Is buying from a hacker considered cheating?

[DaviddivaD]

There are a lot of hackers selling furniture sets, diy recipes, and villagers on eBay. I saw one ad were a seller was charging $70 to catalog all furniture sets. Another ad from the same seller charging $25 dollars to get all diy recipes.

The going rate to get Raymond, Audie, Judy and other popular villagers is between $15-$25 and they guarantee them to be in boxes waiting to be adopted.

Is doing business with them considered cheating? I'm sorta tempted to buy a few diy recipes that I really want like the shell arch, flower wagon and crescent moon chair.

 

[Sharksheep]

Yes and no. You can play this game however you want. If you want to spend irl money to get the villagers or items you want to faster, you do you.

I consider it cheating because I would never spend irl money on items or villagers I can obtain through trading or my own efforts.

 

[jokk]

maybe, but i don't think cheating in a video game is a moral issue. however, i would never pay real money for in-game things because it would take away from the fun for me.

 

[jefflomacy]

Amongst my friends, yes, buying from someone who's hacking items is still cheating. You really shouldn't pay money to receive any of this stuff. You will get them if you play the game regularly eventually. It helps to have a close circle of friends playing so you can all notify each other of what villagers are crafting and when.

Needing stuff urgently is a pretty good way to make sure you hate this game. Then you can post in threads like "Is anyone no longer playing this game?" and talk about how much you hate the game, so at least that's something to do I guess.

 

[Epod]

Not sure it counts as cheating because animal crossing isn't a game that can really be finished in a way that other games can. However it seems to be a bit pointless to me. I can't see the fun paying money to have elements of the game completed earlier, but that's just my 2 cents Edit: also I wouldn't buy from hackers, I don't think that's something that should be encouraged. If you post on nook's cranny here someone might be able to help?

 

[niko@kamogawa]

This is something that only you can answer.

Some people are against it. Some doesn't care. Some will give you advice to play however you want.

At the end of day, did you find enjoyment doing it?

 

[absol]

I don't think it's cheating but imo it's unnecessarily expensive :-o

also if you're looking for the garden wagon diy I can sell you one for igb, nmt or tbt

 

[Llunavale]

Please do NOT spend real money on these items. I get the general philosophy on Animal Crossing is "play however you want" but...I really think there has to be a line. I really don't think it's worth spending real money on...

You can get all these things in-game anyway, and lots of people on this forum will allow you to catalogue items for in-game currency or even for free, seriously there's no point spending real money on this stuff, it's all in the game already, you can get it already.

Spoiler: Edit:

Just to put a little more explanation into my reaction... you're paying some faceless stranger who is, frankly, looking to take advantage of people willing to spend money on the game by charging for these items. They're not doing you a favour, they are taking advantage of you and the fact they can easily get any item they like. They're not giving anything up. They'll take your money, give you your item and then hack in more to sell onto someone else.

This is completely ignoring the fact you can VERY EASILY be scammed out of your money.

At this point I'd prefer Nintendo were the ones selling the items in game, the prices would be fairer, you would be at least supporting the developers of the game and not someone online who's just looking to take advantage. The number of people so willing to give up real money for these things is astounding to me. Either this is why MTX exist in the first place, or it is the result of MTX, either way it's concerning.

 

[Blueskyy]

I think that’s something you can only define and answer yourself. I always advise people not to pay real money for this game or support people who manipulate the game to make profit, but to each their own.

 

[Nefarious]

Depends on the person if it’s cheating. Though with it involving real money: I believe it is wrong to be selling virtual items that cost nothing (beside the whole game itself), and in turn, buying those items, as it encourages those people to continue practicing shady actions. You can essentially comeplete your catalog by participating in free catalog parties that many people on here offer. I don't think it’s worth the irl currency at all.

 

[Miss Misty]

I would say it is objectively cheating, yes. You are using a non-Nintendo approved means of trading for items/villagers that were themselves not acquired in a Nintendo approved way. Like others have said, the only things that matter are 1. Are you personally fine with it? and 2. Are you willing to risk being scammed out of real money for stuff you could just as easily trade NMT or TBT for?

 

[Romaki]

I mean, some people would even consider trading cheating. But I don't think you're responsible for the actions of others. I just think buying stuff off of eBay could be seen as cheating in general, since you're using a method outside the game. It all depends on your own morality though, in the end it's just an item in a game.

 

[Mello]

I would say it is objectively cheating, yes. You are using a non-Nintendo approved means of trading for items/villagers that were themselves not acquired in a Nintendo approved way.

This is not the definition of cheating, therefore you cannot say it "objectively" constitutes cheating. Cheating is the act of doing something underhanded to gain an unfair advantage over others. There is nothing objectively "advantageous" about getting items earlier than other players in this game. Why? Simply because this game is not competitive in any way. Given the fact that this game is not competitive, there is no "objective cheating."

Is doing business with them considered cheating? I'm sorta tempted to buy a few diy recipes that I really want like the shell arch, flower wagon and crescent moon chair.

Is it considered cheating? Yes it is, by the community at large. Does it matter? It only matters if you allow it to. I say do what you want to; I'm not going to judge you for doing business with them. Not my place to.

 

[Skunk]

I wouldn't encourage the behavior of trading IRL currency for in game goods. :[ but I don't consider it cheating. So at the end of the day, do whatever you want, just don't feel guilty about what you choose, because you play this game however you want!

Edit: I'll give you a crescent-moon chair DIY If you'd like.

 

[Fendi]

In my opinion, yes. While you are not the one directly cheating, in a way I would consider it to be more indirectly cheating as you're still benefitting from someone who is doing something that should not be allowed.

I would argue that part of the reason as to why some people seek out exploits is because they know there's a customer out there who would be willing to pay for it. As others have already stated though, you should NOT spend any real life money on something you cannot guarantee will be given to you.

 

[Triaged]

I mean, technically speaking it could be in violation of the Nintendo Switch Online Terms of Service. Specifically in section six, where it lists that you agree not to "use the services in any manner that could interfere with, disrupt, negatively affect, or inhibit other users from fully enjoying the Services, or that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair the functioning of the Services in any matter."

It's general enough that they could probably make the case that visiting and trading hacked islands/getting items from users who hack could "disrupt or negatively affect" the economy of the game, or corrupt ppl's save files, etc. etc.

 

[DJStarstryker]

It's not cheating, but OP - I would look into using those over 750 TBT that you have instead. You don't need to pay real money for those things that you want. You do have things you can trade.

 

[Aliya]

I wouldn't spend real money on anything virtual that's not official from Nintendo since I'd be giving money to people who didn't develop the game. I'd rather use currencies in-game (IGB or NMT) or TBT bells since they cannot be sold for real money. There are plenty of really awesome people here who will let you catalog for TBT.

 

[Baroque]

That's a pretty good question, but I guess it basically comes down to what you would consider to be 'cheating'. Although it's easy to get jealous over how good other people's islands look or what cool, unique villager they might have that you don't (*Cough*Raymond*Cough*) the truth is that Animal Crossing is not a competitive game. It's not really cheating to hack the game to obtain unique stuff from it because you aren't unfairly beating anyone.

That being said, though, I feel like it's pretty dumb to do so. It's basically possible to get most everything in the game on your own or using trades on websites like these so it's more like people who would buy stuff from ebay are lazy and willingly decide not to go through the experience intended by the game. But if someone doesn't mind paying extra to rob themselves of that experience, then I guess it's fine, myself. I do think it's more rewarding to find Raymond on a Mystery Tour or Campsite than to just buy him off ebay, for example.

 

[Red Cat]

It's not cheating, but it's definitely not worth spending real money on in-game items. Even if you have a lot of disposable income, there are many more rewarding ways to spend your money than on a bunch of pixels.