We Need To Talk About Those "Year Round Updates"

[EvilTheCat6600]

I got two words for you: Live Events. "Why do they need to download those characters via events?" I've seen people asking. And I've come up with something that could answer the question, and some of you aren't going to like it:

The characters are probably in the game already, but the holiday events MIGHT be designed with Pocket Camp in mind. As in all month long events themed to holidays like Bunny Day, Toy Day, Halloween, etc will go on all month long and you can complete tasks to get event exclusive furniture for that holiday with a different set each year.

This is just a speculation, however. It does seem like the most logical and likely scenario. After all if the events were pre-programmed in, there would be no reason to offer year round updates. Every year Halloween will do something different and if you're busy, you'll miss out.

As for "preventing time travel" consider this. If you add the character to the game and there's not a different event every year, time traveling for holidays WILL become possible, BUT if the holiday events are different every single year then it's impossible to time travel to do holidays early altogether as they'll be synced to the real world and not the game clock or system clock. Hence the term "live events."

This is a problem, however, because not everyone has time to play for hours on end for days on end, meaning some people will miss out on event exclusive furniture items. It's fine in a mobile game to keep it from getting stale, but this is a 60 dollar console game and I'm sincerely hoping we don't see Pocket Camp style monthly events at all.

Anyway, this where my TL;DR discussion comes to an end. Thanks for hearing me out. Let's discuss our thoughts on this whether you like the idea of this, hate it or just want to call me completely crazy and share why live events will strictly be for Pocket Camp.

 

[meltydoll]

I really don't mind live event's if they are casual friendly, but if you need to sacrifice your life for them, then yes can I have word or two.
Unless you can earn old event items with new ones on next year and so on. Then you just have to wait one year to get them if you miss them.

May I say Overwatch did this live event thing work well enough.

I'm not sure did I say this clear enough that everyone can understand what I mean.

 

[tajikey]

I got two words for you: Live Events. "Why do they need to download those characters via events?" I've seen people asking. And I've come up with something that could answer the question, and some of you aren't going to like it:

The characters are probably in the game already, but the holiday events MIGHT be designed with Pocket Camp in mind. As in all month long events themed to holidays like Bunny Day, Toy Day, Halloween, etc will go on all month long and you can complete tasks to get event exclusive furniture for that holiday with a different set each year.

This is just a speculation, however. It does seem like the most logical and likely scenario. After all if the events were pre-programmed in, there would be no reason to offer year round updates. Every year Halloween will do something different and if you're busy, you'll miss out.

As for "preventing time travel" consider this. If you add the character to the game and there's not a different event every year, time traveling for holidays WILL become possible, BUT if the holiday events are different every single year then it's impossible to time travel to do holidays early altogether as they'll be synced to the real world and not the game clock or system clock. Hence the term "live events."

This is a problem, however, because not everyone has time to play for hours on end for days on end, meaning some people will miss out on event exclusive furniture items. It's fine in a mobile game to keep it from getting stale, but this is a 60 dollar console game and I'm sincerely hoping we don't see Pocket Camp style monthly events at all.

Anyway, this where my TL;DR discussion comes to an end. Thanks for hearing me out. Let's discuss our thoughts on this whether you like the idea of this, hate it or just want to call me completely crazy and share why live events will strictly be for Pocket Camp.

Last time I checked, I could take my Switch out of the dock and play it wherever I'd like. AC:NH may not be a mobile game by your definition, but it's playable on a console that's mobile.

 

[meggiewes]

I am not sure how to feel about these real life updates. I will need more information. Or at least experience them first before I decide if I like them or not. I would like if they updated holidays into something more elaborate with them though. Because, once you play them the first time in New Leaf, you don't really have an incentive to do them again if you didn't want to.

 

[Xara]

i’m not really sure how to feel about live events that last for a whole month - i guess halloween and toy days could be considered month-long events as you have to spend october and december collecting candy, the santa outfit and finding out what presents the villagers would like for the respective event, but for there to be more to it than that in new horizons? not sure how i’d feel aha.

 

[thegunpowderincident]

I know this is all just speculation, but I hope holidays aren't month-long events. That's fine for a mobile app that you just check in on for a few minutes here and there. But in the actual game, which most of us hardcore fans will be playing quite a bit for at least the first year, multiple events that take a full month each is just too much. It'd get old pretty fast, especially for people who may not celebrate certain holidays.

 

[QueenOpossum]

Last time I checked, I could take my Switch out of the dock and play it wherever I'd like. AC:NH may not be a mobile game by your definition, but it's playable on a console that's mobile.

"Mobile Games" specifically refer to cell phone games. 3DS games were not mobile games, and Switch games are not mobile games.

 

[meggiewes]

I think I would be fine with having holidays spanning two or three days when you have time to do them. It would allow people to do them in the game and still have time for their IRL families and holidays.

 

[tajikey]

"Mobile Games" specifically refer to cell phone games. 3DS games were not mobile games, and Switch games are not mobile games.

I figured I was clear enough in my response that I recognize the distinction. But the argument that it's okay for PC to do it because it's playable on a cell phone doesn't mean NH shouldn't do it because it's not.

 

[Khaelis]

I wouldn't mind live events, might make them feel more alive. However, I think the real reason is to stop people from time travelling ahead to get items early.

 

[satine]

I don't like the idea of it being too closely aligned with Pocket Camp at all. Pocket Camp removed all of the feelings of a real Animal Crossing game. I know they'll connect it somehow but I really feel like it's too Sims-y if it does too much of this. It already feels that way kinda with the terraforming... Hopefully they just are trying to prevent people from spoiling holidays.

 

[EvilTheCat6600]

Last time I checked, I could take my Switch out of the dock and play it wherever I'd like. AC:NH may not be a mobile game by your definition, but it's playable on a console that's mobile.

Last time I checked most people have jobs and may or may not have time to game as much as they would like to. That's what my statement is about. If I didn't word it properly, I apologize for the misunderstanding.

And as for younger gamers: Do schools still dish out homework? When I was in high school they didn't, however I dunno what's change over time as I don't have kids myself. But even sometimes kids have responsibilities before they can game as well.

 

[Khaelis]

I understand your own concerns, but you're really painting out all the negatives and making them seem like they are a bigger problem then they actually are.

 

[tajikey]

Last time I checked most people have jobs and may or may not have time to game as much as they would like to. That's what my statement is about. If I didn't word it properly, I apologize for the misunderstanding.

And as for younger gamers: Do schools still dish out homework? When I was in high school they didn't, however I dunno what's change over time as I don't have kids myself. But even sometimes kids have responsibilities before they can game as well.

I'm an adult with a job of teaching kids, so I guess I can speak to both points. The Switch being a mobile console negates the idea that seasonal updates are okay for PC because it's mobile. And as far as students are concerned, I don't assign homework because when I did in the past, it didn't get done, because of things like GTA, Fortnite, and CoD.

Granted, this isn't a one size fits all response, but I'm not a fan of calling out the negatives of something that is for all intents and purposes resoundingly positive.

 

[Romaki]

I don't think I would mind month-long goals, but the game really can't expect more than 2-3 hours for day-to-day playing. Just because a fraction of kids can play 6 hours a day doesn't mean it makes for good gameplay. One of the good things about Animal Crossing was that you can play everyday without much pressure, with events lasting a day iirc. It's possible that they added too much to do while also expecting you to do a lot, I just hope they don't give us a limit each day. Like your goals go on for as long as they take.

 

[rezberri]

i'm fine with how they're doing events; it's kinda exciting. we have every year to try to catch an event so if i can't get it the first year it's not that big of deal (it kinda is for me though because i'm taking time to play every day). if it's an all week event but there's no "extra goals" i'd be okay with that too because it's not as stressful and i can kinda take my time with it. i'll only have an issue with it if they change up the furniture every single year; like if there's two different sets but they switch out every other year that's alright because those sets are permanently there, but if it's literally a whole new entire set every holiday, every year that would be a bit problematic. it'll also be saddening when they cut off wifi for the game because how will we experience holidays then? there's just a lot we don't know so i'll just sit back for now.

 

[Rex of Elysium]

I think it was done to avoid time traveling. Honestly I am all for it.

 

[EvilTheCat6600]

i'm fine with how they're doing events; it's kinda exciting. we have every year to try to catch an event so if i can't get it the first year it's not that big of deal (it kinda is for me though because i'm taking time to play every day). if it's an all week event but there's no "extra goals" i'd be okay with that too because it's not as stressful and i can kinda take my time with it. i'll only have an issue with it if they change up the furniture every single year; like if there's two different sets but they switch out every other year that's alright because those sets are permanently there, but if it's literally a whole new entire set every holiday, every year that would be a bit problematic. it'll also be saddening when they cut off wifi for the game because how will we experience holidays then? there's just a lot we don't know so i'll just sit back for now.

Honestly I'm thinking itll be more "a different event each month no repeats" type deal. But that's assuming my guess is the case.

 

[DrewAC]

I rewatched the direct because I was concerned about this.

They said that the day 1 free update on March 20th will include Bunny Day for April. So, it would seem these events are not live services after all, but were delayed from the launch of the game either due to prevent players from time traveling and obtaining the items early or (what I personally believe) they chose to focus on other important things during development, and chose to release holiday events for free later on. Given the time mechanics of Animal Crossing, that scenario isn’t a bad thing at all.

 

[JoJoCan]

Live events seems interesting to me! I'll be excited to see how it turns out~