Does anyone else feel this way?

[Croconaw]

I posted this as a comment on another thread, but seeing a few posts across the boards makes me think people have different ideas on the game of Animal Crossing. Over time, I feel like the game has been made to feel like a competition, especially with the addition of Dream Towns.

Do you miss the stress-free game we played as a child? Or do you actually enjoy the way the game is currently played?

I actually prefer an Animal Crossing where you have less control. It causes less stress, and with everyone so caught up in having a perfect town and having everything just as you want it to be, we need a game with limited control. The way Animal Crossing is currently being played where everyone wants their dream villagers in a specific part of town, trying so much to get a complete catalog or achieving a perfect town rating is too stressful for some. I know this because of how many vents there are saying ?this villager ruined my garden!!? or ?this villager plotted right on top of my path!!?

Things have come a long way, honestly. Animal Crossing used to be this stress-free game where we came to in order to escape from the real world. Now, it feels more like a competition.

 

[Snowesque]

No, as it doesn't stress me out and I neither feel it's a competition.
I don't care what other peoples' opinion of my town is unless I ask for it, as I made it for myself and not anyone else.

 

[LambdaDelta]

lol, I just do things my own way at my own pace, so none of that stuff bothers me

or the things that did (completing the catalogue and museum, limited storage space etc) have always been a curse of this game for me

 

[Sweetley]

Over time, I feel like the game has been made to feel like a competition, especially with the addition of Dream Towns.

Well, I guess some players out there just taking it a little bit too serious and thinking they need to have the "best (dream) town ever" that everyone likes. Then again, you should play it in the way you want it and shouldn't care what other people think of your town in that moment. After all, you spent the money on this game to have fun and not to put yourself into any stress because you think that your towns sucks or because someone else criticize it and so you force yourself to make it in the way other people would like to see it, even if you don't want it actually. It's just as silly as when it comes to the popularity of the villagers, like who cares how popular a villager is, just take the ones you like and have fun with them. If everyone would have the same 10 villagers in their towns just because of popularity and ignores the fact that there over 300 other villagers which are also fine (if not sometimes better than the tier 1 folks), then Nintendo never needs to make the effort again to make new villagers...

As for myself, I always played the game in my own speed and way, I don't care what others think of my town and I also don't put myself into any stress, that would be just silly to do so.

 

[MasterM64]

Quite honestly, I don't feel any sense of competition at all when it comes to how my town looks. All that matters to me is that I am able to create the town of my dreams and love every moment of walking in it! When I see other people's towns, I honestly find it cool and exciting (instead of any sense of competitiveness) especially when I see someone create a work of art & made a town that is of their own twist & style!

 

[Sansy]

I like having control over my town but when things don't go my way, I also don't really stress about it. "It's just Animal Crossing, after all!"

When I see beautiful towns, I don't feel like I need to compete... I feel inspired! Just like MasterM64 said, it's really exciting to see how people have made their towns truly their own with how they placed their PWP, houses, and patterns. I especially love visiting the Player Characters houses and seeing what they've done with the interiors. I came across a random town and they had placed patterns that looked like city streets and sidewalks. Each player house was like a school, a hotel, a doctors office! It was really neat, and probably not something I would do personally, but I was VERY impressed.

I've never really felt stressed about filling my catalog or achieving a perfect town rating either because I know it will happen eventually. The only time I remember getting stressed about that stuff was when I was rushing myself to GET to those points. AC is so much better when you just chillax and take your time.

 

[RedTropicalPeachyFish]

I haven't. I love my towns regardless of how it looks or how messy it is. ( mostly because of me being a hoarder though )
I haven't tried to fill catalog or get visitors count or any of those parts unnaturally either. I just figured one day that it hit the line of gold badge while I've been eagerly shaking trees and having people over. I can tell I'm not a perfectionist kind. No stress maybe due to that.

 

[Officer Berri]

Since I have pretty heavy social anxiety issues I've always basically not cared how other people play since I don't interact with anyone really. (Though I did get majorly skeeved out when I found out people were selling villagers who were moving out.)

That said, I don't mind having a lot of control over my village... so long as there's more order and assistance with some things. Like, villagers able to have a house anywhere? No thanks. Bring back sign posts. In fact, make sign posts like a super cheap/free PWP. Let me decide exactly where a house will be. Place down that sign and someone can move into that spot. Another thing was how stupid expensive basically everything was. With the villagers not really giving much to the fund for building an object I basically felt I had to literally spend every evening grinding bells by catching sharks before Re-tail closed.

Probably what stressed me out most was the grass deterioration. Gods do I want to load that feature and whoever came up with it into a canon and send them soaring out past Pluto.

- - - Post Merge - - -

Since I have pretty heavy social anxiety issues I've always basically not cared how other people play since I don't interact with anyone really. (Though I did get majorly skeeved out when I found out people were selling villagers who were moving out.)

That said, I don't mind having a lot of control over my village... so long as there's more order and assistance with some things. Like, villagers able to have a house anywhere? No thanks. Bring back sign posts. In fact, make sign posts like a super cheap/free PWP. Let me decide exactly where a house will be. Place down that sign and someone can move into that spot. Another thing was how stupid expensive basically everything was. With the villagers not really giving much to the fund for building an object I basically felt I had to literally spend every evening grinding bells by catching sharks before Re-tail closed.

Probably what stressed me out most was the grass deterioration. Gods do I want to load that feature and whoever came up with it into a canon and send them soaring out past Pluto.

 

[Chris]

I play for myself. How my house, town, etc looks to others is irrelevant to me. The only thing that remotely stresses me about the game is when I don't play for a while and have to go through the hassle of time travelling to make sure I don't lose my favourite villagers (Filbert, Tia, and Lobo).

 

[LambdaDelta]

I play for myself. How my house, town, etc looks to others is irrelevant to me. The only thing that remotely stresses me about the game is when I don't play for a while and have to go through the hassle of time travelling to make sure I don't lose my favourite villagers (Filbert, Tia, and Lobo).

do you not put your town on lockdown, or are you just too paranoid that you forgot to more often than not?

 

[Chris]

do you not put your town on lockdown, or are you just too paranoid that you forgot to more often than not?

I don't actually know what you mean. What is it?

 

[LambdaDelta]

I don't actually know what you mean. What is it?

where basically if you block a villager from moving and then save and quit that day, nobody can move out during the time you're not playing

this also applies to if you just let a villager move out and save and quit. which is why you'll really only ever have one villager gone if you leave for an extended period without doing anything

I think it's something to do with how the game sets up this stuff, in that it likely checks for potential move-outs/-ins on each 6am daily reset. so since no new day is loaded up while the player isn't active, none of these checks happen, and the game just progresses based solely on what is already priorly established to happen

 

[Chris]

where basically if you block a villager from moving and then save and quit that day, nobody can move out during the time you're not playing

this also applies to if you just let a villager move out and save and quit. which is why you'll really only ever have one villager gone if you leave for an extended period without doing anything

I think it's something to do with how the game sets up this stuff, in that it likely checks for potential move-outs/-ins on each 6am daily reset. so since no new day is loaded up while the player isn't active, none of these checks happen, and the game just progresses based solely on what is already priorly established to happen

Oh, I see what you mean! I think I've done that once or twice, but usually don't plan when I'm going to stop playing for a while.

I loaded up on a new character today to scope things out and apparently I was expecting a new move-in. Then turned the game off so I can worry about it another day.

 

[LambdaDelta]

ah yeah, understandable

all my player slots are full, so I can't really do the whole load up a new character on a new day and reset for whatever reason cheat myself

 

[DubiousDelphine]

I havent be in one of my towns for ages. Im really worried if one of fav villagers left me town

 

[moonbyu]

I do things at my pace and for myself. I don't really understand why people stress so much over a game that is actually meant to provide an escape. The only time I get stressed is when I haven't went on in 3 months and weeds took over the town.

 

[Bitty]

I don't view control of my town as a stressful or competitive endeavour, for me it's kind of like interior decorating my own room or house. There's no time frame in which anything has to be done and it's not like the villagers aren't going to get impatient. I have this tiny platform where I can let my creativity and my idea fully be realized in the form of a small town. I do think that certain things should stay out of the players control - where the villagers are placed, what their homes look like, and other stuff like that because it keeps it fresh and fun.

 

[Prodigu]

I honestly dont think its a competition, It's more of "art" like you design your town and you make it look how you like it, and then you show your creation to others when youve finished it, its kind of like making a painting

 

[Ojo46]

I certainly don't feel this way at all. In fact one of my favorite things about Animal Crossing is how not competitive it feels. If I want to feel competitive there are plenty of other games I can turn to.

 

[cornimer]

I feel like I play Animal Crossing differently than it is played by a lot of people (especially on forums like this). I don't plot reset, or put down paths or do excessive landscaping, or pick 10 dreamies that I want to keep forever. I just....live. I put PWPs wherever I think they look good in the moment, I enjoy my town having a natural, un-pathed look, I let villagers put their houses wherever they want and come and go as I feel like. I don't really care where my rocks or ponds are located. I've never tried to complete my catalog - I don't really see the point? I just collect items I want. When I joined this forum I was kind of surprised to see the very rigid way people played. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with playing that way, but for me, I don't think it would be fun. The appeal of the game to me is the relaxed village life, and I want it to feel authentic. I don't want to micromanage everything because that would stress me out and feel like a chore.