What’s Your Thoughts On Gatekeeping?

[Hay]

Hi everyone! I wanted to know everyone’s opinion about the gate keeping in ACNH, or if someone personally doesn’t see any gate keeping. I love hearing other peoples viewpoints c:

My opinion is that a lot of it is very immature or nit-picky stuff that I feel like isn’t a big deal. I never saw this much tension in any other animal crossing games, so what makes this different? Is it all the new players? Are some being harsh due to the games buildup before launch? Of course it’s always okay to have your opinion but I’ve seen some players resort to insults when someone says something they don’t agree with, which makes me upset.

Please remember to be respectful <3 It’s okay to agree to disagree

EDIT: I am in no way trying to gatekeep myself, I wanted to see other people’s viewpoints. You are allowed to play and think however you want <3 Sorry if I come off as though I am! I also am not bashing new players, I am personally so glad more people can enjoy the game! If you are a new player, welcome!

 

[EtchaSketch]

this community has been upsetting me and i feel like a lot of it is the players new to the game, being players starting out on NH. I just don’t think they’re adjusted to how this community works yet! Even with this, I don’t think ALL new players are doing this c: I’ve met some very sweet new players.

 

[Insulaire]

I only found this forum because I like the game. I thought surely everyone who posted on a forum devoted to it did too. That was my mistake!

 

[Romaki]

The time travel debate got more intense because you used to be able to change the time in your town yourself, like in Wild World you had to call in to change it and in New Leaf you could just tell Isabelle in the menu to change it to whatever date and time you like. And of course 7 years have passed since the last main title, so people in general are just different. And it's also a scary time period we're currently in.

But yeah, my opinion on gatekeeping - pointless. No one is in control of how people play their game except for Nintendo. And nobody has the right to dismiss someone's personal opinion either. The tone of the community has definitely become snarkier / more holier than thou.

 

[Hay]

this community has been upsetting me and i feel like a lot of it is the players new to the game, being players starting out on NH. I just don’t think they’re adjusted to how this community works yet! Even with this, I don’t think ALL new players are doing this c: I’ve met some very sweet new players.

Agreed! I have met so many sweet people here, it’s only places I see the hate. It’s interesting to me how this place is so nice haha!

 

[Babylon]

I don’t mean to offend... but the original and some following comments kind of sound gatekeepey against new players.

Just wanted to point that out

There is always some truth to gate keeping. Time traveling isn’t how the game was created to be played even though it’s not prohibited. New players don’t understand the AC and especially TBT community.

 

[Hay]

I don’t mean to offend... but the original and following comments kind of sound gatekeepey against new players.

Just wanted to point that out

Thanks for telling me this! I’m gonna edit my original post just in case c: I see where you are coming from

 

[kyrynbunni]

There are some people in this fandom that really need to chill out. I've seen people get run off in the Twitter community for allegedly coping an area in someone's town and I'm??? Gatekeeping is so completely unnecessary and people need to get off their high horses. Animal Crossing is supposed to be a relaxing game, and screaming about time traveling or alleged copying is making it unpleasant for you and everyone who has to come in contact with you.

I haven't seen too much gatekeeping on the forums which is nice.

 

[Dormire]

Gatekeeping is bad, and so is gatekeeping your ugly villagers and batting them with a net while screaming like a banshee. /s

In all seriousness, TBT thankfully has only a small group of gatekeeping-y people. Though, Twitter and Reddit? Everyone receives "commit not alive" threats just for doing non-purist gameplay. I avoided these places just because of that. Thank god for TBT.

 

[MightyMunchlax]

I've seen a lot of Youtubers that I like being introduced to the series for the first time with this one, and it's cute to see them discover things that I, as a series veteran, have known for a long time. I think in some ways a lot of people unfamiliar with the franchise jumped on the bandwagon because long-time fans hyped this one up so much, so if they aren't familiar with the series or this game isn't their play style they can be like 'why were so many people so hyped about this, there's like nothing to do?' cause AC isn't for everyone, and that can't be helped. I don't think there's a reason to necessarily be upset by that, and I don't think people discovering the series now are any less deserving than those who have been around since the GC days. A lot of people who have never played an AC game have really been enjoying the game, and that's been really cool to see new fans being born.

 

[Mairen]

I don't participate in any community but belltree, so I don't see this as big of a deal as others might (I've heard other communities are pretty hostile). There's a lot more people joining the animal crossing crowd with this new game, and as such, we're going to see an increase in both negative and positive interactions. Unfortunately it's usually the negativity that sticks in our mind.

The people who do bully others for playing differently (note: disagreeing does not equal bullying), are probably the types of people who enjoy stiring up trouble with other topics too. They are going to be the kind of people who have such a high level of hate in their hearts that the moment anyone has a different opinion/playstyle/etc, they are going to deem that person as "wrong" and want to attack them for being wrong, whether we're talking animal crossing or something else. I actually feel sorry for people who live such miserable lives and I honestly hope they eventually find some measure of peace in their lives someday and learn to respect and love others.

I personally don't time travel. I think it's a form of cheating. But I'm also totally okay with anyone who does time travel. The important thing is playing in a way that you have the most fun. Once we all do that, then we have a successful and happy community, despite our differences.

 

[Romaki]

Time traveling isn’t how the game was created to be played even though it’s not prohibited.

It used to be a game mechanic, but Nintendo definitely turned against it with the addition of online multiplayer. I think they don't prohibit it because they couldn't possibly prevent it without getting rid of the real time system. It'll take time before consoles can detect stuff like that.

 

[Hesper]

Anyway, if you don't think pears are the worst fruit, you're a fake fan and doing AC all wrong /s

Unfortunately, I think a lot of it is also...you know, current event stress that has people taking out their high-but-invisible tension levels on other people. Sometimes nerves and anxiety manifest in the weirdest ways. For me it's been going out of my way to learn all kinds of things and losing myself in a video game hole for a while. For my mom it was Cricuting a million elaborate Disney mandalas to painstakingly weed. For my dad it's been yelling about the government. Y'know?

 

[EtchaSketch]

Going off of my original post, wasn’t trying to gatekeep! Do whatever you want idc. But being a jerk about it is not okay >:O

 

[Hay]

Unfortunately, I think a lot of it is also...you know, current event stress that has people taking out their high-but-invisible tension levels on other people. Sometimes nerves and anxiety manifest in the weirdest ways.

wow I didn’t think about this, this is super interesting! I have anxiety from this mess too and have accidentally taken it out in the wrong way. Thank you for sharing this!

Post automatically merged: May 6, 2020

The important thing is playing in a way that you have the most fun. Once we all do that, then we have a successful and happy community, despite our differences.

100% agree!! Love the way you said this. I might steal it lol!

 

[Le Ham]

I've noticed sharing my thoughts on opinionated discussion threads really isn't very fun. Maybe it's just this forum format I can't abide with - but the feeling here is kinda tense, even uptight. Passive-aggressive for sure. Not because of sensitive topics themselves (TTing, etc) but more just like a tribal feeling. This isn't community to me more than it is spewing thoughts at each other like some kinda existential debate and it's like yeah we tolerate each other in the sense that we mutually exist. But I'd be hard pressed to make actual friends on here ngl, it's just too distant, hostile. Maybe TBT just isn't healthy for me, which is perfectly fine and doesn't have to mean anything for anyone else.

Idk how related to gatekeeping any of that is but I definitely feel where you're coming from, there's an attitude sometimes of "you're not a real AC fan/player/good person if you do this" that comes out. I feel like people also get quick to assume someone they disagree with is prejudiced or something and there's like this quiet hostility and layers of assumptions being made and it's just messy. I know some of it is because, as a few people mentioned in another thread, younger people just aren't as facilitated in the art of civil discussion - I used to be rude and aggressive, and that wasn't even how I wanted to come off! It didn't hit me until like now that man, I was angry back in the day...

Anyway, I feel like maybe it would benefit the atmosphere here if we weren't pushy and making assumptions about what people believe or their worth because of something they said. That's a humanity-wide struggle, but some of us are still learning how to be respectful and show genuine kindness. We don't need to be lashed at for not getting it yet, we need understanding and patience.

 

[Hesper]

wow I didn’t think about this, this is super interesting! I have anxiety from this mess too and have accidentally taken it out in the wrong way. Thank you for sharing this!

I became a lot more empathetic as a human when I learned about "terror management theory" and how people have some absolutely outrageous reactions to terrifying things. (Mind you, some reactions are still an absolute NOPE from me, chief, but...you know, you come to understand a little?) And one of those common reactions is clinging especially hard to perceived "ingroups" or "tribes", like "nonTT" or "veteran player".

 

[Babylon]

It used to be a game mechanic, but Nintendo definitely turned against it with the addition of online multiplayer. I think they don't prohibit it because they couldn't possibly prevent it without getting rid of the real time system. It'll take time before consoles can detect stuff like that.

Whoops sorry I should have been more clear!

What I meant is that Animal Crossing was one of the first widespread games to be played in real time. At the time there were games similar to AC such as The Sims, or Harvest Moon but the gimmick of AC was that it was a simulation game running on real time.

I didn’t mean to insinuate that time traveling is something the creators don’t want us to do. I was just saying that the creators had this cool idea where your fake town could experience real time.

 

[EtchaSketch]

I've noticed sharing my thoughts on opinionated discussion threads really isn't very fun. Maybe it's just this forum format I can't abide with - but the feeling here is kinda tense, even uptight. Passive-aggressive for sure. Not because of sensitive topics themselves (TTing, etc) but more just like a tribal feeling. This isn't community to me more than it is spewing thoughts at each other like some kinda existential debate and it's like yeah we tolerate each other in the sense that we mutually exist. But I'd be hard pressed to make actual friends on here ngl, it's just too distant, hostile. Maybe TBT just isn't healthy for me, which is perfectly fine and doesn't have to mean anything for anyone else.

Idk how related to gatekeeping any of that is but I definitely feel where you're coming from, there's an attitude sometimes of "you're not a real AC fan/player/good person if you do this" that comes out. I feel like people also get quick to assume someone they disagree with is prejudiced or something and there's like this quiet hostility and layers of assumptions being made and it's just messy. I know some of it is because, as a few people mentioned in another thread, younger people just aren't as facilitated in the art of civil discussion - I used to be rude and aggressive, and that wasn't even how I wanted to come off! It didn't hit me until like now that man, I was angry back in the day...

Anyway, I feel like maybe it would benefit the atmosphere here if we weren't pushy and making assumptions about what people believe or their worth because of something they said. That's a humanity-wide struggle, but some of us are still learning how to be respectful and show genuine kindness. We don't need to be lashed at for not getting it yet, we need understanding and patience.

i completely agree with this sadly. The forums have always been toxic, and it does feel very tense here. Again, I’ve met some really sweet people but it seems like the majority of the forums are just... cursed content HAHA

let’s all just enjoy the game as best as we can c:

 

[avieators]

gatekeeping sucks eggs. i'll gladly welcome new players of this series as a veteran of it, it's so lovely to get new ppl involved! i do wish the intensely anti-time travel ppl would quiet down a lil, some ppl are like me and just don't want to play anything else rn, and u can run out of stuff to do eventually on a single day if ur brain starts turning to mush