The reason we've made a
policy against duplicating items is because of the overall impact it has on the AC community.
What do you mean by that?
I normally don't like rules like this, but we've seen it happen with both Wild World and City Folk. Animal Crossing is a game structured around a virtual economy.
Not quite. The virtual economy as we know it is solely the product of the gamer's themselves. Trading as we know it is not an intended part of the game, and any "economy" the game intends is solely between the various venders in the game.
The virtual economy is a fabrication of players, which is why it is inevitably doomed to crash. Money and resources are infinite. Inflation is an inevitability. Therefore any argument about persevering the economy is utter nonsense.
When the economy dies, the game dies along with it for many players. And even if a user personally refuses to duplicate items, they are still affected by the online economy. We'd like to avoid this as much as possible, which is why we don't allow it.
Except duplicating does not affect the online economy in any way, other than giving more players the potential to earn items which they like. If you ant to charge/pay obscene prices for items, you can still do that, regardless of the existence of duplicating. All duplicating does is end the tyrannical rule of those who have items, and those who don't, by giving those who don't an have little money alternative means of procuring, either by directly duplicating, or paying less, more reasonable prices for the item.
Duplicating items is in fact cheating because it's done by exploiting a game glitch.
Not, it's not, because it's
exploiting. There is a difference there.
Cheating implies gaining some form of unfair advantage over others. AC is not a competitive game. Further more, what's defined as "fair" is up for debate, as it can be argued quite effectively that the utilization of in-game glitches is perfectly "fair", especially within the context of a non competitive video game. This isn't like the Wuhu Loop glitch in Mario Kart 7. This isn't a competitive game. This is more akin to an enemy in an RPG getting stuck behind a wall through which you can strike them, but they cannot strike you. Very few people would call that cheating.
Further more, whether or not it's cheating doesn't matter, because what matters is whether or not it is harmful to unconsenting individuals; which it isn't.
Whether you cheat in a videogame or not is your own decision, but we don't want the cheating of one user to indirectly affect another user's gameplay.
Then make rules about that; not giving a widespread banning of duplicating.
Online games ban online cheating, so it shouldn't be too shocking to hear that The Bell Tree and other AC sites don't allow it either.
Not quite. Online
competitive games ban cheating. AC is not a competitive game.
Time traveling, on the other hand, is not cheating and the difference between the two may help you understand the policy.
Oh really? Please, what is the difference? Because it seems like you've just drawn an arbitrary line in the sand.
One is done by exploiting a game glitch, the other is an intentional feature.
Actually, time travel is not an intentional feature. It is rather the exploitable result of the linking of in-game time with console time. Nintendo never "intended" for people to time travel at all.
Exploitation is exploitation. If you allow time traveling, or even the online trade in general for that matter, it is nothing short of hypocritical that you subsequently ban duplicating.
And yes, you read that right; online trade was never intended, and is just as much utilizing the program for unintended usage as time travel or duplicating. Trading items is the exploitable result of being able to drop and pick up items on the ground. Had nintendo intended "item trading" or a "virtual economy" to be an actual function of the game, they would have programmed something in directly relating to it. Some form of "Grand Exchange" if you will.
To sum it up, we don't care how you choose to play the game, but we hope you will not do anything that will ruin the experience for others.
Really? Because your rule seems to do just that; ruin the experience of others, by pandering to elitist snobbery nonsense.
- - - Post Merge - - -
Ya'll should've seen ACC's duping policy.
I should know. I was a member there, and was banned while challenging their rulings.
I really hate that place.
At least Jer gave a real REASON for the banning of it and allows private discussion.
Poor reasons, but they were better than ACC's reasons.
But poor reasons none the less.
- - - Post Merge - - -
Speaking of ACC, just imagine how much of the userbase we could attract if we allowed discussions of duplicating here. This website already is programmed far better as it is. With the added freedom of discussion, there'd be no real reason for people to stay over there.
Maybe that's just my desire to see that website crash and burn speaking however.
