than one, but the one my friends and I were laughing at was particularly hostile) who think TTing is akin to murdering their firstborn son, but that's a vocal minority, like most people have said. I don't think they were even serious, they must have been fishing for attention. And if they weren't, they need help, but they certainly don't represent the AC community, lol.


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## Figment (May 7, 2020)

It just makes sense that the more popular something becomes, the greater the chance people are going to have differences in opinion. I.E. someone is going to do something that gets on someone else's nerves. I think this is just human nature.

It's just more apparent that there are people who give off "toxic" vibes because there are more people playing Animal Crossing now more than ever.

This isn't directed to the OP or anyone specifically, but all I can say is don't let a fandom run your love of the game or whatever it is you enjoy. Even when I'm not necessarily a fan of something, I always feel a bit bad when I hear people say "I used to like _____ but can't stand it anymore because the fandom ruined it for me." Just like what you like and don't worry about other people.


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## Sanaki (May 7, 2020)

Lot of communities are, bring a lot of people together with differing opinions and there will be arguments and ugly disagreements. Some also have extreme views that they express in a rude manner (mainly referring to the minority who think you don't deserve to play AC at all if you TT or something like that) It just doesn't compare to some of the other online communities.

League of Legends for example. Toxicity is extremely common in games with little to no repercussion. 

I'm currently playing BDO (Black desert) and I can't be logged in for 10 minutes without people cursing each other out and calling each other the "R". If you know you know what word that is. Hard slurs. Doesn't get them banned. I literally watched people glorifying and defending pedophilia and saying you're a sensitive baby if you got offended by it. Thankfully you can block/attempt to report I guess lol...


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## seularin (May 7, 2020)

with the TT discussion going on,, 

i think people shouldn’t care how others play the game!
as long as everyone‘s having fun, what’s the matter?


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## tajikey (May 7, 2020)

These type of threads only add to the toxicity. Instead of calling attention to something negative, how about shedding light on the positive.

I'll start: I've met a wonderful group of forum members that are incredibly reliable and completely trustworthy. I'd happily make them a best friend, leave my gates open, and know they will do no harm. They were perfect strangers (and absent the forum, still are) 3 weeks ago...


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## Sanaki (May 7, 2020)

tajikey said:


> These type of threads only add to the toxicity. Instead of calling attention to something negative, how about shedding light on the positive.
> 
> I'll start: I've met a wonderful group of forum members that are incredibly reliable and completely trustworthy. I'd happily make them a best friend, leave my gates open, and know they will do no harm. They were perfect strangers (and absent the forum, still are) 3 weeks ago...


Yeah, feels like there's a thread like this almost every day.


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## Romaki (May 7, 2020)

Sadly, toxic people can be found everywhere. The bigger the community, the more likely you're running into one of these people. But I feel like other communites are way worse. It's like 1 in 500 AC players are toxic while in other games it's like 1 in 30, from my personal experience.

But also there are very crazy people on Twitter. Like, legit. The **** I read and saw on there... A game is no excuse to be mean. 



tajikey said:


> These type of threads only add to the toxicity. Instead of calling attention to something negative, how about shedding light on the positive?



This is something I always think of when these kind of threads pop up. It's like adding fuel to the fire, when we really need much more people who add positivity and just friendliness to the forums. You can't  really change people's opinions or behaviour, so the negativity is less noticable when there's much more positivity.

And I'll add to the positivity... I was very wary of the online multiplayer, but every single encounter I had through this forum was just so nice and considerate to me and I really appreciate that. And with bigger groups, you really saw people being thoughtful without being asked to be.


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## Darcy94x (May 7, 2020)

tajikey said:


> These type of threads only add to the toxicity. Instead of calling attention to something negative, how about shedding light on the positive.
> 
> I'll start: I've met a wonderful group of forum members that are incredibly reliable and completely trustworthy. I'd happily make them a best friend, leave my gates open, and know they will do no harm. They were perfect strangers (and absent the forum, still are) 3 weeks ago...


This comment literallyyyyyyy 

I’ve not really come across any bad people on animal crossing. In fact I’ve met a handful of GREAT people and I love the TBT community. I’m part of Facebook groups and I read and Reddit but this is the only place I actually feel comfortable posting.. I love the fact we have a review button!


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## Suicune (May 7, 2020)

I don't think it's too toxic, and as a lot of people have mentioned too, TBT is definitely one of the more positive spaces for this fandom. That being said, I think this community will get a lot better once the initial excitement for the game dies down after a year or two and the more hardcore AC players stick around. People will settle into a groove and AC etiquette will be more normalized and widespread at that point.


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## Hirisa (May 7, 2020)

I think there are undercurrents of "toxicity" in every fandom, including AC, but they aren't new or attributable to New Horizons specifically. They were here during New Leaf and earlier and from what I can see, their behavior isn't any different now. It's just that astronomically huge mainstream popularity places a big old magnifying glass on the community and its newcomers and makes the old timers twitchy. Pretty soon the forums are filled with those old timers moaning about when the forums were heaven's suburbs, and not the festering pits of horrible people like they are now. It's a weird cycle..


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## Millysaurusrexjr (May 7, 2020)

It depends where you go. On twitter, yes. On tumblr, likely. On facebook, probably. On discord, I haven't tried it but I imagine it is prone to toxicity.

I keep all my trading and AC talk on these forums only. This is the AC community to me and it is awesome! Especially compared to how I was treated in other game communities, like SMITE and WoW


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## meo (May 7, 2020)

Not going to lie, this is a subject that's been weighing on me the past few weeks.

I think certain areas you can expect a high level of toxicity as the forum structure cannot compensate and the amount of users it inhabits. Places like reddit, twitter, etc.

On one hand, I do feel like TBT has become more toxic than I remember it being in the past. However, I don't genuinely know if that's just poor memory or more differences of when I came here.
I came late to New Leaf and I frequented a different forum at the time before eventually coming to TBT more full-time. By that time, I think TBT was more moderate in activity and the initial wave of players that will die off had. So, things seemed calmer for what my memory serves.
New horizon has already surpassed New Leaf in sales and I'd say TBT has naturally gotten a much larger following/word of mouth than before as well. I don't think the quarantine would change the toxicity that has occurred but I do think it's enabled the frequency to occur more..since people are able to be home and online more.
On the last note, I'm not going to pretend to know the hours and effort the team puts into this site. I can only imagine how much so, in no short terms, do I think it's any small feat. But I do feel like I notice small differences in moderation in certain folders. I'm not honestly sure if certain moderators stick to certain folders but I do feel like I notice certain ones in certain areas more and the ways certain drama/toxicity is handled seems varied on that.

Overall, I think I'm just overwhelmed right now and maybe that's due to quite a lot of negativity and toxic instances over the last few weeks popping up. So, I do think lessening the amount I'm here may be for the best, limiting viewing only certain folders, and maybe checking back when the series has had more time for things to slow down (people to die off playing like in new leaf's case).
I think TBT became my preference due to certain forum and customization abilities. But to some degree, it may just be too well known right now to where using some of the lesser known chill forums with less capabilities may be better for me for now.


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## solace (May 7, 2020)

I don't think toxic is the word I would use right now regarding the AC Community but rather redundant. If you look at the title of the threads, and the nature of the subject it's already been asked and answered. 

Other than redundancy, I don't think TBT has joined the ranks in other communities. And if one is measuring it as a toxic *game* among other games/genres, well, AC is a far cry from those types of games. LOL

If you have played a FPS (comp level with your SO) you will know the definition of rage, salty and toxic.


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## Krissi2197 (May 7, 2020)

Only if you're on Twitter.


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## Babylon (May 7, 2020)

I wouldn’t describe the TBT community as toxic. Toxic is when the negativity is absolutely unavoidable and bleeds into your real life. It causes you to be self-conscious, destructive and defensive. You can totally 100% avoid toxicity on TBT by not clicking on drama threads disguised as discussion threads. There are certainly threads that have this air about them on TBT, but often they stick out like sore thumbs. Honestly, I’d say that this thread is dangerously close to being one of them. 
At worst, I’d say TBT can be tense and discussion threads like this are often passive aggressive with a pinch of “holier than thou”.

The AC community as a whole isn’t toxic. I’d say it’s just diverse because it is so mainstream. You have adults playing and you have kids that are 7 playing. You have creatives playing and MOBA or FPS gamers playing. The diversity is going to create pockets of communities within the fandom. TBT is the marshmallows-in-our-hot-chocolate pocket. Usually when you see crazy drama or negativity it’s from people who belong to multiple pockets and not exclusively TBT. Or they are new to TBT and haven’t become accustomed yet. It is likely these people will not continue to engage as long as people who do fit into this community. You can’t begrudge the growing pains TBT is going through. How can someone know if they’ll fall into the same mindsets unless they make a profile and post?


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## Zura (May 7, 2020)

I have admittedly become more toxic just by being around the toxicity of the community. I often have to leave for periods so that I don't end up being consumed by it. It's the constant negativity, ranting, Nintendo shaming, etc, etc. I get sick and tired of hearing nothing but complaints about the smallest of issues. It's enough to make anyone annoyed and a little toxic.


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## driftwoodisle (May 7, 2020)

No, not at all in all honesty. I'm new to this fandom, but so far I've seen very little toxicity. It's nothing compared to like, steven universe lmao


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## trashpedia (May 7, 2020)

Tbh not really depending on where you look. TBT has gotten a little feistier but it’s really not that big of a deal, and discourse or negativity is usually caused by a couple of people. Twitter, on the other hand, is just trash all around. I left Twitter more than half a year ago due to how nasty and aggressive people can be on there. I feel like it doesn’t help that Twitter encourages tweeting anything that immediately comes to mind rather than encouraging people to think and be more thoughtful about their responses. 

In general, the AC fanbase really isn’t that bad compared to other canvases imo. If you think it’s bad atm, wait until you reach kpop or certain anime fan bases like BNHA lol


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## SunshineKitten (May 7, 2020)

compared to any other game, no.

compared to pre-New Horizons, of course! better selling game = more people = more tension.

but not at all toxic the way people are in other communities. play a DOTA game if you actually want to see toxic. AC is the least toxic gaming community i’ve ever been a part of.


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## R. Planet (May 8, 2020)

Compared to the Nintendo and pro wrestling forums I've belonged to...

This place is a gumdrop forest full of magical little elves.


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## voltairenism (May 8, 2020)

LOL no.
I've been in the kpop fandom and I can say for sure that the big majority is toxic and awful. Some people there go out of they way to make someone's life miserable just for having a different favorite group. I remember I had a twitter group with some cool people, just hangin out, and someone made their way into the group and kicked everyone out and deleted it, then posted on their twitter that it was what we deserve, as being 'flops' (basically we didn't have many followers). I've seen people doxxing a girl because she said they didn't like an idol. Creating fake accounts with korean models pics to catfish someone they don't like. I can go on and on... The ones that seem good are apologetic of a lot of problematic stuff. It's hell. Oof.
Some people saying you cant 'time machine go brrr' is meh but it can be ignored.


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## Franny (May 8, 2020)

every big fandom is gonna have its bad parts. i don't think animal crossing has that big of a bad spot to be noticeable... unless you hang out in REALLY large groups, like on facebook. 



voltairenism said:


> LOL no.
> I've been in the kpop fandom and I can say for sure that the big majority is toxic and awful.



i left the k-pop fandom and stopped listening to it just because of how TERRIBLE it is.


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## UglyMonsterFace (May 8, 2020)

My only exposure to the AC community has been these forums. And I think that for the majority, it has been extremely positive and amazing. The only times I've really seen toxicity is when other topics are brought up and then there are disagreements, things get really ugly in here and hateful unfortunately, which is completely opposite when the subject stays on AC and doesn't veer to political or other subjects. But then again TBT has been my little bubble. I haven't explored the community beyond the forum and I think I'm happy to accept ignorance as bliss as to what else is out there. As long as it doesn't touch our little community here, I am fine.


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## voltairenism (May 8, 2020)

Franny said:


> i left the k-pop fandom and stopped listening to it just because of how TERRIBLE it is.


me too! it's that bad, it ruined all my fav groups for me. animal crossing fandom is paradise compared to that.


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## xara (May 8, 2020)

recently, my only exposure to the community is via these forums, twitter, instagram and tiktok (though this one probably doesn’t count lmao). while there’s definitely been a lot of complaints and some negativity going around, i don’t think the community is toxic. sure there are some bad apples in the bunch, but you’ll encounter those regardless of what community you’re apart of. for the most part, i think the majority of people in the ac community (on this forum in particular) are lovely ;v;


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## Hesper (May 8, 2020)

It's fine. 

Just remember that we're seeing large numbers of people, and in larger groups you get larger streaks of jerks, because...numbers. Additionally, as I was mentioning yesterday, one of the psychological reactions to fear is clinging to ingroups and resenting outgroups (look up terror management theory), so even as people are online more and less distanced from the weird quirks of internet interaction, they're also experiencing a pretty scary time and it's not unreasonable to think they're taking it out on the 'faceless' others of the internet. It's not a rational thing, but it sure do be a real (or at least repeatedly replicated in documented studies) thing.


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## Bioness (May 8, 2020)

No, Animal Crossing isn't a toxic community, nor do so think it could ever be one simply due to the nature of the game.

League of Legends, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, World of Tanks, Overwatch, Undertale, ARK, Rust, and Minecraft all have more toxicity in a single hour than Animal Crossing could ever reasonable have over its lifetime.

Basically if a game is competitive and popular, people will tear at each other like animals. Undertale is a special case, it is like the Steven Universe of video games fandoms.


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## John Wick (May 8, 2020)

I've blocked the toxic folks and now life is great.


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## ZekkoXCX (May 8, 2020)

i doubt so.

there are worse communities than this one , have you seen smash or pokemon communities? not even the new toxic people that may come from new horizons compare to the others.


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## cami_tayler (May 8, 2020)

Not at all. Tik Tok is the most toxic thing i'm involved with. I feel like most animal crossing players are quite nice considering the fact iyt's such an innocent game but of course theirs bound to be some rude players.


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## Stil (May 8, 2020)

No matter what community you explore, there will always be toxicity.


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## Lazaros (May 8, 2020)

I have to second @Infinity, there's always black sheep in every fandom and believing there aren't is just not the truth.

Plus, implying the AC fandom wasn't toxic before is a stretch. There always have been people who were out to ruin others fun (especially seeders in WW, for example) and there, unfortunately, always will be.


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## Aleigh (May 8, 2020)

It better not become the next toxic fandom or that'll make two ://
seriously man I just wanna play my favorite games without being associated with the tOxiC fAnDoM


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## Amissapanda (May 8, 2020)

No community is ever going to be free of toxic individuals. It's just a fact that you generally have to accept if you join a fandom/community. Even in some of the smaller and more niche fandoms I have been in, there are always at least a few people trying to stir up trouble or promote toxic behavior.

That said, _Animal Crossing_ is definitely one of the tamer that I've seen. Don't get me started about fandoms like _Undertale_. There's always going to be disagreements and differing opinions, combativeness, and defensiveness over lots of things, but the majority of the people I have observed through the AC community or dealt with myself have been quite polite and kind folks. The key is just not to give the bad eggs any attention---trolls and rude people tend to thrive off of it.  The more the community _doesn't_ react to them or give them the attention they seek, the less likely they are to continue trying to rile people up.

I do find that due to the sheer number of people in the community/fandom, however, that it can be pretty hard to actually establish yourself in said community and create lasting relations. That has nothing to do with toxicity, but rather, it's a daunting amount of people and content. I've always somewhat felt like an outsider.


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## DinoTown (May 8, 2020)

Zura said:


> It's the constant negativity, ranting, Nintendo shaming, etc, etc.


You know, up until you said this, I didn't even consider that this could be considered part of the toxicity, but you're right. I can't help but feel that this forum has a habit of popping up a new thread every day in terms of 'Nintendo changed this - Nintendo hates us and just wants money!' or 'This game sucks and I wish I didn't buy it' or a rant about a certain feature. 
People are of course allowed to have these opinions, but it seems like there's 5 different threads for the same issue in the span of a single week, and it's not like it's the same poster, it's a wide variety. I can admit I've contributed myself by making a thread about the 2x1 table duping glitch.
It's definitely not the worst the AC fandom can get (especially considered the "TTers are war criminals" Twitter thread thing mentioned earlier) but it's probably the most toxicity you're going to find on the TBT forums now that the daily anti/pro-TT threads have stopped becoming a thing.


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## necrofantasia (May 8, 2020)

i don't know, but still feel that things have felt wrong in a sense ever since NH came out
it kind of scares me


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## SpiritofAce (May 8, 2020)

I'm going to go against the grain and say it is in some areas. There's a lot of self-important 'we're Animal Crossing players and we're so wholesome, look at us' self-importance going on, yet the same people saying that are getting involved in nasty Twitter threads. Just because you don't like another franchise doesn't mean you're better than anyone else.


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## jumpman (May 8, 2020)

with as much sold as new horizons did you are bound to get some bad apples.. thankfully most of them stay in the bigger discord servers and twitter


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## SheepMareep (May 8, 2020)

I mean... I think the ac community has actually become less toxic tbh lmao.
In WW you'd have people who would seed your game to the point you'd be unable to play that save file and it would just be done lmao.
I havent heard of people on online play hacking/glitching other towns as much since NL because it did become so much more popular.
There have always been homophobic/transphobic/overall gross people who say and do gross things in the community. At least now they're called out for it way more now.
Ac twitter is a MESS.

Edit;; there are a LOT of elitists though who think their towns are the best and will definitley take advantage of this idea which is gross. I saw one pretty popular twitter acc trying to sell themselves as an outdoor design specialist going for like $200 a town. They also ended up being transphobic it was... a mess. They out there though.


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## deSPIRIA (May 8, 2020)

tbt itself has been so much nicer for the past couple of years but ive noticed the general community get worse in terms of greediness and general drama, specifically on twitter


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## anne17 (May 8, 2020)

I don't think this is THE toxic community, but I think it is *a* toxic community. I think this forum is pretty great, but as always Twitter is an absolute cesspit where there are people who have world views that are..... nothing if not disgusting and warped. I think now that Animal Crossing has kind of gone main stream, there are a lot of people in the AC community who are playing it just like any other video game, and I think for a lot of people who have been playing for years - Animal Crossing is not just like any other game and it was really special to them. There's discourse and friction as a new breed of player try to integrate themselves and move onto the scene. For me at least, I'm having to make an effort not to feel possessive and accept that Animal Crossing has reached a lot of people and they won't see it the way I do.

The amount of high and mighty superiority complex stuff really bothers me, but I do kind of live for watching Internet drama unfold (sorry, it's the truth, people are CRAY and I'm fascinated) I think all of the people who have never played an Animal Crossing game who are saying things like "Well ~*I*~ don't time travel, and ~*I*~ LOVED Bunny Day, because ~*I*~ will be enjoying the game the way the game devs would ~*WANT*~" are VERY annoying. 

At the end of the day though I think the best thing anyone can do is ignore what bothers them, if you're an individual who can't stand the negativity, being in an online community is probably not the best move, I think reading the negativity is part of the experience, it wouldn't be worth being on platforms like this if not for the discourse and diversity of opinions and play styles.


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## Heartcore (May 8, 2020)

As someone who is part of the Dead by Daylight community and pretty active online with it, Animal Crossing is not toxic at all. This forum is a perfect example of that. Most people are perfectly lovely and willing to help others. Sure there are some bad apples but that's life. People like to share their creativity and encourage others and most people go out of their way to be helpful, even from less wholesome places on the internet like Discord or Reddit from what I've noticed. I personally think people whine too much about things being "toxic" when the only real toxic behavior I can actually see in Animal Crossing is scamming other people or being hateful about how another person plays. Hitting ugly villagers with nets, pushing them, or being mean to them is not toxic. They're AI. Doesn't mean I personally would hit ugly villagers or be mean to them because I feel bad about it but it's not toxic. And no, someone wanting 1000 NMT for Raymond and not accepting your offer of 3 pieces of softwood and a gold nugget isn't toxic.


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## Strawberryllama (May 8, 2020)

Not really, there’s always going to be bad people in a community and it’s just a lot more noticeable because there’s so many new players. There’s greed, and a few very opinionated oddballs, but for the most part, the community is pretty tame. I’ve only had one bad experience, and that was my fault for just posting a dodo code that anyone could see. 

But thank god we don’t have shipping wars, those are horrendous.


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## toenuki (May 8, 2020)

its a lot of the newbies off of twitter and some really sweaty gamers i find that are making it toxic, but overall its not that bad. just a lot of issues over people trading and TT and scamming and beating up villagers, nothing OVERLY bad

	Post automatically merged: May 8, 2020



Strawberryllama said:


> Not really, there’s always going to be bad people in a community and it’s just a lot more noticeable because there’s so many new players. There’s greed, and a few very opinionated oddballs, but for the most part, the community is pretty tame. I’ve only had one bad experience, and that was my fault for just posting a dodo code that anyone could see.
> 
> But thank god we don’t have shipping wars, those are horrendous.


theres only a few ship wars thankfully. nothing that lasts too long


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## BeezyBee (May 8, 2020)

To be fair, almost every game fandom I've encountered has some level of toxicity. I've seen way worse (The Sims fandom was an absolute dumpster fire  following the release of The Sims 4).

It's usually at its worse after a new release (which where we are right now) and dies down as time goes on. I remember the community being like this after New Leaf (although it wasn't as bad as right now due to the current prominence of social media).This forum is definitely one of the friendliest gaming communities I've encountered. 

I wouldn't describe the general AC community as toxic, I feel like sensitive is a better word. I remember making a joke post about villagers who I thought were ugly on TikTok and people called me a BULLY and ENTITLED. Um, it's a video game..how I can bully something that's just a bunch of pixels? Also, there are 402 villagers...there are going to be designs that I don't care for. *I CANNOT STAND* this whole "there are no ugly villagers" movement. People are allowed to have their preferences about which villagers they want on their island. It's a video game, not an activist campaign.

_Edited for spelling_


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