Opinion on minor "time traveling"

[Spooky.]

In my first two towns, I've always had my clock set back in game for several hours earlier, as I tend to play mostly at night, and if I didn't do so, my stores would all be closed and I'd never get anything done.

In my newest town though, I wanted to make a 'natural' town (no qr paths, doing very minimal amounts of trades, giving my home a kind of woodsy-cabin feel, no plot resetting, minimal adopting, etc) where I let it progress naturally without time traveling. However, I still have my problem of being a night time player. All my stores are closed by the time I play, and I can't earn bells bug hunting on the island because re-tail is closed. Would it be going against my 'natural' kind of theme if I were to keep the clock set back on that town? I really didn't want to touch the time for any reason but it gets frustrating, especially when I want to play a little while before going to bed.

I feel like I should just go ahead and set the clock back, but it'll kind of feel like I'm 'cheating' on that town. What do you guys think? You always give good advice.

 

[Vizionari]

If you want to set the clock back, then feel free to! Enjoy the game how you want

 

[King Dorado]

have you tried the "Night Owl" ordinance?? it makes all the shops stay open later, and most of the villagers stay up later as well.

 

[Rose]

No reason to restrict yourself based off your own theme. Adapt the game to your schedule.

It's not like you're getting a massive advantage above other players by making the game think you're in a different time zone, so to speak, and there's no sense in letting it bar off some of your favorite aspects of the game because the timing isn't ideal. I wouldn't call that traveling, even. It's just an adjustment to better allow you to fully enjoy your town in harmony with your responsibilities.

If you're the kind of person who will be bugged you even tapped that clock, though, you might have to choose between being bothered that you fiddled with the time or just dealing with constricting play times. I'd set that sucker back a few hours.

 

[MOON TRIPS]

I'd say to just set it back, that's not gonna harm anything! ;v;
I keep my game 3 hours behind real time here because it gives me time to actually do things if I feel like playing past like, 9 pm.

 

[HopeForHyrule]

I don't see it as a problem, but I understand wanting to keep it real-time.

I used to time travel, but I don't anymore. And I really don't see the big issue with just setting the game back a few hours so you can actually play the game and have shops open and villagers out and about.

Like someone else said: just think of it as changing timezones. No biggie.

 

[Spooky.]

I suppose you guys are right. If I play so late at night that I miss out on everything by not adjusting the time in my game, then why even have that town? I have the time back in my other towns an average of 2-5 hours, depending. I guess there is no harm, it can still be a 'natural' town, just with a few adjustments.

- - - Post Merge - - -

have you tried the "Night Owl" ordinance?? it makes all the shops stay open later, and most of the villagers stay up later as well.

I've always kept mine on beautiful town so that I don't have to spend forever going around watering all my flowers and picking weeds. I'm really lazy lol

 

[Belle of Pripyat]

I feel like I should just go ahead and set the clock back, but it'll kind of feel like I'm 'cheating' on that town. What do you guys think? You always give good advice.

I don't think time traveling is really cheating. I mean, it's your game and you're not hurting anyone.

 

[lars708]

In my first two towns, I've always had my clock set back in game for several hours earlier, as I tend to play mostly at night, and if I didn't do so, my stores would all be closed and I'd never get anything done.

In my newest town though, I wanted to make a 'natural' town (no qr paths, doing very minimal amounts of trades, giving my home a kind of woodsy-cabin feel, no plot resetting, minimal adopting, etc) where I let it progress naturally without time traveling. However, I still have my problem of being a night time player. All my stores are closed by the time I play, and I can't earn bells bug hunting on the island because re-tail is closed. Would it be going against my 'natural' kind of theme if I were to keep the clock set back on that town? I really didn't want to touch the time for any reason but it gets frustrating, especially when I want to play a little while before going to bed.

I feel like I should just go ahead and set the clock back, but it'll kind of feel like I'm 'cheating' on that town. What do you guys think? You always give good advice.

I set the clock a few hours back as well since i only play at night too. So i think you should just do it!

 

[Chris01]

I wouldn't imagine setting the clock a handful of hours back from real time would harm your game hugely, I do it now and again if I get home from work late, a few hours never hurt any villager

 

[SolarInferno]

It's your game to do with what you want. Personally I prefer having it run at the same time as irl, but from time to time I'll set the clock back a few hours so I can sell the things that I have, as I tend to come on a bit later. If it doesn't bother you doing it, there's nothing wrong with it (that said, it does bug me when I meet people on the island who have their clock set to mid-day when it's night).

 

[maarowak]

Why would it? My town has also a forest theme, and I tt a lot.

My personal opinion is that TT is not cheating and, specially in your case, since going back a few hours is the only way for you to have stores open and you don't gain any "advantages" when doing that.

Really, it's your game. Not doing anything by going back a few hours, except being able to use the stores.

 

[Manah]

Who says your town is in the same time zone as you?

 

[mayortash]

I used to do the same when I was working very late. I didn't consider the fact that it might be time travelling as I wasn't going past the actual date, just playing a few hours later.

 

[miraxe]

I don't think it's an issue, but be careful not to accidentally TT into a new day while you're changing the hours around!

 

[radioloves]

This one right now is my first animal crossing new leaf game + I did do some minor time travelling and it feels normal plus a few hours-several should be fine though, so you can have more time in the game to shop and not miss out on too muchh. I think it can be still considered real time even with a few hours set back since it'll be the same day and stuff, noo worriieeess!

 

[Mayor Rose]

Please enjoy the game! Do not struggle over a theme, and in this case, you're not really stepping over any toes in particular. One thing you could do is set up a night owl ordinance, but I honestly just recommend rewinding time by a few hours. With your mindset, you should see a single day as more "cheating", not a couple of hours. Think of it as suddenly being in a different timezone.

 

[MrGameAndScotch]

I couldn't have less of a problem with minor time traveling if I tried.